Amazon Kindle 3 out of stock outside the U.S. and UK / Black Friday sales

2-3 MONTHS DELAY TO SHIP OUTSIDE USA AND UK
  per Kindle 3 product pages

This situation came without warning, except that about 2 weeks ago, one could order up to five Kindle 3's (UK: K3's) at a time, and then it became only three at a time "due to strong customer demand."

  While Kindle 3's are still available for immediate shipment in the U.S. and UK for now, a look at the product page for deliveries outside those two areas shows the following estimated ship date: "Expected to ship in 2 to 3 months."

Even Canada and Australia, two areas very much represented in Amazon Kindle Community Forum discussions, have this shipment delay shown.

At the Kindle forum thread about this today, a posting by Rod Govers reports:

' This is Amazon's reply to a query regarding the 2-3 months delivery on K3s to **international** addresses:

"Due to strong customer demand, Kindle (Latest Generation) is temporarily sold out.  Order now to reserve your place in line.  Orders are prioritized on a first come, first served basis.  We will ship your Kindle to you as quickly as possible and will keep you informed by e-mail as we get more precise delivery dates." '

WAIT MAY BE CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN STATED 2-3 MONTHS THOUGH
From some experience with past temporary stock shortages (some longer than others), the DEFAULT time period is given as 2-3 months, but more often than not, in the past year, the factories seem to catch up much sooner than later and the wait is not as long as mentioned in the alert.

  However, that long a period covers Amazon in case, I imagine, they don't get more in stock soon enough.  But I remember this happening with the Kindle 3's when new, also, and the estimated shipping dates with temporary shortages were way off.

 Amazon is now sold (in dribbles and as fast as the stores stock the VERY LIMITED supplies for some reason) at Target, Staples and Best Buy, but in the U.S., the Kindle 3's are still available online.  I tend to prefer to buy these at Amazon online due to their very fast, flexible handling of returns if you don't want the Kindle after all (within 30 days) and of replacements if needed, usually within a day or two.

Interestingly, the far more expensive, less portable Kindle DX Graphite ('KDXG'), better for PDFs, textbooks, and sheet music) is not seeing similar shortages that affect international shipment.  An entire Kindle 3 fits in the screen of the KDXG and it's 1.2 lbs, so is quite a bit heavier.  These are due to be in the stores for holiday shopping, and some of us wonder if there'll be any changes that have kept them from going to stores sooner.  Remember that Amazon has a 30-day full-refund return policy on Kindles for any reason, such as just not wanting it after all.

  They seem very secure with this unique policy on e-readers.  Amazon also has 30-day price protection, returning the difference if a product's pricing is reduced within 30 days of purchase.  That's along with the 30-day full-refund return policy for any Kindle that is just not wanted.

At any rate, I expect that the Kindle 3 shortages will not be the stated 2-3 months.  That would indicate poor planning or far-higher-than-expected demand, and there are a lot of competing products these days even if Consumer Report gives the Kindle highest marks again this week.


BLACK FRIDAY Specials - U.S. and U.K.
While we're on the topic of the online store, both Amazon U.S. and Amazon UK have started their Black Friday week alerts, with some pre-Black Friday specials also..

Bookmark these for significant sales from approximately the 22 through the day after Thanksgiving and probably beyond to some extent:

U.S. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-2010

U.K. Black Friday specials page: Shortcut: http://bit.ly/blackfriday-uk



Kindle 3's   (UK: Kindle 3's),   DX Graphite

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Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or highest-rated ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.