Many of us who are not residents in the U.S. have been enviously looking on at the Amazon Kindle and annoyed that we haven’t been given the opportunity to buy one of the eBook readers. But that all changed a few days ago with the introduction of an international Kindle for all. Unfortunately, the joy was short-lived as it looks though international buyers are being royally shafted when it comes to pricing.

I really like the look of the Kindle, and have wanted one since it first launched late in 2007. Unfortunately, as a British citizen, this wasn’t possible, at least until now.

On Oct. 7, as Sean reported, Amazon cut the price of the Kindle for U.S. customers and introduced an international version of the eBook reader. A shout of joy was heard by book lovers in many countries that morning, at least the ones who believe digital book publishing and consuming is the future. Which I do.

Initially, Amazon claimed that international customers wouldn’t be charged any more for downloads than their American counterparts. But according to The Guardian, that has now been shown up as a lie, with Amazon admitting that in fact, international Kindle customers will be charged up to 40 percent more per downloaded eBook.

While Americans pay $11.99 per book, customers in the rest of the world will be charged $13.99 per book. A spokesman told the newspaper:

International customers do pay a higher price for their books than US customers due to higher operating costs outside of the US. Additionally, VAT rates in the EU are higher on ebooks than on print books.

I’m afraid that this revelation will be the final nail in the coffin for those of us wishing to buy an international Kindle when it’s released on Oct. 19. The device itself will cost more due to import tax and shipping. The Kindle comes with a U.S. power adapter, newspapers won’t have images, blogs will not work, and the browser will be disabled. And now a 40 percent mark-up on book prices.

I wonder if I’ll be the only person waiting until rival eBook readers are launched now that Amazon has scored such a costly own goal?

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Entry was posted on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 1:35 am under Amazon, Opinion, Technology.

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