Last night I ordered 3 dvd's from Amazon U.K.. I emailed them earlier about the VAT charge. They emailed me back and that I would not be charged. Should I expect this VAT or any additional charges? BTW I live in Chicago USA

you should expect VAT removed and postage added if you live outside the UK.

Can't make it to the theater to see the new Tamil-language movie DASAVATHARAM today, so I might as well try and make myself useful...

Since you live in the U.S., the 17.5% VAT should have been removed during the checkout process. For example, let's take the DVD for THE COUNTERFEITERS....it is priced at 11.98 GBP on the site, when you are at final checkout the price should be lowered to 10.20 GBP. Note: I am not including any shipping cost in the calculation.

However, depending on which DVDs you purchased, VAT might not be removed.

If you look at the item page for THE COUNTERFEITERS, VAT is removed because the availability (listed just under the price) reads as follows:
Availability: In stock. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.

However, if you look at the item page for the DVD of CHRYSALIS (an item for which VAT will not be removed), the availability reads differently as follows:
Availability: In stock. Items for dispatch to UK will be sold by Amazon's Preferred Merchant.

Note the difference that CHRYSALIS is coming from Amazon's Preferred Merchant. In this case, it is indigostarfish and they are based in the island of Jersey. Jersey prices do not include VAT, so the price you are seeing on Amazon UK for CHRYSALIS will not change or have any VAT removed during checkout. It is 7.98 GBP on the site, and will remain so even through final checkout.

Again, I am not including shipping (2.09 GBP per order, plus .99 GBP per item for DVDs, if I recall correctly).

This removal of VAT doesn't apply to books, does it?

Books are not subject to VAT in the U.K., so the price you see on the site is the price you pay (aka no removal of VAT because there isn't any).

And one more note to the original poster, as far as additional charges (besides shipping of course), when you get your credit card bill, you are very likely to see an additional charge - foreign currency conversion fee - this will amount to anywhere from 1% to 3% of your total purchase price. There might be some cards which don't charge this fee, but I believe most do...and I expect a figure of 3% is more likely than not.

Just to make this stand out a little more - IF this mentioned under the AVAILABILITY section :

Items for dispatch to UK will be sold by Amazon's Preferred Merchant. (Why?)

... then THIS is the price that we international customers WILL PAY.


There is no VAT removal / reduction - as it comes from Jersey UK and 'supposedly' VAT has already been removed.


Its NOTICABLE that MORE AND MORE titles have this Preferred Merchant details.

And another thing - Amazon UK really needs to re-assess its OVERPRICED shipping fees. If other UK eStores can send items for around 1pd per title - then why must Amazon charge far more ????

James,

I am also in Chicago and as Flixtime mentions above every single item sold by Amazon and not through Amazon by an affiliate will have the VAT deducted. Amazon Jersey, a Amazon-UK seller who sells through Amazon, DOES NOT remove VAT. Before you place your order (at the very last page with the payment breakdown) you shall be able to see which title in your order is sold by Amazon-UK and which title isn't (look directly under the title of your disc).

Example: If you order this disc you will NOT have the VAT removed because it is sold through Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chromophobia...3423109&sr=1-3

Hence the tiny disclaimer:
On this title you will have the VAT removed because it is sold by Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Hane...3423235&sr=1-1

Hence the tiny disclaimer, again under availability:
Pro-B

its a mystery why Amazon would let someone else be the main supplier of certain new popular easy to get goods-rather than marketplace-I was jigged by Amazon Jersey' They wouldnt de-VAT my copy of PORTISHEAD 3 CD

How much extra does VAT add to items?

are you not reading or just ignoring replies? it was already addressed in post number 3. It might also depend on the country. Also, just to make sure you know this but the dvds you bought are PAL and maybe a different region. Just so you don't have any problems playing them once you get them. i'm sure you knew this already.

VAT in the UK is 17% i believe. It's already included in the price of items.

VAT in the European Union :

DE - Germany 19.0

PL - Poland 22.0

LV - Latvia 18.0

PT - Portugal 21.0

UK - United Kingdom 17.5

SK - Slovak Republic 19.0

SI - Slovenia 20.0

SE - Sweden 25.0

RO - Romania 19.0

NL - Netherlands 19.0

MT - Malta 18.0

LU - Luxembourg 15.0

LT - Lithuania 18.0

IT - Italy 20.0

IE - Ireland 21.0

HU - Hungary 20.0

FR - France 19.6

FI - Finland 22.0

ES - Spain 16.0

EL - Greece 19.0

EE - Estonia 18.0

DK - Denmark 25.0

CZ - Czech Republic 19.0

CY - Cyprus 15.0

BG - Bulgaria 20.0

BE - Belgium 21.0

AT - Austria 20.0