How To Purchase Digital Games at Amazon from outside the US

Martin Brinkmann
Jun 30, 2012
Updated • Jan 4, 2018
Amazon, Companies, Internet
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61

Amazon for some time now has been offering digital game downloads at its US shop. Here it is possible to buy games online, download them directly to the computer, to install and play them without having to wait for them to be shipped to your location in the US. If you are not living in the US, you can't purchase those games at the store, which sometimes is really a pity as there are always some great deals available.

Buying US versions of games has other advantages. You first get the English version of the game which some may prefer over translated versions. The games are usually uncut which is another advantage if you are living in a country where games are only available as cut versions even for adults (more or less). If English is not your strongest language, you may however need to look closely at the games offered to find out if the games that you download offer other languages besides English.

People from outside the US who try to purchase a digital game at Amazon get the notification that digital downloads are only available to US residents at the store. Thankfully though, there is a way to get around that restriction. Here is what you need:

  • A credit card. Visa, Mastercard and others are fine, even if their billing address is not in the US
  • A US address. This may sound like a problem at first, but since your purchases are digital, you do not really need to worry about it that much. More about options later on.

Adding the US address to the account

You have multiple options to get a US address. You can use a service like Borderlinx which will create one for you after you sign-up, or use addresses you find listed on Internet sites (e.g. hotels). Borderlinx is a legit service, and the address that gets created when you sign-up can in fact be used as a proxy for goods that you purchase in the US. Again, since we buy digital games, we do not need that feature, but it is available should you decide to buy other goods on Amazon or other US-only shopping sites.

Once you have signed up at Borderlinx and confirmed the account, you can add the new address to your Amazon account. You can click on this link directly to add a new address to your Amazon account, or open Your Account in Amazon and click on the Add New Address link under Settings there. Here you first need to enter your password again before you are allowed to add the address.

Add the Borderlinx address there, but remove the / of the first address line, and the (...) but not the contents in the brackets in the second.

Click save and add payment method, and enter your credit card to the address.

Buying digital games on Amazon

Once you have added the US address to your account and linked a credit card to it, you can start making purchases. You find the digital games store here. This works exactly like in other stores and physical goods, only that you see an option to download the purchased game right after the purchase has been verified.

Closing Words

I'd suggest to check the store once a week for the deal of the week which often offers huge discounts. This week, you get Dragon Age games for up to 80% off.

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Comments

  1. Nabushi said on September 8, 2016 at 2:57 pm
    Reply

    I think they check ip address cause this trick don’t work for me (Canada). I set up a US address and delete my real one. My CC is visa canadian to. I always got ” This item is not available for purchase due to geographical restrictions.”

    1. Nabushi said on September 8, 2016 at 3:03 pm
      Reply

      Ok i find a solution, got to change my kindle store location to US

  2. Marcelo Esteban Mauricio said on October 27, 2015 at 2:41 pm
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    The comments above are not for all games, for example, if one looks up the Blackguards Franchise Bundle which in the title says “[Online Game Code]”, one will not see any region restrictions. I do not see any region restrictions listed on the detail page, so I can order it from Argentina without changing anything. Take a look if you don’t believe me: http://www.amazon.com/Blackguards-Franchise-Bundle-Online-Game/dp/B0111RCUOO/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1445897357&sr=1-3&keywords=blackguards

  3. Guyv3r said on December 31, 2014 at 7:51 am
    Reply

    Delete your old address and credit card. Start afresh, set a US address as a default, add your credit card, and try purchasing something digitally without using a VPN.

  4. cllmda said on December 18, 2014 at 1:22 am
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    The prob as i see it is that they usually check with credit card companies to make sure that the CC billing address youve given corresponds to the billing address on file for the card ….As a US expat living in Europe the past couple of year ive encountered this prob while buying digital content ( movies,games etc) from amazon .I have a US IP and a US street address but after about a year abroad the damn cc companies have changed my billing address to my European mailing address…Ive contacted them s aying that it’s only a MAILing address but that didnt change anything with Amazon :(…HOW do you guys get over that “CC billing address” (which amazon askes for on top of your street address…) problem ?id sure appreciate any info …?

    1. Guyv3r said on December 18, 2014 at 11:34 am
      Reply

      Your default address should be a US address for digital purchases. It’ll work this way during checkout, regardless of where the credit card being used is from.

      1. cllmda said on December 19, 2014 at 3:03 am
        Reply

        Hi, Thanx so much for your reply !

        For some reason it doesnt seem to work for me …….?

