Quote:
Originally Posted by davidfor
How can you prove that? Or prove that Amazon isn't handling VAT properly? Have you purchased a book from each of the sites and seen what they charged?
And the advertised price has nothing to do with whether they handle VAT properly or not. It only has something to do with how much VAT they charge, along with the VAT rate. The fact that Amazon has not changed their advertised price is in no way an indication that Amazon is not handling VAT properly. At the most, it is an indication that they are greedy. But, it's probably more an indication of how long it takes to implement an unexpected change.
And, honestly, why do you care? It isn't going to affect you. I can understand an initial comment, but, after that, wouldn't your time be better spent doing something else. And I mean just about anything else.
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Always relevant:
https://xkcd.com/386/
"Price set by publisher" means different things on both sides of the pond because VAT is typically wrapped into the product price in countries that rely on it to shakedown consumers, whereas sales tax is charged separate from the product in countries that use that shakedown approach.
With the VAT rolled into the price, that means that ebook publishers have the option of *not* changing the price as the VAT changes. That is *their* choice, not Amazon's.
When the EU started demanding VAT on books sold from outside the EU publishers reacted differently: some raised prices to preserve their take (and Amazon's) while others kept prices constant, eating most of the VAT cost (and making Amazon eat the rest).
Amazon chose not to take sides.
(They really don't care enough to bother.)
The policy hasn't changed and some publishers will prefer the quiet profit boost from keeping the price at a point consumers have already been paying. Consumers aren't suddenly paying more, after all. It's just tbe government forgoing the old vig.