Technical Questions

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Ami wrote: "Leelah🍁♋️ wrote: "Probably been asked but how do I send now? When I go to their wish list it takes me to the amazon, but when I get there and click on buy for another person it asks for their email..."

Yes! The email addresses are under "More info." I should have put that in my latest message to everyone!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

I'm getting through all of my messages now, people who have send me PMs, so hang tight!!

[Ed]

My secret pal is in a foreign country. This is my first time so I’m kind of lost. All her wish list books go to England. They are either hard backs or movies or audiobooks. I don’t know what to do. I feel terrible because I want to share. So, what do I do? Help

[Tam]

Okay, prepping to give a gift to my recipient, we both use the same version of Amazon, but it says "click the give as a gift button" but I don't have such a thing. There is "add to cart" below that is "buy now" and then there is "deliver to" and it lets me pick which device. Is it because I'm using .ca? Is there something hinky here? Why is amazon such a PITA to use?

[Tam]

Well, guys. Stephany (with a y ugh) told me that there is no gift giving feature on Amazon.ca. The only way you can do it is send a gift certificate and they can buy it themselves. So.... Guess I'll be looking for books on her wish list at independent publishers to send via e-mail. Amazon sucks.

Stephany:Honestly speaking Tammy book gifting feature is not yet available on our site.
Me:On Amazon.ca or generally? Because people in my secret Santa group have been giving kindle books for years.
Stephany:On our site amazon.ca.
Stephany:Because honestly if there's a feature release amazon our site is really for those option.
Me:Well, my account is with .ca and so i's very frustrating.
Stephany:I understand your disappointed however we do have work around option wherein you can send a gift card to the other person and they'll be the one who'll be purchasing the e book themselves.

[Ami]

Ed wrote: "My secret pal is in a foreign country. This is my first time so I’m kind of lost. All her wish list books go to England. They are either hard backs or movies or audiobooks. I don’t know what to do...."

Hi Ed, use Elfster to ask your secret pal anonymously to gently nudge them to add more ebooks. IF they really want hardbacks, or print books, I suggest you use BOOKDEPOSITORY because they have free delivery option. Of course, inform your secret pal if they are okay waiting for longer time

[Lisazj1]

Ed wrote: "My secret pal is in a foreign country. This is my first time so I’m kind of lost. All her wish list books go to England. They are either hard backs or movies or audiobooks. I don’t know what to do...."

Also if you ask them anonymously about ebooks, you could also ask about the audiobooks. For some reason, Audible doesn’t seem to have a country issue like Amazon does. And if they do give you ebook options, try Smashwords. You can gift from there internationally.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Tam wrote: "Well, guys. Stephany (with a y ugh) told me that there is no gift giving feature on Amazon.ca. The only way you can do it is send a gift certificate and they can buy it themselves. So.... Guess I'l..."

You can also use Smashwords, which allows gifting no matter what country.

[Lillian]

With Smashwords is there a way to change your name to hide it from your giftee?

[Hemmel M.]

Lisazj1 wrote: "For some reason, Audible doesn’t seem to have a country issue like Amazon does."

Audible in my country does not allow gifting internationally. My country's Amazon, for example, also forbids you to enter an address different than your credit card address.


I think it is pointless for us to write 'for Amazon you should...' Every domain is different. An option could be to write 'if gifting from Canada to Germany I know you have to...'

[Debra ~~ seriously slacking on her reviews ~~]

Ed wrote: "My secret pal is in a foreign country. This is my first time so I’m kind of lost. All her wish list books go to England. They are either hard backs or movies or audiobooks. I don’t know what to do...."

It's specifically noted on Elfster that this is an e-book only exchange. Maybe they didn't realize? You can send an anonymous note asking if they want any particular ebooks. Or let Heather know and she could contact them on your behalf. You could also just send an Amazon gift card too.

[Debra ~~ seriously slacking on her reviews ~~]

Lillian wrote: "With Smashwords is there a way to change your name to hide it from your giftee?"

Last year there wasn't so I wound up setting up a second account with a different user name just for the gift exchange.

[Lillian]

June wrote: "Lillian wrote: "With Smashwords is there a way to change your name to hide it from your giftee?"

Yes!
https://www.smashwords.com/account/edit
You don't have to change your username, it won't be vi..."

Thanks

[Lillian]

Debra wrote: "Lillian wrote: "With Smashwords is there a way to change your name to hide it from your giftee?"

Last year there wasn't so I wound up setting up a second account with a different user name just fo..."

