I was looking for a particular title (crime fiction) - US citizens can buy this as a Kindle ebook, Australian citizens can only get a hard cover copy! I was told that Amazon.com and Amazon.com.au are 2 different entities and make their own decisions. No solution was offered on Chat (Amazon.com) - e.g. I can’t get this ebook… Publisher is MacMillan, but their website does not have a ‘Contact us’ for ordinary consumers, only business, libraries and similar.
Another difference: US customer have an option to share purchased ebooks with people in their household. I wanted to share a series I’d purchased (during the COVID-19 restrictions) with my husband, who is 87 years old. This option is ONLY available in the US; and only for books purchased from the US site - so changing countries does not work. Maybe, CHOICE could persuade Amazom.com.au to introduce changes?
There is a l.o.n.g history of Australian law and business protecting authors rights (and income) well after the US evolved to diluting them. Back at the turn of the century a soft cover available most anywhere in the US at under $5.00 was often $30 or more here.
This is more recent but may help to explain some of it, not to imply I am defending it. The prices are 2014 and the $AUD has since declined to about $USD 0.68~0.71 so the xrate ‘adjusted’ comparisons also need mental adjustments.
Is the succinct issue here that the book is available only as a hard cover in Australia? It is not available as a digital edition. Or are there other sources some can suggest.
I’ve hit the same road block previously with academic or technical books. Sometimes there are alternate sources if you look long enough. Apple Books may be an option.
The international book market has many quirks, this applies as much to hardcopy as it does to soft. The release of any particular book in a given country is in the lap of the gods regarding when, the format, the price and in some cases even the title it is published under. You can have the same book published under different names simultaneously. The international publishers do as they please and little is done to rein them in.
You can share books within the family as you can read them on different devices (the assumption is that the account holder has several) using the same account. There does not appear to be any checking that the account is in use more than once at the same time. Even if there was you could circumvent that by downloading to the second (or third) device and then disconnecting it. Unlike movie streaming you don’t have to be connected to read your book.
I believe it is technically possible to spoof the system and look as though you are logging in from another country but I cannot tell you the details.
A similar principle applies to streaming services where you pay for more than one concurrent device in a package. There is no check that the devices share the same IP address just the same account. So you can share the service with a friend or family member at another address. It makes it cheap as family A pays for Netflix and family B pays for Stan but both use both.
Have you tried Kobo to see if the eBook is available on that platform? Nowadays one can read eBooks on a number of devices and Kobo does not discriminate against your country of residence, although GST is charged accordingly.
Books have different distributors in different markets. I have my Kindle store set to Amazon.co.uk as there plenty of English writers who i get better deals on overall. I still miss out on lots of books where the authors simply have not considered and can’t be bothered considering international availability.
This is a similar issue to iTunes/Spotify etc with music and video content. There were 119 different iTunes stores for apps and music. Different prices and availability across them all.
Or you could set up a different Amazon account at a different Amazon store to use either with a different Kindle device or using the Kindle eReader on a phone/tablet/PC…
Kobo – I thought that was just a reader! Did not know they also had books … will check that out. Have also asked my local library to see if they can get the book – they had one, but somebody lost it! Thanks for the suggestion re Kobo.
Well, I did have an US account before I was invited to switch. I changed because our children told us they were charged too much extra in exchange fees when they sent us gift vouchers. In the US account I could share my books with my husband, now I can’t share any I’ve bought in OZ nor the US purchased ones, because amazon.com.au has not implemented the ‘household’ option (yet). — I might try the UK site and see… I do use The Book Depository (Amazon owned) for hard copies, but did not want a hard copy of this particular book.
Do you really want to keep the book on your e-reader…There are a number of options to access e-books at “Council libraries” and some times this is a n option. Most libraries just need you to be a member AND sometimes you need to use a third party reader (very rare though). Saves having to buy the book.
Options like SCRIBD www.scribd.com offers a subscription based service where you can read for 30 days.And www.manybooks.net have books to read for free, depending on your genre…? Most Council libraries have access to an electronic catalog that you browse and then reserve when it becomes available. Gives you a wide selection to read. www.gutenberg.org is another.
You can Google SEARCH “Free e-books online” to find a whole lot too. Also remember that most Kindle readers can also read PDF documents that have been converted. ( E-pub)
Hope this gives you more options and HAPPY reading.
I’m an avid reader (average 1 book per day) and subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. I’m also signed up to a LOT of author emails and Facebook pages as they advise when books are free and on sale. Unfortunately, for some reason Australia often falls out of the Amazon ‘sale regions’, so an e-book that is currently on sale in the US and UK for $.99 is full price in Australia, oftentimes $7.99 or more. Apparently some people have circumnavigated this by opening a US account, but I’m not quite sure of the logistics of this and am a little worried to do it, as it would be linked to the same credit card as my Australian account. I do find it very frustrating however, that the same e-book can be brought overseas on sale and yet not in Australia. There is no postage to be considered - it is sent to your “Kindle Cloud” and you download it on your e-reader. The other thing I have found with Amazon is that even when e-books are NOT on sale the price discrepencies still can’t be justified by the exchange rate - e.g. at book being sold for $2.99US but $12.99AU. I’d love it if Choice were able to do something about this, particularly the ‘sale regions’ as I know the Authors lament about it too and often complain about it in their email newsletters.
I agree with you, deonne_corney! I have had an US account and purchased ebooks, but there was always a higher charge than I expected. - I’ve read all of the suggestions re my Kindle problem, have even joined Kobo - but, they say I need to install their app first on a tablet or phone and … when I checked, they did not have the book I want, anyway! But, they did have books by this author - not the one I’m looking for!
Hi, KW3180 – yes, I use my local library and they have a service called 'Borrow Box". I’ve read a number of books on my tablet using the service, but the ONE book I’m looking for is not available in that format. It’s only available for purchase in hard copy in Australia, and as an e-book in the US. Have not looked at Amazon.uk yet…
If your US account is still valid (and it should be, mine is, if I wanted it) all you need to do is change your address to a US one, and use your US bank account to pay for the book. It should come to your kindle without issue.
Yes, I could change again - but I don’t have an US bank account! Not sure whether I could purchase with my OZ a/c… and then all my books purchased in OZ might cause me problems later (?)
I think you could use your oz account but yeah not sure about how the books would work. I suspect you would have to change addresses every time you wanted a book from the other you. Have you tried just buying it from the US site?
It may be possible to use Amazon Gift Cards to bypass using your Credit Card. There are retail stores that sell them, and they can also be purchased at online stores. I use the US, AU & UK sites without problem without using the cards but as I stated they may be an answer for you.
