Severity: Medium (affects a purchase-decision/preview feature across a large number of book listings, but doesn't block purchasing itself and a partial workaround exists)
Description:
Amazon's "Read Sample" button - which lets shoppers preview a book's first chapter before buying - has stopped appearing on many Kindle book listing pages. Only the "Send Sample" option remains visible for most books, regardless of browser (Safari, Chrome, Edge, Firefox) or platform (desktop web, mobile web, Kindle app). The affected titles have mostly been on sale for months or years, ruling out normal new-listing processing delays. At least one self-published title reportedly still displayed "Read Sample" normally, suggesting the issue doesn't affect every listing uniformly.
Steps to reproduce:
- Visit a Kindle book's product page on Amazon (desktop web, mobile web, or the Kindle app) for a title that's been listed for a long time.
- Look for the "Read Sample" button that normally sits near the buy button.
- Observe that only "Send Sample" appears — "Read Sample" is missing — and that this reproduces across multiple browsers and across Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.co.uk.
Affected product: Amazon
First seen: first reported July 18, 2026
Workaround: Use "Send Sample" instead, which delivers the sample to a registered Kindle device/app rather than letting you read it immediately in-browser.
Solution: Unknown — no official acknowledgment or fix from Amazon at time of writing.
Fixed versions: Not yet available
Sources: