Outside the US?

[lente]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Except the United States at least for some best sellers.

It would be helpful if we knew what country the OP has his credit card established, the currency and how and where he connects to the internet.

Yes, a lot of UK sellers do sell to many countries. Unfortunately the pound sterling is expensive compared to the dollar.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by lente

Yes, a lot of UK sellers do sell to many countries. Unfortunately the pound sterling is expensive compared to the dollar.

One reason I've always sought books from across the water .... and they seem more likely to offer mobi formats too ....

[djgreedo]

This might be of help to somebody:

I just managed to buy a book from Books on Board using a (fake) US address and my Paypal account (which takes money from my Australian bank account). I also currently have Hotspot Shield running, but I'm not sure if that's necessary to fool Books on Board (but it does let me download videos from my mp3 player's software).

[FlorenceArt]

It's hard to generalize geo-restriction issues. Don't believe anything in this thread (including what I'm telling you) untill you have verified it for yourself. And even, then, it may change later

Every shop has their own rules, and they keep changing all the time. Until recently, it was possible to buy geo-restricted books at Books on Board using gift certificates, but now they have started checking the location you are browsing from, presumably based on your IP address. There is a way to circumvent that, but I haven't tried it.

But things are getting better lately. There are more and more stores that sell to the European market, and I usually end up finding the book I want, though it's more expensive than in U.S. stores. I don't know how things stand outside of the U.S. and Europe, but presumably availability will keep improving, although having to search for a bookstore that will sell you the book you want is a pain. Inkmesh is a nice site but it's not always useful, being mostly US-centered.

When I am looking for an English language e-book, I follow more or less this path:

- start with inkmesh.com and see if any of the stores listed there will have the book available to me
- if that doesn't work, I try booksonboard UK (has been around for a while but I only recently started using it) or Waterstone.

At least, that's what I have done these last few weeks, but as I said, things change fast, and not always for the better You have to be willing to adapt, try new solutions, spend time searching, and yes, if you follow all the rules you will end up paying more for your books in many cases.

Sometimes all of this is almost enough to make me go back to paper books

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by lente

Yes, I agree. Amazon is more expensive, but they do have more books available in every country.

I don't know, but in my region amazon are actually cheaper than other stores like waterstones, WH smith Sony store etc. When you convert from dollars to pounds the same book can be several pounds cheaper at the kindle store.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by bevdeforges

Absolutely NOT true. I live in France and I bought my Sony PRS600 through amazon.co.uk. Registered it as being in the US. (OK, a tiny fib...)

Oh I've already registered my reader in the UK, so I guess I've lost my chance to buy from the Sony store. Not that bothered now though since I went on there last night and a lot of the books were horribly over-priced compared to even WH Smiths.

Waterstones seem to be over-priced and Kobo is hit and miss, some things are cheaper some more expensive. I also use another smaller seller called the book depository, but they dont have as many books as WH Smiths and Waterstones.

I find Amazon to be the cheapest. But as I dont have a kindle at the moment and I don't want to read on my pc or iphone or go through the trouble of trying to remove DRM. I can't take advantage of it.

[Jczar]

Originally Posted by dingdonglars

Thanks for all the responses!!!

I have noticed the new Kindle announcement but am reluctant. One: I think in the Ipad era the buttons on the Kindle kinda lame compared to the Sony touch, two: I do not want to be locked to just 1 eBook store, three: My area of navigation is primarily the Caribbean with no 3G coverage whatsoever.

SkyDream, could you give me links to some of the eBook stores you use?

Actually, I live in the Caribbean and 3G coverage is pretty good here. I own a Kindle, and have had no problems at all with 3G/EDGE.
I know that the major carriers here: Digicel, Cable Wireless (LIME), CLARO, are quite dominant throughout the entire region.

[lente]

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

I don't know, but in my region amazon are actually cheaper than other stores like waterstones, WH smith Sony store etc. When you convert from dollars to pounds the same book can be several pounds cheaper at the kindle store.

BooksOnBoard is cheaper than amazon. Unless you live in the US. Outside the US you pay 2 dollars more for every book at amazon.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by lente

BooksOnBoard is cheaper than amazon. Unless you live in the US. Outside the US you pay 2 dollars more for every book at amazon.

Thanks I will check it out

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by lente

BooksOnBoard is cheaper than amazon. Unless you live in the US. Outside the US you pay 2 dollars more for every book at amazon.

That's something of a generalisation. Whether or not you pay the $2 roaming charge depends whether or not Amazon have done a deal with the local telecoms operator or not. We don't pay it in the UK, for example.

[afa]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sorry, perhaps I have the two stores mixed up. I was aware that one had restrictions and the other didn't - it may well be Waterstones that doesn't, and W.H.Smiths that does.

Actually, they both have geo-restrictions. From my part of the world, however, WHSmith is better.

Waterstones refuses to sell ebooks to my region. I wrote them an email to find out, since I couldn't find the relevant info on the site, and they confirmed that they won't sell here because of geo-restrictions.

With WHSmith, the restrictions depend on the book. When you get a list of books in a search, for instance, there is a little icon below the cover for the book that would say either "Available Everywhere" or "Limited Availability". If the latter, clicking on it will give a list of countries where that ebook is available.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by afa

With WHSmith, the restrictions depend on the book. When you get a list of books in a search, for instance, there is a little icon below the cover for the book that would say either "Available Everywhere" or "Limited Availability". If the latter, clicking on it will give a list of countries where that ebook is available.

I think that Amazon's approach is a lot better, which is simply not to show you the book at all if you can't buy it.

[shanghaichica]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think that Amazon's approach is a lot better, which is simply not to show you the book at all if you can't buy it.

I prefer this approach. I can't count the number of times I've found a book on fictionwise gone through to the payment page only to get to the end and be told I can't buy it because of geographic restrictions. It's very fustrating. It almost out me off ebooks.