Changing Kindle stores?

[Croker]

Hello!

I'm absolutely desperate to buy Steven Pressfield's new book, "The Lion's Gate", which is out in the US (although strangely it doesn't seem to be available on Amazon.com at the moment, despite having been for sale for the last week or so) and Canada (it's still available on Amazon.ca). I, however, live in the UK, where the book is not available.

I've seen it suggested online that you can change which Amazon store you shop with - and indeed there's an option to do just that on the Amazon site - but I'm wondering if there are any problems with doing this? For example, is there anything to stop me from changing the store to the Canadian one, buying the book, and then switching straight back to the UK store?

Also, even if it allows me to change the store in this way, would my payment methods (debit/credit cards registered in the UK) work?

I'd appreciate any advice any of you may have! Thanks in advance!

[zxczxc]

hi, don't worry about it, there are no problems.
you can switch and switch back as many times as you want.
amazon lets you use basically any card with any store, they handle the currency conversion, so it doesn't matter if you use you uk/french/etc card on the usa/japanese amazon store.

here are a few images i made to help someone else who was worried too, to show all you need to do.
http://postimg.org/gallery/bk7cyacg/8839fa1c/

[Croker]

Originally Posted by zxczxc

hi, don't worry about it, there are no problems.
you can switch and switch back as many times as you want.
amazon lets you use basically any card with any store, they handle the currency conversion, so it doesn't matter if you use you uk/french/etc card on the usa/japanese amazon store.

here are a few images i made to help someone else who was worried too, to show all you need to do.
http://postimg.org/gallery/bk7cyacg/8839fa1c/

Thanks very much for your help - unfortunately, however, Amazon.com is no longer selling the book on Kindle (I have no idea why, because they were doing so previously), and even changing to Amazon.com doesn't allow me to buy it from Amazon.ca. Would actually changing my address to a Canadian one allow me to buy it from there?

[Dr. Drib]

I'm showing that it's available as a Kindle ebook.

I have a U.S.A. account, with dual residency in the U.S.A and Peru.

[Croker]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'm showing that it's available as a Kindle ebook.

I have a U.S.A. account, with dual residency in the U.S.A and Peru.

That's very strange! When I go on to the page...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lions-Gate...ref=kinw_dp_ke

...it says, in the top right of the screen, "this title is not currently available for purchase".

If you click on my link in this post, Dr. Drib, does it show it as being available for sale? I'm wondering if it's detecting that I'm not at an IP address in the US, so still refusing to sell me the book, regardless of whether or not I've changed the country of my Kindle store to the US. It's all very odd. Who knew that trying to pay an author for their work would be so fraught with complications?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Croker

That's very strange! When I go on to the page...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lions-Gate...ref=kinw_dp_ke

...it says, in the top right of the screen, "this title is not currently available for purchase".

If you click on my link in this post, Dr. Drib, does it show it as being available for sale? I'm wondering if it's detecting that I'm not at an IP address in the US, so still refusing to sell me the book, regardless of whether or not I've changed the country of my Kindle store to the US. It's all very odd. Who knew that trying to pay an author for their work would be so fraught with complications?

I just used your link (to double check) and I can click on 'Buy Now.'

It's $11.99, by the way.

-- I forgot to add that I'm currently in Peru.

[Croker]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I just used your link (to double check) and I can click on 'Buy Now.'

It's $11.99, by the way.

-- I forgot to add that I'm currently in Peru.

Thanks for that! I've just checked the same link and it's still saying "this title is not currently available to purchase". I can only conclude that this is some form of IP address check, or similar, which is intended to prevent people in certain markets from buying the book at this point, probably because it will be made available there by a local publisher later (e.g. the UK, where I live).

Thing is, it's not been made clear when it will be released on Kindle in the UK; if we're talking a matter of days, then I can wait (much as I don't want to!). If we're talking months, though, then I'd rather buy it now; I have a holiday coming up and would very much like it to read on the plane (I'm flying to Australia and so will have plenty of time!).

I guess the next step is to change my Kindle store to the US, and then try accessing the book's Kindle page using a US (or Peruvian!) proxy, and see if that works.

[Josieb1]

To change your kindle account to US you need to load a US address to your account then change your country to the US via the County Settings under your Kindle Account settings, selecting the US address. This transfers your kindle account to the US. You buy your book then do the same process at Amazon.com to transfer your account back to the UK.

[jersysman]

I can also verify that I have the Buy Now link. The price is indeed 11.99. I'm in the US.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Croker

Thanks for that! I've just checked the same link and it's still saying "this title is not currently available to purchase". I can only conclude that this is some form of IP address check, or similar, which is intended to prevent people in certain markets from buying the book at this point, probably because it will be made available there by a local publisher later (e.g. the UK, where I live).
.

Many - but not all - books are subject to geographic restrictions imposed by the publisher. This means that Amazon will offer them for sale in countries where the publisher allows them to do so, but not in others.

It's usually assumed that Amazon use an IP address check to determine the purchaser's country. But that doesn't seem to be the case - at least, in my experience. I have accounts with Amazon both in the UK and the US. If I visit the page you linked to while logged into my UK account, I see the same message you see, stating that the book is not available to purchase. But if I go to the same page when logged into my US account, I can see - and purchase - the book without any problem. This is despite the fact that I am using computers on the same network - and therefore from the same IP address - in both cases.

I've always assumed that I can do this because I have a US credit card that is registered to a US address. But I'm not sure. Presumably Dr Drib is in a similar position.

Mike

[Croker]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Many - but not all - books are subject to geographic restrictions imposed by the publisher. This means that Amazon will offer them for sale in countries where the publisher allows them to do so, but not in others.