        Ive always had a US address as my default address(Its the only address I have listed-If I ever use another address I delete it immediately after the purchases have gone thru check-out)

        I use my EX- “real” US address (that was also the address I had when the credit cards were originally issued) where in the past ive had tons of “physical”deliveries from Amazon . (obviously not in the last 18 months though)

        Everything worked fine during my first year abroad (using a vpn of course) but then after about a year and a half the darn credit card companies must have changed my billing address to the european MAILING address id given them (HAD to give it to them unfortunately as my CC was expiring and I needed to “physically” receive the new one…) .Ive since called them to stress the fact that this was only a current MAILING address and they say “yes yes no prob” BUT Amazon keeps on giving me a message at checkout/payment processing saying that the address doesnt correspond to the billing address and that I “should update my cc info” ?????.

        This has happened (suddenly – from one day to the next!) first with my Visa card (linked to a US bank account) and now a few months later with my Amex card!

        I dont get it….It’s a REAL pain because I dont know what Im gonna do without being able to access US Amazon…. As you all know, European/intl Amazon means hardly any choice,PLUS no books, movies or games in English (or just a very small “token” handful).

        PS : Oddly, they are still letting me access my yearly Prime membership for online streaming…but who knows how long that will last ??? I do change my vpn IP address every 2 months or so but it’s always from the same US city where I used to live so i dont think that should have anything to do with it. ????

  5. brainskann said on November 16, 2014 at 9:09 pm
    Reply

    I’m a UK customer and I just ordered Dragon Age Inquisition from US Amazon as its out earlier then here in the EU.
    I created a new Amazon.com account while using a VPN for an I.P address located in the U.S, and I used a US hotel address as my registered home address.
    I’m not sure its worked tho, it took a couple minutes to process then I got this message-

    “Sorry, processing is taking longer than expected.
    Please do not reorder this item.
    Some Game and Software downloads go through extra verification that may take up to 2 hours.
    This process is in place to prevent unauthorized orders on your account.”

    So, I could be busted when they check my credit card is from the UK and they may also be able to figure out that I also have a UK Amazon.co.uk account that also uses that card.
    Just have to wait now. Its worth the gamble anyway I reckon :)

  6. sad panda said on July 19, 2014 at 5:46 pm
    Reply

    well you can’t use gift cards so that sucks….

  7. Abrex said on June 23, 2014 at 10:15 am
    Reply

    Just tried and it works! Thanks

  8. Nobody said on May 26, 2014 at 5:11 pm
    Reply

    The Terms say:
    You may not use your Borderlinx address for any purpose other than receiving packages containing products you have ordered from merchants.

    So, are downloads “packages”?

    Not in my estimation, but that is for the courts to decide if Borderlinx and Amazon ever decide to “get the hump”.

    You might argue that the packages are packets of data streamed on the internet and the product is the game.

    Just a heads up to be careful, circumvention of a merchant’s limitations, for pecuniary gain, might be seen by any merchant, and their fat cat lawyers, as “fraud”.

    Wonder if the courts would see it that way.

  9. Liam said on May 24, 2014 at 1:50 pm
    Reply

    Just gave this a try and it worked like a charm,

    The borderlinx account was free and easy to setup

    Minutes before reading this article I tried to download Bastion from amazon and got a error message saying it was only available to U.S Customers, I changed my amazon billing address to the borderlinx one and it worked straight away, im downloading as I write this

    it also gives you a UK address

    Im from New Zealand, and so is my visa debit card

    Thanks Martin!

  10. Robin said on May 21, 2014 at 12:48 am
    Reply

    Just wondering about the legal side of this. I’ve done it in the past and it’s a great way to take advantage of the relatively weak Dollar compared to the Euro. But are you actually allowed to provide a fake address and pay for your purchase in Dollars while you would otherwise pay in Euro’s?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on May 21, 2014 at 8:06 am
      Reply

      I can’t answer that. It may depend on the country you are living in. The one thing that is questionable is the fake address. But if you use a sevice like Borderlinx, it is not fake at all.

  11. lionelA said on March 9, 2014 at 2:18 pm
    Reply

    i only have Visa Card, Borderlinx doesn’t let me register…

  12. Tiffany said on March 1, 2014 at 12:30 am
    Reply

    Thank you so much!! You’re the best! I couldn’t have done this without your help :)

  13. robin said on January 12, 2014 at 5:51 pm
    Reply

    didn’t work for me!! i tried purchasing an online game code from US store and it stucks on the “Your order is being processed page”.. Please help

  14. ant said on January 6, 2014 at 8:39 am
    Reply

    thank you for your tip and i got my game key so cheap and i live in australia. It worked great.

  15. Meri said on December 29, 2013 at 12:21 am
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    Won’t that bill have data about my card, etc??

