Kindle books as gift...finally?

wigm · 11-19-2010, 09:47 AM

Just logged on to Amazon this morning and noticed the give Kindle books as gift option. I'll have to gift myself something to test it....mmmm where to post my christmas list....

suecsi · 11-19-2010, 10:03 AM

Looks like they are rolling it out on the .com site first, not showing on .co.uk yet.

Examples shown below for the same book in US and UK stores.

I'll be great if they get this live in the UK soon as I can just send my wish list out instead of a request for Amazon vouchers.

TheKindleWorm · 11-19-2010, 10:18 AM

Ohhh I got excited for one minute

Hopefully they will roll it out to the UK soon otherwise hubby will just have to give me gift vouchers instead. Be nicer if he could actually pick out a selection of books.

suecsi · 11-19-2010, 10:25 AM

?

My family are all heading down to an outlet tomorrow for Christmas Shopping - Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth - and we all have to send 'Christmas Lists' and 'Birthday Lists' each year. I'd like to just direct them to my Amazon wishlist and get them to buy one or two of the lots of Kindle books that are on there ...

wigm · 11-19-2010, 10:26 AM

Sorry about that Worm and suecsi, couldn't test from outside the US (from work).

Ok tested it with gifting myself. You get an email with the link back to Amazon to accept the gift, rather painless process at first glance. I'll test with another account and see what happens....good excuse to add a couple more books to my Kindle...

LUW · 11-19-2010, 10:45 AM

And what about the darn copyright issues? For instance, can I gift a book from .com that is not ordinarily available to other countries?

suecsi · 11-19-2010, 11:37 AM

Not sure how they'll handle that - they'll annoy a lot of people if Auntie Betty in Florida orders a Kindle book on Amazon.com for Susie in London and then when Susie in London logs in to her usual account, she gets some error message when downloading the book.

I have tried it with my US account under one email address and sending a gift to the email address I use for my UK account.

I have had the confirmation order for the US account but no 'gift link' yet in the UK account email.

suecsi · 11-19-2010, 11:46 AM

OK - it doesn't work. If you sign in with the UK email address, it gives you the message on the right:-

You are signed in as
xxxx@gmail.com
Use a different Amazon account

This title is not available for customers from:
United Kingdom

Contact Customer Service to exchange for Gift Card

So you have to have an account registered on the .com site with the appropriate addresses etc to make this work.

I wanted this book anyway and it is cheaper in the US, so have accepted my own gift and now have to unregister and re-register Kindle4PC as I don't have any devices registered at Amazon.com any more since I moved to the UK site.

They'll need to clean that up as it wasn't that clear, certainly not for someone that is gifting items, they might not think to change the country thing to say UK or wherever.

suecsi · 11-19-2010, 12:06 PM

At the bottom of this page:-
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200555070

Quote:

Eligibility to Redeem a Kindle Book Gift

Kindle book gift notifications can be sent to any e-mail address. If the giver and the recipient do not live in the same country, the book may not available to the recipient due to copyright restrictions. In these cases the recipient will be given the option to request an exchange for gift credit on their Amazon.com account during the redemption process, or they may contact Customer Service for assistance in exchanging the book.

I think they need to make this more obvious in the ordering process - not in the 'manual' - which, face it, lots of people wouldn't read. I just went looking for this.

hgwlackey · 11-19-2010, 12:36 PM

Agreed. It needs to be really prominent during the purchasing process: "This book is restricted to the following countries.... If your recipient is outside these countries..."

(Although what I was really hoping was that gifting was going to be a way to get around geo-restrictions, since the person PURCHASING the book IS in the required country. It should be nobody's business who I then give the book to.)

(I expect this also means that I wouldn't be able to purchase a book for a recipient that's available in THEIR country but not MINE. At least not till they get their system better worked out.)

jlmwrite · 11-19-2010, 02:22 PM

I do so feel for those of you with this problem. (Really -- no sarcasm intended.) At the same, time I have a heart bursting with joy -- at last, my kids have an alternative to gift cards so that I can get immediate gratification from my presents!

I'm looking forward to a long, lazy Christmas afternoon spent reading some newly downloaded books...

pilotbob · 11-20-2010, 12:08 PM

I think this is great news... and one of the two things that I have said is really missing from the Kindle eco system.

Now, if they do my second thing...

wait... then I'll have nothing to complain about.

BOb

GA Russell · 11-20-2010, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hgwlackey

Although what I was really hoping was that gifting was going to be a way to get around geo-restrictions, since the person PURCHASING the book IS in the required country. It should be nobody's business who I then give the book to.

I agree. Amazon is behaving as if the merchandise were contraband in the recipient's country.

If I buy a hardback book, I could ship it to England with no problem from the UK govt, right? It should be the same for eBooks.

pilotbob · 11-20-2010, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GA Russell

If I buy a hardback book, I could ship it to England with no problem from the UK govt, right? It should be the same for eBooks.

You're preaching to the choir.

BOb

rittsi · 11-20-2010, 05:22 PM

Just tried to gift my Belgian account a book with my US account and I also got the message that the book is not available in my region when I opened the Amazon gift link.

The weird thing is that the book is available for purchase in Belgium. Kind of bummed. I guess this means only people in my region can currently gift a book to me?

(Maybe I should use this as a sign that I need to move back to the US?

