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.
{ 78 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
Hope for magazine/newspaper subscriptions after all!
Hi Michael,
Thanks so much for your blog – it’s been a huge help. Got my Kindle 2 here in Melbourne, Australia this morning and it’s worked beautifully. Am downloading books no problem. I noticed many inquiring on here about newspaper and magazine downloads. It appears that there is a way as I’ve just bought an issue of the Economist. While subscription offers show only as ‘pending’, which will likely remain the case in light of the ealier message on your blog, it appears possible to purchase them one issue at a time. The latest issue of the Economist, for example, arrived immediately after I purchased it in the Kindle store and I’ve been able to upload it from my computer desktop via usb to the kindle 2 with as much ease as books. And at a substantial saving – whereas an issue of the Economist costs something crazy like 15 Australian dollars (about 11 or 12 dollars US), it only costs about 5 US dollars on the kindle store, so literally half price. The same is probably true for all the other magazines, which cost a small fortune when living outside the US. Anyway, hope this helps everyone out there who’s interested in getting more than just books on to their Kindle 2 when outside the US.
Cheers and keep up the great work,
Joe
Hi Joe,
Glad you find the information useful to you and trust that you will enjoy your Kindle as much as I do. Thanks for the magazine information, so it works for one issue at a time, but not a regular subscription ? Will try it as well myself, thanks for the tips.
One more thing, did you get your Kindle via Onenow.com, Vpost.com or others ? Many Aussie friends of mine like to know this … Thanks in advance.
Cheers, Michael
Hi Joe,
I tried to buy the current issue and it works !! Thanks for the tips !!
Cheers, Michael
No worries Michael. Definitely a case of ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’! Happy to help out and that it worked for you. And, yes, magazine and newspaper subscriptions definitely appear a no-go so far but with the big savings to be found in purchasing them on an issue-by-issue basis, it’s a pretty good result I think. I used vpostasia.com, which I believe you recommended for Australians on your blog, thanks very much. I can highly recommend them to all Australian users as well as others in the Asia and Asia-Pacific region as I believe it’s a Singapore-based company that will deliver across Asia as far as India and Japan, etc, and of course Hong Kong also – had my delivery via their US address in just 7-8 working days (not weekends). I’d suggest that people ordering their kindle 2 ensure they order all the accompaniments at the same time (i.e. the kindle cover and ‘mighty bright’ reading light). I’d forgotten to order the light, so was hit with another flat-rate 28-dollar or so (Singapore dollars I think, not dissimilar to Aussie dollars) rate. Just had my kindle 2 for a day and a half and thrilled with it – just uploaded via usb the latest edition of The New York Times, which works just as well as The Economist and the books I uploaded (except for Orwell’s 1984, which is double-spaced).
Best wishes,
Joe
Thanks Joe for the reply. Yes Vpost.com is good, I believe it is operated by Singapore Post … so the service shall be great. I am also looking for a good clip-on light, but I reckon that will be a lot cheaper here in HK.
So your Orwell’s 1984 didn’t get deleted by Amazon remotely ?! Good for you !!
Cheers, Michael
Hi Michael
I just got a reply from am**n regarding magazine subscription. FYI,
>The purchase and download of subscription items works just the same as
>books when you’re outside of the Whispernet wireless service area. The only
>difference is that while we always store your books on Manage Your Kindle,
>only the most recent 7 issues of a periodical are typically listed, so you’ll
>need to keep current with them to avoid missing issues.
So, it seems possible to subscribe to magazines/newspapers outside of US.
It is a pity they keep only 7 most current issues…
But magazines are so expensive (and hard to obtain) in some parts of the world,
this is good news for us!
Hope this helps.
PS I also found out that many undergraduate/graduate textbooks are still not on kindle,
as well as many “not on NY Times Bestseller” type books.
I send out a request to the publisher everytime I find something missing its kindle ver., and I wish more people will lobby for kindling books!
Thanks Tazuko for the update. Indeed I purchased and downloaded the current issue of newspaper / magazine successfully:
http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/services-and-products/2009/08/20/newspaper-and-magazines-for-kindle-outside-us/
Now the only thing I am not so sure is whether I can purchase multi-months subscriptions.
And yes, there are still quite some books I want a Kindle version, let’s lobby together
Cheers, Michael
Michael, hello from Manila. I just got my kindle dx today and my problem is the person who bought it for me did not indicate it as a gift — so now it is under his name and account. Problem is I cannot deregister since I’m outside the US. Will I still be able to get Kindle books from Amazon and put those books into my Kindle? How, please? You’ve helped a ton of people. I really hope you can help me too.
HI Gin,
I think in your case you have to ask the original buyer to deregister the Kindle from his Amazon account, such that you can register under yours. The other two not-very-ideal “solutions” are i) Every time you wanna buy a book, you ask the buyer to buy it for you. He then download the file and email you; ii) You ask the buyer to share the account with you or pass the Amazon account to you.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your very informative posts. Am seriously considering getting the kindle (am residing in Singapore). Getting the kindle should not be a problem as I have a VPost account.
What I would like to do is a test download of a book to see if i can actually receive it. According to your gift coupon method, I have to open a new account with an address from the US.
What address do i use? Any random address? If not, where do I get a hold of proper addresses?
Hi Prem,
Glad that you found the posts useful.
