UK Kindle ebook store Now Open

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by nwhitfield

I've stuffed all the titles I used for my Amazon/Waterstones comparison into WH Smith as well now.

Key figures, for my collection of 36 books, bought May 2009-June 2010, originally costing £205.56 adjusted for the UK VAT change. To buy them all now:

Waterstones: £239.59
WH Smith: £205.61
Kindle store UK: £158.97

In every case, Amazon is cheaper than Waterstones, as is WH Smith. In three cases, Amazon is more expensive than WH Smith, by 9p, 48p and 3p on the titles concerned.

Beyond the price, the biggest drawback I found with Waterstones was the limit of a single download, I had a couple of books that didn't download properly initially and had the hassle of dealing with customer support just to get what I had paid for.

[Flub]

You can redownload from Waterstones as often as you like. There's an ebook section in your account details. I've used that quite a bit while testing drm removal scripts.

The problem comes when the link doesn't work at all and tech support first don't know what you're talking about, then lie about fixing it (Twice) and then finally agree to cancel the order and issue a refund which then bizarely fixes the link so you get a free book.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by Flub

You can redownload from Waterstones as often as you like. There's an ebook section in your account details. I've used that quite a bit while testing drm removal scripts.

The problem comes when the link doesn't work at all and tech support first don't know what you're talking about, then lie about fixing it (Twice) and then finally agree to cancel the order and issue a refund which then bizarely fixes the link so you get a free book.

Well, it didn't turn out to bad, did it.. for a problem.

[Flub]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Well, it didn't turn out to bad, did it.. for a problem.

Took two days of phone calls though All that work for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole.

It's the only purchase from them that has gone wrong though. But it does show up how useless they are if there's a problem.

[garygibsonsf]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Don't you have to register your Kindle App on Amazon? You probably have to do it again on the UK site. Or have you done it already?

All that happens when you follow the help pages is they take you to the download page for kindle for mac without actually telling you how to re-register for the UK Amazon.

EDIT: Wait, no, got it now. You have to go into kindle for mac's preferences.

[Frawan]

Originally Posted by Fbone

I'm betting non-UK residents are already trying to figure out how to purchase from .co.uk to save money.

Also, I'm wondering who is taking the hit. The publisher's receiving less money or is Amazon? Are the prices teaser rates?

Yes. Could someone please tell me how? The new UK price is very nice and low for the K3. If I purchase the K3 via US it costs me almost double the price, since I have to pay a lot of VAT and toll fees to get it imported into Denmark. From the UK I only have to pay VAT which will be added at checkout, so I am hoping they open this up for the rest of Europe. Wouldn't it be against the law not to?

- if anyone have ideas on how to get the K3 via .uk without being a resident.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Frawan

Yes. Could someone please tell me how? The new UK price is very nice and low for the K3. If I purchase the K3 via US it costs me almost double the price, since I have to pay a lot of VAT and toll fees to get it imported into Denmark. From the UK I only have to pay VAT which will be added at checkout, so I am hoping they open this up for the rest of Europe. Wouldn't it be against the law not to?

- if anyone have ideas on how to get the K3 via .uk without being a resident.

I guess it could be because of the 3G wireless that it's not available outside UK. I.e. they may not yet have made any deals with phone companies in other countries.

A Kindle 3 with 3G and wifi imported from amazon.com will cost you 262 USD which equals 164 GBP (according to google converter). The same costs 149 GBP at amazon.co.uk (with UK VAT of 17.5%). With Danish VAT and shipping I'm not sure it's so much cheaper...

[geertm]

Originally Posted by Frawan

Yes. Could someone please tell me how? The new UK price is very nice and low for the K3. If I purchase the K3 via US it costs me almost double the price, since I have to pay a lot of VAT and toll fees to get it imported into Denmark. From the UK I only have to pay VAT which will be added at checkout, so I am hoping they open this up for the rest of Europe. Wouldn't it be against the law not to?

- if anyone have ideas on how to get the K3 via .uk without being a resident.

At Borderlinx (www.borderlinx.com) you not only get a free USA mail forwarding address, but also a free UK mail forwarding address.
This should make it possible to order the K3 from the UK.
If the K3 was shipped to an UK address, and you use that UK address as the default address of your Kindle account, you should also be able to buy books from the UK Kindle store.
I would recommend to create a new Amazon account for your Kindle, with the UK mail forwarding address as default shipping address.

I am a happy Nook owner so I have not tried this myself. But I think it should work. I have uses Borderlinx several times (used them to order my Nook), you can trust them.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Also, I'm wondering who is taking the hit. The publisher's receiving less money or is Amazon? Are the prices teaser rates?