)

11-19-2010, 09:47 AM	#1
wigm Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 30 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Virginia Device: Kindle DX, K3, Nook, TouchPad	Kindle books as gift...finally? Just logged on to Amazon this morning and noticed the give Kindle books as gift option. I'll have to gift myself something to test it....mmmm where to post my christmas list....

11-19-2010, 10:03 AM	#2
suecsi Rock Chick Posts: 429 Karma: 4965 Join Date: May 2009 Location: near Heathrow Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G	Not on Amazon.co.uk yet :( Looks like they are rolling it out on the .com site first, not showing on .co.uk yet. Examples shown below for the same book in US and UK stores. I'll be great if they get this live in the UK soon as I can just send my wish list out instead of a request for Amazon vouchers. Attached Thumbnails

11-19-2010, 12:36 PM	#10
hgwlackey Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 9550 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Tennessee, USA Device: Kindle Touch, HTC Thunderbolt	Agreed. It needs to be really prominent during the purchasing process: "This book is restricted to the following countries.... If your recipient is outside these countries..." (Although what I was really hoping was that gifting was going to be a way to get around geo-restrictions, since the person PURCHASING the book IS in the required country. It should be nobody's business who I then give the book to.) (I expect this also means that I wouldn't be able to purchase a book for a recipient that's available in THEIR country but not MINE. At least not till they get their system better worked out.) Last edited by hgwlackey; 11-19-2010 at 12:38 PM.

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11-19-2010, 10:18 AM	#3
TheKindleWorm Guru Posts: 860 Karma: 177868 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: East Anglia UK Device: Kindle 3G, iPhone 3G, iPod 4G, PB 360, Sony 600 sold, Kindle 2i sold	Ohhh I got excited for one minute Hopefully they will roll it out to the UK soon otherwise hubby will just have to give me gift vouchers instead. Be nicer if he could actually pick out a selection of books.

11-19-2010, 10:25 AM	#4
suecsi Rock Chick Posts: 429 Karma: 4965 Join Date: May 2009 Location: near Heathrow Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G	? My family are all heading down to an outlet tomorrow for Christmas Shopping - Gunwharf Quays at Portsmouth - and we all have to send 'Christmas Lists' and 'Birthday Lists' each year. I'd like to just direct them to my Amazon wishlist and get them to buy one or two of the lots of Kindle books that are on there ...

11-19-2010, 10:26 AM	#5
wigm Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 30 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Virginia Device: Kindle DX, K3, Nook, TouchPad	Sorry about that Worm and suecsi, couldn't test from outside the US (from work). Ok tested it with gifting myself. You get an email with the link back to Amazon to accept the gift, rather painless process at first glance. I'll test with another account and see what happens....good excuse to add a couple more books to my Kindle...

11-19-2010, 10:45 AM	#6
LUW Ex-paperboy Posts: 46 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Brazil Device: Kindle 3	And what about the darn copyright issues? For instance, can I gift a book from .com that is not ordinarily available to other countries?

11-19-2010, 11:37 AM	#7
suecsi Rock Chick Posts: 429 Karma: 4965 Join Date: May 2009 Location: near Heathrow Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G	Not sure how they'll handle that - they'll annoy a lot of people if Auntie Betty in Florida orders a Kindle book on Amazon.com for Susie in London and then when Susie in London logs in to her usual account, she gets some error message when downloading the book. I have tried it with my US account under one email address and sending a gift to the email address I use for my UK account. I have had the confirmation order for the US account but no 'gift link' yet in the UK account email.

11-19-2010, 11:46 AM	#8
suecsi Rock Chick Posts: 429 Karma: 4965 Join Date: May 2009 Location: near Heathrow Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G	OK - it doesn't work. If you sign in with the UK email address, it gives you the message on the right:- You are signed in as xxxx@gmail.com Use a different Amazon account This title is not available for customers from: United Kingdom Contact Customer Service to exchange for Gift Card So you have to have an account registered on the .com site with the appropriate addresses etc to make this work. I wanted this book anyway and it is cheaper in the US, so have accepted my own gift and now have to unregister and re-register Kindle4PC as I don't have any devices registered at Amazon.com any more since I moved to the UK site. They'll need to clean that up as it wasn't that clear, certainly not for someone that is gifting items, they might not think to change the country thing to say UK or wherever.

11-19-2010, 02:22 PM	#11
jlmwrite Zealot Posts: 143 Karma: 13398 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Golden, Colorado Device: Samsung Tab S8.4, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	I do so feel for those of you with this problem. (Really -- no sarcasm intended.) At the same, time I have a heart bursting with joy -- at last, my kids have an alternative to gift cards so that I can get immediate gratification from my presents! I'm looking forward to a long, lazy Christmas afternoon spent reading some newly downloaded books...

11-20-2010, 12:08 PM	#12
pilotbob Grand Sorcerer Posts: 19,832 Karma: 11844413 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tampa, FL USA Device: Kindle Touch	I think this is great news... and one of the two things that I have said is really missing from the Kindle eco system. Now, if they do my second thing... wait... then I'll have nothing to complain about. BOb

11-20-2010, 05:22 PM	#15
rittsi Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 698 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Antwerp, Belgium Device: Sony 505, iphone 3GS, Kindle 3	Just tried to gift my Belgian account a book with my US account and I also got the message that the book is not available in my region when I opened the Amazon gift link. The weird thing is that the book is available for purchase in Belgium. Kind of bummed. I guess this means only people in my region can currently gift a book to me? (Maybe I should use this as a sign that I need to move back to the US? )

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