Vat

[edd]

I think the key is transparency . Some sellers it's hard to find if prices exclude or include vat . When quoting on the phone any person or firm should again should mention the vat not take it granted you know .

[scraggs]

Hang on a minute. Don't forget other countries who sell items put the price they sell at to everyone . Then they put a disclaimer stating the buyer is responsible for taxes and import duties. Also don't forget the majority of stags are here in the UK. And NO its not hard for some to read the small print and not get caught out, but I do think there should be a change to help protect those who CAN'T. And the ex vat price is normally the most prominent with Inc vat price not so. So I still think some are doing it to appear their prices are cheaper.

[Tdm]

At least in the UK the sums have been done and you know the few coins in your paws will be enough at the till, but in other counries including Canada, the price displayed is without taxes and tax is added at the till. At least it's only 10% here though, not a whopping 20%!!
Last time I bought Stag parts in the UK, it took 2 hours to queue at Heathrow to get the 50 pounds VAT back from the supplier. No drop off box in airport like Manchester. Eight desks manned by 3 staff.
Moral - use Manchester airport.....or pay postage and no VAT
Tanya

Hi Tanya, I didn't know that Heathrow hadn't got a Customs point VAT Reclaim Box, but I normally only use Manchester and Stanstead Airports.
At Manchester as soon as your carry on luggage has been X-Rayed the VAT reclaim box is prominently displayed near to where you collect your bag off the conveyor belt, and there are no queues just pop the form in. I am told only if the goods on which VAT is being reclaimed is more than £5,000 do Customs want to check it at the Airport, otherwise they are not interested, although once they did ask me to show them a new DVD Recorder we were taking back.

The biggest problem I have when ordering goods on line is that some Websites don't list the Canary Isles when it comes to paying and ticking the delivery Country, they assume it has the same Tax & VAT rules as Spain (where VAT is also 20%), and I have to make the order over the phone to get charged VAT free.
Only last week I got one supplier to get their Website updated to include the Canary Isles as it had been missed off and the supplier didn't know.

I also never use "PayPal" as it can't handle addresses with PostCodes in other formats than U.K. and American ones (Spanish ones are 5 numeric digits and go before the Town name - not at the end), and always pay by English Credit Card. The advantage of using an English Credit Card locally is that I get the full Commercial Exchange Rate rather than Tourist Rate if paying in Euros, which, when going out for a meal for example, makes it cheaper than paying in Cash as long as I clear the Credit Card at the end of the month. The English credit card I use makes no charge for using it abroad.

[SaskStag]

Blimey Terry, that's complicated!!
Unfortunately, flights to Manchester airport from Canada were stopped ages ago. Have to go through Hateful Heathrow. They have only just started up again, but only for the more expensive summer months. Yes, I remember the drop-box in Manchester, very easy (I used to live and work in Altrincham).

At Heathrow they want to see all the goods.....