Kindle UK Information and Help

[allenlux]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Are you sure about that?

In general, when a non-EU retailer sends physical goods to the EU, the VAT is collected at the point of entry. The vendor doesn't collect it. They don't even need to know about it.

With electronic deliveries, my understanding is that the VAT is charged at a composite rate which applies to the whole of the EU. The fact that you are in Luxembourg (which I believe has one of the lowest VAT rates in Europe) doesn't mean that you will pay less VAT on electronic content than if you were in Germany or the UK.

Mike,
Yes, you are right and I was wrong on this. Amazon.uk calculates the VAT rate for Luxembourg, but for shipments from Amazon.com it depends entirely on whether the package is picked up by customs - this happens quite frequently for our larger DVD orders. It's difficult as I'm away from home to check the exact rate we have paid, but certainly the import duty part is some kind of standard composite tariff - the VAT part may well be Luxembourg VAT (15%) but I might be wrong on this. In any case, we are well used to paying tax on stuff coming from Amazon.com.

[adriatikfan]

Apologies in advance for what might be another stupid question.

If I personally owned 2 kindles, both registered to me, any book I buy (license?) would be available to both machines, - Is that correct?

If one of these machines is on loan to my daughter several hundred miles away, I'm assuming the same would hold true.

So - if I personally owned 2 kindles _ let's say one for home, one for the office - and I purchased a daily edition of a newpaper or a single edition of a magazine, would that item be available to both devices owned by and registered to me, or to one single device only? In other words, could I start reading the Times at home and finish off at work on my second device?

Many thanks in advance.

Best Wishes
David

[HarryT]

Books - yes. Newpapers and magazines, though, I'm pretty sure can only be authorised to one specific device.

[kiri]

I'm currently based in Dublin, Ireland, which according to Amazon is
covered by 3G Whispernet. I travel extensively around Europe, and I'm
trying to figure out how much would Kindle Intl cost me, considering
I will almost never hook it up to my computer.

- I understand if I download a book in my "home country", I won't get
charged any extra fees. Now, what'd be my "home country"? Would it be
Ireland or Europe?

- I'm planning to subscribe to a newspaper which is auto-delivered
wirelessly daily. Say I'm in a country other than my "home country",
would the auto-deliver work anyway? Or would I need to pay extra
roaming fees?

- For what I could read in different reviews, US Kindle store offers a
far larger selection of books than Intl store. The tweak would be to
change (again...) my "home country" to US. Would then Amazon charge me
fees to download books when I'm in Europe? Or is still free since I'd
have Kindle Intl?

Thanks!

[The-eBook-Reader]

Hi Kiri,

You've got some hard quesions so I'll just give you what I know and maybe some of the International folks can chime in more specifically.

1. Cost shouldn't be any different outside the US if you use whispernet or your computer, and there are no roaming fees. The additional $2 is already built-in to the ebook price structure. From my understanding US customers also pay the extra $2 when downloading outside the US to cover higher wireless costs.

2. Your home county would be Ireland. And since Ireland is part of the EU you'll have to pay an additional VAT charge of about 15% on ebook purchases.

3. Auto delivery for newspapers should work anywhere you get wireless coverage, regardless of country.

Does anybody know how much more newspaper subscriptions cost abroad to cover wireless costs? I think it's like $5, but I'm not sure. Also, do newspapers and magazines get charged VAT in the EU?

4. US selection is about 360,000 and Ireland's is around 280,000, but more will be added to as time goes by. The base ebook selection has already increased for a lot of countries.

[tonyofla]

I'm in Dublin, Ireland and got my Kindle International this week. Very impressed with it, especially the wireless which is very fast - haven't tried it outside of Dublin but get full bars all the time in the city. feels like it might be roaming on Vodafone, but not sure. the only downside really is the missing books in the European store. Could also do without the added international download tax on books but the Euro/Dollar exchange softens the blow at the moment. the software beats any of the other e readers I have used.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

2. Your home county would be Ireland. And since Ireland is part of the EU you'll have to pay an additional VAT charge of about 15% on ebook purchases.

Does anybody know how much more newspaper subscriptions cost abroad to cover wireless costs? I think it's like $5, but I'm not sure. Also, do newspapers and magazines get charged VAT in the EU?

Just want to add that VAT is not an EU issue - VAT it's different for each member country of EU.

I understand that Amazon has chosen to be VAT registered in Britain, which means 15% VAT.