That's quite a good idea.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Ed wrote: "My secret pal is in a foreign country. This is my first time so I’m kind of lost. All her wish list books go to England. They are either hard backs or movies or audiobooks. I don’t know what to do...."

I messaged your match, so stay tuned!

[[deleted user]]

I was wondering... I got a gift from my secret santa, do I hit the Got it button in "have you received your gift yet?". Also if I gift up to the limit to the person that was drawn for me to gift, do I hit the "mark gift as sent" and someone else might be drawn?

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Teeny wrote: "I was wondering... I got a gift from my secret santa, do I hit the Got it button in "have you received your gift yet?". Also if I gift up to the limit to the person that was drawn for me to gift, d..."

I never select that option. I just send my gifts. You don't have to do it, and, in fact, it can be confusing for some people if they get a message that a gift has been sent.

[[deleted user]]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "I never select that option. I just send my gifts. You don't have to do it, and, in fact, it can be confusing for some people if they get a message that a gift has been sent. ..."

oh okay 😁 ty

[Shin Mon]

I cannot add items from Amazon on my wishlist. It just keeps saying something went wrong. Anyone facing this issue???

[**Kαчcєє**]

Is there a way to mark a book I send to someone as bought if it’s on a GR list? Or is that up to the giftee to do that?

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

**Kaycee** wrote: "Is there a way to mark a book I send to someone as bought if it’s on a GR list? Or is that up to the giftee to do that?"

I think if it's off a GR list, the person has to remove it themselves.

[Tam]

Shin Mon wrote: "I cannot add items from Amazon on my wishlist. It just keeps saying something went wrong. Anyone facing this issue???"

Hmmm. I tried it and got the same message. Did you try from something not amazon.com? I tried .ca and got the message. Or maybe Elfster just needs a rest and it will work later.

[Andrya]

Hi you fabulous lovely elves. Is there a way to search these message boards to see if gifts have been received? X

[[deleted user]]

Andrya wrote: "Hi you fabulous lovely elves. Is there a way to search these message boards to see if gifts have been received? X"
If you gifted through Amazon you should get an email back that it was claimed. Otherwise you can try the search function in the upper right corner "search discussion posts" or the good ol ctrl+f and key word in each page.

[Andrya]

Thanks Teeny, I’m on my phone, will switch to something else. Cheers

[Kacey]

this may have already been answered in here, but I swear you used to be able to gift people pre-orders?? I definitely remember doing it during this book exchange in the past! Do we know anyway to get around that?? I went to buy someone a pre-order and was very sad when it wouldnt let me :(

[Sandra]

Kacey wrote: "this may have already been answered in here, but I swear you used to be able to gift people pre-orders?? I definitely remember doing it during this book exchange in the past! Do we know anyway to g..."

I think you were able to do that with orders directly from publishers?

[Sandra]

Shin Mon wrote: "I cannot add items from Amazon on my wishlist. It just keeps saying something went wrong. Anyone facing this issue???"

I encountered this same issue yesterday when I tried to use the "elf-it" extension. I had to make it search for each book and add them that way. :(

[iam]

I just tried to gift a book to my giftee and got the following error after clicking on the buy for others on the book's page on amazon: "There was an internal error in our system. We logged the problem and will investigate it later. Our apologies for the inconvenience."

Has anyone encountered this before and knows what might be the problem, and if it goes away?

[Lisazj1]

iam wrote: "I just tried to gift a book to my giftee and got the following error after clicking on the buy for others on the book's page: "There was an internal error in our system. We logged the problem and w..."

Was that on Amazon? If so, I've never gotten that error. I'd say maybe they're having trouble with their page. Give it a little while and if it doesn't resolve, definitely contact their customer service.

[Gustaf]

So um... my match has an empty wish list :( I'm getting impatient to gift some books lol. Sorry if this ain't the right place, just needed to vent a little lol. Can I nudge this person or will the person know who's nudging them?

[Lena]

Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA

[Lisazj1]

Lena wrote: "Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA"

Hey Lena! You can’t mark it, only the person buying it, and anybody else looking can see that someone else has already purchased. But just to make sure there’s no confusion, when someone gifts me, I just delete the book from my list. 😁

[Aղցela W.]

Gustaf wrote: "So um... my match has an empty wish list :( I'm getting impatient to gift some books lol. Sorry if this ain't the right place, just needed to vent a little lol. Can I nudge this person or will the ..."

You can do a couple of things send them a message anonymously asking them to make a wishlist.
You can look them up here on GR and see there reading choices and send books that way or send Heather a pm about it.
I hope this helps

[Aղցela W.]