  16. boogey said on December 14, 2013 at 10:23 am
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    I’m from Sweden and I just tested this out with Borderlinx, worked flawless! Thanks a lot!

  17. gill said on November 30, 2013 at 4:34 pm
    Reply

    Thank you so much! worked perfectly!

  18. kairock said on November 29, 2013 at 2:05 pm
    Reply

    works, thanks man!

  19. Jo said on September 13, 2013 at 5:45 pm
    Reply

    Worked for me, from Austria.
    It’s important that you have the US address set as default or just try to remove the other non-US addresses you have saved if there are any.
    I also have a non-US credit card, I simply used the same US address provided by BorderLinx as the billing address ;) worked fine!

  20. Kors said on September 6, 2013 at 1:16 pm
    Reply

    Its worked for me, I’m from Lithuania, Thx!
    Purchased Bioshock 1 & 2 bundle:)

  21. amir said on August 9, 2013 at 9:22 am
    Reply

    I was wondering if it still works, btw what are the risks if it didnt??

  22. Sascha said on July 12, 2013 at 2:41 pm
    Reply

    If that’s really a thing it would be soooooo awsome …. battlefield 3 premium + the game for 20 USD :OOOOOO

  23. michele said on July 4, 2013 at 6:23 pm
    Reply

    I think that if you reside in another country and buy from amazon.com videogame, you are most probably evading vat taxes…

  24. Anonymous said on May 28, 2013 at 5:35 am
    Reply

    You are no 1 person in my world book of good tips.

    I Have changed all my pirated games out to legit ones now, thanks to people like You, whish more would help us to change the world we are in as its 2013 now.

    So if the game developers want to stop piracy that I have been a part of since the 198x then let us get to buy the games at a fair price!, and what we think is okay then Piracy just dies out on its own.

    My best wishes to all that follow me in to support the developers, but don’t want to pay for overrated prices.

  25. Andrew said on March 26, 2013 at 5:47 pm
    Reply

    It may not be enough just to have the US address on file — I was only able to download once I had set my US billing address as my *default* 1-click address, which you can do by going to Manage Address Book under Your Account. I also have a non-US credit card attached to a non-US address, but this is now working.

    I hope Amazon aren’t reading this and thinking of new ways to thwart us. Why, if there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s protectionist behaviour by capitalists. Trying to stop me legitimately using my own money to buy a legal product that is openly for sale in the world, the rogues. When I am president I will outlaw such banditry, assuming that my new Borderlinx mailing address entitles me to run for office.

    Thanks for the tip, by the way.

  26. Tony said on March 18, 2013 at 4:42 am
    Reply

    I attempted this method without success because my payment method was via a CC linked to an address outside of the US.

    Easiest way to buy from amazon is to simply open a bank account and then call them stating you are going on an extended holiday. get your address changed to a US address and walla, you never have an issue again buying digital downloads again. granted you sometimes need a proxy for the DL.

  27. Lindsey said on February 26, 2013 at 7:02 pm
    Reply

    Thank you so much this is amazing and really works just got myself Saints Row The Third for about £10 this way and buying off steam would of cost me £30. Here’s hoping amazon will add digital games to its other sites not just US.

  28. Teck said on February 26, 2013 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    Thanks alot man. Worked perfectly.

  29. mustafa said on January 13, 2013 at 1:58 pm
    Reply

    i just follow your steps and it work but only with us proxy…i use this method for buying android apps

  30. Faiz said on December 25, 2012 at 10:32 am
    Reply

    Hi I’m from Malaysia and I’ve had this issue for a long time now
    Thanks for the workaround man. Worked great :)

    Happy holidays

  31. Anonymous said on December 8, 2012 at 11:52 pm
    Reply

    Thanks, was very helpful

  32. Tim said on November 9, 2012 at 8:48 pm
    Reply

    I’ve just noticed a page appear on Amazon.co.uk for installing an Amazon Games & Software Downloader. I wonder if this a sign that Amazon digital game and software downloads are finally coming to Europe soon.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/swvgdtt/help/install.html

  33. Exelcior said on October 15, 2012 at 12:44 pm
    Reply

    Thanks for the info mate, there is a great deal in Amazon.com now and this will come in handy. Too bad it won’t accept my gift cards for digital goods :/

  34. SUBLOPUS said on October 3, 2012 at 5:44 pm
    Reply

    Am I doing something wrong? I have added a US address to my existing account and I still get a message that the service is only available to US customers.

    I also tried creating a new account with new address but still get the same error message.

    Any tips please?

  35. Frosst said on September 10, 2012 at 2:04 am
    Reply

    Is this legal? Would it just violate their terms of service?

