The Kindle 2 / Kindle 3 is now available for overseas market as well. So please read the following blog post if your country is not covered by the latest scheme, or you want to know more about other Kindle information.
Got your Kindle ? Now time to buy some books.
If you are staying in US, buying Kindle books is easy. Just select your book, click the “Buy Now with 1-click” and Amazon will send the book to your Kindle with Whispernet in a matter of minutes.
However, you need different steps if you are not staying in US. Here is how …
- First of all, Amazon will not sell Kindle books unless you have a US address. Therefore, you need to change the billing address of your credit card to a US address (see my blog post on getting a US address for shopping).
- Next, buy your Kindle book as usual, click the “Buy Now with 1-click”. Then in your Kindle Management Page, scroll down to the “Your orders and individual charges” section. Find the book you just bought, and change the right most setting to “Download / Send to Computer”. Then you can save the eBook to your computer, and transfer to your Kindle with the USB cable. Simple.
Update 1 : I think I better specify couple more points – First, I use an American Express card and it worked (i.e. I am not sure whether other credit cards work like that or not). Second, I also needed to assign an US address in the 1-click payment method. Hope it helps.
Update 2 : Another possible approach (similar information here) is to use your International credit card to buy an Amazon gift certificate, and then buy eBooks using this gift certificate. Don’t forget to delete your credit card information first from Amazon 1-click payment setting. Hope it helps.
Update 3 : As mentioned in above update, you can buy Kindle books via Amazon Gift Certificate / coupon / card. May be it’s better if I detail the steps here:
- Opened a new Amazon account with an US address;
- Use your other normal Amazon account to email yourself a gift card;
- Use the gift card on your new Amazon account;
- Then, your new account has no credit card just a balance from the gift card;
- Register your Kindle to your new account, turn on the option one click buying;
- Buy a book with one-click with your new account and then download the book you bought to your computer;
- Hook up the Kindle to the computer and transfer the downloaded file to the document section of the Kindle;
- That is it !!
Update 4 : Looks like since end September, there are problems in buying Kindle books outside US. And that affect both Credit card and Gift coupon purchasing methods. One solution suggested is to use proxy services as looks like Amazon is checking the IP address of the order. You can find more details here for the moment, and I shall report back once I found a workable method to do that.
Update 5 : (2009-10-05) I tried to buy Kindle books with my Credit card method and it failed just like the Gift coupon method. However, since it is related to the check of non-US IP address, I just used Hotspot Shield to hide my IP address and then tried again. And it worked !! So, I guess it works as well for gift coupon method. However, this incident worried me a lot … For those who have not bought the Kindle outside US, please reconsider it before you decide to buy it. You may or may not able to buy Kindle books in future if Amazon enforce some checks again.
Update 6 : The Kindle 2 is now available for overseas market as well. So please read this blog post if your country is not covered by the latest scheme only.
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my,
“”First of all, Amazon will not sell Kindle books unless you have a US address. Therefore, you need to change the billing address of your credit card to a US address”"
i have hsbc credit card with billing address in HK. so, it is ok to change billing address when check-out kindle book as amazon will not cross-reference written billing address with actual billing address ( as some websites will cross check n verify this is the current used billing address b4 allow to charge).
it is rather sad amazon not making it easy for outside usa customers to buy kindle n download kindle books.
thks.
Hi BCT,
Yes that’s what I did, I changed my original HK billing address to the US address I got from onenow.com.
It is unfortunate that we cannot get the Kindle and e-books easily, but I was told it is more about copyright issues and Amazon is tackling it. The next possible outlet will be Kindle UK.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael again.
Does this method work with buying US magazines? Have you tried it before? I am interested in magazines as well as books, so if it works I am more inclined to buy it. Thanks again!
Hi Gabriel,
No, this approach works for eBook only, as you can download the eBook to your PC and then transfer to your Kindle. For magazines and newspaper, those will “download” to your Kindle directly with WhisperNet. And WhisperNet, the wireless network, is available in US only.
