Yes, but does this mean we no longer need to use gift certificates?

Mike L · 10-07-2009, 07:52 AM

So, it looks like many of the geographic restrictions on Kindle books have been removed. All the titles I've checked on the Kindle front page now state that the price includes "international wireless delivery" (although not all books are available in all countries). Amazon UK says that over 280,000 books from the US Kindle store are now available in the UK.

This should mean we can abandon the use of gift certificates, vritual credit cards and similar kludges, and pay with a credit card registered to a non-US address.

Have I understood it right? My problem is that I can't test this because I have a fairly large balance on my gift cert. account, and there's no way to force it to charge the credit card.

Also, I assume that you don't actually need the new international version of the Kindle to take advantage of this (unless of course you want to use the wireless access).

HarryT · 10-07-2009, 09:02 AM

Only time wll time, I suspect, Mike. Logically, you are right, but in reality - who knows?

LucasCorso · 10-07-2009, 09:11 AM

I have been browsing the Kindle store for some books and unfortunatelly, the ones I want to buy are not available for my region (Europe). Copyright reasons, it was mentioned.
I will wait a few days to see if it's worth registering my device on my real account or the one I've created using a fake US mail address.

Sweetpea · 10-07-2009, 09:22 AM

The three I really want, are... But I still can't buy them, due to a lack of a Kindle or a fruit product.

Mike L · 10-07-2009, 10:18 AM

A bit more information ....

If you go to the Kindle store without logging in, or by logging in to a non-US account, you can only see books available in your country. But if you log in to the account that has your gift certificates, you can see all titles.

(At least, that's what I saw based on my own quick test. I didn't test in exhaustively.)

So, in some ways, we're no better off. We must either (i) stick with the gift certificates to access the entire Kindle store; or (ii) use a legit payment method, and stick to books available in your country.

It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Terisa de morgan · 10-07-2009, 10:29 AM

It depends on you country, I'm afraid. I've gone to the Kindle Store with my Spanish account and I see almost all the titles (more than 270.000), but quite more expensive.

LucasCorso · 10-07-2009, 10:37 AM

Logged in with my real account, I can't find, for example, "A briefer history of time" - Kindle edition, but some paperbacks are available. With the fake "american" account (and I didn't use a US proxy), I can find it (and probably can buy it).
Earlier today with the real account I could find the kindle edition but got a message "not available in your region". Now it's not there at all anymore, so I guess they are still working on things...

P.S. I wonder if Amazon is reading these forums and addapt their policies based on what they find out their customers are trying...

Mike L · 10-07-2009, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike L

If you go to the Kindle store without logging in, or by logging in to a non-US account, you can only see books available in your country. But if you log in to the account that has your gift certificates, you can see all titles.

I see now I was wrong about that. What you see isn't governed by the account you log into.

There's a drop-down list in the top left of the screen where you select your country or region. If you set that to USA, you see all the titles; if you set it to another country, you see the titles available in that country.

Interestingly, there are separate entries for United Kingdom and Europe, which seems a bit illogical. If a book is listed under Europe but not under UK, surely a UK reader should still be able to buy it.

HarryT · 10-07-2009, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike L

Interestingly, there are separate entries for United Kingdom and Europe, which seems a bit illogical. If a book is listed under Europe but not under UK, surely a UK reader should still be able to buy it.

For some peculiar reason, a fair number of people seem to be under the impression that the UK is not a part of Europe. This has always been a pet hate of mine

.

The reason in this case, however, is almost without doubt the fact that many books have separate UK and US publishers, and hence Amazon will not be permitted to sell the US edition to people in the UK, but will be able to supply it to the rest of Europe.

pshrynk · 10-07-2009, 03:53 PM

Doesn't UK still use pounds? The split may be mostly due to the Euro/Pound situation than anything else.

Blog Kindle · 10-07-2009, 05:47 PM

I don't think that other countries get a subset of Kindle books available for US. It's possible (although unlikely for most books) for some title Amazon would find a more easy-going publisher in a foreign country while the holder of publishing rights in US would refuse to make the book digital.

It would be interesting to see if there are any such cases.

Terisa de morgan · 10-08-2009, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike L

Interestingly, there are separate entries for United Kingdom and Europe, which seems a bit illogical. If a book is listed under Europe but not under UK, surely a UK reader should still be able to buy it.

Do you think it will be related with the rest of Europe not speaking English, so no UK publishers there?

Mike L · 10-08-2009, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

For some peculiar reason, a fair number of people seem to be under the impression that the UK is not a part of Europe. This has always been a pet hate of mine

.

Yes, I find that annoying as well. Even people in the UK are guilty of it (as in "I'm going on a trip from Edinburgh to Europe").

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The reason in this case, however, is almost without doubt the fact that many books have separate UK and US publishers, and hence Amazon will not be permitted to sell the US edition to people in the UK, but will be able to supply it to the rest of Europe.

That sounds plausible. Ideally, they should say "Europe except UK" instead of simply "Europe", but I suppose that wouldn't be practical.

Pshrynk, no I doubt if it's anything to do with the currency. There are many countries in Europe that don't use the euro. In any case, that wouldn't affect the geographic restrictions on the titles.

Sweetpea · 10-08-2009, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

For some peculiar reason, a fair number of people seem to be under the impression that the UK is not a part of Europe. This has always been a pet hate of mine

.

