With the launch of Amazon’s new 6″ Kindle reading device questions have once again been raised about whether or not the company ships to South Africa and where the best place is to buy a Kindle. The short answer is yes, Amazon does ship to South Africa and the new Kindle is officially supported. The only place you should buy it is directly from Amazon.

The misunderstanding surrounding Amazon’s shipping policies and availability of the Kindle are due to bad reporting in the media and grey importers who would prefer it if you bought the Kindle from them. So let’s start by dispelling the nonsense:

1. “Amazon does not ship to South Africa.” – This is simply not true. Amazon will ship to South Africa from both its USA and UK stores, but it is not allowed to ship all products because some have not been licensed for the region. Books and DVDs, for example, are published via specific channels. Amazon can not send products to South Africa if they are not licensed for the country by the publishers or manufacturers. Amazon will happily ship other products that are licensed for international shipping that includes South Africa – even by normal airmail unless the seller does not allow it. Remember that Amazon is not the seller for most products in its catalogue, but rather acts as a facilitator between stores and customers. In the case of the Kindle, which is an official Amazon product, it is shipped from the USA using courier services only.
2. “Kindle is not officially available in South Africa.” – Again, not true. The Kindle was officially launched in South Africa in 2009, along with over 100 other countries. I was at the launch and I have purchased two Kindles from Amazon since then, shipping both to my office in Johannesburg. The first one arrived in three days. The second arrived after two days but was held at customs. The courier company informed me of this and then delivered the package three days later, after customs released it without additional charges.

Some grey importers do supply the Kindle but are unable to beat Amazon’s price for the device since they need to buy it from Amazon themselves before selling it to you! There is no reason to buy the product from them and you shouldn’t even consider it. The only incentive would be if they could save you money on shipping costs and since they are marking up on retail prices I doubt this would ever be the case. The other possibility is that Amazon is out of stock, which is proving to regularly be the case given the popularity of the new 6″ model.

Stock shortages aside, the best place to buy a Kindle is directly from Amazon. It will be shipped to you almost anywhere in the world, including South Africa, and if anything goes wrong with the delivery Amazon will send you a replacement.

There are some things to bear in mind when shipping a Kindle to South Africa, however:

• Be sure to tell Amazon which country you are in before placing your order. Look for the box on the right hand side of the Kindle order screen that says, ‘Live outside the US?’. Click on it and follow the directions so that Amazon knows which country they are dealing with.
• Amazon does not deliver Kindle to PO Box addresses since it uses a courier service. You must therefore provide a home or business address that it can be hand-delivered to.
• Once shipping costs, sales tax and other fees have been added the full cost of the 6″ Kindle with 3G and WiFi is currently $239.09 (±R1790).
• Amazon has begun charging a small customs deposit so that it can expedite processing of Kindles arriving in South Africa. If no customs charges are levied, Amazon refunds this deposit. I am yet to here of anyone being charged by customs for their Kindle.
• Whispernet and Whispersync are free services, even when accessing them using the Kindle’s 3G connection. However, Amazon does charge for delivering books and other content to the device using the service as part of the price of purchasing a title.
• South African Kindle owners have limited access to the Kindle store with less books available due to territorial licensing. The way to get around this is to change your country setting to ‘USA’ once you have the Kindle. This is done on the ‘Manage your Kindle’ part of the Amazon website. Be warned, however, that Amazon will ask you to prove that you are American and doing so won’t be possible for everyone.

The Kindle is classed as ‘IT’ and exempt from ad valorem taxing by South Africa’s customs authorities. It also falls under the price threshold for imported goods.

If something goes wrong with your Kindle and you need to send it in for repairs or replacement, Amazon will facilitate courier services for the return of the device. I do not know of anyone who has had to do this but I have been told by representatives of Amazon that it is a straightforward and painless procedure.

Amazon’s Whispernet and Whispersync services also work in SA thanks to Amazon’s partnership with AT&T and its international roaming agreements. This is a great feature and I have often used it to buy books directly on the Kindle while on holiday – even in the bush. I also used the service while traveling in China.

Whispernet now also allows you to tweet from the Kindle while reading and supports other social networking functions.

At $139 for the WiFi-only Kindle and $189 for the 3G and WiFi version, this is the ultimate device for reading books as far as I’m concerned. I love my Kindle and also think it makes the perfect gift – delivered to whoever you’re buying it for directly from Amazon.

So ignore the bull being spouted by grey importers and misinformed individuals who think the South African Post Office has sabotaged our chances of shopping online forever. Go get yourself a Kindle. And no, I am in no way affiliated to the company – Amazon is just pure awesome and the Kindle is a great product.