Comments on: Buy Kindle 2 from outside US

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:29:44 +0000

Hi Daniel,

Do you have an Amazon account ? If yes, may be you can try register thru the website ? Or you may ask your friend to see whether s/he can access the Kindle again. Also, not sure why the USB doesn’t work, may be the cable issue ? I mean, the PC shall be able to detect the Kindle as just another external hard-drive and then you can copy ebooks to it.

Hope it helps.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:40:34 +0000

Hi Michael. I live in Brazil. A friend gave me this as Kindle 2 U.S.. It is used, and he took his registre and left without no registre. He sent me reseted. When I registre I get this message “your kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please try again later. If the problem persist, please restart your kindle … I’ve reseted but does not work. The worst I can not do anything with the kindle. Neither the USB works. can you help me? Thanks

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:33:37 +0000

The cost is the same as you buy it from Amazon. And for the shipment, it’s cheaper than Amazon if I recall correctly.

Hope it helps.

By: Limin

Limin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:21:53 +0000

Hello! Thank for sharing your shopping experience. I am wondering how much altogether you paid for the Kindle, and how much it cost to ship it from the US to where you live? Thanks a lot.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:44:45 +0000

Yes if you find a way to buy US books to your International Kindle, you need this method to transfer the files to your book. But 3G is still useful to buy International books, check emails, upgrade software etc.

BTW, it is pretty clear that there will be a new Kindle to be released in a month or two. I would suggest you to hold the purchase. You can either buy the new Kindle later, or buy the Kindle 3 with a much more cheaper price.

For your considerations and hope it helps.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:42:19 +0000

Hi Ben,

I think 5 days is a bit tight for shipment from US, even you pick the most expensive delivery method. In general, however, there shall be no issue to ship a thing to the hotel and then your friend pick it up from the hotel staff. But again, not recommended because timing is too tight.

Hope it helps.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:40:34 +0000

Hi Ben,

Here are my answers:

1) You need to compare the Amazon shipping cost against (shipping cost from Amazon to Onenow.com + shipping cost from Onenow.com to you). The actual cost may be cheaper or more expensive depends on the shipping option.

2) If you ask Amazon website directly ship to HK, you can use HK credit card as you need to buy the international version of Kindle. And for this Amazon accepts HK credit card.

3) You can buy Kindle thru gift certificates as well. No major differences.

4) In theory, there is no differences between the two Kindle version. However, if you buy US version, suppose you are an US citizen and you can access to the bigger collection of eBooks.

5) That’s true that it is not easy to buy US books from US Kindle store, outside US. However, as long as you have ways to fool the IP (like a VPN to US), you still able to do that. Most methods don’t work anymore simply because those are not VPN. Please note that hiding the IP is not the same as VPN with US IP.

Hope it helps.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:00:04 +0000

Corrected Addition 3:
I went over your blog here http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/book/2009/03/21/buy-kindle-books-from-outside-us/
again.
It says that from outside the USA, if one purchases Ebooks from the Kindle Store, one has to download the books to the computer first and than sync afterwards with the kindle to be able to reade the books on the ebook reader. So, there is no direct one-click-downoad function of Ebooks directly to the kindle 3 ebook reader from outside the usa?
So, than it makes really no sense to get the more expensive Kindle 3 Wifi + 3G, when living outside of the USA, right? Or is the 3G functionality still useful for viewing websites and surfing the internet free of charge on the kindle3, when living outside of the USA? Is it possible and useful to use it in that way over the free 3G (or Wifi)?

Ben.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:27:53 +0000

Oh, and an other question.
My friend will be staying at a good 4 or 5 Star Hotel in Hong Kong for 5 days starting from tomorrow.
Can Amazon send the Kindle to the Hotel, and is it safe to have them send it to Hotel in Hong Kong? Or does the Hotel Staff in Hong Kong may steal it when the Kindle arrives?
How long does it take for a the Kindle 3 to be shipped from the USA to Hong Kong. Is five days enough time?

Ben.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:02:02 +0000

Hi Michael!
Thank you for your answer.
For clarification purposes her some more questions.
I quote from your answers:
“First, yes due to the currency exchange rate, it’s expensive to buy it in Germany … and so the best way is to buy the Kindle in USA or Hong Kong (if you have friends to get it and then ship back to you). Since Amazon don’t ship Kindle to China, so if you really have to go this way, you need to try Onenow.com. (Two years ago, Onenow.com was the only option because back then they didn’t ship outside US).”

- So to purchase through Onenow.com is indeed more expensive than buying through Amazon.com directly, and than have Amazon ship it to a friend in Hongkong or Macau?
- If I buy through the Amazon Website and want them to send it to Hong Kong or Macau, do I need to also use a Hongkong or Macau Credit Card for online payment, so to have accept my purchase and than have them ship it to the HongKong or Macau Adress, or can I use my german Credit Card Card?
- Could I also buy the Kindle3 through purchasing Amazon gift Certificates for myself? Or does that not make any difference in the procedure of the payment process/price/shipment location?

“There is no major specification differences between International version and US version. But to buy eBooks, the largest collection is indeed from US bookstore. I have other blog posts on how to access the US book store. ”

- So when it comes to purchasing the wide selection of Ebooks in the USA Kindle Bookstore, wether I buy the International-Version or USA-Version of the Kindle 3 Hardware and included Software and serial number does not make any difference?
Than I can also purchase Ebooks in the USA Store with the “International-Version-Kindle 3″ Ebook Reader the same way as I can do it with the “USA-Version-Kindle 3″ Ebook Reader? Why is one Version than called US-Version, and the other is called international Version Kindle 3? What is the difference?

- In regard to purchasing Ebooks from the US-Kindle Store:
In your blog here: http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/book/2009/03/21/buy-kindle-books-from-outside-us/
other people report that they have major problems now and can not purchase any Ebooks in the big USA-Kindle-Bookstore from outside the USA anymore. Even with the methods that you recommended before it does not work. Is that true?
There is no way to purchase Ebooks from outside the USA in the USA Kindle Bookstore anymore?

Thank you for your experst advice and clarification.

Ben.