Amazon - new hidden extra charges for Ireland?

valmurph8035

I have been buying from Amazon for years but for the past month or so I have noticed that when purchasing an item at the last "pay now" screen the price of the item has been jumping about 5% with no explanation. Its not that the price of the item itself jumps in the time it takes to order - the original price remains advertised if you go back and look at it on the site.

Now given that the website is based in the UK (though managed from here apparently!) the prices are in Sterling so it may be an extra currency or postage fee - but none of these is listed - postage and packing is given as 00.00 (if you go with the "standard" shipping rate) but the "item price" just jumps in cost at the final screen.

I tried to ring Amazon about this. The call centre girl I was talking to was nonplussed about it and just refunded the difference in my last purchase. When I told her that I am still having the problem with other purchases I was looking at, the only solution she could come up with was that I should ring them again after ordering to get further refunds!

Is this something others have noticed? anybody know whats going on? is it a tax thing or something? I even tried Amazon.de and had the same thing happen.

MisterAnarchy

Its due to the difference in Vat rates between the Uk and Ireland ,20% in Uk,23% here

ahnowbrowncow

valmurph8035 wrote: »

I have been buying from Amazon for years but for the past month or so I have noticed that when purchasing an item at the last "pay now" screen the price of the item has been jumping about 5% with no explanation. Its not that the price of the item itself jumps in the time it takes to order - the original price remains advertised if you go back and look at it on the site.

Now given that the website is based in the UK (though managed from here apparently!) the prices are in Sterling so it may be an extra currency or postage fee - but none of these is listed - postage and packing is given as 00.00 (if you go with the "standard" shipping rate) but the "item price" just jumps in cost at the final screen.

I tried to ring Amazon about this. The call centre girl I was talking to was nonplussed about it and just refunded the difference in my last purchase. When I told her that I am still having the problem with other purchases I was looking at, the only solution she could come up with was that I should ring them again after ordering to get further refunds!

Is this something others have noticed? anybody know whats going on? is it a tax thing or something? I even tried Amazon.de and had the same thing happen.

It's VAT, it's 20% in the UK but it's 23% in Ireland.

A Dub in Glasgo

You seem to be getting refunds for the difference due to the incompetence of Amazon staff! Keep phoning

quadrifoglio verde

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Its due to the difference in Vat rates between the Uk and Ireland ,20% in Uk,23% here

But surely having bought from a UK site I should pay UK vat?
Or am I meant to be paying 23% vat on every purchase I make online regardless of where in the eu its coming from?

davetherave

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

But surely having bought from a UK site I should pay UK vat?
Or am I meant to be paying 23% vat on every purchase I make online regardless of where in the eu its coming from?

I'm sure someone with a better explanation will be along shortly, but I believe it is due to the amount of sales that a company has to Ireland, that after x amount of euro per year they have to register as a company in Ireland and thus charge the 23 percent to orders coming to here.

cnocbui

No, the big online sellers have to charge you the rate of vat in your country and remit the tax to the appropriate government.

whomitconcerns

try with ebooks its even greater difference due to teh vat rules! In some cases you save a fortune buying off a UK or US registered account over an IR registered account

beardybrewer

It's always been that way. Guess you just finally noticed.

Nody

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

But surely having bought from a UK site I should pay UK vat?
Or am I meant to be paying 23% vat on every purchase I make online regardless of where in the eu its coming from?

Change in EU legislation (came into effect very recently); it used to be that you had to pay the VAT in the country of purchase but as of first of Jan it's been changed to the VAT in the country of the buyer. Hence this is now applicable for all companies in all of Europe doing online sales. This was done to make companies like Apple basing all app sales in Luxemburg (15% VAT) have to pay the local governments who considered themselves cheated on taxes and why you'll see more variation in price quotations between countries.

For Amazon case specifically there's Irish VAT legislation stating that if you sell above 50k (?) EUR a year you need to pay Irish VAT. Hence Amazon had to start charging the Irish VAT as well to compensate for the additional cost due to selling more than 50k a year.

valmurph8035

Thanks for the replies guys, the vat explanation is obviously correct.

Amazon's customer service is excellent - well it is very customer focused anyway - so I would recommend anyone buying anything expensive contact them feigning ignorance and seek to have the difference repaid.

It yet another reason why they need to set up an Irish site. eBay has had one for yonks and most of Amazon's European staff are based here.

nompere

Nody wrote: »

Change in EU legislation (came into effect very recently); it used to be that you had to pay the VAT in the country of purchase but as of first of Jan it's been changed to the VAT in the country of the buyer. Hence this is now applicable for all companies in all of Europe doing online sales. This was done to make companies like Apple basing all app sales in Luxemburg (15% VAT) have to pay the local governments who considered themselves cheated on taxes and why you'll see more variation in price quotations between countries.

For Amazon case specifically there's Irish VAT legislation stating that if you sell above 50k (?) EUR a year you need to pay Irish VAT. Hence Amazon had to start charging the Irish VAT as well to compensate for the additional cost due to selling more than 50k a year.

The distance selling VAT rules were introduced by Section 167 Finance Act 1992, and came into force on 1 January 1993. They apply to the sale of goods. I've been paying Irish VAT on Amazon purchases since 2004 - when I made my first purchases from them.

The VAT change that came into force on 1 January 2015 relates to the place of supply of telecommunications, broadcasting and e-services to non-taxable persons, which will be the place where the customer is established. That would involve Apple.

The Irish VAT registration threshold for distance selling of goods is €35,000.

recipio

So we get around it by using Parcel Motel ?

ahnowbrowncow

recipio wrote: »

So we get around it by using Parcel Motel ?

Except that parcel motel charge €3.95 and amazon usually offer free shipping so you'd have to be spending over €132 on an item to make it worthwhile