Can I buy books for a british kindle from amazon.fr?

[llamatron]

Has anyone done this? I can't find the answer on amazon. I assume it should be fine but I want to check before buying one?

[Guest]

I'm glad you asked that, because I've just had a look on both Amazon.com and Amazon.fr and thanks to that I discovered that I can apparently use my standard amazon.co.uk account on all sites. I didn't know that .

 

As for Kindle books, both Amazon.com and Amazon.fr give similar messages in the place where the purchase options appear on the UK site when I look at Kindle books: 'Kindle titles are available for UK customers on Amazon.co.uk'.

 

In addition, Amazon.fr gives the following message (translation provided by Google): 'The Kindle Store on Amazon.fr is intended only for customers in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Visit the Kindle Store at Amazon.co.uk to purchase securities available in your country. Have you recently moved? You can change your country on Kindle Your Account page.'

 

Perhaps that's due to licensing agreements in different countries. You could contact Amazon's customer services directly and ask for clarification. They have a reputation for being really helpful.

[llamatron]

I'm glad you asked that, because I've just had a look on both Amazon.com and Amazon.fr and thanks to that I discovered that I can apparently use my standard amazon.co.uk account on all sites. I didn't know that .

 

As for Kindle books, both Amazon.com and Amazon.fr give similar messages in the place where the purchase options appear on the UK site when I look at Kindle books: 'Kindle titles are available for UK customers on Amazon.co.uk'.

 

In addition, Amazon.fr gives the following message (translation provided by Google): 'The Kindle Store on Amazon.fr is intended only for customers in France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Visit the Kindle Store at Amazon.co.uk to purchase securities available in your country. Have you recently moved? You can change your country on Kindle Your Account page.'

 

Perhaps that's due to licensing agreements in different countries. You could contact Amazon's customer services directly and ask for clarification. They have a reputation for being really helpful.

 

I did just find the kindle support option-duh! (duh is aimed at me not you, just realised that could be quite offensive) and asked them. They phoned spookily quickly-slow day! And said I could add a .fr account to the .co.uk account at least that is what I understood. I have looked online and constantly see that you aren't allowed to register a kindle to two accounts so now I am more confused. As suspected it seems far too complicated. Its like with music from itunes, although you pay full price you never own it you just hire it indefinitely. I don't trust it:suspect:

 

Ps you may be able to tell this is a gift idea not something for me!

 

I have ordered books from amazon.fr a few times-very easy when surprisingly my french is good enough to navigate (along with occasional babelfish and amazon.co.uk site comparisons help)

 

edit: if its a licensing issue surely if you move to another country you can't take your electronic books with you. It can't be that can it?

[llamatron]

I have now had an email from amazon saying you can download directly from the country your account is registered to-hmmmm I am thinking the phone call info was rubbish. There are so many issues with electronic copies of things, why are they so popular?

 

Back to the drawing board on the present idea:(

[Rupert_Baehr]

There may be a VAT consideration.

 

There is no VAT on printed books in the UK, but if you buy an electronic book you are charged VAT. (Probably because you're 'saving a tree'.)

 

I don't know whether France charges VAT on e-books.

[llamatron]

There may be a VAT consideration.

 

There is no VAT on printed books in the UK, but if you buy an electronic book you are charged VAT. (Probably because you're 'saving a tree'.)

 

I don't know whether France charges VAT on e-books.

 

I don't mind paying more for the books but I don't think it can be done-legally! And I ain't no pirate. Maybe its a present for the future when the licences have been sorted.

[horribleblob]

I've bought cds, dvds and printed books from Amazon.fr in the past. I don't think VAT is an issue within the EU.

 

As an aside, this is from the Bookseller website:

 

14.09.11

Amazon has launched a Spanish website, although Spanish readers will have to wait to get their hands on the Kindle.

 

The site, Amazon.es, went live today (14th September) and is offering books in Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Basque. Products have a minimum discount of 5% and there is free delivery for purchases above €19 (£16.49).

 

Sources told the Spanish press the Amazon Kindle and e-books will be made available before the end of the year.

[llamatron]

seems to be a pretty amazing flaw in the plan really! Why can't people buy french ebooks when you could easily buy the physical book?

[Guest]

seems to be a pretty amazing flaw in the plan really! Why can't people buy french ebooks when you could easily buy the physical book?

Amazon.co.uk do have a rather small collection of Kindle books published in French.

 

There are also sites, like this one, where you can download (legally) free ebooks published in French. Of course, the selection will likely be limited to the classics, due to copyright reasons, and you may have to convert to a Kindle compatible format (very easy to do if you use Calibre).

[llamatron]

Amazon.co.uk do have a rather small collection of Kindle books published in French.

 

There are also sites, like this one, where you can download (legally) free ebooks published in French. Of course, the selection will likely be limited to the classics, due to copyright reasons, and you may have to convert to a Kindle compatible format (very easy to do if you use Calibre).

 

Its for my partner and he will not be interested in the classics unfortunately. He is probably not quite fluent enough to read ye olde classical books, I am looking for british books that I like that have been translated so I don't think its going to be suitable yet. I was thinking of getting him some Roald Dahls which are on .fr but not .co.uk, they might be a bit easy but thats the kind of thing I would like to buy him.