Amazon.com.au

[cookie1]

DDHas just informed me that amazon now have a ebook place here. Her kindle is at home but she has some how bought a couple of books.

[jeninwa]

Thanks Cookie, I will have to check it out.

[CreamPuff63]

That's interesting. At least we won't have to pay an international fee on credit card payments. I'll have to look anspd see if I can find it. Thanks cookie for the heads up 

[Wonder]

I'll have to have a look and see if the prices are any different. I have a card just for travelling and purchasing from overseas which doesn't charge fees, but if the A$ prices are cheaper than the US or if there are titles available that can't be downloaded from the US site then it will be great.

[Cuilidh]

Sorry everyone, it's entirely possible that the Australian site won't be any cheaper, in fact I think it may be more expensive, as they will have to charge GST at 10%, whereas I think the credit card charges for foreign currency are less than 10%.  I am also pretty sure Australia charges more for books as well - but I am not 100% sure of that.  Time and a couple of purchases will tell!

[CreamPuff63]

Then that would be classic example of why Australian retail businesses have a lot to fear about overseas online purchases. We should be able to buy cheaper here because it's local. I'm not going to buy through the Aus website if I can buy cheaper elsewhere.

[Wonder]

I had a quick look at the website and the two books I purchased recently were slightly more expensive. sorry didn't think to work out by what %.

[jeninwa]

Found this info online  http://m.theaustralian.com.au/technology/personal-tech/amazon-opens-aussie-ebook-store-appstore-releases-three-kindle-fires-locally/story-e6frgazf-1226758697051

You can't operate more than one consumer account on the same Kindle device though. So you'll need to buy consistently from either the Australian eBook store or the US one unless you have multiple Kindle devices - ie it will be hard to choose a store on a book-by-book basis where there is a major price difference.

[Cuilidh]

Then that would be classic example of why Australian retail businesses have a lot to fear about overseas online purchases. We should be able to buy cheaper here because it's local. I'm not going to buy through the Aus website if I can buy cheaper elsewhere.

The trouble with that is that retailers don't have any room to move - we know for a fact that our customers can purchase items from American suppliers for less than we can purchase them from our Australian importers and we simply cannot compete - that is why so many small retailers are going out of business.  Add to that that costs are going up in Australia and we have to make a profit to pay wages, rates, electricity, etc. ... well, it's pretty tough.  There are certainly some businesses ripping their customers off with huge mark ups, etc. so I can only speak for ourselves, but it is very hard trading times at the moment.

[CreamPuff63]

yes I can imagine that it is tough at the moment Marina. I don't see why an online business that sells ebooks tho should be more expensive than its overseas counterpart, when the cost to get the product to the consumer is minimal.

[obbie]

I have a amazon account    should use it more often

[cookie1]

Thanks for the heads up ladies. I am sort of thinking of buying a kindle for myself. We use kobo for purchases for our Sony ereaders and it has been sold and we are having no end of trouble with them. Will see how things go. I still have heaps of books on the ereader anyway. DD has both as she won a USA $50 Amazon account and decided to buy a Kindle so she could use it.

Marina the banks charge about 3% I think so it is a lot less than 10%.

[Cuilidh]

I don't see why an online business that sells ebooks tho should be more expensive than its overseas counterpart, when the cost to get the product to the consumer is minimal.

I agree totally.

[gertbysea]

Must be careful if you have an existing amazon account in credit. If you decide to switch your book buying to the Aussie web site you will not be able to use that money to buy books on your kindle. You can still use it for Amazon stuff just not books.once you change it you cannot get it back.

The price of books in Australia is controlled by the publishers and there are laws in place to keep it that way. Shame  on the federal government not to change them when Rudd had a chance. So much for the Smart country.

Don't get me started.

Gert

[Cuilidh]

Just found this price comparison on the Lifehacker blog