Bad news. Last novemeber the government announced it was ending Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) for the channel islands (where play.com and many 3rd-part amazon traders are based) This essentially means no VAT is payable on items below 15 pounds. Yesterday it was announced the traders who challenged this ruling had their case thrown out. The tax rule change is coming into force on the 1st April. In short -Now is the time to order anything below 15 pounds- from april the 1st, many thousands of CD's, DVD's and Blurays are going to go up in price by 20% |( You have been warned!
Play.com & Amazon etc prices to increase - 10 days to go
- Thread starter AudioPlaya
- Start date
AudioPlaya said:
You are correct in what you except for, hopefully, price increasing by 20%. Prices have been creeping up recently, in expectation of the CI losing their legal challenge, so that there won't be that sudden leap and they can trumpet that they are 'holding prices' and other guff.
AudioPlaya said:
Whoever announced that was a week late
The case was decided on the 15th. There could be an appeal, though.relocated said:
Someone mentioned this on another forum as well, but I'm not sure it's actually true, at least with regard to the large retailers. Many of them have actually been reducing prices so they don't have too much stock when the change comes in.
The prices won't jump by 20%, they'll maybe go up a little, but the CI retailers are able to take a lot of profit at the mo which they won't be able to do if they're to stay competitive.
Many of the Channel Island based businesses are looking at relocating, some already have. In a clever move by the government they have stopped LVCR from the Channel Islands, but not from anywhere else. So if a business started selling CDs from Switzerland, Norway, or some of the other non-EU territories then they would still be VAT free. One fairly large business has even relocated to the US, it reckons the additional postal charges will still be less than the 20% VAT.
Frank Harvey
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- Jun 27, 2008
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bigblue235 said:
Sorry, don't know the details of who (it may not be a CD / DVD seller). I was chatting to the VAT / Customs manager at Guernsey Post and he was having a whinge about how the changes may send out a great political statement but in reality, apart from harming a lot of Chanel Island based businesses, may not actually have a great impact long term.
Thanks, Rob. I've been keeping an eye on this, and all I've seen so far is a few companies either closing or in the process of closing. Moving to the US sounds like a bizarre move. Can't see the merit in that idea at all, but clearly there must be something in it.
The strange thing about this ruling is that it'll probably mean even cheaper goods for Channel Islanders. If the companies move to the UK and have to sharpen their VAT-inclusive prices, it'll make them even cheaper when they're shipped outwith the VAT area. I'd rather see people keeping their jobs though!
The strange thing about this ruling is that it'll probably mean even cheaper goods for Channel Islanders. If the companies move to the UK and have to sharpen their VAT-inclusive prices, it'll make them even cheaper when they're shipped outwith the VAT area. I'd rather see people keeping their jobs though!
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