Play.com and VAT

Our man in Havana

There would be fraud issues to contend with.

event

ondafly wrote:

/scare-monger on
Just because your package has arrived - does not mean you won't get a letter at some stage, stating you owe Tax. This has happened to me with car parts, so I assume the same can happen with a €23+ CD/DVD.

how can they prove you got it?

if they came to me, id deny i received it

anyway, i ordered a game valued at €27, came yesterday no problem, it says VAT paid, and was posted from luxemburg

that was from cdwow.ie

andyeire

TheDriver wrote:

what If I buy bond films 2 for 1, each one is 18euro. will they be shipped seperately and say 18euro on each and get through no problem

The total value for the two would be 18 euro so you should have no problem

Jip

Dan133269 wrote:

it says at the bottom of their site that they're in Jersey?

It says that they limit what they post from Jersey to below the value of £18, probably to avoid the issue of VAT.

BFassassin

This is worrying. I wanted to get some Christmas presents from play.com
If they are under 18 pound will they let them through?

Our man in Havana

No. They must be under €22.

BFassassin

Ok thanks. Just one more thing. If i order some stuff seperatly but on the same day will they be posted together or all in the one package

Our man in Havana

Play post each item in separate packages.

BFassassin

Thanks for the info. I just counted up 3 dvds in the 3 for 15 section and it comes to €22.47. Does anyone think that this would avoid tax?

TheDriver

AFAIK, they post them out seperately with the individual values on them including if you use a voucher, the full price is displayed on it but correct me if I am wrong.

Don't think we can complain about what revenue are doing but know the volume coming in, they should have given 2 weeks warning so no one could complain about being "caught"

Moojuice

I think we do have a right to complain. Every thing in this country is over priced. Customs are operating a protection racket, protecting rip-off retailers over here so that they have no need or incentive to be competitive or lower their prices. On a similar note I reckon there is a lot of price fixing among the major game stores. There is very little difference in prices in any of the stores. Competition my arse. The government are not going to do anything about the internet goods as they make money by cracking down on it. **** them I say.

parsi

cianc1 wrote:

Well i have sent a letter to eddie hobbs asking him to clear up the issue.....i hope for a reply

Ah yes. Eddie will get the tax laws changed. Good man Eddie. I presume folks realise that it's things like VAT etc which help pay for public services, roads, etc ?

Perhaps rather than slating the Government (who are doing just what every Gov in the EU is doing when faced with the Jersey boys), anger should be directed towards greedy retailers - eg PC World charging 314 for a Wii.

Of course we could always just treat this as the occasional blip that happens every now and then in terms of importing DVDs.

blorg

Moojuice wrote:

I think we do have a right to complain. Every thing in this country is over priced. Customs are operating a protection racket, protecting rip-off retailers over here so that they have no need or incentive to be competitive or lower their prices. On a similar note I reckon there is a lot of price fixing among the major game stores. There is very little difference in prices in any of the stores. Competition my arse. The government are not going to do anything about the internet goods as they make money by cracking down on it. **** them I say.

It's not anticompetitive or protecting Irish retailers. The customs are collecting VAT that has not been paid, the non-payment of VAT is why Play are so cheap to begin with, and what gives them an unfair advantage over EU retailers. You are free to buy from amazon.co.uk or from _any other retailer in any EU country_ and you will not be "stung" for the VAT at the point of import (it will just be included in the price you are charged, same as when you buy something in a shop here.)

Unless you are arguing that VAT should be abolished, I don't see your point.

Basq

Not reading 7 pages.. so just a quick Q: do we know if CDWOW are enforcing this?

Ordered something worth £15.99 (or roughly €23).

Moojuice

yeah **** vat...............no seriously I do not mind paying VAT on goods once they are fairly priced but goods in this country are way over priced (its the retailers I know) but the government has done nothing to prevent this. They are happy to sit back and watch the VAT roll in. So if it is possible to ge the goods abroad VAT free then go for it as things in this Cuntry are over priced as it is. If things were reasonably priced then I would accept your argument blorg but until tge retailers and the government stop colluding then...**** 'em.....

blorg

Moojuice- that's why we have a free market within the EU, you are free to buy stuff from whatever EU country you like and there are no additional duties payable. I buy a _lot_ of stuff on the internet from the UK/Germany/etc. I also travel a fair bit and buy a lot of stuff (wine/clothes) on the continent. You say "I do not mind paying VAT on goods once they are fairly priced" - presumably you consider goods from Play to be "fairly priced" and so don't mind paying VAT on them? In which case, what is the problem?

andyeire

Moojuice wrote:

yeah **** vat...............no seriously I do not mind paying VAT on goods once they are fairly priced but goods in this country are way over priced (its the retailers I know) but the government has done nothing to prevent this. They are happy to sit back and watch the VAT roll in. So if it is possible to ge the goods abroad VAT free then go for it as things in this Cuntry are over priced as it is. If things were reasonably priced then I would accept your argument blorg but until tge retailers and the government stop colluding then...**** 'em.....

