I am in the UK. Recipient is in the US. How to send her Amazon books?
August 30, 2014 5:54 AM Subscribe
I am in the UK and have a UK amazon account. My recipient is in the US. How should I send her books? The books are available on the US website - can I save money and shipping by having them sent from the US? if so how can I do that from my UK amazon account? Thanks, I fail at googling this!
Is there some reason you don't just put the book in your cart at Amazon.com and go to checkout to see what happens? I believe you will need to create a new, US account however, as your UK and US logins will NOT be connected.
(I can't really test because indeed, I have two accounts in place already.)
posted by DarlingBri at 6:03 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
(I can't really test because indeed, I have two accounts in place already.)
posted by DarlingBri at 6:03 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Pretty sure you can log in to the US site with the same username/password, though it will generate a separate account with separate wish list etc which is a bit annoying. I've done this in the other direction, starting with a US acct and now have add'l .co.uk, .fr and .de accounts from situations like this.
Do you have a dollar-denominated payment method? A UK credit card or bank might screw you a bit on the currency conversion... prob still worth it for shipping cost savings though.
posted by neat graffitist at 6:04 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Do you have a dollar-denominated payment method? A UK credit card or bank might screw you a bit on the currency conversion... prob still worth it for shipping cost savings though.
posted by neat graffitist at 6:04 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
I have an amazon.com and an amazon.it account and I use both, depending on what I want to buy and where I want it shipped. Amazon makes it really easy to have multiple accounts.
posted by lydhre at 6:09 AM on August 30, 2014
posted by lydhre at 6:09 AM on August 30, 2014
neat graffitist makes a good point. If you have a Halifax Clarity card, there's no fee for forex transfers.
posted by Solomon at 6:15 AM on August 30, 2014
posted by Solomon at 6:15 AM on August 30, 2014
Also look at the Book Depository. They're owned by Amazon but have free shipping worldwide. So you can buy and pay in your local currency and have them delivered to your friend elsewhere no worries. This is how my family buys books for each other all the time and we're in NZ, Aus, UK, Ireland and Germany. I'm pretty sure they will come from somewhere localish too so no problems with import taxes etc (at least I've never had problems and Ireland is pretty strict), but I've never sent to the US specifically so you should check their faq to be sure.
Might not help if the books aren't listed there, but it's so useful when they are I figured it's worth a mention.
posted by shelleycat at 6:27 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Might not help if the books aren't listed there, but it's so useful when they are I figured it's worth a mention.
posted by shelleycat at 6:27 AM on August 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hmm, I'm actually wrong and the Book Depository mainly ships from the UK. It looks like you're exempt from import duties if the order is worth less than US$200 so still may be worth it.
This is also why you're better off buying from amazon.com than .co.uk, because they will also charge you import duties and things for sending internationally. I have multiple Amazon accounts like others here to avoid this stuff, and have used all of them with the same Ireland-based credit card even though I live in Germany. Amazon will happily convert the currency for you to help avoid fees, although you may not save anything that way.
posted by shelleycat at 6:37 AM on August 30, 2014
This is also why you're better off buying from amazon.com than .co.uk, because they will also charge you import duties and things for sending internationally. I have multiple Amazon accounts like others here to avoid this stuff, and have used all of them with the same Ireland-based credit card even though I live in Germany. Amazon will happily convert the currency for you to help avoid fees, although you may not save anything that way.
posted by shelleycat at 6:37 AM on August 30, 2014
You can log into Amazon US with your Amazon UK account. I've purchased stuff on the US site and had it sent to a US address before without any issues (this was a few years ago though)
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:38 AM on August 30, 2014
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:38 AM on August 30, 2014
Yes, this should work. I have an amazon.com, .co.uk, and .fr account and have used all of them from both europe and the us.
posted by elizardbits at 8:59 AM on August 30, 2014
posted by elizardbits at 8:59 AM on August 30, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm hoping this will be no different from the UK.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:01 AM on August 30, 2014 [2 favorites]