Is Amazon Geo-locating IP Addresses For Purchases Now?

grownupboy · 10-08-2012, 09:08 PM

hey all,

canadian user and have been buying us books on amazon for years by setting my kindle's country to "USA". today i got the following message and unable to complete my purchase:

"You attempted to purchase an item while in a different county than listed on your amazon account."

never saw this before... anyone else seeing the same thing? curses - this really bites. there are VIRTUALLY NO BOOKS in the canadian kindle store.

thanks!

k

DiapDealer · 10-08-2012, 09:18 PM

They let it go for a bit. Someone might be on vacation after all. But yes, I've heard of many people getting similar messages who leave their Kindle's country set to something other than where they really live for any length of time. To my knowledge, they've always kept track of IP addresses compared to registered locations. If you've gotten away with it for years ... you should probably consider yourself pretty lucky, actually.

Matriarch · 10-08-2012, 09:27 PM

Any service that you use which involves the internet can (and does, when necessary) view your IP address. Since you're "cheating" the system, I'd say that it's one of those necessary times.

Trauma Doll · 10-08-2012, 09:45 PM

Proxy server?

grownupboy · 10-08-2012, 09:56 PM

oh ya, there's work-arounds... but it's just funny that they FINALLY started implementing this limitaion.

as for "cheating" the system - i'd hardly call eagerly paying for books cheating anything except an antiquated distribution model that prevents digital books from being sold in any format in a given country.

it's these distribution deals that predate the internet that are creating the issue in the first place...

if i really wanted to cheat i'd just download the book for free, strip the drm and put it on any device i choose. see, i'm trying to play fair!

k

sirmaru · 10-08-2012, 11:38 PM

You can be from any IP address in the world using this vehicle:

http://www.hide-my-ip.com/

Pushka · 10-09-2012, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grownupboy

oh ya, there's work-arounds... but it's just funny that they FINALLY started implementing this limitaion.

as for "cheating" the system - i'd hardly call eagerly paying for books cheating anything except an antiquated distribution model that prevents digital books from being sold in any format in a given country.

it's these distribution deals that predate the internet that are creating the issue in the first place...

if i really wanted to cheat i'd just download the book for free, strip the drm and put it on any device i choose. see, i'm trying to play fair!

k

Yes, it's been a while since those emails arrived. I'd forgotten all about them. I have so much stuff sent to a USA address on my account that when I received an email like that I pointed them to my sales history and never heard back. That would be 2 years ago now I reckon!

Iznogood · 10-09-2012, 02:09 AM

Flyvpn has a free VPN solution. Your connection only lasts for 20 minutes, but it's more than enough time to buy your books from a 20 minute "vacation" in the US.

I don't feel one bit like a crook when doing this. I have "visited" US almost every week since I discovered flyvpn, and it saves me $2 pr. book since Amazon charges for delivery of e-books to Europe, but I don't think that I'll get to hell for this (at least not only this). Since I started using VPN, these letters from Amazon stopped coming. Proxy was not enough to bypass the system, but VPN does the trick

Prestidigitweeze · 10-09-2012, 02:59 AM

The main use I'd have for Flyvpn or hide-my-ips would be to buy books which are unavailable Stateside. This often translates to the unavailability of rarefied titles (if only Atlas Press published eBooks!).

Just today, I wanted to compare prices between the UK Kindle and Kobo ePub editions of A Time to Every Purpose, by Karl Knausgaard. The Amazon UK site wouldn't even let me see the price for local customers, let alone consider buying a copy.

I ended up buying the ePub edition with a discount code, but I'd have liked to know how competitive that price turned out to be.

hippy dave · 10-09-2012, 04:26 AM

^ i can't see it on the uk store as a kindle book, only physical copies.

Prestidigitweeze · 10-09-2012, 09:15 AM

Strange -- I'm looking now and can only find the physical version of that edition in the Amazon UK store:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Everyth...ref=pd_sim_b_2

At home several hours ago, I saw this cover and was able to select the Kindle version, but the price was obscured by a prompt stating I couldn't buy the book.

The Kobo Store's price was also lower earlier today and hurt even less with a coupon, which brought it to a little over $7.00:

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Tim...5VQ/page1.html

I imagine dynamic web stores might be disconcerting for a schizophrenic.

Synamon · 10-09-2012, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grownupboy

there are VIRTUALLY NO BOOKS in the canadian kindle store.

Not exactly. There are no ebooks in the kindle.ca store, but there are tons and tons of ebooks in the kindle.com store available to Canadians. You don't have to set your country to US to buy ebooks at amazon.com.

CRussel · 10-09-2012, 11:42 AM

As long as you have a valid US Amazon account, you should be able to buy eBooks without issue wherever in the world you are. What you can't buy is active content or video content. For that, you need a way around IP identification of physical location.

I bought several books yesterday without issue and I've never had that message on my Kindle or my computer when buying eBooks. I _do_ get it on my multimedia computer if I'm trying to buy or view a video and forget to turn on the VPN. (I use hidemyass.com, for what it's worth.)

grownupboy · 10-09-2012, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synamon

Not exactly. There are no ebooks in the kindle.ca store, but there are tons and tons of ebooks in the kindle.com store available to Canadians. You don't have to set your country to US to buy ebooks at amazon.com.

yup, and the point of my original post is that amazon is now geolocating your ip and seems to preventing purchases for kindles associated with the US when the purchasing ip is not in the US.

this is not emails... but notices that flag the purchase and prevent it from going through at all.

k

grownupboy · 10-09-2012, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

As long as you have a valid US Amazon account, you should be able to buy eBooks without issue wherever in the world you are. What you can't buy is active content or video content. For that, you need a way around IP identification of physical location.