Also of mine

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The reason in this case, however, is almost without doubt the fact that many books have separate UK and US publishers, and hence Amazon will not be permitted to sell the US edition to people in the UK, but will be able to supply it to the rest of Europe.

BoB has the same. If you go to the UK site, you get less books. (as I'm not UK, I'll just go to the US version

)

mack 120 · 10-08-2009, 05:13 AM

Interesting to hear your comments.
I have taken the plunge and pre ordered the Kindle 2 from the US Amazon site yesterday. Did have a Sony PRS 505, but screen broke. Really miss using the reader and hoping for a better experience from Amazon than i had with Sony.
Im just wondering if it possible to set up two accounts. A US and a UK account?

Did used the Sony book store with gift certificates work around.
Also do any of you know of a way to convert my sony library to to Kindle??
My other thought is, if they can be converted i could still use the Sony Store (although limited) as a form of some cheap US content

Thanks for comments in advance

mack 120

10-07-2009, 07:52 AM	#1
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	Yes, but does this mean we no longer need to use gift certificates? So, it looks like many of the geographic restrictions on Kindle books have been removed. All the titles I've checked on the Kindle front page now state that the price includes "international wireless delivery" (although not all books are available in all countries). Amazon UK says that over 280,000 books from the US Kindle store are now available in the UK. This should mean we can abandon the use of gift certificates, vritual credit cards and similar kludges, and pay with a credit card registered to a non-US address. Have I understood it right? My problem is that I can't test this because I have a fairly large balance on my gift cert. account, and there's no way to force it to charge the credit card. Also, I assume that you don't actually need the new international version of the Kindle to take advantage of this (unless of course you want to use the wireless access).

10-07-2009, 10:37 AM	#7
LucasCorso Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 239 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Belgium Device: Kindle DX	Logged in with my real account, I can't find, for example, "A briefer history of time" - Kindle edition, but some paperbacks are available. With the fake "american" account (and I didn't use a US proxy), I can find it (and probably can buy it). Earlier today with the real account I could find the kindle edition but got a message "not available in your region". Now it's not there at all anymore, so I guess they are still working on things... P.S. I wonder if Amazon is reading these forums and addapt their policies based on what they find out their customers are trying... Last edited by LucasCorso; 10-07-2009 at 10:40 AM.

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10-07-2009, 09:02 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Only time wll time, I suspect, Mike. Logically, you are right, but in reality - who knows?

10-07-2009, 09:11 AM	#3
LucasCorso Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 239 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Belgium Device: Kindle DX	I have been browsing the Kindle store for some books and unfortunatelly, the ones I want to buy are not available for my region (Europe). Copyright reasons, it was mentioned. I will wait a few days to see if it's worth registering my device on my real account or the one I've created using a fake US mail address.

10-07-2009, 09:22 AM	#4
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	The three I really want, are... But I still can't buy them, due to a lack of a Kindle or a fruit product.

10-07-2009, 10:18 AM	#5
Mike L Wizard Posts: 1,479 Karma: 3846231 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Device: Kindle 3, Samsung Galaxy	A bit more information .... If you go to the Kindle store without logging in, or by logging in to a non-US account, you can only see books available in your country. But if you log in to the account that has your gift certificates, you can see all titles. (At least, that's what I saw based on my own quick test. I didn't test in exhaustively.) So, in some ways, we're no better off. We must either (i) stick with the gift certificates to access the entire Kindle store; or (ii) use a legit payment method, and stick to books available in your country. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

10-07-2009, 10:29 AM	#6
Terisa de morgan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,229 Karma: 11768331 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2	It depends on you country, I'm afraid. I've gone to the Kindle Store with my Spanish account and I see almost all the titles (more than 270.000), but quite more expensive.

10-07-2009, 03:53 PM	#10
pshrynk Beepbeep n beebeep, yeah! Posts: 11,726 Karma: 8255450 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: La Crosse, Wisconsin, aka America's IceBox Device: iThingie, KmkII, I miss Zelda!	Doesn't UK still use pounds? The split may be mostly due to the Euro/Pound situation than anything else.

10-07-2009, 05:47 PM	#11
Blog Kindle Addict Posts: 224 Karma: 25122 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 1/2/3/4/Touch/DX/Fire\|PRS-600/350\|Nook(color)\|iPad\|iPad2\|EVO 4G	I don't think that other countries get a subset of Kindle books available for US. It's possible (although unlikely for most books) for some title Amazon would find a more easy-going publisher in a foreign country while the holder of publishing rights in US would refuse to make the book digital. It would be interesting to see if there are any such cases.

10-08-2009, 05:13 AM	#15
mack 120 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Cheshire UK Device: Kindle 2, iPad, Samsung NC10, IPhone 3GS, iMac, Sony PRS505 (broke)	Interesting to hear your comments. I have taken the plunge and pre ordered the Kindle 2 from the US Amazon site yesterday. Did have a Sony PRS 505, but screen broke. Really miss using the reader and hoping for a better experience from Amazon than i had with Sony. Im just wondering if it possible to set up two accounts. A US and a UK account? Did used the Sony book store with gift certificates work around. Also do any of you know of a way to convert my sony library to to Kindle?? My other thought is, if they can be converted i could still use the Sony Store (although limited) as a form of some cheap US content Thanks for comments in advance mack 120