VAT changes to 17.5% on January 1st, 2010

[Clark Kent]

I wanted to make everyone aware of the changes to the VAT tomorrow, if you wanted to lock in prices now before tomorrow. Here is Amazon UK's page on the change:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200301360#abroad

It sounds like some prices might go up on items. Importers from the U.S. might benefit, if they continue to subtract it from the final order total.

[Clark Kent]

I made a test order, and they seem to still be taking out 15% from the order as a non-EU customer instead of the 17.5%. This will have to be watched carefully for importers.

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

I made a test order, and they seem to still be taking out 15% from the order as a non-EU customer instead of the 17.5%. This will have to be watched carefully for importers.

UK law gives retailers up to 28 days (just increased from 15) to post prices at the old VAT rate and make adjustments at checkout if necessary. Amazon probably won't take the full 28 days, but until the next time they adjust prices I expect they'll still deduct 15% for VAT. (I placed an order yesterday; it was still a 15% VAT deduction, though it shipped yesterday so that was correct.)

Oddly enough, UK customers may not be affected on most music & video items of less than £18; Amazon's "Preferred Merchant" Indigo Starfish usually ships those to UK addresses from Jersey to avoid paying VAT, essentially using it to pay for free shipping to the UK. (Those do go thru UK customs, but they're duty-free and VAT is only paid on individual packages worth £18 or more.) On "Preferred Merchant" items, generally only non-UK orders actually ship from the UK, whether to other EU countries (VAT is adjusted to the destination country's rate) or outside the EU (VAT is removed altogether).

[RBBrittain]

I just placed another order today; this time they deducted VAT at the 17.5% rate. (The last one was all region-free BDs, but I just bought a region-free BD player so I needed a Region B-locked BD to test it.)

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by RBBrittain

I just placed another order today; this time they deducted VAT at the 17.5% rate. (The last one was all region-free BDs, but I just bought a region-free BD player so I needed a Region B-locked BD to test it.)

Thanks for the notice.