Covert book purchasing on Amazon

Oh man! I feel your pain. I have lived your paranoia!

To be honest and to speak to your paranoia...

What you are attempting only works if you rent a private post office box with cash. Then pay for purchases through a blind PayPal account tied to an anonymous email address. All other routes leave a paper trail to your status.

I have never done this but thought about the process.

I never did it as I never fully trusted even this level of obscurity.

Is the book worth the risk? Wouldn't you hate that? Jump through paranoia hoops and then not like the book?

That is one thing I will not miss, kiss the paranoia goodbye.

Stuck

 

You aren't being paranoid. All sorts of things are linked online and being outed by Amazon is not how you want to do it.

I called Amazon and asked. Gift cards are used as payment on your account, so they show up as a purchase. You'll want to create and use the other account. That other account will need your address, but nothing is sent by regular mail. They only send email.

The payment will still show up in your records (credit card, bank used by PayPal, etc) but it won't show what the item was. There doesn't seem to be much advantage to using a gift card since you're buying that anyway. The only advantage would be making it a round number so it looks like a gift card instead of a particular item.

 

Hi,

Get a book reader app that has security pass codes built in. Every time it opens or goes to sleep and re-opens you want a pass code road block.

Stuck

 

My Mum did this when she was still living with my Dad. She managed to confide in a close friend and have her order the books. Would this be possible? Is there any way you can get this book through your library or a local service for gay people?

 

Oh God! the Paranoia!! **face palm** I sure don't miss that! :eusa_doh:

In fact, one of the great advantages of being out is, not only books, but the wonderful world of sex toys! :icon_bigg and no worries about being found out!

 

Do you use multiple browsers on your computer? You should.

I think Google Chrome is the easiest for what you want to do, use the Incognito function and nothing is saved on your PC, no history. Open another Amazon account on that browser. Buy what you want. In the US Amazon doesn't send paper invoices, is that an issue in the UK? I think digital delivery is most discreet -- get a cheap kindle and use it.
If you use the Incognito function, you won't have to delete any cookies, history, etc. its rather discreet.

 

Not sure I can help you too much, other than creating a separate secret account, otherwise things do show up in your shopping history (including your latest book titles that you browsed.)

Joe Kort's books are fantastic, and are what allowed me to come to terms with my Homosexual Orientation.

Given that "10 Things Gay Men can do to find True Love" is a lot about relationships, and is not just applicable to gay life, I told my wife about my purchase. Honesty, while difficult and at times painful, has made me a better person.

 

I hope that the book is worth all the anxiety and paranoia that you went through. Roll on the days when you will be free to be yourself and are able to be open about these things.

 

OMG! I'm sitting here ready this, holding my breath and feeling your anxiety! Glad that everything worked out ok!

 

A couple of things come to mind.

First if you really aren't prepared to let your wife know, then have you tried the library? Or even a bookstore. (Yes, they still do make books out of paper...LOL) Might be worth looking into.

Second it kind of sounds like 'being caught' might be a way that would force your hand at telling her without you actually coming forward. Yeah, having a sit down can be scary (even in a normal divorce) I can totally understand that. (Even though I'm not and have never been in that position before....even my lovely daughter is convinced I'm gay at this point and has been bugging me about it for ages <well, good natured teasing>)

It would definitely take the pressure off as far as "the perfect time" to tell her. Like guys who have girlfriends and intend to leave their wives and leave 'hints' around. (Had one of them too but she beat him up when he asked her for a divorce and he stayed with her)
All I can say about that though is there is no perfect time. There are just times when you do or don't do things. Just like the Doc Holliday quote: There is no 'normal life' there's just life.

I suppose the main issues would be practical ones, as in the actual divorce thing. Unless she's cool with you having boyfriends and staying married.

The other thing is not tying up loose ends so that you can go beyond the double life part of your life whole heartedly. You know it's going to happen and a book about finding love isn't going to help you until you end your marriage. I'm not trying to sound cold and brutal. Obviously you love her or you wouldn't have married her in the first place, so I understand about not wanting to hurt her, but...It's not really fair to either of you until you can work out splitting up. Does she have a clue at all about any kind of distance in the relationship?

This would happen in a hetero relationship as well so don't beat yourself up about it being a gay thing.

I don't know if any of this makes sense but hope some of it helps.

IC

Personally I would LOVE to be 'married' to John Barrowman! Yeah BABY! Of course that's just me...

(*hug*)

 

So I have a question - I bought that book as well. I'm not concerned about it being on my phone or anything, I'm out to the only person in the world I'd let use my phone.

What I'm concerned about is "Amazon Suggestions" - I frequently use Amazon in the presence of people that I'm not out to, and an outing by Amazon would be awkward, but not the end of the world.

So how do I get Amazon to "forget" that I bought that book for the purposes of making suggestions of other similar items to me?

 

Click “Recommended for You”. It will say ‘these suggestions are based on items you own.’ Click “items you own” then find your item and select “Do not use for recommendations.” Very useful for anything clogging suggestions or private.

 

Thanks! Speaking of clogging suggestions, I bought a joystick for a very specific purpose, and now it thinks I want to buy every video game under the sun