Guide to Buying the Amazon Kindle in Singapore

This guide is written for Singaporeans or those living in Singapore

Although Amazon doesn't sell and ship the Kindle to Singapore, it doesn't mean you can't get a Kindle in Singapore.

This guide will show you the workaround to buy a Kindle from Amazon US, and have it shipped to Singapore, into your hands.

Buying the Kindle from Amazon USA in Singapore

1. Sign up with a mail forwarder
The few mail forwarding companies that provide mail forwarding services in Singapore are vPost, Borderlinx, or ComGateWay. Borderlinx is for Citibank credit card users.

Register an account with one of them to get a US address. That's the address Amazon will ship to. When your item is at that location, it will be forwarded to Singapore for a shipping charge. The shipping charge is determined mainly by weight.

2. Get a new IP address
Amazon uses your computer's IP address to determine your location. So you'll need is a software that hides your IP address, or at least make it appear as if you're from US. I use a software called Hotspot Shield, which works on Windows and Mac. It's free but is supported by ads appearing at the top of your browser windows. You might be able to find other similar software from download.cnet.com.

After installing the software, run it and choose to connect. It will assign you an USA IP address.

You'll need to be on this IP address for your purchase.

3. Have a physical US billing address

On your account page, find the link called "Manage Address Book". Enter the address you received from vPost, Borderlinx or ComGateWay. That would be your shipping and billing address.

Set that address as your default 1-Click address. That's on Your Account page->Settings->1-Click Settings.

4. You can start buying now
Get the Kindle 3 wifi version because it's cheaper. 3G version does work in Singapore too. You can now add the Kindle to your shopping cart and checkout.

A few pages will appear during the checkout process where you have to enter the shipping address (you did that earlier) and the payment choices - credit card. Amazon have a free shipping option if you don't mind waiting a few extra days.

Packages including shipping above SGD$400 will be charged 7% GST.

5. Your package should arrive at the vPost, Borderlinx or ComGateWay
After your package arrives, they will notify you via email. Go to their website to check the shipping charges, and pay for that. Then they will ship it to Singapore.

My experience with ComGateWay went like this: It takes a few days after the package arrives at ComGateWay before they link it to my account. They then notified me and let me choose between two shipping choices: DHL standard or DHL Express. It's around us$23 for a Kindle 3 and Lighted Cover, DHL Express in my case. It will take a few days before ComGateWay ships. You can track the shipment via ComGateWay from then onwards.

5. Registering the Kindle
You can register with your Amazon account on your new Kindle.

Buying ebooks from Amazon US

It's recommended to buy ebooks through your computer instead of through Kindle - that's why I tell you not to get the 3G. With your computer, you can run VPN to get a USA IP address. Without VPN, Amazon will detect you're not from USA.

After you fired up your VPN, the Kindle ebooks will be made visible and available for purchase. Without VPN, you won't see ebook pricing and listing. Just try downloading the free sample ebooks first, choose to download to your computer, then transfer via USB cable to your Kindle.

The process of buying is similar to downloading the sample ebooks except you have to pay.

You should be able to use your credit card to buy ebooks (make sure your billing address is US). If not, just buy some Amazon Gift Cards and email to yourself - On your account page, click 'Apply a Gift Card to Your Account' and enter the code and the Gift Card will be credited into you account, ready for use. When you have Gift Card funds, Amazon will always use that before your credit cards.

For more details on buying digital content from Amazon, read my Guide to buying mp3, ebooks, videos and downloads from Amazon outside of USA