Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books

September 15th, 2009 Update: Amazon now have a used Kindle 2 for $219 (in stock, stock fluctuates wildly) and a used Kindle for $149. Both are refurbished by Amazon and include a limited warranty.

Update: You can now get a used kindle from amazon for just $199 (refurbished kindle 1) or $185 onwards (used kindle).

I’ve noticed that some people have bought second hand kindles from Amazon after visiting my site. I wanted to just remind you – the would-be used kindle buyer, of a few things before you buy a used kindle since its a rather different proposition from buying a new kindle or even a refurbished kindle.

Before you buy a used kindle, consider buying a refurbished one -

1. Amazon periodically releases a supply of Refurbished Kindles for $219. All refurbished kindles come with a 1 year warranty. Since they’re much cheaper than a used kindle, and Amazon has fixed them up, and throws in a 1 year cover, I’d strongly recommend you to bookmark amazon’s product page for refurbished kindles or my latest post on kindle stock. And check back regularly – refurbished kindles have been available at least 4-5 different times and each time have sold out in 1-3 hours.
2. I’ll say it again: If you can wait a week or two for your kindle, do not buy a used kindle – wait for the next stock of refurbished kindles from amazon and grab one of those.

Before you buy a used kindle, here are three things to keep in mind –  

1. Amazon covers a Kindle from the date of it being shipped through a year – regardless of change of ownership. Its crucial that you check on when the second hand Kindle was bought before buying a used kindle. 
2. If you buy a used kindle (or for that matter a new one), squaretrade.com lets you add on a warranty for 1 or 2 or 3 years. They’ll try to fix your kindle in case of problems, and will refund your money if they can’t. Note that you do have the amazon warranty for 1 year from date of purchase – so get a squaretrade warranty only after that expires.
3. The fact that amazon is releasing refurbished kindles has killed the market for used kindles – every time stock of refurbished kindles becomes available, prices on used kindles drop and they stay that way for a few hours even after refurbished kindles sell out. You can get used kindles for $350 to $450 and if you really can’t wait, that’s a better price to pay than $600+.  If you see a used kindle for $400 but no refurbished kindles – snap it up.

Edit: It’s a 1 year warranty from when the kindle was purchased by its first owner. So if someone bought a kindle on Sept 15th, and you bought it used from them today i.e. December 13th, you’d only have the warranty till Sept 15th, 2009.

That brings us to used Kindles – there are three main places I’d recommend.

1. Craigslist - You can see the kindle you’ll be getting. This is much better than either Amazon or eBay since you can check on the kindle’s condition, and also see the amazon receipt and purchase date of the kindle. Craigslist Seattle and San Francisco are two good places. 
2. Amazon Marketplace – A lot of used kindles. Look for the ones below $200.
3. eBay – This should be your last resort. The bidding sometimes pushes prices up unrealistically high.  

Finally, right after you buy a kindle, make sure that you get the previous owner to de-register his kindle, so that you can register it to your account. I’m not sure of the technicalities – I think they just have to deactivate the kindle from their account. I’m not sure you can get the books they’ve bought transferred so be wary of someone promising this.

There you have it – If you can, wait for the next stock of refurbished kindles from amazon. Else, best of luck buying a used kindle.