For your question, since you already have a VPost account, so can you get an US address from it ? (That’s what onenow.com does). Let’s say if you get the US address from VPost, then just apply it to the new Amazon account. And since this new account is only for buying eBooks and download, therefore if you cannot get an US address from VPost, you actually can just apply any valid US address to it (e.g. from an US friend, or even a company office address from any US website). Just make sure you don’t ship anything to this account.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for the quick response. I now have a new Amazon account to try buying ebooks. But when I tried to do a test purchase the said that I had to register my kindle first. So does this mean I cannot perform a test-purchase unless I actually have a kindle?
Hi Prem,
Indeed you cannot try it with this approach. However there is a get around, if you have an iPhone. You can download Kindle for iPhone application (please check my blog post on how to do this), register it with your newly created Amazon account, and then you can try buying books and download to your iPhone.
Hope it helps.
Hi everyone,
Thanks again Michael for this great blog. I haven’t been in here for a while but it’s always makes for interesing reading. I noticed comments about newspapers/magazines keep coming and thought it worth mentioning again that these can easily be purchased on an issue-by-issue basis in the same manner as one would by a book for the kindle 2. Yes, it appears subscriptions are not possible due to the lack of whispernet technology (or is it spirit/sprit/sprint or something like that) outside the US, but everyone can get as many newspapers and magazines as they like. For example, I often purchase The New York Times, and it’s only 75 US cents an issue; bet if you were buying them at a big newsagency overseas that imported them, they’d be at least five times that price; same is probably true for all the other magazines. So, my advice to everyone bemoaning that they’re not able to subscribe to newspapers and magazines, simply click on the latest issue and enjoy!!
Best wishes,
joe
Thanks Joe for your comment and input. Indeed we can purchase the newspapers and magazines issue by issue.
For more details, please check out here : http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/services-and-products/2009/08/20/newspaper-and-magazines-for-kindle-outside-us/
Cheers
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your information. I’m living in Hong Kong and I’ve already purchased the kindle through a friend of mine.
While waiting for the deilvery, I’m trying some test buys. I’ve registered an account with US address. However I’ve got this message when I was trying to buy ebooks from Amazon.
“we currently do not show a Kindle, iPhone, or iPod touch registered to your Amazon account. Kindle Editions are only available for these devices.”
Does it means that I need to register the kindle under my account? my friend bought the kindle with his account, does it affects the registration? if yes what I can do to re-register the kindle?
Thanks alot
Hi Fean,
Glad that the information is useful to you. Yes, if your friend bought the Kindle not as a gift, then he has to de-register the Kindle from his account and then you register it again with your account.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael,
Been using the gift certificate method for some time now to order books. Today it failed on me. I just can’t figure why. I get the message, “We could not process your order because of geographical restrictions on the product which you were attempting to purchase. Please refer to the terms of use for this product to determine the geographical restrictions.” I tried it for more than a one book and i get the same message. Do you know why? Has Amazon started to do more checks in the background? For your information, I am in Singapore.
Re: Update 3.
Warning – other country gift certificates are not redeamable on amazon.com. I purchased amazon.co.uk cert and when trying to redeam it I was told no, no. I then checked terms and conds and it clearly says that it would not redeam. Lesson learmed
I have bought some amazon.com certs on ebay though which worked fine.
One more comment, use web proxy to access your US amazon account, I also use SeaMonkey web browser since neither FireFox not IE displayed option to download ebooks when connecting via proxy – I recon it uses AJAX that most web based proxes will not serve.
It worked with SeaMonkey though as it simplifies interface and now I can read all my books on my lovely DX!
Hi Max, thanks for the useful information !!
Hi Alvin, sorry to hear that. Since I am not using gift coupon to buy books, will need other Kindle users’ advises; or one day I will try it and let you know …
Hi Michael,
Been using the gift certificate method for some time now to order books. Yesterday it failed on me. I just can’t figure why. I get the message, “We could not process your order because of geographical restrictions on the product which you were attempting to purchase. Please refer to the terms of use for this product to determine the geographical restrictions.” I tried it for more than a one book and i get the same message. Do you know why? Has Amazon started to do more checks in the background? For your information, I am in Singapore.
Michael – thanks for your reply – sorry about the double post…
In response to Alvin question. I just hit into the same problem yesterday. I managed to purchase two books , but two hours later I received the same error message.
Hi Anthony, Alvin,
It’s kinda confirmed that Amazon is now checking the IP address of the order (since end September) and to make it works, you need to jump thru another hoop … that is to install / use IP proxy software before you make the purchase. Will blog a post on how to do it as soon as possible.
Hope it helps.
Hi Alvin, Anthony,
Please check the update 5 above for the solution.
Hope it helps.
Hi Michael,
Thanx for all the help.. i live in India and im getting my kindle through a friend..
i’ve understood the procedure how to work it here nd get books…
only thing im not sure bout is how to get a US address for the new amazon account to work?
from where do i get it?
can u pls help me with that thnx
sorry again..wanted to clarify..i want to buy books using the gift card method…
new kindle account requires a us address to use the gift cards?
where do i get one from?
thank you
Hi Aditi,
If you need an US address to ship something to, then you can try services like onenow.com or vpost.com.
If all you need is an US address to bypass address check, then you can get any US address (even from a US site, or magazine) and fill into the Amazon form.
Please note that Amazon is tightening the address and IP check, so do reconsider to buy it or not before you make the move.
Hope it helps.
use ultrasurf fr http://www.ultrareach.com/index_en.htm and the gift cert method works again!!!
Glad that you have things work out, just not sure how long it will last. Anyway, enjoy !!
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →