International buying

Based in the UK and serving a primarily British & Irish audience, our Shop habitually links to UK-based e-stores.

Amazon UK delivers to almost every country internationally; and most of the other retailers we link to will do too. However, to save on international postage costs, we suggest you check the product is not available in your own country before ordering, or whether Amazon.com holds the product and will ship it to you cheaper from there.

If you can't find the product closer to home, Amazon UK should be able to deliver it to you. If you shop with Amazon in your home country, you will be able to use the same account to log in.

Be aware that, if ordering items from the UK, your country may impose import taxes, usually on goods valued over a certain limit. Single books or DVDs are likely to be under this value, but please check your local tariffs.

Before importing, you may also wish to try searching your local eBay for a second hand copy that is close to you.

• eBay Ireland
• eBay USA
• eBay Canada
• eBay Australia
• eBay Austria
• eBay Belgium
• eBay France
• eBay Germany
• eBay Italy
• eBay Netherlands
• eBay Spain
• eBay Switzerland

If you're buying a DVD or Blu-ray, you should also check you can play the discs before importing.

DVD & Blu-ray restrictions

Sadly, DVDs and Blu-rays use localised region encoding, meaning not all discs will play in all countries. The UK is in DVD Region 2 and Blu-ray Region B.

Depending on your own country's region, this could prove to be problematic. The US and Canada are in DVD Region 1, for example, and most players bought there will not play Region 2 discs by default. You can check which region you are in by using the maps below.

Luckily, Blu-ray regions are much larger and much simpler than those for DVDs. Additionally, due to the higher costs of producing Blu-ray discs compared to DVDs, many are produced with all three regions supported.

If you are in DVD Region 4, almost all BBC and 2entertain DVDs issued in the UK are encoded as both Region 2 & 4. We may be able to help confirm this for specific releases if asked.

Most regular, region-locked players can also be set to read discs from other regions, usually via a hidden menu option. Use Google to search "multi region" and your player's make and model number. If your player isn't compatiable, it is possible to buy cheap multi-region DVD and Blu-ray players; these may also be referred to as "region free" or "unlocked", and should play all discs. Amazon.com have some for sale for $100.

DVD regions

1. Region 1: Canada, U.S., U.S. Territories.
2. Region 2: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, European Union, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (the Former Yugoslav Republic), Malta, Moldova, Principality of Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Kingdom (Channel Islands), Vatican City State, Yemen, Yugoslavia
3. Region 3: Southeast Asia, East Asia (including Hong Kong)
4. Region 4: Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Mexico, South America, Caribbean
5. Region 5: Former Soviet Union, Indian Subcontinent, Africa (also North Korea, Mongolia)
6. Region 6: Mainland China
7. Region 7: Reserved
8. Region 8: Special international venues (aeroplanes, cruise ships, etc)
9. Region 9/0/Free/All: No region lock

Blu-ray regions

1. Region A: This region covers all of North America, South America and South East Asia.
2. Region B: This encompasses Europe, Australasia, Africa, Middle East, French territories and Greenland.
3. Region C: This region includes the rest of the world, with India, China, Russia, and most of Asia.

BCG may earn commission on sales generated through the links above.