Shocking price rises!!??

[Stu1smartcookie]

Anyway ... this is a great thread that i am retiring from as its getting a bit like twitter ... and as a contributor i am as much to blame . 

Summing up ... either buy astronomy gear at higher costs or not . ... Hey , this could catch on , a  plain and simple choice

[Commanderfish]

12 minutes ago, Stu said:

Only if they don’t charge it, which some have been so you end up paying double.

They can't legally charge EU/German Vat to a consumer in the UK and pay it to the EU/German revenue. They can charge Vat at the local rate (19pc in Germany I think?) and then use that to pay HMRC for part of the UK Vat.  The customer should then be charged the difference, plus the customs charge (I think that's 4pc for telescopes and accessories) upon import (courier has to handle this if not already done by retailer).

If the customer gets charged twice, someone has made a mistake, either on filling the customs paperwork or the processing thereof.

This is not surprising in the first few months of this year seeing as all the paperwork is new to most of us. I spent a few hours in a phone queue to a courier as I hadn't completed all the relevant digits of the goods code for a mount I sold to an SGLer in Ireland.

Fun and games and higher prices. 

[Louis D]

49 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

The world relies on oil . its a captive audience . They set the quantity , they set the rate . And the rest is history , a very expensive one . 

 

Not at all the right thread or forum to discuss this.  I'm no mod, but I'm not going to bite on this anyway.  Perhaps Reddit would be a good venue for such discussions with a broader audience?

[Louis D]

30 minutes ago, Commanderfish said:

They can't legally charge EU/German Vat to a consumer in the UK and pay it to the EU/German revenue. They can charge Vat at the local rate (19pc in Germany I think?) and then use that to pay HMRC for part of the UK Vat.  The customer should then be charged the difference, plus the customs charge (I think that's 4pc for telescopes and accessories) upon import (courier has to handle this if not already done by retailer).

If the customer gets charged twice, someone has made a mistake, either on filling the customs paperwork or the processing thereof.

This is not surprising in the first few months of this year seeing as all the paperwork is new to most of us. I spent a few hours in a phone queue to a courier as I hadn't completed all the relevant digits of the goods code for a mount I sold to an SGLer in Ireland.

Fun and games and higher prices. 

I've heard VAT is bureaucratic nightmare and paper management expense.  This seems to confirm it.  With US sales tax, goods just move around tax free until sold to the end consumer.  There's literally no tax paperwork to manage for wholesalers.  I'm not talking about duty or customs expenses, just VAT/sales tax expenses.

[Nigella Bryant]

5 hours ago, Stu said:

Excellent, so they are as good as their word! 👍

Definitely Stu.

[Stu1smartcookie]

1 hour ago, Louis D said:

Not at all the right thread or forum to discuss this.  I'm no mod, but I'm not going to bite on this anyway.  Perhaps Reddit would be a good venue for such discussions with a broader audience?

Yeah for sure .. but it was a discussion about prices and I’m afraid prices are governed by fuel costs as well as supply and demand . I know it’s not Astro stuff but it’s all relevant . But , I do take your point . And I’ve already resigned from future comments about this . This thread keeps on running and running though . Lol 

[Cyril]

Any change in the countty's circumstances has always been followed by price rises,  today I found out that our local builders merchant's prices have risen by 40%.

 

[John]

39 minutes ago, Cyril said:

Any change in the countty's circumstances has always been followed by price rises,  today I found out that our local builders merchant's prices have risen by 40%.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/may/08/cost-of-building-work-on-uk-homes-to-rise-as-price-of-materials-soars