Usually US book prices are lower than UK book prices. Prices in the UK Kindle Store are currently direct conversions at the prevailing exchange rate from the prices in the US Kindle store, with the proviso that that are LOWER in the UK store, if there's a UK hard copy available at a lower price (which sometimes happens when a paperback edition has appeared in the UK before it appears in the US).

Publishers are taking the hit, but only because their UK book prices are higher than the US book prices.

Publishers do have an option (at least small publishers) to set a separate UK price. I don't know if many will.

It will be interesting to see what happens with pricing. My guess is that UK publishers selling ebooks through WHSmiths and Waterstones web sites will have to reduce the retail prices.

At the moment though, the Kindle 3 seems a bargain, both in initial purchase price, and the cost of kindle ebooks in the UK Kindle store.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Flub

You can redownload from Waterstones as often as you like. There's an ebook section in your account details. I've used that quite a bit while testing drm removal scripts.

The problem comes when the link doesn't work at all and tech support first don't know what you're talking about, then lie about fixing it (Twice) and then finally agree to cancel the order and issue a refund which then bizarely fixes the link so you get a free book.

I am glad they have changed that, but when I first started buying ebooks from them you were only allowed to download it once and such a pointless restriction was just another reason why I stopped using them.

[Kitabz]

Having been a very happy owner of the BeBook Neo for all of two weeks, I was dismayed to see the new Kindle and matching UK based e-book store appear this week.

Never mind the difference in the prices of the devices (large), the thing that pushed me into get the Neo was the WiFi/Internet capability which I see the new Kindle also has. I'm absolutely sold on the whole e-book concept though, I really doubt that I'll buy another hard copy again unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

The one limitation I've found with ePub/Mobi is the difficulty in getting the books I'm looking for. Paperback no problem, e-book not so available at any price.

But now Amazon UK has appeared and I can find almost any book that I've searched for so my dilemma is (was) that I have a very expensive new device but the books that I want are with another supplier on a proprietary system (which in principal I don't like, a bit like the whole Apple/i-Tunes scenario in the beginning).

Anyway, after some experimenting this afternoon (following some instructions/links I found on this forum), I've now got the best of all worlds without having to buy a Kindle.

On saying that, I probably will get the large screen Kindle if and when it becomes available directly in the UK - very useful for technical books and certain PDFs although I'll still prefer the smaller Neo for fiction.

[Frawan]

Originally Posted by Ea

I guess it could be because of the 3G wireless that it's not available outside UK. I.e. they may not yet have made any deals with phone companies in other countries.

A Kindle 3 with 3G and wifi imported from amazon.com will cost you 262 USD which equals 164 GBP (according to google converter). The same costs 149 GBP at amazon.co.uk (with UK VAT of 17.5%). With Danish VAT and shipping I'm not sure it's so much cheaper...

Than you I guess it might not be that much of a difference after all then. I dont think its the wireless that is keeping them from allowing it - since I assume the edition they are selling in the UK is the same as the international US edition, which should work fine in Denmark as well.

Ah well - I am keeing my Sony for now - hopefully it will mean lower prices at Waterstones due to the increased competition. I have tried to convince Danish publisher to start offering ebooks at LOWER rates than their printed books, but they are still insanely expensive. Like 25£ for a printed book and 30£ for some ebook/pdf. I can get 10 books for that price, so it will be a while until the Danes will be able to get affordable ebooks in Danish unfortunately

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Frawan

Than you I guess it might not be that much of a difference after all then. I dont think its the wireless that is keeping them from allowing it - since I assume the edition they are selling in the UK is the same as the international US edition, which should work fine in Denmark as well.

As far as I understand, at first Amazon dealt with the wireless service in other countries through roaming via AT&T. I'm not sure they actually have separate agreements with mobile services companies in all countries yet.

Amazon.com collect customs fees and VAT as a service (and you don't have to pay the extra fee that the courier usully demands - that helps, too). At least as far as I could find out, the UK offer does't seem much better than buying the device from USA.

Originally Posted by Frawan

Ah well - I am keeing my Sony for now - hopefully it will mean lower prices at Waterstones due to the increased competition. I have tried to convince Danish publisher to start offering ebooks at LOWER rates than their printed books, but they are still insanely expensive. Like 25£ for a printed book and 30£ for some ebook/pdf. I can get 10 books for that price, so it will be a while until the Danes will be able to get affordable ebooks in Danish unfortunately

Gyldendal? Yes, I have gotten so used to English/American prices now... but then, before, I hardly ever bought books unless on sale anyway. I believe it will take a long time for the market to adjust.

[kren]

Any idea if you can change back if to the US should the prices rise in the UK because I believe there is to be an increase in VAT from January next year.
I think I'll wait a while to see what happens

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kren

Any idea if you can change back if to the US should the prices rise in the UK because I believe there is to be an increase in VAT from January next year.

There is, but this will only increase prices by 2.1%, which is pretty negligible.