Hope it helps.
my,
many thks…still pondering if to buy..knowing so much inconvenience just to buy it, follow next by
getting the kindle books. u have used it…was it worth the effort in the long run, the continuing benefits outweigh the one time inconveniences? if u not able to get kindle book version of a title, what do u do? thks
Hi bct,
Indeed you have to jump through several hoops just to get the device and books. To me, it worth the effort as it is easier to carry it around (now I have 10 books and some PDFs in my Kindle) and I actually read more in the last few months just because of this.
And think about it, you can buy any other e-Reader in the market, but the availability of eBooks and the book-purchasing experience from Amazon is still the best. It is like there are zillions of MP3 players in the market, but people like iPod because of the overall song downloading, purchasing and syncing. I think Kindle is still the best option if you wanna start e-Reading (unless you like to read non-English books).
The major problem to me about e-Reading is actually you no longer can easily flip thru a book, back and forth. You have to read it screen by screen, in a linear fashion …
And when the Kindle book version of a title is not available … yes I will buy the paper-back version if the book is really good. There is really no alternative.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael
Any suggestion on how I can purchase books for ‘Kindle for iPhone’, ie. I don’t have a kindle and simply want to utilize the iPhone for the books. Thanks.
Hi Toddy,
Unfortunately, there is no direct way to purchase books to your Kindle for iPhone. You have to go thru the same process of purchasing books for your Kindle device. Then add the Kindle for iPhone device to your Amazon account.
Once you downloaded the Kindle for iPhone (for the method, please refer to http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/services-and-products/2009/04/07/kindle-for-iphone-from-outside-us/), you can link the application to your Amazon account. And then all books purchased before (for your Kindle) can be downloaded to your Kindle for iPhone.
Hope it helps.
Thanks Michael. I went through the whole process, but on my Kindle management page, the ‘send to’ option only has my iPhone on it, but did not offer the download to computer option. Your advice willbegreatly appreciated.
No worries Michael. Working at last. Many thanks.
Great !! Enjoy your Kindle / Kindle for iPhone.
Michael,
I just bought my Kindle using OneNow and a HSBC HK credit credit. all was good (although it’s still winging it’s way somewhere in the world towards HK). That worked fine and I followed your instruction on setting one-click and the US billing address to buy books, but I get a geographical restrictrions error. Any ideas? The Sample worked fine……do I need to get the kindle first and do something?
Thanks
Hi Chris,
Glad that you got your Kindle. I think your problem is Amazon’s payment gateway rejected your HSBC credit card (which is a HK based card). As in my other post, AMEX card worked perfectly as their area checking is not as restrictive as Visa / Master.
So right now I think you have three options, try register your account with a US based credit card; or use AMEX card; or use Gift coupon / certificate approach (i.e. use your HK based card to buy Gift coupon, and then use the coupon to buy eBooks).
Hope it helps.
Thanks Michael. Seems strange that they allow me to purchase the kindle, but not the books with the same card!
Absolutely, strange stuff. But when there is a will, there is a way
Enjoy your Kindle !!
it seems VISA will give away one’s location.
b4 buying the kindle via onenow.com, of coz i’d like to make sure i can buy the books.
therefore, i install the kindle app to my iphone and my iphone can get the sample book perfectly. then, i try to buy a book via 1-click.
unfortunately, even thought i’ve changed my billing address to the one given by onenow.com, the 1-click doesn’t allow me to purchase the book due to the geographical issue. in another word, the only possible way for amazon to notice my location is my hk VISA’s number!!!
since i don’t have an AMEX card, my only option goes to gift coupon… pathetic…
Hi Philip,
Actually the gift coupon approach is not a bad one. So do enjoy your Kindle, the reading experience and the good books after all these troubles.
