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Does the country you live in matters for Amazon Kindle?

Helleaven

Minstrel
Hi! In case I don't get published, I want to put my book to the Amazon Kindle Store.

But here is the problem:

In the country I am living in, Amazon Kindle services does not exist. I mean I can go to the site and browse through my computer but Amazon Kindle device doesn't work in here unless you select your counrty as US. I don't know if I could explain it well but I hope so.

So if I translate my book to English and release it for the English-speaking costumers, would I get paid for my sales? I mean could they send the money into my bank account here? Or should I have a bank account in one of the countries that Amazon services support? Does it matters which bank do I have an account in?
 

Kelise

Maester
I'm not sure if it's the only way, but someone I know here in Australia had to make a bank account in the US in order to receive payment. Then with the conversions to get the money into an account here, he loses most of it.

Most people I know who aren't in America put their books up on smashwords - perhaps they have a better method of payment.
 

MikePierre

Acolyte
My issue about country and kindle is about pricing:
About 4 days ago I uploaded a new version of my book Griffin (The Winged Blade) and dropped the price to .99 ¢. However, when I browsed for the book’s description page I noticed that the pricing was $1.99. At first I thought it was an error so I double checked my account and, to my surprise, the book appears as a .99¢ download.
It was then that I wrote to Amazon and the answer came about. It appears that, since I am browsing from outside of the US (which is not true, since I live in a US territory) the price is listed as $1.99; however, Amazon assured that for US mainland browsers, the book appears as .99¢.
I am not able to confirm this.
I can understand the issue of shipment fees for hard copy books yet, I find that is a bit unjust to raise the price of my ebook to $1.99 merely because readers are browsing from a US territory and not from the States. So far, I have not received my first payment yet so I can't say anything about that yet. However, I am a bit scared with this sudden amazon changes because there is a probability that I will not receive my money on a check.
Nonetheless, like Kelise said, this was never a problem with smashwords, so you might consider using that platform.
 
Hi,

Not being able to download kindle books is not an issue in terms of publishing and being paid. But some countries are not yet (or weren't - you'll have to check) on Amazon's list of countries where they can contract. New Zealand wasn't until a couple of years ago. Before then my only recourse would have been to get a US bank account. Now I get a cheque.

Mike, I had the same problem, and the strange surcharge for my first book was $2. This has fortunately been dropped here, and I assume it will be for you as well in due course.

Cheers, Greg.
 

MikePierre

Acolyte
I just found a news article saying that my country's Department of Consumer Affairs fined Amazon for discriminating against us. The blow was a heavy one, $500,000 for not allowing its Super Saver (free shipping) feature. I guess since we are US citizens using US currency and the same US Post Office, that is fair.
I guess this price raise is unjustified. Should I knock on the Department of Consumer Affairs or should I let it go? The chance of readers buying my book is minimum but, I think of other Kindle users that are buying books at a higher price.
 
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