It’s amazing how much of a price difference there is between the Kindle Paperwhite sold in Canada and the Kindle Paperwhite sold in the US.
Amazon’s marketing department has come up with a brilliant way to get people to think they are getting a better deal than they really are when purchasing new Kindles, at least in the US where Kindles are sold with Special Offers, which are ads on the lockscreen and homescreen. But if you compare US prices with Canadian prices, it doesn’t appear that US customers are getting a discount at all with the ad-supported models. In fact they are considerably more expensive than the non-ad versions in Canada.
Right now the Kindle Paperwhite is on sale for Valentine’s Day in Canada and the US.
The US price is $99 for the ad-supported model and $119 for the non-ad version.
Compare that to the Canadian price of $109 CAD for the non-ad version, which is the equivalent to about $82.50 USD.
That’s cheaper than the Special Offers version in the US, as they don’t sell the ad-supported models in Canada.
So in the US the equivalent Paperwhite is essentially $36.50 more expensive than it is in Canada. That’s a huge difference!
When you consider the non-sale prices, the non-ad version of the Paperwhite sells for $149 in the US and $139 CAD in Canada, which is equivalent to about $105 USD. That’s a difference of $44 for the same exact Kindle!
The prices are a bit closer when comparing the Kindle Oasis, however. It sells for $329 CAD in Canada and the non-ad version is $269 in the US. That’s only a $20 difference after conversion. But it’s amazing how much cheaper the Kindle Paperwhite is in Canada than it is in the US.
Extragooey says
Um… Happens with many things… Prescription drug prices anyone?
This is fine says
And in Europe amazon departments you pay even more for the same kindle. There’s sometimes USA only deals with free subscription for like 3 months, when in europe you get no such stuff. 1 month alone is like a lot, and you get 3 for free! It’s kinda sad that such stuff differs like that. Globalization they said..
Bob the Bobest says
Why hasn’t we learned the reason after reading the article?
Spoiler alert, even after reading my comment, you won’t have an answer for my leading question!
But hey, at least you will have plus one complaining… I mean conversation topic! Yep, that one.
Stewart says
Hey, just an idea.
Next time, answer the question asked in the headline!
Thanks.
Stephan says
In other counties Kindle doenst have the same recognition as other brands (not even just the big ones like kobo) its because of competition and amazon is trying to build up the brand
Corina says
So what’s the answer? You failed to answer your own question.
Hara says
Because they’re made in China and a certain someone thinks a trade war is a good idea and raised the tariffs on electronics.
Sylvain says
Canadian simply deserve better prices.
More seriously,Kobo’s competition forces Amazon to place its Kindle Paperwhite at a similar price.
Vladimir says
If he knew the reason he would not ask. Also, in that case, title would be: Reasons why Kindle is cheaper in CA than in US.