Special Offers outside the US

Popup · 09-10-2012, 05:50 PM

My trusty old kindle is dying, so I'm replacing it with a Paperwhite.

From what I've understood the 'Special Offers' are pretty non-intrusive, and generally a good buy. However, I live in Switzerland, and I wonder if it'll work here. (I'm buying it through 'borderlinx', a packet forwarding service.) I'm getting the WiFi version, so in theory it should work just like if I was in the US, right?

Or is there some hidden catch?

Should I cough up the extra USD20 for the non-ad version?

Serpentine · 09-10-2012, 07:24 PM

From what I know, if you register it to an account which is not a US resident, the adverts never activate, and it works as a normal paid up Kindle. I'm not sure if you can change account later and not get ads.

But yeah, I know people who have used forwarding mailboxes to get KSOs and have never had ads.

Kumabjorn · 09-10-2012, 07:59 PM

I get ads on my K4SO, but they aren't intrusive in any way, I actually prefer it to the dead authors on the K3.

HarryT · 09-11-2012, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serpentine

From what I know, if you register it to an account which is not a US resident, the adverts never activate, and it works as a normal paid up Kindle. I'm not sure if you can change account later and not get ads.

No, that's incorrect. You get the ads regardless of where your account is registered. I have a Kindle Touch with Special Offers; my Amazon account is in the UK, and I get the ads (which I prefer to the normal screensavers - they're a lot more varied).

Popup · 09-11-2012, 04:50 AM

OK.

I ordered the Paperwhite SO, which sounds like a good deal.

Now I just have to wait for over a month for it to arrive...

Pushka · 09-13-2012, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Popup

OK.

I ordered the Paperwhite SO, which sounds like a good deal.

Now I just have to wait for over a month for it to arrive...

Most of us are waiting for that long unless you ordered on the first day.

Andy_T · 09-18-2012, 12:01 PM

One thing to consider ... I got the Kindle Keyboard 3G Special offers through a friend from the US - the 50$ price difference really made it really worthwile at that time. Plus, I actually found the ads cool.

All was fine until ... it broke after 3 weeks when I put it into my bag together with my iPad and iPod, not knowing that the average Kindle's screen is unfortunately nowhere as stable as a raw egg.

I called Amazon Kindle service, they said, sure, no problem, we'll replace it free of charge. One coming to your address soon ... then they called again and said "sorry, there's no way to get a special offers kindle in Europe", so they could only replace it in the US ... and I had to wait for some time when another colleague came from the US to Germany.

So for just a 20$ time difference, I'd rather go the "safe" route, and have ordered the normal version of the paperwhite this time. Most likely this will be released earlier in Europe than the special offers version.

Best regards,
Andy

RainingLemur · 09-18-2012, 12:28 PM

Eh, I'd say go with the ads. You may find something advertised that you like at some point in time! And, if they bring back the actual "special offers" part, there might be some good discounts on stuff.

Serpentine · 09-18-2012, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, that's incorrect. You get the ads regardless of where your account is registered. I have a Kindle Touch with Special Offers; my Amazon account is in the UK, and I get the ads (which I prefer to the normal screensavers - they're a lot more varied).

One of my k3's is a SO, still no ads at all, even after registering it (US). Another friend got one from an importer, not his amazon account which is set for SA (and utterly useless) also has no ads.

Maybe we're special v0v.

09-10-2012, 05:50 PM	#1
Popup Zealot Posts: 102 Karma: 100000 Join Date: May 2011 Device: kindle3, paperwhite-2012, Oasis-2016, paperwhite-2019	Special Offers outside the US My trusty old kindle is dying, so I'm replacing it with a Paperwhite. From what I've understood the 'Special Offers' are pretty non-intrusive, and generally a good buy. However, I live in Switzerland, and I wonder if it'll work here. (I'm buying it through 'borderlinx', a packet forwarding service.) I'm getting the WiFi version, so in theory it should work just like if I was in the US, right? Or is there some hidden catch? Should I cough up the extra USD20 for the non-ad version?

09-18-2012, 12:01 PM	#7
Andy_T Evangelist Posts: 431 Karma: 5121676 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Hannover, Germany Device: iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, Kindle KB, NT, Fire, PW II	One thing to consider ... I got the Kindle Keyboard 3G Special offers through a friend from the US - the 50$ price difference really made it really worthwile at that time. Plus, I actually found the ads cool. All was fine until ... it broke after 3 weeks when I put it into my bag together with my iPad and iPod, not knowing that the average Kindle's screen is unfortunately nowhere as stable as a raw egg. I called Amazon Kindle service, they said, sure, no problem, we'll replace it free of charge. One coming to your address soon ... then they called again and said "sorry, there's no way to get a special offers kindle in Europe", so they could only replace it in the US ... and I had to wait for some time when another colleague came from the US to Germany. So for just a 20$ time difference, I'd rather go the "safe" route, and have ordered the normal version of the paperwhite this time. Most likely this will be released earlier in Europe than the special offers version. Best regards, Andy Last edited by Andy_T; 09-18-2012 at 12:04 PM.

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09-10-2012, 07:24 PM	#2
Serpentine Evangelist Posts: 416 Karma: 1045911 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Device: Kindle 3	From what I know, if you register it to an account which is not a US resident, the adverts never activate, and it works as a normal paid up Kindle. I'm not sure if you can change account later and not get ads. But yeah, I know people who have used forwarding mailboxes to get KSOs and have never had ads.

09-10-2012, 07:59 PM	#3
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	I get ads on my K4SO, but they aren't intrusive in any way, I actually prefer it to the dead authors on the K3.

09-11-2012, 04:50 AM	#5
Popup Zealot Posts: 102 Karma: 100000 Join Date: May 2011 Device: kindle3, paperwhite-2012, Oasis-2016, paperwhite-2019	OK. I ordered the Paperwhite SO, which sounds like a good deal. Now I just have to wait for over a month for it to arrive...

09-18-2012, 12:28 PM	#8
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	Eh, I'd say go with the ads. You may find something advertised that you like at some point in time! And, if they bring back the actual "special offers" part, there might be some good discounts on stuff.

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