Free Kindle ebooks are not always free because a surcharge is usually applied to cover the cost of downloading the ‘free kindle book’ via Whispernet. This applies to anyone who is not in the U.S.A but even then certain areas can attract the surcharge as they are classed as non-US.
This quote from a kindle user shows just how confusing it all is…
I was just told that if I am in San Juan with a San Juan address and a Global Wireless Kindle, I will not be charged the Whispernet fee, if I use a US address as my home address I will be charge that approx $2 fee. I was trying to get a definition of US at the time. Since San Juan and the District of Columbia are both non-states, but territories of the US. Ended up being told that the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands are international “areas”. I was told that, at least in San Juan, I could use a computer at no additional to the cost of the book
It get even more confusing…
I got my Kindle yesterday and live in the United Kingdom. I have downloaded a few books through whispernet for free with no $2 charge.
But this is why they were free…for now.
Your Kindle isn’t registered to the right country yet. If you check your profile, you will see your country is selected as the USA. I had the same with mine when i just got it, when I changed it to the Netherlands, I got the $ 2.00 charge for “free” books.
It’s all a bit of a mess really but if you are interested in how to get free kindle books then you might get lucky by looking on Amazon for items tagged as kindle freebie. Here you go… Kindle Freebie Page
Good luck trying to download kindle ebooks for free, because it’s not as simple as it seems.