Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
I didn't think that would be allowed. That's stealing and it's illegal.
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Price setting by producers of Books and Drugs were the last two to be abolished in the UK. A retailer in the UK can charge any price they like. Originally in the UK the wholesalers or the makers could set the retail prices of very many items. Retailers could not charge less or more.
Amazon KDP prices calculated automatically from USD to Euro or Sterling seem to include VAT, thus returning less to the Publisher in countries with higher tax.
I can't remember how Smashwords and Google Playstore works.
EDIT:
There is also an additional complication with cross border sales and VAT inside the EU, depending on the size of the seller and if they also have an office in the destination country.
Also the UK is Transitioning, i.e. they have no EU Vote, but keep EU rules till the 31st December. Also by default, KINDLE ebook sales to Irish addresses (Euro) are from the Amazon UK. As are all sales to Ireland. In Sterling!. You can now switch your Kindle account to USA, but then might not get the UK/Ireland editions of books, and are charged in US$. Also the German site has English, but doesn't always ship to Ireland. Many UK site things don't either and often you don't know till you reach the checkout.
For a Global Company with Market Places in many Euro Zone countries, Amazon treats the Irish consumer very badly. Imagine if they only supplied Canada from the USA and charged in USD.
So for Irish Customers there are bigger issues than the Kindle eBook retail price. Which I don't expect will change for most ebooks from Amazon.co.uk
It's only illegal to claim you are gathering tax and not return it to the Excise people.