How To Buy Amazon Kindle Books From A Different Country?

Question

Region locks frustrate me when browsing foreign Kindle libraries. Need a straightforward way to purchase titles unavailable in my local Amazon store.

Eva Smith · Answer

Geo-restrictions can be a real pain, but I was able to change my Amazon account to be listed in a different country (this changes other aspects of your account such as active subscriptions and your library of downloaded content too). I was also looking for something to read to escape from reality at the moment, and I found ‘Forbidden Desires: A collection of sinful hot stories’ which is available to purchase for a few dollars right now – no geo-restrictions on this download.

Ben · Answer

Note: Purchasing Kindle content from a different Amazon store can be tricky to set up but I have managed to do it with a few tweeks. Amazon restricts your access to each store based on the country that you have set for your Amazon account in “Manage Your Content and Devices” and they then also require a payment method for that country as well. To purchase Amazon gift cards for use in the Amazon Store for your target country I have purchased Amazon gift cards for the country in question (e.g. Amazon US for me) and then I use those to ‘buy’ books from within that Amazon site and pay with the gift card that I have purchased instead of a local card.

Using a VPN to mask your location may work, but I’ve had mixed reports of this from friends. Using two Amazon accounts (one for your home country and one for the country you are currently in) could also work well for frequent travelers. Note, however, that Kindle books cannot be shared between the two accounts of one user. You also have to check if the book you are searching for is available for your desired Amazon region as some titles may not be licensed by Amazon in every region. For me, buying Amazon gift cards for my desired region online and then using my VPN intermittently worked a treat.

Nora · Answer

This post was inspired by my recent experience moving abroad and trying to continue buying books in Kindle format from my home country’s store. To manage your Amazon account country settings read this: first you have to set your country on your Amazon account, and then update your billing address for each of your payment methods (such as credit cards) to match the country you set for your Amazon account. Using a VPN to connect to a store in a different country is usually sufficient to browse and buy books. But you need a payment method for the country where you want to buy books (such as a credit card with a billing address in said country), or you need to have sufficient funds on a gift card for said country’s Amazon store. I bought a digital gift card on the target country’s Amazon site, which I could then use to add credit to my account, enabling me to buy books without a local card. Be aware though that frequently changing your country of Amazon account ( Amazon detects frequent changes within a short amount of time) can get your account locked for some time. So it’s best to stick to one region.

Sophia · Answer

I am a Kindle addict and lovingly collect books on it. Unfortunately for me, as I recently relocated to Japan I couldn’t seem to access Amazon US anymore. After loads of research and testing, I managed to create a new Amazon account with a US address on it (using my friend’s address) and then added a US payment method to it. So far so good – the tricky bit was that I don’t have any US cards to add as a payment method, so I’ve been purchasing digital Amazon US gift cards from 3rd party sellers online and then adding those to my Amazon account to enable me to shop from Amazon US store.

One thing to note is that you have to make sure your Kindle is set to the region of the country you created your Amazon account with (in my case the US). As I changed the region of my Kindle to test this feature all the books I had previously downloaded were suddenly removed from my Kindle. After switching it back to Japan they all reappeared. For the most tech savvy this could be a way to side-load books using Calibre, but I believe for the majority of people buying a gift card online and applying it to their account is the easiest way to shop the Amazon US Kindle store.

Nine · Answer

I miss bookstores so much. All you had to do in them was to go look for a book and buy it. No gates, no regions. This is how the digital future was supposed to be.

Beneth Vincent · Answer

I see a lot of fear about closing accounts for Amazon fraud. Again, this is typically a very obvious fraud scenario and thus not what Amazon wants to go after first. Amazon will often first block a transaction for a region mismatch and then alert the buyer via email that the attempted purchase was blocked. As the buyer attempted to violate Amazon’s contractual obligations with the Publisher, Amazon is simply trying to protect the Publishers’ contractual interests with Amazon’s business (to sell there). Thus, in attempting to use a VPN and a gift card to purchase a game, you might lose the balance on the gift card for the failed attempt (refunded to you), or the transaction just won’t go through in the first place. The amount of fear in the community regarding this issue is slightly overblown. However, repeatedly attempting to circumvent Amazon’s policies via other means will get you flagged as well. However, a single failed attempt at fraud usually does nothing at all. This all comes from the experiences of a friend.

Lara Kelly · Answer

I just come here to read and all that tech talk gives me a headache. I am good with my library and my used paperbacks.

How To Buy Amazon Kindle Books From A Different Country?

7 Answers

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