On last weekend, a Spanish kindle fan visited our Kindle Malaysia Shop.
She bought a Kindle from a local reseller at a very cheap price. Then the kindle spoiled one month after. She went to the reseller and asked for warranty.
The reseller said “No”. So she had no choice but to come to us (an independent Kindle Malaysia Fan, not affiliated with Amazon) .
We claimed the warranty for her, for free, after she subscribed to eReader Fans Club Library. eReader Fans Club Library is free for all Kindle Malaysia Fans who buy an eReader from us.
A lot of people have been asking about our price point: why is it that a kindle touchscreen that sells for USD 79, can cost RM 470 when a case is included? Why are we earning outrageous profit?
Why is it that the local reseller brand L can sell at a price vastly lower than us? Are we the blood-sucking capitalist? (Quip: L stands for “Low quality”, that’s why)
Why is it that a USD 100 Amazon gift card can cost RM 400, even though current currency exchange rate is only 1 USD: 3.7 RM?
Why?
The answer is because of the value we provide. Our customer philosophy is to help you buy and own kindle and Amazon related digital services painlessly in Malaysia.
For kindle device,
we provide you a full one year warranty. This means that if anything goes wrong with your kindle, we have to contact the Amazon to verify the problem, then take the trouble to send it to the US, pay the to and fro shipping fees. All these activities take our time, all these expenses come out from our pocket.
You may want to ask which resellers would like to do this for you. My guess is that not many would. Many would just want to sell you the device and pocket the profit, that’s it. Customer service is not really a part of their delivery. Which is why they can afford to price the device at so low a price.
Furthermore, we are the experts in using kindle to read books and to buy books. This means that we have the product knowledge and we can help you to make an informed decision on kindle purchase. In case you got stuck, or in case when kindle firmware have bugs, we are there to help you.
And more importantly, you are able to setup an Amazon US account via us, and buy ebooks from Amazon. What is the use of kindle, if you can’t buy ebooks, movies, musics from the Amazon store?
So, when you buy a kindle device, you really should factor in all these considerations. When you buy a kindle, you don’t just buy the device, you should aim to buy the whole ecosystem behind it. This is the only proper way to buy and use a kindle.
For Amazon gift card,
Yes, our price is slightly more expensive than the listing price. But, bear in mind that
- We have to pay the credit card processor a certain percentage of transaction fees
- The card is not exactly an Amazon gift card because it can be a valid US debit card.
- The amount of work we need to do ensure that your Amazon account is valid and won’t be put on hold.
- In case when there are problems with your accounts, we are there to help you.
I would say that we are just earning nominal fees for Amazon gift card.
One final word,
Before she left, the Spanish kindle fan told us why she would like to stay in Malaysia, at a time when a lot of the capable Malaysians are looking for a way out. For her, Malaysia is a great place because we still have the culture of respecting the elders, respecting the sanctity of marriage, relatively free from religious extremist ( the hudud debate notwithstanding), in addition to great weather.
Her words make our day. Yes, we love this piece of land, despite all its shortcoming!
Don’t you agree?
