International Kindle - it shipped!

[Ea]

Got the email 30 min. ago -- my international Kindle 2 is on its way

Hopefully here by Wednesday...

[AnemicOak]

Hope you like it

[pdurrant]

Mine's shipped too. I'd be happier if there was some way to buy books from the UK store without paying the $1.99+VAT wireless download fee.

I wouldn't mind paying the fee if I did download wirelessly, but mostly I won't get ebooks that way, so paying extra for every book seems unfair.

I have sent a note to Amazon Custoemr Service suggesting they add the option, but I doubt they will.

Originally Posted by Ea

Got the email 30 min. ago -- my international Kindle 2 is on its way

Hopefully here by Wednesday...

[Ea]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Mine's shipped too. I'd be happier if there was some way to buy books from the UK store without paying the $1.99+VAT wireless download fee.

I wouldn't mind paying the fee if I did download wirelessly, but mostly I won't get ebooks that way, so paying extra for every book seems unfair.

I have sent a note to Amazon Custoemr Service suggesting they add the option, but I doubt they will.

Well... the 1.99 USD fee only applies to USA customers downloading when out of the country. Of course prices for customers living outside US does seem higher by about the same amount but it's still not the same thing - have anyone proven it's a one to one?

About VAT, do you have information that Amazon is collecting VAT for the Kindle books they sell? I know that amazon.co.uk collect VAT for the individual European countries, because Amazon sells such a large volume that they have to - but does Amazon.com?

I have not seen anything that indicates that Amazon is collecting VAT for individual countries for Kindle books, but I would interested if they did (as VAT in Denmark is 25% - I'd want to look elsewhere )

[kennyc]

Congratulations! I got my "domestic" Kindle2 on Saturday and love it! (still don't care for Amazon's propitiatory approach but they do offer some books I can't get elsewhere and often at better prices....... I will still hope for the day they will embrace the epub format...

Enjoy!! Will look forward to your review once you receive it.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Enjoy!! Will look forward to your review once you receive it.

Thank you! I will certainly review it. I am especially interested in how the dictionary functionality works out.

I'm not worried about my books. I de-DRM everything as soon as I buy it, so I can use it for whatever I want. This is a good case in point - if I hadn't done so, the Kindle would not have been half as possibly useful as it may be.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Ea

Thank you! I will certainly review it. I am especially interested in how the dictionary functionality works out.

I'm not worried about my books. I de-DRM everything as soon as I buy it, so I can use it for whatever I want. This is a good case in point - if I hadn't done so, the Kindle would not have been half as possibly useful as it may be.

Exactly.

[daffy4u]

Whoo Hoo! Congratulations all!

[pdurrant]

They seem to actually be charging non-US customers an extra $2 per book.

When the books that are free in the US store cost $2.30 in the UK store, and UK VAT runs at 15% at the moment, it seems pretty certain that's what they're doing. ($2.00*1.15 = $2.30 )

And apart from the free books, let's look at the top ten(non-'free') bestsellers.

Extra(ex VAT) Title UK/UK ex-VAT/USA prices
$2.00 Arguing with Idiots. $13.79/$11.99/$9.99
($0.22) The Help $11.24/$9.77/$9.99
$2.00 The Mark $8.92/$7.76/$5.76
$1.66 The Shack $12.25/$10.65/$8.99
($4.40) The Girl wit the Dragon Tattoo $4.13/$3.59/$7.99
$2.00 Glen Beck's Common Sense $10.57/$9.19/$7.19
$2.00 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society $11.96/$10.40/$8.40
$2.00 Culture of Corruption $13.79/$11.99/$9.99
($4.65) Eclipse $3.61/$3.14/$7.79
$2.00 Outliers $13.79/$11.99/$9.99

Six out of ten have a UK ex-VAT price that is exactly $2 more than the US title.

Only one costs more, but not $2 more. The remaining three are cheaper in the UK than in the US - some special deal from the publishers? Or just Amazon's weird discounting?

Oddly enough, having just checked in the European store, prices there match the UK store but are ex-VAT. I can't imagine how they're going to do that. Perhaps they'll add on the VAT at checkout, because it'll be different for each EU country.

Originally Posted by Ea

Well... the 1.99 USD fee only applies to USA customers downloading when out of the country. Of course prices for customers living outside US does seem higher by about the same amount but it's still not the same thing - have anyone proven it's a one to one?

About VAT, do you have information that Amazon is collecting VAT for the Kindle books they sell? I know that amazon.co.uk collect VAT for the individual European countries, because Amazon sells such a large volume that they have to - but does Amazon.com?

I have not seen anything that indicates that Amazon is collecting VAT for individual countries for Kindle books, but I would interested if they did (as VAT in Denmark is 25% - I'd want to look elsewhere )

[Ea]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Six out of ten have a UK ex-VAT price that is exactly $2 more than the US title.

Only one costs more, but not $2 more. The remaining three are cheaper in the UK than in the US - some special deal from the publishers? Or just Amazon's weird discounting?

Oddly enough, having just checked in the European store, prices there match the UK store but are ex-VAT. I can't imagine how they're going to do that. Perhaps they'll add on the VAT at checkout, because it'll be different for each EU country.

As far as I can see, they don't add, for example, Danish VAT to the price - but I will be looking out for it. Amazon UK collects Danish VAT on anything I buy from them, so I am aware of the issue.

[CommanderROR]

Mine has shipped as well, should be here around the middle of the week.

I just hope I don't miss the UPS delivery van because of being at work or some silliness like that...

What I'm trying to find out right now is whether I can just "pretend" to be in the US so that I can actually get all the books I want since everything I have tried so far is not available for my region...
I can change my location in "My Kindle" but it asks me for a full address and I would have to make one up...stupid geo-restrictions....

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Mine has shipped as well, should be here around the middle of the week.

I just hope I don't miss the UPS delivery van because of being at work or some silliness like that...
..

I thought that's what sick-days were for.

[CommanderROR]

Not in my job...^^

[fugazied]

You are located in Iceland? I have a friend in Australia, I'll check if his has shipped. He's been pretty excited over the last week!

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

I can change my location in "My Kindle" but it asks me for a full address and I would have to make one up...stupid geo-restrictions....

I'd be curious to know if the same "register your Kindle to a separate U.S. account" might come into play (the same work-around non-U.S. users have been employing this whole time).