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Good to have your company, Keith. The excuse is that publishers impose geographical restrictions on ebooks because of contractual limitations (a book might be run by different publishing houses in different countries).
Perhaps this is often the case. On the other hand, I've heard of some retailers refusing downloads of books by my own indie publishing house, although we make it clear that we hold international rights on all titles a publish a single international edition of each.
How come you can buy any title in paperback? The problem is red tape. When you place an order for a treebook with, say, Amazon, the point of sale is the US from which it is shipped abroad, so that's OK. When you buy an ebook, the point of sale is the country in which you download it -- in other words, the point of sale is your own computer or device and territorial publishing rules apply.
There are ways and means around these restrictions (someone else would be able to give detail -- I've never bothered), but it means jumping through hoops by getting a US pal to send you gift coupons and/or sometimes saling pretty close to the wind legally by disguising your location by providing a retailer with untruthful details.
Good luck and best wishes. Neil
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