Ordering English books

[opas]

I  want to buy some English reading books for my daughters for Christmas. I have looked on CD Wow, Play.com and Amazon and have found out that you cannot buy books on there to be delivered outsice the UK.

Can anyone help with other sites, so far I do not have anyone coming to stay for Christmas, so ordering to a friend/relative is out of the question.

 EDIT

I have just looked at Amazon.fr , I am now going to pose a question so someone will definatly answer , even if it is to say that I am a prize plonker[Www]

If I order from the section that says livres Anglais, are the books written in Eglish or are they the translated version , ie I am looking at some Jaqueline Wilson books......she is an English Author.  It would not matter to the girls which language they came in, I am trying to encourage them to read more English.

[Dick Smith]

Amazon have delivered to me in France, I used .co.uk not .fr

[Gardian]

Opas ...............

Amazon.fr has a section for English language, though it may be largely 'adult' (as in old, rather than the other meaning!) fiction material.  No idea how old your daughters are.

Two other thoughts:

1. Order from Amazon UK, have them delivered to a friend or relation in the UK and get them to post them on - it won't be particularly cheap of course, but maybe not prohibitive.

2. You're in the Languedoc aren't you?  Have you tried the English bookshop in Montpellier? (there's also a branch in Aix-en-Provence)  I'll post details if you want.  Quite well stocked: we went to buy a paperback or two, and ended up spending €120!!

 

[Juswundrin]

Both amazon.co.uk and play.com DO deliver books outside the UK. You're right that CD-WOW don't.

[Clair]

[quote user="opas"]I  want to buy some English reading books for my daughters for Christmas. I have looked on CD Wow, Play.com and Amazon and have found out that you cannot buy books on there to be delivered outside the UK. Can anyone help with other sites, so far I do not have anyone coming

to stay for Christmas, so ordering to a friend/relative is out of the

question. 

EDIT: I have just looked at Amazon.fr , I am now going to pose a question so someone will definatly answer , even if it is to say that I am a prize plonker[Www]

If I order from the section that says livres Anglais, are the books written in Eglish or are they the translated version , ie I am looking at some Jaqueline Wilson books......she is an English Author.  It would not matter to the girls which language they came in, I am trying to encourage them to read more English.[/quote]

Re Play.com: to be delivered in France, an order has to be paid for in Euros (select € in the left hand side currency panel) I used them a lot for books and DVD and I live in France.

Re Amazon.fr: select  the Livres en anglais tab for English language as you would buy in the UK... i.e. a Jacqueline Wilson book from that section would be in English, as per original language.

For English DVDs, select the DVD tab, then Zone 2 imports GB from their search option menu.

[opas]

Doh!  simple when you know how!

Have just ordered on play .com using the Euro sign. Free delivery too!

Cheers all. will have another browse later for an Annual for the youngest.

[opas]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Amazon have delivered to me in France, I used .co.uk not .fr

[/quote]

I do not doubt that they have, but when I went through the whole process and gave my card details it would not accept the order for outside UK

[Dick Smith]

Is that because it is a French card? If so, that is a different question.

[opas]

No the Card is a Halifax Visa, but obviously registered to a French address, so perhaos it is to do with the billing address. perhaps someone elsecould enlighten us.

[Suandpete]

We just had a delivery yesterday from Amazon.co.uk using an English

credit card registered to our French address.  Quite often you can

find stuff in the "Anglais" section in .fr which is imported from.com

in the States rather than .co.uk and so it's more expensive.  It

often pays to look at the same item on .fr, .co.uk and .com.

[Clair]

[quote user="opas"]No the Card is a Halifax Visa, but obviously registered to a French address, so perhaos it is to do with the billing address. perhaps someone elsecould enlighten us.[/quote]

I've had orders delivered to France from Amazon.co.uk, paid for in £ with a UK card (IF card), but they charged me VAT at French rate instead of UK rate!!! I have not ordered since!

[Dick Smith]

Depends where it actually originated I suppose - I have ordered books on the UK site which came direct from Holland, and today I received a DVD direct from the Channel Islands!

[PossumGirl]

I've ordered on Amazon.co.uk using both a French card and an American card and had them shipped to me in France, and before that to me in the States and never had a problem, Opas.  Of course, it's possible that their policy has recently changed, since I've been trying to be good and not order anything new right now.

