Amazon order

198321

So I was shopping on amazon.co.uk today for dslr lens for £150 with free super saver delivery. Placed order and got email that total is 153.75. I contacted their customer service through chat (couldn't care less about extra 3.75, but wanted to see if there is explanation for this) and after asking them I was informed my order was canceled by mistake and I should place it again ...

Anyway I got an answer that :

'In accordance with the laws governing members of the European Union, Amazon.co.uk is obliged to register and charge for VAT on all orders delivered to destinations in member countries of the EU.
When VAT applies to an order, the relevant charges will be clearly reflected on your e-mail confirmations and invoices at your local rate.
To find the applicable VAT rates for your country please visit the following URL:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=502578'

I shop a lot online from UK and never been charged more than advertised (in pounds).

Recently I bought another lens from different UK page and I was only charged whatever was advertised on their page - are they breaking law?

Thought somebody might find it useful as it is probably hidden somewhere in their terms of conditions and not everybody reads that.

I even explained that since it is law I have no issue with paying extra charge, only wish it was maybe highlighted or explained before completing order. To that point I got an answer : 'This is an UK website.'

I also said maybe they could highlight this information after I have selected my destination country to be Republic of Ireland and to that I got answer 'Is there any thing else I can help you?'

Basq

Yep, presumably the extra is the VAT difference between UK and ROI..

Any company that does big business in Ireland (over €100,000 or something like that) is required to pay Irish VAT AFAIK.

198321

Basq wrote: »

Presumably the extra is the VAT difference between UK and ROI..

yes, ireland is 23% and UK 20%, but I have never seen any other UK online store doing this, and if amazon does I have no problem with it at all, but there was no information about this during my order, they just charge you more

ok so it is actually worth to buy it from somebody else than Amazon

recipio

I've read previous posts on this and it seems Amazon are correct. However I imagine the hassle of applying different vat levels to every purchase is beyond even big retailers. I wonder if the 23% is remitted to the Irish or UK governments or is the extra difference going into the back pocket of Amazon ?

witnessmenow

I'd be pretty sure Amazon are paying what they need to!

Ebuyer stopped shipping to Ireland for this reason, they broke whatever the threshold was and decided it wasnt worth the effort to implement allowing for the difference in VAT.

rubadub

Basq wrote: »

Any company that does big business in Ireland (over €100,000 or something like that) is required to pay Irish VAT AFAIK.

+1, the limit in Ireland is €35,000. I think there is a range and countries can decide when it begins.

The plus side of this is that the VAT goes to our country.

Amazon do it the way I prefer, it is totally transparent. Some others set up entirely different sites or portals. Then they mask what is going on and just charge loads more to cover the costs and risk of currency changes.

In some cases the increase is huge, as some items which are 0% VAT in the UK are 23% here, like sports supplements.

198321

rubadub wrote: »

+1, the limit in Ireland is €35,000. I think there is a range and countries can decide when it begins.

The plus side of this is that the VAT goes to our country.

Amazon do it the way I prefer, it is totally transparent. Some others set up entirely different sites or portals. Then they mask what is going on and just charge loads more to cover the costs and risk of currency changes.

In some cases the increase is huge, as some items which are 0% VAT in the UK are 23% here, like sports supplements.

I also wonder if I use services of eBay, it says I have to pay tax of x% (Luxembourg) doesn't eBay have to apply irish tax (for listing fees or final auction fee)? Seems little bit messy to me. And also the fact that tax goes to irish government is nice, and tbh seems right, however if I can save few % to buy from website that doesn't apply irish tax, I would certainly do so in future.

Also my point wasn't that I am against Amazon charging irish vat, but they just charged me extra amount, without explanation. Their website should locate my location as Rep. of Ireland and advertise price that I will be charged, or at least on order confirmation highlight the reason for total amount. Fact that it is 'hidden' in terms&conditions doesn't seem good enough.

Kolido

198321 wrote: »

yes, ireland is 23% and UK 20%, but I have never seen any other UK online store doing this, and if amazon does I have no problem with it at all, but there was no information about this during my order, they just charge you more

ok so it is actually worth to buy it from somebody else than Amazon

I you are buying from an EU country with a lower VAT do they lower the overall price.
Not sure if this scenario would arise but just wondering.

witnessmenow

198321 wrote: »

I also wonder if I use services of eBay, it says I have to pay tax of x% (Luxembourg) doesn't eBay have to apply irish tax (for listing fees or final auction fee)? Seems little bit messy to me. And also the fact that tax goes to irish government is nice, and tbh seems right, however if I can save few % to buy from website that doesn't apply irish tax, I would certainly do so in future.

Also my point wasn't that I am against Amazon charging irish vat, but they just charged me extra amount, without explanation. Their website should locate my location as Rep. of Ireland and advertise price that I will be charged, or at least on order confirmation highlight the reason for total amount. Fact that it is 'hidden' in terms&conditions doesn't seem good enough.

It gets calculated at the shipping location stage. If you deliver something to someone in NI you will be charged the UK tax rate. The Vat is recalculated on the page before you confirm the order so the final price is displayed before ordering.

I agree it could be made a little more clear though

rubadub

198321 wrote: »

Also my point wasn't that I am against Amazon charging irish vat, but they just charged me extra amount, without explanation

They should do it better alright. There is a plugin for firefox a guy here made, it converts to euro rate and is supposed to apply the correct VAT for items.

A member called asmith made the tool

asmith wrote: »

Apologies if this is slightly off topic but I thought it might be of interest to bargin hunters.

As you may know, Amazon will quote a euro price for stuff on their website but only on the very last page of the checkout process (where they convert it to Euro and add on Irish VAT). This is a bit of a pain so I've put together a GreaseMonkey script that shows you the euro price of an item (including Irish VAT) when you're on the product details page. It can be installed from here. If you'd like more details you can find them on my blog.

198321 wrote: »

I also wonder if I use services of eBay, it says I have to pay tax of x% (Luxembourg) doesn't eBay have to apply irish tax (for listing fees or final auction fee)?

Sales of goods ordered via the internet but physically supplied are considered to be distance sales for VAT purposes. However digitised goods, that is goods for downloading by the customer via the internet are considered to be services, within the meaning of the Fourth Schedule for VAT purposes.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/distance-sales-eu.html