Lena wrote: "Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA"

I just remove them from the list

[Lena]

Lisazj1 wrote: "Lena wrote: "Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA"

Hey Lena! You can’t mark it, only the person buying it, and anybody else looking can see..."

OK, Thanks 🥰

[Lena]

Aղցela W. wrote: "Lena wrote: "Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA"

I just remove them from the list"

Thanks 🥰

[Lisazj1]

Gustaf wrote: "So um... my match has an empty wish list :( I'm getting impatient to gift some books lol. Sorry if this ain't the right place, just needed to vent a little lol. Can I nudge this person or will the ..."

Gustaf, you can nudge them or send a message, it will be anonymous. But if you know who this person is on GR, have you checked their bookshelves to see if they have one here? I was looking at someone’s Elfster profile the other day, and they were the same, no books but when I checked here, they had a “wishlist” shelf.

[Lisazj1]

Aղցela W. wrote: "Lena wrote: "Hi, how do I mark a book I got from my Secret Santa as purchased on my Elfster wishlist?
TIA"

I just remove them from the list"

Jinx!!! LOL, we were both answering the same questions at the same time! 😂😂

[Sheri]

Lisazj1 wrote: "Gustaf wrote: "So um... my match has an empty wish list :( I'm getting impatient to gift some books lol. Sorry if this ain't the right place, just needed to vent a little lol. Can I nudge this pers..."

I do the same Lisa...and often find GR shelves hold many more 'wishes'...I think it's because Elfter can be tricky sometimes.
Personally, I had a hard time adding books at first....until I selected the amazon box on the 'store' option when adding to my list. But until I figured that tip out, I wasn't able to add most of my actual 'ooo, I really want this book' list. :P

[Sandra]

Sheri wrote: "Personally, I had a hard time adding books at first....until I selected the amazon box on the 'store' option when adding to my list."

There's a Chrome Extension for Elfster called "Elf It" that you can install. When you see a book on Amazon, you can then click that extension and it adds it to your wishlist. (Most of the time)

[Sheri]

Sandra wrote: "Sheri wrote: "Personally, I had a hard time adding books at first....until I selected the amazon box on the 'store' option when adding to my list."

There's a Chrome Extension for Elfster called "E..."

Ohh? For realz?! *smooch* I had no idea..thank youuuu!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Gustaf wrote: "So um... my match has an empty wish list :( I'm getting impatient to gift some books lol. Sorry if this ain't the right place, just needed to vent a little lol. Can I nudge this person or will the ..."

I'll look into it for you, Gustaf!

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Guys make sure your wishlists are set to PUBLIC or this year's exchange. When wishlists look empty, it's often because they are set to private!

[Lisazj1]

Sheri wrote: "I do the same Lisa...and often find GR shelves hold many more 'wishes'...I think it's because Elfter can be tricky sometimes.
Personally, I had a hard time adding books at first....until I selected the amazon box on the 'store' option when adding to my list. But until I figured that tip out, I wasn't able to add most of my actual 'ooo, I really want this book' list. :P"

Yeah, I think their servers get cranky this time of year, LOL! I didn't have too much trouble with it, only with it adding the covers correctly til Kaycee gave a tip on that. This year I made my list and *pretty much* stayed out of it, instead of constantly adding to it like I usually do. :)

[Lillian]

Just to let you know, Amazon UK customer services says UK accounts can NOT accept books from any other site including .com.
Apparently it's to do with Digital Management Rights.

[Lillian]

Lillian wrote: "Just to let you know, Amazon UK customer services says UK accounts can NOT accept books from any other site including .com.
Apparently it's to do with Digital Management Rights."

So my Santa has sent me a gift I can’t open. Heather, is there a way to get a message to them?

[iam]

iam wrote: "I just tried to gift a book to my giftee and got the following error after clicking on the buy for others on the book's page on amazon: "There was an internal error in our system. We logged the pro..."

Still get that error. I'll try to report it to customer service later, i hope that goes well...

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Lillian wrote: "Lillian wrote: "Just to let you know, Amazon UK customer services says UK accounts can NOT accept books from any other site including .com.
Apparently it's to do with Digital Management Rights."

S..."

I'm dealing with this right now myself. I'll let you know what the rep says.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time)]

Heather K (dentist in my spare time) wrote: "Lillian wrote: "Lillian wrote: "Just to let you know, Amazon UK customer services says UK accounts can NOT accept books from any other site including .com.
Apparently it's to do with Digital Manage..."

Ask the rep to exchange for a gift card and see how that goes. I know Cadiva just did that.