I find that MOST (if not all) the books that I would want from Amazon in the UK are available on the .fr site, although sometimes it's simpler to search for the book on the UK site, get the exact title info, then do the search on the .fr site.  It almost always finds it that way.  I like to order from the French Amazon when I can because the shipping is free, even when the book actually is coming from the U.S. website.

PG

[Will]

[quote user="Juswundrin"]Both amazon.co.uk and play.com DO deliver books outside the UK. You're right that CD-WOW don't.[/quote]

Just to clear up any confusion, cd-wow does have a French site (http://fr10.cd-wow.com/) that appears to have good selections of English CDs and DVDs with free delivery to France - but you are right in so far as there don't seem to be any books for sale on that site.

And most suppliers on E-bay will deliver to Europe.

[Junlesley]

I've been ordering books on Amazon uk ever since we came over to live in France and always paid with a uk credit card and they have delivered direct to France.

I've also used some of Amazons used book sellers, the latest being "sarahs books" where I got some brilliant used books for £1 each, all paid by uk credit card and delivered to France.[:D]

[Wendy]

Opas, I am another amazon uk devotee. Make sure that when you are placing your order you check the delivery details because it has to state 'international delivery available'. Especially when ordering the 'used' items. I buy heaps and heaps of books from the second hand listings and some will not ship outside the UK. Actually I did 90% of my xmas shopping on that website last year and for three weeks there was a continuous stream of parcels arriving making for some very curious kids here. This also makes for a rather hefty 'donation' when the post lady comes around with the calendar[;-)]

[opas]

When i went for another peep through the sites last night, I found that Amazon would deliver to me(not sure what I did different) but found that they wantd quite a hefty postage charge on the item i wanted making my purchase just under £14.00, I bought the same item on play.com for 12.euros(free postage).

 

[Loiseau]

I've ordered English books from amazon.co.uk and had them sent to me in France (in spite of UK address and credit card).

I've also ordered French books from amazon.fr and had them sent to me at home in the UK (used same UK card). They arrived with a small packet of sweets too!

Angela

[Alan]

I have ordered from amazon uk no problem france and germany also , ok the postage is high.

I also order from cdwow and have never had to pay postage , ok not done so for a few months so thought maybe they have changed they conditions etc. but checking the web site when you log onto the web site in the far right hand corner its states free worldwide deilvery on all orders.Also states for france delivery is 6 to 8 days

 

[cooperlola]

Just checked out cdwow.com and yes, they certainly still do free postage to France.  I have ordered a DVD from them so will report back on delivery when it turns up.

[Beryl]

ChoicesUK.com are very competitively priced with cheap postage for France.

[opas]

[quote user="cooperlola"]

Just checked out cdwow.com and yes, they certainly still do free postage to France.  I have ordered a DVD from them so will report back on delivery when it turns up.

[/quote]

 

According to their website they will NOT deliver books outside the UK, hence my orriginal query.  I have ordered with Play.com and shall see how long they take to get here.

[opas]

I had emails on Tues and Wed to say that my orders had been posted, they both arrived on Saturday!

[Coco]

I'm just off across the courtyard to pick up my Amazon.co.uk delivery that I see the postie has just put in the box!  I have started comparing the prices of the .co.uk and .fr sites.  You can get the free delivery from the .fr site but sometimes it is cancelled out by the fact that the book itself is more expensive.  I've used a UK card with French billing address and a French card on the UK site and I've used a UK card on the French site.  So far never encountered any problems other than the French site sometimes takes a couple of weeks to send stuff whereas it is available for next day despatch from the UK.  What is a ridiculous price is the gift-wrapping service, so the parcel I am about to collect has come from .co.uk to be gift-wrapped here by me and then sent on to my friends in Aude.  Still considerably cheaper than getting Amazon UK to do it (or FR) and send direct to my friends.  Nicer too, as I can handwrite the gift tag.  I just have to be more organised than usual and allow plenty of time. [:D]

[Coco]

[quote user="Clair"]
I've had orders delivered to France from Amazon.co.uk, paid for in £ with a UK card (IF card), but they charged me VAT at French rate instead of UK rate!!! I have not ordered since!
[/quote]

I've never really taken much notice before but checked today and indeed the VAT was charged at French rates.  19.6% on the CD and 5.5% on the books.  Isn't VAT exempt on books in the UK?  If so, another thing to consider.  In future I will order goods in time to get delivered to a friend in the UK who will be coming out to France in the near future!