I bought several books yesterday without issue and I've never had that message on my Kindle or my computer when buying eBooks. I _do_ get it on my multimedia computer if I'm trying to buy or view a video and forget to turn on the VPN. (I use hidemyass.com, for what it's worth.)

yes, that's the way it SHOULD work. but as of yesterday i go the message that started this thread - hence this thread...

10-08-2012, 09:08 PM	#1
grownupboy Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 90 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: kindle	Is Amazon Geo-locating IP Addresses For Purchases Now? hey all, canadian user and have been buying us books on amazon for years by setting my kindle's country to "USA". today i got the following message and unable to complete my purchase: "You attempted to purchase an item while in a different county than listed on your amazon account." never saw this before... anyone else seeing the same thing? curses - this really bites. there are VIRTUALLY NO BOOKS in the canadian kindle store. thanks! k

10-09-2012, 02:59 AM	#9
Prestidigitweeze Fledgling Demagogue Posts: 2,384 Karma: 31132263 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: White Plains Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.	The main use I'd have for Flyvpn or hide-my-ips would be to buy books which are unavailable Stateside. This often translates to the unavailability of rarefied titles (if only Atlas Press published eBooks!). Just today, I wanted to compare prices between the UK Kindle and Kobo ePub editions of A Time to Every Purpose, by Karl Knausgaard. The Amazon UK site wouldn't even let me see the price for local customers, let alone consider buying a copy. I ended up buying the ePub edition with a discount code, but I'd have liked to know how competitive that price turned out to be. Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 10-09-2012 at 03:26 AM.

10-09-2012, 09:15 AM	#11
Prestidigitweeze Fledgling Demagogue Posts: 2,384 Karma: 31132263 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: White Plains Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.	Strange -- I'm looking now and can only find the physical version of that edition in the Amazon UK store: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Everyth...ref=pd_sim_b_2 At home several hours ago, I saw this cover and was able to select the Kindle version, but the price was obscured by a prompt stating I couldn't buy the book. The Kobo Store's price was also lower earlier today and hurt even less with a coupon, which brought it to a little over $7.00: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Tim...5VQ/page1.html I imagine dynamic web stores might be disconcerting for a schizophrenic. Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 10-09-2012 at 09:18 AM.

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10-08-2012, 09:18 PM	#2
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,880 Karma: 207000000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	They let it go for a bit. Someone might be on vacation after all. But yes, I've heard of many people getting similar messages who leave their Kindle's country set to something other than where they really live for any length of time. To my knowledge, they've always kept track of IP addresses compared to registered locations. If you've gotten away with it for years ... you should probably consider yourself pretty lucky, actually.

10-08-2012, 09:27 PM	#3
Matriarch Member Posts: 23 Karma: 498976 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kindle 4	Any service that you use which involves the internet can (and does, when necessary) view your IP address. Since you're "cheating" the system, I'd say that it's one of those necessary times.

10-08-2012, 09:45 PM	#4
Trauma Doll Addict Posts: 219 Karma: 1009108 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: Gave up on PW. Using Kindle Keyboard.	Proxy server?

10-08-2012, 09:56 PM	#5
grownupboy Enthusiast Posts: 33 Karma: 90 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: kindle	oh ya, there's work-arounds... but it's just funny that they FINALLY started implementing this limitaion. as for "cheating" the system - i'd hardly call eagerly paying for books cheating anything except an antiquated distribution model that prevents digital books from being sold in any format in a given country. it's these distribution deals that predate the internet that are creating the issue in the first place... if i really wanted to cheat i'd just download the book for free, strip the drm and put it on any device i choose. see, i'm trying to play fair! k

10-08-2012, 11:38 PM	#6
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	You can be from any IP address in the world using this vehicle: http://www.hide-my-ip.com/

10-09-2012, 02:09 AM	#8
Iznogood Guru Posts: 932 Karma: 15752887 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Norway Device: Ipad, kindle paperwhite	Flyvpn has a free VPN solution. Your connection only lasts for 20 minutes, but it's more than enough time to buy your books from a 20 minute "vacation" in the US. I don't feel one bit like a crook when doing this. I have "visited" US almost every week since I discovered flyvpn, and it saves me $2 pr. book since Amazon charges for delivery of e-books to Europe, but I don't think that I'll get to hell for this (at least not only this). Since I started using VPN, these letters from Amazon stopped coming. Proxy was not enough to bypass the system, but VPN does the trick

10-09-2012, 04:26 AM	#10
hippy dave Zealot Posts: 124 Karma: 178472 Join Date: Jul 2012 Device: Kindle 4	^ i can't see it on the uk store as a kindle book, only physical copies.

10-09-2012, 11:42 AM	#13
CRussel (he/him/his) Posts: 12,322 Karma: 80074820 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast, BC Device: Oasis (Gen3),Paperwhite (Gen10), Voyage, Paperwhite(orig), iPad Air M3	As long as you have a valid US Amazon account, you should be able to buy eBooks without issue wherever in the world you are. What you can't buy is active content or video content. For that, you need a way around IP identification of physical location. I bought several books yesterday without issue and I've never had that message on my Kindle or my computer when buying eBooks. I _do_ get it on my multimedia computer if I'm trying to buy or view a video and forget to turn on the VPN. (I use hidemyass.com, for what it's worth.)

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