Official Sony PR re PRS-300/600

[rebarnmom]

Originally Posted by Ea

Wouldn't taxes/VAT make a difference? (just guessing)

That would be our (US) price before tax and I don't know what VAT is.

[Ziguezon]

Originally Posted by rebarnmom

I don't know why, but it seems that this has been the case for a long time, at least as far as books. I'm looking at a PB of my daughter's and it says:

$4.99 US/ $5.99 CAN

I don't mind the extra dollar for a paperback, but a one hundred dollar difference for the PRS 600...

Add a case and 15% sales tax to that order and we're talking nearly $500.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by rebarnmom

That would be our (US) price before tax and I don't know what VAT is.

VAT means value added tax, I was fairly certain you had that in USA, too. It's a tax that's added to the sales price, and the collected by the seller.

[herbdb]

No VAT so far, but that Idiot Obama is considering one to pay for his out of control spending.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Ea

VAT means value added tax, I was fairly certain you had that in USA, too. It's a tax that's added to the sales price, and the collected by the seller.

It's called "sales tax," and it's different in every city, although large sections of a state will often have the same sales tax percentage. There's a base state tax rate, and individual counties & cities often have additional taxes.

The entire state of Oregon charges no sales tax. They've had to apply interesting semi-laws to prevent people who live in California or Washington near the border from going to Oregon to buy large-ticket items without sales tax.

There are other states with no sales tax, but Oregon is the most populous, and next to two high-population states. I'm sure all fifteen residents of Montana are ecstatic about their tax rate. (Okay, Montana's population is just under a million people. That's slightly higher than the population of San Francisco.)

Items shipped across state lines don't have sales tax. (I think there's supposed to be a tax applied at some point--the receiver is supposed to keep track of those purchases, and pay taxes on them in his home state instead of the purchase state. But nobody does this. Nobody. Most people don't know it's supposed to happen at all, and there's no method for paying that tax.)

Sales tax in San Francisco, CA, right now, is 8.75%, and that's considered high. I know it's at 10% in a few areas, but I don't think it's higher than that anywhere.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

It's called "sales tax," and it's different in every city, although large sections of a state will often have the same sales tax percentage. There's a base state tax rate, and individual counties & cities often have additional taxes.

The entire state of Oregon charges no sales tax. They've had to apply interesting semi-laws to prevent people who live in California or Washington near the border from going to Oregon to buy large-ticket items without sales tax.

There are other states with no sales tax, but Oregon is the most populous, and next to two high-population states. I'm sure all fifteen residents of Montana are ecstatic about their tax rate. (Okay, Montana's population is just under a million people. That's slightly higher than the population of San Francisco.)

Items shipped across state lines don't have sales tax. (I think there's supposed to be a tax applied at some point--the receiver is supposed to keep track of those purchases, and pay taxes on them in his home state instead of the purchase state. But nobody does this. Nobody. Most people don't know it's supposed to happen at all, and there's no method for paying that tax.)

Sales tax in San Francisco, CA, right now, is 8.75%, and that's considered high. I know it's at 10% in a few areas, but I don't think it's higher than that anywhere.

Thank you! It must be called VAT *somewhere* though or I don't know how I learned the acronym

Here (and in most/all? European countries) the seller collects the tax. A great deal more efficient - I can't imagine someone would think that having the reciever pay the tax would work at all!

[dordale]

Originally Posted by Ea

Here (and in most/all? European countries) the seller collects the tax. A great deal more efficient - I can't imagine someone would think that having the reciever pay the tax would work at all!

EA--
The seller collects sales tax here in the United States as well. I've never heard it called VAT over here.

But I think the big difference between US Sales Tax and VAT charged elsewhere is that the US Sales Tax is state by state as Elfwreck posted, whereas elsewhere VAT is usually/always(?) a national tax. Also, the amount of sales tax is not included in the price, whereas from my understanding (very limited admittedly) of VAT is that the price includes VAT. When I go to purchase something here in Sacramento, California the price tag will say $1.00, but I'll be charged $1.09.