It's usually assumed that Amazon use an IP address check to determine the purchaser's country. But that doesn't seem to be the case - at least, in my experience. I have accounts with Amazon both in the UK and the US. If I visit the page you linked to while logged into my UK account, I see the same message you see, stating that the book is not available to purchase. But if I go to the same page when logged into my US account, I can see - and purchase - the book without any problem. This is despite the fact that I am using computers on the same network - and therefore from the same IP address - in both cases.

I've always assumed that I can do this because I have a US credit card that is registered to a US address. But I'm not sure. Presumably Dr Drib is in a similar position.

Mike

That's interesting, Mike (thanks also to Jersysman and Josieb1 for your comments, too!) - I'm aware of possible geographic restrictions on certain titles, as in the past I circumvented these by buying a Booksonboard gift voucher on a UK card, then changing my location to the US and using the gift card to pay for the book, before changing my location back to the UK.

There are a couple of things I need to test, I think - even when not signed into any account, a search for "The Lion's Gate" in the Kindle store of Amazon.com does not produce the page for the Kindle version of the book in the search results. Similarly, if I search for "Steven Pressfield" on Amazon.com's Kindle store - whilst not signed into any account - "The Lion's Gate" does not appear as a result, but many of his other Kindle books do. The hardcover version of the book does appear as a result in the "All Departments" section of the results, however. This, to me at least, is suggestive that some sort of IP address check is in play.

Incidentally, this issue would seem to be unique to Amazon.com - when going to the Amazon.ca site from a UK computer (but not signed into any Amazon account), "The Lion's Gate" appears as on sale for CDN$15.99. It only refuses to sell the book once I sign into my account (which is based in the UK), telling me that the book isn't available in my region.

On the Amazon.co.uk site, there's a direct link to change your Kindle library and shopping to Amazon.com. That's the link I used when I tried earlier today, and that wouldn't let me buy "The Lion's Gate" either. One thing I haven't done is enter a US address (even a bogus one) before trying to buy it, though.

So, I guess I need to try:
- a US proxy to see if the book shows up in search results that way
- switching my Kindle library to Amazon.com, connect to Amazon.com through a US proxy (but without adding a US address), and see if I can buy the book with one of my existing UK payment cards
- and finally, switch my Kindle library to Amazon.com, go to Amazon.com without using a US proxy, but add a US address to my account, and try to buy the book with one of my existing UK payment cards.

This should establish a little more about what we're dealing with. If it transpires that I need a US registered payment card, then, alas, I'll have to admit defeat.

I'll let you all know how I get on!

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Croker

and finally, switch my Kindle library to Amazon.com, go to Amazon.com without using a US proxy, but add a US address to my account, and try to buy the book with one of my existing UK payment cards.

This should establish a little more about what we're dealing with. If it transpires that I need a US registered payment card, then, alas, I'll have to admit defeat.

I'll let you all know how I get on!

Amazon won't care about you using a UK payment card, debit or credit, all it needs to transfer your Kindle account to the US is a US address. Once you've added a US addresses to your UK Amazon account and then linked your Kindle account to that US address (all done on the UK site) it automatically asks you if you want to switch your Kindle account to the US, nothing else on your UK or US account changes, just at that point you can only buy Kindle books in the US store.

Then you reverse the process starting in the US store to come back to the UK. You can stay registered to the US for a long as you want. I used to be registered permanently, now I only do it occasionally.

[Croker]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Amazon won't care about you using a UK payment card, debit or credit, all it needs to transfer your Kindle account to the US is a US address. Once you've added a US addresses to your UK Amazon account and then linked your Kindle account to that US address (all done on the UK site) it automatically asks you if you want to switch your Kindle account to the US, nothing else on your UK or US account changes, just at that point you can only buy Kindle books in the US store.

Then you reverse the process starting in the US store to come back to the UK. You can stay registered to the US for a long as you want. I used to be registered permanently, now I only do it occasionally.

Thanks, Josie - my testing revealed that this was completely correct, so this was very much appreciated! The key, as you say, is to add a US address through the "Manage Your Kindle" section of your UK account (I used a random one for Virginia), and then linked my UK payment card to it. As you further noted, the Amazon site will then automatically update to say that your Kindle account is in the US.

People wanting to do this themselves from the UK site should log in, go to the "Manage Your Kindle" section of their account, then click on "Country Settings". It will show "United Kingdom" under "Current Country", and to the right is a link marked "Change". Click that and a window to enter a new address will appear (if you've already entered a US address into your address book, you can just choose it from the drop-down at the top of the window). When you're done, click "Update", et voila, that's it!

Anyway, having done this, I was then able to see, buy and download the book (both to my Kindle and the Kindle app on my Mac), before going back and reversing the process above to get back to my UK address.

I did test the proxy thing to an extent though, and it would seem that my suspicions were correct regarding what titles are displayed by Amazon.com - as I said in an earlier post, the Kindle edition of "The Lion's Gate" wouldn't appear in search results when I looked for it from my computer in the UK. However, using a simple browser-based US proxy, it showed up in the search results straight away. This may be something people should bear in mind when searching for titles on Amazon.com in future!

Thanks all for your advice - if even one person finds this useful (besides me!), then I'll be a happy man indeed

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Amazon won't care about you using a UK payment card, debit or credit, all it needs to transfer your Kindle account to the US is a US address.

Just to be clear about that. When you refer to a "UK payment card, debit or credit", I assume you mean a card issued by a UK bank or card provider. If so, what you say completely correct. In general, the "nationality" of the provider is irrelevant.

What's important (in this context) is the address you provide to Amazon when you set the card up as your payment method. This would normally be the address which is registered with the card provider. But that address does not have to be in the same country as the provider.

I hope that makes sense.

Mike

[Josieb1]

I'm glad it all worked out for you Croker, I know what's it like to be desperate for a book.