Guilt from buying from Amazon uk/ca.......Kobo uk/ca - Page 3

pentel · 03-14-2014, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49Kat

I think once you transfer your Kindle library to Amazon.ca from Amazon.com, you would likely have to purchase your kindle books from Amazon.ca thereafter. I know with my Amazon.com account, I can't buy kindle books from Amazon.ca even when my country settings are set to Canada. (I've tried it, just to see what would happen.)

From your experience, are kindle book prices in Amazon.com cheaper than Amazon.ca?

Amazon.ca - charges GST 5%
Amazon.com - no sales tax but has USD to CAD conversion and foreign currency transaction fee from credit card company.

pentel · 03-14-2014, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49Kat

Comparison, Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep":

Amazon.com (from my U.S. address): $7.99 USD
Amazon.ca (not signed in): $17.99 Cdn
Amazon.ca (signed in from my U.S. address): price not available
Kobo: $7.99, not sure if that's Cdn or USD. Same whether I'm signed in or not.

Interesting..

Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep"
Amazon.com US$19.21
Amazon.ca CDN$ 17.99

Big difference in price for Amazon.com (US$19.21 vs US$7.99). It looks like it is not worthwhile for me to buy from Amazon.com.

sqdancer · 03-14-2014, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pentel

Do you mean to say your Amazon.ca account does not let you buy kindle books from Amazon.com?

Correct. There's a place in Country setting that says I'm eligble to transfer my account to amazon.com if I so choose, but I always assumed it wouldn't really make much difference, so I haven't bothered.

It would be nice to be able to use amazonUK though. I'd like to be able to buy the British editions of some books. Oh well, there's always paper.

AnemicOak · 03-14-2014, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49Kat

Comparison, Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep":

Amazon.com (from my U.S. address): $7.99 USD
Amazon.ca (not signed in): $17.99 Cdn
Amazon.ca (signed in from my U.S. address): price not available
Kobo: $7.99, not sure if that's Cdn or USD. Same whether I'm signed in or not.

If I log into Kobo with my account set to Canada Doctor Sleep is $17.99 (vs $7.99 in the US).

49Kat · 03-14-2014, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If I log into Kobo with my account set to Canada Doctor Sleep is $17.99 (vs $7.99 in the US).

Oh, wow, that is good to know. If I do purchase, I'll do it before I head back north. Thanks! Although a part of me is rather peeved with the publisher for gouging Canadians like that...

49Kat · 03-14-2014, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pentel

From your experience, are kindle book prices in Amazon.com cheaper than Amazon.ca?

Amazon.ca - charges GST 5%
Amazon.com - no sales tax but has USD to CAD conversion and foreign currency transaction fee from credit card company.

I checked a few items on my wish list to compare prices. The results were mixed. Some books were the same price, some were significantly more expensive at Amazon.ca, some were only a bit less expensive at Amazon.com, and one book was actually cheaper at Amazon.ca. This is not taking into account taxes and exchange. It looks like your mileage may vary.

If my country settings are set to Canada, I find the price of some Kindle books can be higher.

AnemicOak · 03-14-2014, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 49Kat

Oh, wow, that is good to know. If I do purchase, I'll do it before I head back north. Thanks! Although a part of me is rather peeved with the publisher for gouging Canadians like that...

Technically by the publishers standards its "only" $2 more in Canada, since the US list price is $15.99 it's just that Amazon & Kobo are discounting it to $7.99. It's $11.99 for US customers at B&N and BAM, $8.00 at Google and $15.41 at Blio

49Kat · 03-14-2014, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Technically by the publishers standards its "only" $2 more in Canada, since the US list price is $15.99 it's just that Amazon & Kobo are discounting it to $7.99. It's $11.99 for US customers at B&N and BAM, $8.00 at Google and $15.41 at Blio

Yeah, I didn't look at 'list price'...OK, I don't need to do a boycott then.

Victoria · 03-15-2014, 11:28 AM

I'm a Canadian and have kept my Amazon.com address, rather than switching to .ca. At first, the .com books were significantly cheaper. However, as in the Stephen King example demonstrates, I can no longer buy from .com at the American rates. Amazon.com charges me the .ca prices regardless. I've checked hundreds of examples, always the same (adjusting for taxes).

Now that the Canadian dollar is lower as well, it would be cheaper to switch to .ca. However, the .com book selection is so broad that I'm reluctant to switch - I only run into geo restrictions occasionally.

PurpleStar · 03-15-2014, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pentel

Interesting..

Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep"
Amazon.com US$19.21
Amazon.ca CDN$ 17.99

Big difference in price for Amazon.com (US$19.21 vs US$7.99). It looks like it is not worthwhile for me to buy from Amazon.com.

It's $17.99 in the Canadian Kobo store as well.

49Kat · 03-15-2014, 11:54 AM

Doctor Sleep was on sale for $2.99 for a brief time from Amazon.com last December, but I had gone back to Canada for Christmas and I didn't want to risk any possible terms of service violations by using my U.S. address when I actually wasn't there. By the time we were back in the U.S. in early January, the book had gone back up in price.

