Amazon/Kindle location workaround

[Bölverkur]

Hey guys,

I am an international customer that just purchased a Kindle from the US. I have a little problem and some googleing led me to your site, which seems like a really great resource for ereader owners. It would be simple awesome if you could help me out with this.

The thing is, I want to be able to buy books like I am a customer located in the US. The prices are cheaper and the selection is way better. I'm trying to figure out what sort of measures I have to undertake so I won't get stopped for not being in my registered country.

I had my Kindle sent to a friend of mine in the US who is bringing it to me this weekend, so I already have a US address. I thought that would be enough, but as I got the registered country error after a few purchases on amazon, I figured amazon must be checking my IP. Would having a US address + a US VPN proxy be enough to access the US store? I also heard that if my Kindle is outside of the US and I send books directly to it, that amazon will pick up its location. Does amazon check credit cards' location as well? Will I have to use a US credit card, or does a gift card suffice?

Sorry if this seems confusing, but I tried to make it as clear as possible. I also searched your forums for some advice and found some, but not enough.

Thanks for reading!

[gumhead]

I will offer what I do but you may be better served to do some reading and familarize yourself with this forum. There are a number of threads pertaining to this situation and possible solutions posted on this forum.
1) Open a new account on Amazon.com using your U.S address, make sure your country is specified as U.S
2) Download kindle pc/mac app for your computer.
3) I use a hide ip program so as my ip show as U.S and download to my computer and then transfer to my kindle with usb
Some folks don't bother with the hide ip but I rather be as discrete as possible.

[Bölverkur]

Just read the Canada thread, got some good info from that. Since I don't want to pay for a VPN proxy just yet, I'm thinking of using a free one, such as hidemyass for example. Any thoughts on that? Do you think it's secure enough? I'm hoping that the US IP + address will be enough, even though my credit card is not from the US. I won't be using the wireless on my Kindle, so it won't pick up that it's outside of the US.

[Bölverkur]

Originally Posted by gumhead

I will offer what I do but you may be better served to do some reading and familarize yourself with this forum. There are a number of threads pertaining to this situation and possible solutions posted on this forum.
1) Open a new account on Amazon.com using your U.S address, make sure your country is specified as U.S
2) Download kindle pc/mac app for your computer.
3) I use a hide ip program so as my ip show as U.S and download to my computer and then transfer to my kindle with usb
Some folks don't bother with the hide ip but I rather be as discrete as possible.

Thanks for the tip! I'm hoping a new account won't be necessary, as my account already has a US address, but has been accessed by my Icelandic IP. I however told amazon that I was vacationing so all should be in order, hopefully, when I use a proxy. If it doesn't work I'll be trying out your method. Some people also suggest buying a gift card and not using your credit card, but the card seems to work for some regardless of country.

[grizedale]

Do not assume that the price you are seeing on the .com site is the same you would pay if you resided in the US. The Amazon site recognises which country you are viewing from and shows the price relative to that Country. eg, the new Ken Follett shows as being $14 if viewed from the UK but the price to US residents is $19.99...

[hellraiser06]

Okay, after downloading some books in Iceland, Amazon wont let you download any book and will ask you to contact their CS. I am from India and what I do is that whenever I see such a page, I ask a friend in US to download a book for me. Of course you will have to share your account details. This keeps me going for 4 or 5 more books and then I repeat the process.

Also, at work, we use a US proxyy, so Amazon sees me as a visitor from US itself and lets me download all the books I can. So, yeah, proxy will work. Cheers

[Bölverkur]

It seems the proxy is working, I've gotten many books for $0 and just tried purchasing one for $0.99. No international wireless transfer fee was applied. The proxy gives me an error when I try to download the books - it's not opening the save as feature correctly. So, on my normal Icelandic IP, I seem to be able to download the books straight to my computer without problems. At least, so far I've not had any trouble.

Thing is, I've yet to get my Kindle. I understand that the first download on it has to be wireless, so that might mess things up. Hopefully I'll be able to sort that out when the time comes.

[gumhead]

I use a proxy when I am on this side of the border(canada) I work in both countries and cross the border on a regular basis. I have my home in canada and when in the states I stay a few days with friend on that side of the border.
I ordered the kindle from my Cdn account and sent it to myself as a gift so as not to have it registered to my cdn account. I then registered it to my new U.S account with friends address. I use the wifi/3g without incident so far in Canada ( I live very close to the border) but I always make a point when I am on the us side to connect with the wifi/3g on that side download a book etc....I'm not sure why you had a problem with using proxy except sometimes it will time out as it is taking to long to connect with proxy.....You might want to consider a dedicated program for obscuring your ip....Some people use nothing at all and have no issues yor choice...
Regards