    It’s so odd that they don’t make this available to customers outside of the US. Americans get all the great deals…

  36. Hy said on July 5, 2012 at 8:15 am
    Reply

    Thanks for the article. This does not seem to work for purchasing songs from Amazon US, though. I prefer purchasing legitimate mp3s rather than downloading them illegally, in part so I can support the smaller bands I like. I was always able to do this from Amazon’s US site until a year or so ago. Now, irony of ironies, it forbids these legal purchases when I try to do so when I am in Europe, despite using a US credit card and address. Any suggestions for getting around this?

    1. Paul said on January 6, 2015 at 7:16 am
      Reply

      I’m looking for a solution to this same problem long ofter the original thread… I too like to purchase legitimate digital music rather than pay exorbitant shipping costs to Canada for physical media. I’ve found that even a credit card with a U.S. billing address doesn’t satisfy Amazon. Their fine print stipulates a card issued by a U.S. bank, which of course mine isn’t. Anyone know of a way around this? I expect even physically going to a U.S. bank wouldn’t help a non-citizen.

    2. Martin Brinkmann said on July 5, 2012 at 1:43 pm
      Reply

      Have you also added a US postal address to your account?

  37. Ameson said on July 2, 2012 at 4:37 pm
    Reply

    Sweet, thanks. I just bought the bioshock pack and it activated. Thanks.

  38. Ameson said on July 2, 2012 at 8:39 am
    Reply

    Hi folks i was just wandering if anyone from the uk has bought any of these games and installed them onto their computers without a problem or did they need to go through hell first? Like registering for a usa steam account or something? i mean aren’t most games on this digital distribution sites region locked or am i really missing a trick?

    Thanks

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 2, 2012 at 9:22 am
      Reply

      Ameson, while I can’t vouch for every game that you can download at Amazon, I have not run into issues yet with game downloads or activations in Steam (European version).

  39. Trinsec said on July 1, 2012 at 8:08 pm
    Reply

    Thank you so very much for hinting at Borderlinx. I was already pulling my hairs out at the insanity of needing an US address for a DIGITAL DOWNLOAD. Managed to fulfill this little purchase. Cheers.

  40. Rick said on July 1, 2012 at 6:21 pm
    Reply

    Did the folks that had success in getting this to work setup a new amazon account?

    On the CC front, I followed up with my CC company here and they confirmed they received the transaction request from Amazon.com to verify the country. Darn Cdn banks anyhow.

    I was ultimately successful by using one of the virtual credit card services.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 1, 2012 at 6:24 pm
      Reply

      Rick I have added the address to my existing account and it worked right away.

  41. broascadilie said on July 1, 2012 at 3:08 pm
    Reply

    Thanks alot ! It worked

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 1, 2012 at 3:17 pm
      Reply

      You are welcome.

  42. Rick said on July 1, 2012 at 6:39 am
    Reply

    A $27USD registration fee for Borderlinx? Well I guess if you are really desperate for a US address.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 1, 2012 at 9:00 am
      Reply

      I did not have to pay for registration there, not sure why you had to.

    2. Rick said on July 1, 2012 at 6:40 am
      Reply

      Whoops…

      Thank you for your interest in Borderlinx. In order to start using this service you, please pay 27.31 USD.

      I didn’t see the extra 31 cents :)

      1. Rick said on July 1, 2012 at 7:13 am
        Reply

        Oh it sends an email with the virtual address even if you don’t pay – however, amazon.com also does a country check via your credit card number – so if your CC isn’t issued by a US Bank, you can’t pay and therefore can’t download or order a physical item.

        Unless someone has suggestions…I think this one is dead for using on Amazon?

      2. Martin Brinkmann said on July 1, 2012 at 9:00 am
        Reply

        Rick, I tested this yesterday and was able to purchase a game, Dragon Age 2, with my German credit card.

  43. JohnMWhite said on July 1, 2012 at 5:04 am
    Reply

    Is there a similar method to purchase game downloads from the US Amazon using gift certificates from the UK Amazon? Somebody was kind enough to give me a gift certificate but it was purchased in sterling, which has so far made it impossible to use on Amazon.com. Just wondering if I have missed a trick somewhere.

  44. Radu N. said on June 30, 2012 at 11:00 pm
    Reply

    I wonder if you can also use this for the Amazon App Store.

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on July 2, 2012 at 9:07 am
      Reply

      Radu just checked, the store checks your IP. It may be possible if you use a VPN or proxy though.

    2. Martin Brinkmann said on July 1, 2012 at 12:26 am
      Reply

      Worth a try I would say.

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