Just couple of weeks ago, Kindle users outside US like us found that we could not buy books for our Kindle 2 anymore. Even though we found that the solution is to hide your IP address when surfing Amazon web site, it is still very troublesome. Then in mid October, Amazon released the Kindle 2 International version and since then, we need to pay higher price for the same book.
I recently bought a new laptop with Windows 7 and I am not that keen to install a “hide-your-IP” software in the new machine (as this approach always slow down the browsing experience). But today I have a new book to buy (What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell) … so, what shall I do ?
Believe it or not, somehow I bought a US Kindle book just now without hiding my IP address (I’m staying in Hong Kong). First of all, I have set up my Amazon account with an US mail address, and also the 1-click payment method with an AMEX card with an US billing address. And then, I follow the steps below:
- Sign out from your Amazon account, if you have already logged in;
- Search for the book as usual, Amazon shall search for US books by default;
- You will be able to find the book, in US selling price (in my case, US$ 9.99, instead of US$ 11.99 for Asia and Pacific version);
- As long as you don’t log in (seems it trigger Amazon’s IP / Region check logic), and don’t change the Your country or region on the left-hand side menu, you can keep searching the right books;
- Then just go ahead to click 1-Click to buy the book, and only at this point log into your Amazon account;
- Confirm to buy the book for your Kindle 2 International version;
- That’s it, I bought an US Kindle books for my International version – without utility like Hotspot and Ultrasurf to hide my IP !!
- Then go to the “Manage your Kindle” page, and download the book to your computer, and subsequently transfer to your Kindle;
- One point to note is : still in the right hand side menu of the “Manage your Kindle” page, there is a pending item (the new book) to deliver to my Kindle. In other words, Amazon may eventually send me the book via wireless network and charge me extra US$ 2. But to me, install one less program in my computer is great !!
Hope it help.
Update 1: It seems that as long as I have set up the Amazon account with US mail address, I can visit the Amazon shop from the Kindle International Edition (via Whispernet) and access the US bookstore. So, I can buy books not available from Asia & Pacific region, even I am now actually in Hong Kong. Great !!
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Hi, Michael! Had bought Kindle books for my iPad with trick of US address with my Indonesian credit card until last week got this message of Amazon detecting my country is not US (am in Indonesia). Waited a week to retry, no success. Tried your trick of not sigining in, didn’t work either.
Aaaaaaarrrrgghhh! Why is it so difficult to buy, not pirating, books! Help!
Hi Michael,
The information here is very useful.
I have been considering to buy a Kindle 3 with wifi ($139) or wifi +3G ($189)? Which one should I buy as I have a wireless modem at home (Singapore)?
I am staying in Singapore but my sister living in HK and Kindle is available to ship to HK and I can ask my sister to bring it to Singapore for me. However I do not have a Amex card instead I have a Citibank card issued in Singapore. Can I use Citibank card to buy gift cards then download to to desktop & transfer to Kindle? Or I should apply a Amex card now?
I am quite worry if I am not able to buy ebooks from Amazon after I bought my Kindle.
Thanks for you kind advice in advance.
Delphin
Hi Delphin,
As far as I know, there is no 3G support of Kindle 3 in Singapore yet, so you may go for WiFi version for now (unless you know there is future support).
With the Kindle 3 International version, you can certainly buy eBooks from Amazon – even you don’t have an US account with Amex card. The only pitfall is you cannot buy some ebooks which are available for US market only (that’s why one need an US Amazon account).
Hope it helps !!
Thanks for sharing, managed to download (using your suggestions) a kindle ebook which was unavailable in Asia Pacific. I stay in Singapore. Yeah!!
‘Do the work’ by Steven Pressfield.
Glad that you bought the book you want and the same method still works … enjoy !!
Cheers
Hi All, it has 3G coverage in Singapore
Hi, I live in Greece and have a kindle 3 (bought while visiting the states). It actually took me 7 months to realize that I couldn’t buy games and was paying more for books. After wasting a couple of hours trying to hide my IP address (didn’t work because of cookies), I logged onto to my kindle account through my computer and changed my country location from Greece to US. All games are now available and books are cheaper. (I downloaded 2 cheap games to check – they were instantly delivered to my kindle here in Greece through whispernet) I didn’t change my Greek credit card or billing address. I don’t know if it helped that I had several US addresses on file to choose from, from sending gifts – I used my parents’ address in MN. So far so good!
As far as German Kindle books (from Amazon.de) are concerned, you will be blocked after downloading approx. 5 books (Amazon checks your IP-address) and according to customer support this block only can be released once (for another 5 books). Don’t know if this is also valid for other Amazon stores, though.
Thanks for the information, Angela !!
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