I happily downloaded books using the Gift Coupon approach (although still waiting for my Kindle to arrive!). I’d be interested to hear if you have tried magazines? Can you do a monthly subscription and still download to your Kindle from the PC?
Hi Chris,
Glad that things are all working. For newspaper and magazines, unfortunately you cannot do that outside US because all these downloads are done via WhisperNet …
hi michael,
which way would be cheaper to obtain a kindle? via onenow.com or ebay sellers who’s willing to ship worldwide?
Hi Philip,
I think I will go for onenow.com (or other similar services website) as I really control the account set up in Amazon, the delivery etc. For eBay sellers, I am not quite sure whether they will buy the Kindle from Amazon as a gift then ship to you and how you register later on. Seems to me a bit complicated if we go thru eBay.
My two cents of worth and hope it helps.
Hi.
Just wanted to thank you from a new kindle user in Japan! I wouldn’t have been able to get around the crazy error message, etc. without your article.
It is really a pity that Japan is such a Galapagos re: eBooks…
Oops, I forgot to write my question…
?
When I went into the “manage kindle” screen, the top line was
“New: Download or wirelessly transfer your Kindle content directly from this page. Learn more”
and, when I clicked the “Learn more”, it showed a sub-screen showing how to download Washington Post subscription.
(Via the expand feature in Your Kindle Subscription section.)
Does this indicate that now we can download magazine/newspaper subscriptions via USB?
Or, is it some kind of fake
I originally decided to purchase kindle because getting US magazines/newspapers overseas is sooo expensive. I would love to subscribe to magazines using kindle overseas…any news on this issue?
Hi Tazuko,
Glad you found the articles useful … and for your question – No, there is still no way to subscribe magazines outside US as it requires the wireless connection to download – i.e. Whispernet.
But since in Japan there is also Amazon … so may be one day you can do it. Just keep the faith
Enjoy your Kindle and the world of eBooks !!
I went through the whole process, but on my Kindle management page, the ’send to’ option only has my iPhone on it, but did not offer the download to computer option. Your advice willbegreatly appreciated.
Hi Pieter,
So you did buy the Kindle 2 and register it properly ? Some other people encountered the same problem and eventually solved (may be it requires some wait ?). For me, even if I bought an e-Book, it may take up to a half day before the new book appear in the list and can download to my computer.
Hope it helps.
michael thanks,
michael thanks for your quick response!
my kindle is on its way bought it on ebay.
already have bought 2 books and send them wireless to my iphone.
that works fine
how should i register my kindle when it has arrived?
with the usb connection?
to an amazom account with no foreign credit card attached?
because right now when i go to the manage my kindle page it does not show the option send to computer,in the pull down memu ,just the iphone
Hi Pieter,
In the “Manage Your Kindle” page, there is a section “Your Kindle(s)” and you can register your Kindle. Afterward, you shall be able to download the eBook to your PC.
One more point to note – since you bought your Kindle from eBay, you better check whether the seller bought the Kindle as a gift initially. If yes, then s/he can transfer to you and you can register it with your Amazon account. However, if the buyer has already registered this Kindle with Amazon, s/he has to de-register it first, otherwise you won’t be able to register it.
Hope it helps.
hi michael
a short summary
like i said i am in the netherlands and bought the kindle on ebay,it arrived yesterday.took two days by fedex.
if you want i can recommend a reliable seller ,great price and dx in stock!
i opened a new! amazon acount with a us adres (adres out of a phonebook or from a friend)
used my “”normal other”" amazon account to email myself a gift card.
and used the gift card on my new amazon account.
your new account now has no creditcard just a balance from the gift card
i registered my kindle to my new account put the option one click buying on and you’re done.
buy a book with one click and then use the option to download the book you bought to your computer.
hook up the kindle to the computer transfer the downloaded file to the document section of the kindle and you can start reading.
hope this helps non us kindle owners!
pieter
reg
Hi Pieter,
Glad that you have everything sorted out. Enjoy your Kindle and the world of ebooks.
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