Buying on American's Kindle Store from abroad

[tsuk]

Hello everyone,

First, I'm sorry if this question has been already answered. I did search the forums, but found nothing, so...

I'm from Brazil. I live here, but my relatives are from the US. Last time I was there visiting, I bought a Kindle 2 for myself, and obviously set it up using my relative's US address (but using my international credit card - which means that the billing address is in Brazil), so I could buy books from the American Kindle Store, since the amount of books available is exponentially higher than the Latin American's, and the books are also cheaper.

Anyway, when I got to Brazil, I could still buy books from the American Kindle Store for the next month or so. Suddenly, it stopped working. I really don't want to buy books in the Latin American Kindle Store. It seems most books I want to read are not available there

I was just wondering if there was any way around that...? I thought abut using an US proxy, but I have no clue if its safe or not. I just want to be able to buy books from the American Kindle Store again...

I'd really appreciate any help, guys. Thanks a lot!

[Josieb1]

I live in the UK and I wanted a number of books in the US store.

I added a friends US address onto my UK Amazon account, made sure my own credit card was the I-Click payment method for that address, then went into Manage Your Kindle and changed my Kindle address to that American address.

I have then been able to purchase 17 books, they all downloaded via wifi fine and I have been billed for them on my credit card.

I also downloaded them to my PC as a back up.

I then changed my Kindle address back to the UK store and have checked everything is okay by downloading a few samples today.

So far everything seems okay. I haven't had any emails from Amazon at all, just the migration email on my Kindle as i switched bettween stores

[Josieb1]

I'm from Brazil. I live here, but my relatives are from the US. Last time I was there visiting, I bought a Kindle 2 for myself, and obviously set it up using my relative's US address (but using my international credit card - which means that the billing address is in Brazil),

Can't you add your relatives US address to your Amazon account and permanently migrate your account to the US?

if you are worried about them knowing you live in Brazil you could keep your wifi off and download books to your PC, then use Calibre to load them to your Kindle.

[abookreader]

Amazon seems to have 3 avenues to check for rights to buy in regards to geographic restrictions. I don't think anybody has ever been able to determine exactly what actions trigger a block from Amazon. Some people have been doing what you have been doing for a couple of years now and have never been blocked, some seem to get blocked fairly quickly.

These are the things to consider....

1. Address listed on Manage My Kindle page must be a valid US Address

You can use your friend US Address. It sounds like you are already doing this so it shouldn't be the problem.

2. Payment Method should be US payment method

Many get around this by buying an Amazon.com gift card and applying it to the account. Ebooks are purchased by the gift card and the address associated with the credit card used to buy the gift card never comes into play.

3. Physical location of the computer or Kindle used to make the purchase. This is a little trickier. Kindles are meant to travel so it isn't uncommon that a US buyer would be shopping on their Kindle out of country even for a period of months. However, if books are never bought from the US it might raise a red flag.

Some people shop from their computer using a US Proxy which gives them an appearance of physically being in the US. They download the book to the computer and then transfer it over to the Kindle.

I'd play around with purchasing via Gift Card first and then if you still can't get it to work start messing with the proxy servers.

[Josieb1]

2. Payment Method should be US payment method

This is not the case, I used my UK credit card.

3. Physical location of the computer or Kindle used to make the purchase.

My US books downloaded over wifi in the UK without any issues

[abookreader]

As I said - some people have been doing what you are doing for a long period of time and have never had a problem. Other people get blocked, either fairly quickly or after months of purchasing books with no problems.

As of yet, I haven't seen anybody figure out exactly what parameters trigger it to happen.

[Josieb1]

As I said - some people have been doing what you are doing for a long period of time and have never had a problem. Other people get blocked, either fairly quickly or after months of purchasing books with no problems.

Yes I know what you mean, I was quite nervous of doing it, but had no issues at all. I have done it twice now and got 17 books I wanted, its not something I will do often but I am hoping every now and again will slip through Amazon's net.

Ironically I wasn't after any cheap or free books, just authors I can't get in the UK. I spent over $150.00

[abookreader]

Hey - as far as I'm concerned we are talking about customers trying to buy books, with money. I'm actually impressed that people are willing to go thru all these hoops to buy, rather than just hopping over to a torrent site and getting it for free in under 20 seconds.

I do this all the time with paper books. I have a hobby where I take the covers of books I really like and frame them. I often find myself going to Amazon.co.uk and buying the versions there because I sometimes like those covers better and also you don't get "New York Times Bestselling Author" plastered across the picture on the cover. That doesn't really matter though. If I want to buy a UK book and a UK bookseller wants to sell me a book, exactly what is the problem?

I think these geographic restrictions are downright anti-consumer and I have no problem with somebody going to a different country to buy their books.

Hopefully, you'll never have a problem. Then again, hopefully the publishers will rework their business models to eliminate geographic restrictions.

[tsuk]

thanks for the responses guys

as I said, I could use the American Kindle Store for over a month, even in Brazil. I bought like 7-10 books and countless samples before it stopped working for me.

1) The US address I used not only is valid (since its my relative's), but is also on my Address Book (I've already bought a few paperback books from Amazon and sent them there).

2) I think the problem for me is all about my physical location. When I try to buy a book on the American Kindle Store, it says:

"XXX, please contact us or change your country to complete your purchase.

You attempted to purchase an item while in a different country than listed on your Amazon account.

Are you traveling outside your country?
Please contact customer service in order to continue purchasing Kindle items.

Did you recently move to a new country?
You can easily update your country for your Amazon account."

You see? I don't think buying gift cards would solve anything either, since the problem seems to be where I'm buying the books from.

I might try to proxy thing, I'm just worried about its security. Does anyone know if it's safe using one?

Thanks!

[Psykhe]

Did you buy them via the 3g connection of the Kindle or with a PC?

[tsuk]

The first couple of books I used the 3G, then I figured it would be better to download the books to my PC instead.

[loveangel]

u can use vps also use virtual credit card to overcome these issues

[Raheldm]

Will I also get the same notification of being in another country if I download the free books at amazon?

[Josieb1]

"XXX, please contact us or change your country to complete your purchase.

You attempted to purchase an item while in a different country than listed on your Amazon account.

Are you traveling outside your country?
Please contact customer service in order to continue purchasing Kindle items.

Did you recently move to a new country?
You can easily update your country for your Amazon account."

When I got this message I simply went to 'Manage Your Kindle' and reselected my US address, Amazon then sent me a migration letter to my Kindle, and I could then carry on with my purchase.

Once Amazon have recognised that you have 'changed country' when you go back into the US Kindle store it tells you to click a link to move your library across, once that is done, Amazon will let you purchase in the US, and its the same process moving back to your own country's store.

Its all automated, just follow the steps as Amazon tell you to.

I have the wifi only Kindle and I downloaded my US books in the UK over wifi without any problems

[tsuk]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

When I got this message I simply went to 'Manage Your Kindle' and reselected my US address, Amazon then sent me a migration letter to my Kindle, and I could then carry on with my purchase.

Once Amazon have recognised that you have 'changed country' when you go back into the US Kindle store it tells you to click a link to move your library across, once that is done, Amazon will let you purchase in the US, and its the same process moving back to your own country's store.

Its all automated, just follow the steps as Amazon tell you to.

I have the wifi only Kindle and I downloaded my US books in the UK over wifi without any problems

I tried reselecting my US address, but none of what you said happened. No "migration letter", no links to click, no moving my library...
I think I might have done something wrong, but I have no idea what.