Play came to an agreement with the UK gov. where they paid the VAT to them they have refused to do the same for the Irish gov.

Play charge somebody in Ireland the same as somebody in the UK but when they are shipping to the UK they send the vat to the UK revenue when they ship to Ireland they pocket the lot .

Why is it unresonable for the Irish revenue to have a problem with this ?

Play could if they wanted solve the problem straight away this would probably mean prices to Ireland going up to make up the difference in the VAT rates .

The information above came from a pnone call to Customs so maybe it is incorrect .If it is true then it is Play who are screwing over there Irish customers.And revenue are just trying to get what is due to them .I would rather have money i pay to Play to ccover the vat element going to the Irish revenue than lining there own pockets

Soarer

So let me get this right.
The price we pay to play includes VAT at UK rates.
But when they ship to a non UK address, they don't have to pay the VAT, as the item wasn't "sold" to the UK?

So basically, we're being done by both the government and Play.

As soon as you click "Euro" in the currency part of Play, the prices displayed should automatically revert to a VAT free price. Then, at checkout, before you confirm your order, it should state the "VAT payable in destination country" disclaimer. That way, everyone would know exactly where they stand.

As regards the government riding us. I've no problem paying VAT. Well I do, but that's another story!;) The problem is this €5 handling fee. What a load of bolleaux!

Can't believe we have to pay 2 different rates of VAT and a €5 handling fee!!:mad: :mad:

TimTim

Arse! I just got a letter in the door today from Revenue telling me I owe them €17.59 in vat and post office fee for a copy of Saints Row.

The turnaround time is annoying me too. Play posted it on the 21st of November! and I only got the letter today telling me I owe them money for it.

Zen 2nd

Well my package worth €120 arrived today. Pretty fast too aswell. Sent last Friday by Play.com and arrived tonight by personal hand delivery. When I looked at the package, I think they had put a sticker over the price though unsure if there is even a price on the package at all.

Has anyone had to pay VAT if the price on the box is Euro?

Moojuice wrote:

On a similar note I reckon there is a lot of price fixing among the major game stores. There is very little difference in prices in any of the stores. Competition my arse.

I think you should shop around more. I went into town last Sunday to buy RainbowSix Vegas (360), which is €57 on Play.com. I went to Gamestop first and it was €70, then went into game, also €70, then I went into HMV and it was priced at €58 but then I had my 10% student discount. This was all on the one street!

Also HMV had Studio Ghibli films for only €11 too.

savemejebus

TimTim wrote:

Arse! I just got a letter in the door today from Revenue telling me I owe them €17.59 in vat and post office fee for a copy of Saints Row.

The turnaround time is annoying me too. Play posted it on the 21st of November! and I only got the letter today telling me I owe them money for it.

Ignore the letter from customs, and tell play that your item didn't arrive. They'll send out a new one marked at a value of 0.00 and customs will end up returning the original to sender. It should work (at least once)and no one really loses, well except the government and i don't really mind that after almost losing my car to a pothole earlier this evening on their 'well maintained' roads.

Soarer

I was wondering.
Where does everyone get their online purchases sent to?

I'm wondering if they're targeting people getting things delivered to their home address.
Everyone here in work gets their play.com stuff delivered to the office, and as yet (touch wood), no revenue letters have arrived.

I've probably jinxed it now though!!:rolleyes:

FlimFlam

Anybody received packages from Play in the last couple of days? Or has anyone received VAT notices in the last few days? If you received a Play item, how long did delivery take?

holly_johnson

No packages from Play as luckily I read this thread just before I ordered!
I ordered from Amazon.com and both packages with €50+ values arrived fine.

Our man in Havana

Received packages from play this morning posted last wednesday. Nothing to pay!

TheBigEvil

TimTim wrote:

Arse! I just got a letter in the door today from Revenue telling me I owe them €17.59 in vat and post office fee for a copy of Saints Row.

The turnaround time is annoying me too. Play posted it on the 21st of November! and I only got the letter today telling me I owe them money for it.

I thought Once you paid VAT in another member EU state you dont have to pay it here. Part of single market etc.

I've never been asked to pay VAT on purchases from Play, and I wouldn't pay this either.

Cite the Treat Of Rome to them !!!!

holly_johnson

TheBigEvil wrote:

I thought Once you paid VAT in another member EU state you dont have to pay it here. Part of single market etc.

I've never been asked to pay VAT on purchases from Play, and I wouldn't pay this either.

Cite the Treat Of Rome to them !!!!

Play is in Jersey therefore no VAT is paid. Legally we are supposed to pay VAT when it arrives here.

karltimber

so i was about to order an lcd from germany today

will I get stung for vat also - if I paid it in germany already ????

Our man in Havana

No!

2funki4wheelz

Got the 007 box set from play today, no issue with that.
From experience, the shopping channel QVC charges customers with an Irish address the Irish VAT rates so things are more expensive. And that just comes from the UK

Very upsetting thread. On another note a cosmetics company from Hong Kong (that's on pigsback.ie) offer to re-imburse you any duty you get charged on arrival of the product. Haven't had to look for this as yet.