When Books on Board was still operating, a book I wanted was available there at a lower price than I could get from other vendors if I set my address in my BoB account to my U.S. address, but not available to me at all from them if used my Canadian address. I e-mailed them and told them I was physically in Canada but I did have an actual U.S. address, would it be OK to use it. The fellow who replied said I could use whatever address I wanted, but he couldn't guarantee that the download would work. I tried it and it worked. In this case, it was in BoB's favor because I would have had to purchase the book elsewhere if I hadn't used the U.S. address. So no guilt involved there for me. It benefited the vendor from whom I purchased and the vendor knew I was doing it.

Angst · 03-17-2014, 05:14 PM

google and "hola better internet" are your friends.

works for netflix. might work for amazon/kobo/etc.

crich70 · 03-17-2014, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

I don't try and jump through hoops to save a couple of bucks on ebooks. If it is available in the US at a price I like, then I buy it. If it is not available then there are plenty of other books to read. If it is available and I don't like the price, I put it on my wishlist and wait for the price to come down.

I've got quite a good # of books in my wishlist that I couldn't get for one reason or another at the time I found them. And I check back often to see if books I'd like to buy on Kindle (but which aren't yet in Kindle format) have been added to the format.

Tarana · 03-17-2014, 06:36 PM

I have no guilt. I can change countries after clearing payment information. I don't have to change my address at all, so I am not obscuring anything or falsifying anything and therefore not in anyway at issue with item 3D. What really blocks you is the change of credit cards. Your card may not permit out-of-country online sales, which is what it triggers when you try to order outside of your country. I got a call from my credit card company not 20 minutes after entering my card with Kobo, but with UK selection checking to see if this was an authorized use.

I appreciate that they have this option, which equates with buying a physical book from the UK and having it shipped to you (all perfectly legal) since buying in the UK is the only way to obtain certain books.

Tarana · 03-23-2014, 09:02 PM

Interestingly enough, I discovered that today on the B&N website that I can switch to their british branch and buy books there now and they go into my US account. Payment is pounds, but I couldn't do this before.

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03-15-2014, 11:28 AM	#39
Victoria Wizard Posts: 1,017 Karma: 19767610 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Nova Scotia Canada Device: ipad, Kindle PW, Kobo Clara; iphone 7	I'm a Canadian and have kept my Amazon.com address, rather than switching to .ca. At first, the .com books were significantly cheaper. However, as in the Stephen King example demonstrates, I can no longer buy from .com at the American rates. Amazon.com charges me the .ca prices regardless. I've checked hundreds of examples, always the same (adjusting for taxes). Now that the Canadian dollar is lower as well, it would be cheaper to switch to .ca. However, the .com book selection is so broad that I'm reluctant to switch - I only run into geo restrictions occasionally.

03-15-2014, 11:54 AM	#41
49Kat Fanatic Posts: 580 Karma: 1309104 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: BC,Canada/NV, USA Device: iPad 9th Gen, iPhone 11, Paperwhite 10th Gen.	Doctor Sleep was on sale for $2.99 for a brief time from Amazon.com last December, but I had gone back to Canada for Christmas and I didn't want to risk any possible terms of service violations by using my U.S. address when I actually wasn't there. By the time we were back in the U.S. in early January, the book had gone back up in price. When Books on Board was still operating, a book I wanted was available there at a lower price than I could get from other vendors if I set my address in my BoB account to my U.S. address, but not available to me at all from them if used my Canadian address. I e-mailed them and told them I was physically in Canada but I did have an actual U.S. address, would it be OK to use it. The fellow who replied said I could use whatever address I wanted, but he couldn't guarantee that the download would work. I tried it and it worked. In this case, it was in BoB's favor because I would have had to purchase the book elsewhere if I hadn't used the U.S. address. So no guilt involved there for me. It benefited the vendor from whom I purchased and the vendor knew I was doing it.

03-17-2014, 05:14 PM	#42
Angst Cannon Fodder Posts: 2,884 Karma: 52253556 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Probably a library Device: PRS-350, Kindle DX, Kindle Paperwhite	google and "hola better internet" are your friends. works for netflix. might work for amazon/kobo/etc.

03-17-2014, 06:36 PM	#44
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,061 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	I have no guilt. I can change countries after clearing payment information. I don't have to change my address at all, so I am not obscuring anything or falsifying anything and therefore not in anyway at issue with item 3D. What really blocks you is the change of credit cards. Your card may not permit out-of-country online sales, which is what it triggers when you try to order outside of your country. I got a call from my credit card company not 20 minutes after entering my card with Kobo, but with UK selection checking to see if this was an authorized use. I appreciate that they have this option, which equates with buying a physical book from the UK and having it shipped to you (all perfectly legal) since buying in the UK is the only way to obtain certain books.

03-23-2014, 09:02 PM	#45
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,061 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Interestingly enough, I discovered that today on the B&N website that I can switch to their british branch and buy books there now and they go into my US account. Payment is pounds, but I couldn't do this before.