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How to determine a fair price for second-hand equipment?


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19 hours ago, Shimrod said:

As a consumer you don't have the option of not paying VAT, so surely a discount of 30% is just that.

It is if you're an American.  It's basically voluntary to pay sales tax on imported items (except through ebay and other onine marketplaces).  We never pay VAT on imported items, and the sellers don't have to collect American sales tax, so the sales are basically tax free unless we voluntarily remit sales tax to our governing authority.  I guess Americans buy so little via direct imports that the taxing authorities can't justify creating a bureaucracy to collect it.  That, and any items under $800 are duty free.

As such, it's often cheaper for me to buy items from the UK/Europe/Australia/Japan and ship them here than it is to buy them locally.  Returns are a pain, though, if anything goes wrong.

I've noticed that UK/Euro prices are competitive with US pre-tax prices even with the ~20% hidden VAT included.  That's what makes them so cheap when cross-importing because VAT goes away and nothing else gets added.

Edited by Louis D
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