BTW, is Norway and Switzerland in the same European zone at Amazon? (they're European countries not in the EU)

[kiri]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

Hi Kiri,
You've got some hard quesions so I'll just give you what I know and maybe some of the International folks can chime in more specifically.

LOL

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

3. Auto delivery for newspapers should work anywhere you get wireless coverage, regardless of country.
Does anybody know how much more newspaper subscriptions cost abroad to cover wireless costs? I think it's like $5, but I'm not sure. Also, do newspapers and magazines get charged VAT in the EU?

The help section does say here it costs 4.99 per week, but it refers to US customers only! I couldn't find how much it would cost in EU for non -US customers.

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

4. US selection is about 360,000 and Ireland's is around 280,000, but more will be added to as time goes by. The base ebook selection has already increased for a lot of countries.

Not sure about the overall figure, but I searched for five different books I wanted to buy (all of them were available on the US store), but none of them was available for EU customers.

[allenlux]

re the question on newspaper subscriptions for the international Kindle:
As an example: the International Herald Tribune newspaper costs $19.99 per month, this price "includes VAT & international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet".

I don't know why this question appears complicated for some people. The information is clearly visible on the Amazon website (at least to me, as a registered Kindle owner).

The international wireless delivery means anywhere - I've been reading my IHT in two different countries already.

The Kindle edition is way cheaper than the paper edition in Luxembourg (3 euros per day, 6 days per week).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by allenlux

The Kindle edition is way cheaper than the paper edition in Luxembourg (3 euros per day, 6 days per week).

The downside is that you don't get any of the pictures.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Ea

Just want to add that VAT is not an EU issue - VAT it's different for each member country of EU.

Not in the case of electronic delivery from outside the EU. In that case, a composite rate applies, regardless of the customer's country.

Originally Posted by Ea

I understand that Amazon has chosen to be VAT registered in Britain, which means 15% VAT.

I don't think that's right either. Amazon UK is actually VAT-registered in Luxembourg. But, in any case, that only affects purchases where Amazon UK is the supplier. With Kindle books delivered electronically, Amazon US is the supplier, which means the composite rate applies.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

Does anybody know how much more newspaper subscriptions cost abroad to cover wireless costs? I think it's like $5, but I'm not sure. Also, do newspapers and magazines get charged VAT in the EU?

Much more than $5. Some exampels:

The Irish Times (5 days per week): US price $5.99; in EU: $22.99

Chicago Tribune (daily) US price: $9.99; EU price $19.99

Remember, that the EU price has to cover the wireless charge for each day that the newspaper is delivered, which explains why it's so much higher.

Single issues also cost more in the EU, but not as much as $5.

As far as VAT is concerned, in the UK there is no VAT on physical newspapers, magazines or books, but there is on electonic versions of these. I think most other countries do have VAT on the physical items.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Mike L

Not in the case of electronic delivery from outside the EU. In that case, a composite rate applies, regardless of the customer's country.

Are you sure? I paid 25% import tax - at least what I paid roughly fits that amount. But then I paid directly to the carrier (DHL), who made an error as I'd already paid to Amazon on ordering. The issue is still not resolved. What I pre-paid at Amazon for import tax was also more than those in the UK - it's not the same amount for individual European countries.

[Mike L]

Originally Posted by Ea

Are you sure? I paid 25% import tax - at least what I paid roughly fits that amount. But then I paid directly to the carrier (DHL), who made an error as I'd already paid to Amazon on ordering. The issue is still not resolved. What I pre-paid at Amazon for import tax was also more than those in the UK - it's not the same amount for individual European countries.

But I was talking about VAT, not import duty. My point was that the composite rate applies to electronic delivery. If you paid DHL, then you are presumably talking about physical goods, and the amount you paid probably included VAT and import duty and a service charge imposed by the carrier for collecting the VAT and import duty.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Mike L

But I was talking about VAT, not import duty. My point was that the composite rate applies to electronic delivery. If you paid DHL, then you are presumably talking about physical goods, and the amount you paid probably included VAT and import duty and a service charge imposed by the carrier for collecting the VAT and import duty.

I only mentioned the VAT - or import tax as it's stated on the receipt. I paid a tiny amount of duty - 5.70 DKK to be precise - then 433.70 DKK in import tax for the Kindle and a standard Amazon cover, and finally 187.50 DKK in service charge to DHL. The import tax of 433.70 is roughly equal to 25% of the price of the Kindle + cover.