Buying a book on Amazon.com for a UK Kindle 3?

AFK_Matrix · 08-12-2010, 10:33 AM

Hi,

Just wondering if its possible to purchase a book from the US Amazon site and then get it to download onto a UK kindle 3?

I ask because one of the books I want is available in the US in ebook format but strangely not on the UK site. I can only find it in paperback in the UK

.

Thanks.

abookreader · 08-13-2010, 08:33 AM

All the eBook stores basically have 3 ways to verify residency and they'll choose some combination of those for their store. Amazon actually seems to be much looser than many of the other stores - but some people have still been caught and gotten an email saying their accounts have been temporarily frozen from Kindle purchases and asking the customer to contact them for verification. Generally all the customer has to do then is correct their address and wait a couple of days and they'll find their account working again. Nobody really seems to know what triggers that email but it is most likely buying a whole bunch of books all at once using a method that trips an alert from one of these checks....

But anyway ... these are the considerations for all the retailers.

1. Account address. In general for the Amazon store the address of importance is the one on the Manage My Kindle webpage. Since nothing is ever actually being mailed to the address, this is easy enough to fake. IE, there are reportedly a couple thousand Kindles who have listed addresses that match Mickey Mouse's house.

2. IP address. If you're shopping via computer this is easy enough to Americanize. Google US VPN server and you'll find how to do it. Shopping over the Kindle itself is more difficult, but still Amazon really doesn't seem to verify this much --- as Kindles are meant to travel anyway. IE people don't always use their Kindles at home and many American citizens are buying their Kindle books from their hotels in Europe.

3. Payment method. There are some stores who require a credit card on record that matches your residence. Some stores (Amazon) allow you to pay via gift card and when they do they don't verify the credit card country to the eBook geographic restriction. Customers have been using the gift card payment method at Amazon for a couple of years now.

So as I said, some people just go to the Manage Your Kindle webpage and change their address, buy their book, change it back and do just fine. Some go to much greater lengths to make themselves appear more like a real US citizen. The amount of effort you'll want to make is probably dependent upon how often you'll want to want to buy US books.

08-12-2010, 10:33 AM	#1
AFK_Matrix Sci Fi Addict :) Posts: 108 Karma: 112 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Crawley, UK Device: Kindle 3G+WiFi	Buying a book on Amazon.com for a UK Kindle 3? Hi, Just wondering if its possible to purchase a book from the US Amazon site and then get it to download onto a UK kindle 3? I ask because one of the books I want is available in the US in ebook format but strangely not on the UK site. I can only find it in paperback in the UK . Thanks.

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08-13-2010, 08:33 AM	#2
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	All the eBook stores basically have 3 ways to verify residency and they'll choose some combination of those for their store. Amazon actually seems to be much looser than many of the other stores - but some people have still been caught and gotten an email saying their accounts have been temporarily frozen from Kindle purchases and asking the customer to contact them for verification. Generally all the customer has to do then is correct their address and wait a couple of days and they'll find their account working again. Nobody really seems to know what triggers that email but it is most likely buying a whole bunch of books all at once using a method that trips an alert from one of these checks.... But anyway ... these are the considerations for all the retailers. 1. Account address. In general for the Amazon store the address of importance is the one on the Manage My Kindle webpage. Since nothing is ever actually being mailed to the address, this is easy enough to fake. IE, there are reportedly a couple thousand Kindles who have listed addresses that match Mickey Mouse's house. 2. IP address. If you're shopping via computer this is easy enough to Americanize. Google US VPN server and you'll find how to do it. Shopping over the Kindle itself is more difficult, but still Amazon really doesn't seem to verify this much --- as Kindles are meant to travel anyway. IE people don't always use their Kindles at home and many American citizens are buying their Kindle books from their hotels in Europe. 3. Payment method. There are some stores who require a credit card on record that matches your residence. Some stores (Amazon) allow you to pay via gift card and when they do they don't verify the credit card country to the eBook geographic restriction. Customers have been using the gift card payment method at Amazon for a couple of years now. So as I said, some people just go to the Manage Your Kindle webpage and change their address, buy their book, change it back and do just fine. Some go to much greater lengths to make themselves appear more like a real US citizen. The amount of effort you'll want to make is probably dependent upon how often you'll want to want to buy US books.

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