And as Elfwreck also said, you are *supposed* to pay tax on items you purchase from other states through mail order, etc, but nobody does. There is a place on the California state income tax return where you are supposed to report any items you purchased from out of state without paying sales tax, but again nobody does this...At least nobody I know! And, I have been known to purchase higher cost items (tires, computers, etc) when I visit my Mother in Law who lives in Oregon to avoid paying the sales tax all together.

dordale

[SHOECHICK]

Canada doesn't have a VAT, we would pay tax on top of that inflated price The exchange rate is only around 7% right now so an extra 30% is BS. Are there any issues with a Canadian buying the unit in the US? does it void any warranties or anything?

[frozennorth]

Originally Posted by Ea

Wouldn't taxes/VAT make a difference? (just guessing)

Tax is added on top of the quoted 399$. In Alberta it's 5% which brings the total close to $420. With the exchange rate today 299 US is 319.81 CDN. Adding the 5% makes a total of $342.31. Now I want to know who pockets the extra 77 bucks.

Looks like they put the price of the 600 right between 505 (349.99 at Sonystyle) and the 700 (449.99). But I'm sure someone (maybe shoprbc) will give a discounted price.

I asked a company once about the big difference. Their answer was because it's a smaller market. I guess transportation costs also come into play.

At least I'll be able to check it out in person. We do have Best Buy and Futureshop (and Costco and Walmart if they get the displays in Canada also), but the closest Sonystyle is about 4 hours away.

The 600 is the first reader that has everything on my wish list (good display screen (hopefully ) open format, ability to read library books, search and dictionary (English is second language for me), note taking is a nice bonus for me. And it looks gorgeous, classy, elegant, pretty and beautiful.

I guess I could always claim it as a business expense.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by frozennorth

Tax is added on top of the quoted 399$. In Alberta it's 5% which brings the total close to $420. With the exchange rate today 299 US is 319.81 CDN. Adding the 5% makes a total of $342.31. Now I want to know who pockets the extra 77 bucks.
....

Take heart, Danish VAT is 25% But still, it's odd that passing the Canadian border should make the price that much higher.

[frozennorth]

Originally Posted by SHOECHICK

Canada doesn't have a VAT, we would pay tax on top of that inflated price The exchange rate is only around 7% right now so an extra 30% is BS. Are there any issues with a Canadian buying the unit in the US? does it void any warranties or anything?

Problem with that is you pay shipping and possibly brokerage fees and duty bringing the total right back up again. Sonystyle at least ships for free. I'm hoping for a discount from at least 1 of the dealers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by bsandersen

My question is this: I've purchased a handful of titles from the Sony eBook store for my PRS-505. Do you suppose there will be some mechanism that would allow me to use those on a new model? Or, will those books be forever married to my current reader?

All you have to do is use eBook Library to log into your account, authorize your new Reader (has to be plugged into the USB to authorize it), download the books again and they will then work with your new Reader. Simple really.

[SHOECHICK]

Originally Posted by frozennorth

Problem with that is you pay shipping and possibly brokerage fees and duty bringing the total right back up again. Sonystyle at least ships for free. I'm hoping for a discount from at least 1 of the dealers.

No, I'm heading on a Mexican Cruise that ends in LA and then we have 4 days in Vegas so I'd pick one up down there and it's well within my duty free limit so no issues bringing it back.

[SHOECHICK]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

All you have to do is use eBook Library to log into your account, authorize your new Reader (has to be plugged into the USB to authorize it), download the books again and they will then work with your new Reader. Simple really.

Do you have to download the books again? even if they're sitting on your PC in your library? I was hoping it would just work like an IPod where it accesses the same library.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by dordale

EA--
The seller collects sales tax here in the United States as well. I've never heard it called VAT over here.

But I think the big difference between US Sales Tax and VAT charged elsewhere is that the US Sales Tax is state by state as Elfwreck posted, whereas elsewhere VAT is usually/always(?) a national tax. Also, the amount of sales tax is not included in the price, whereas from my understanding (very limited admittedly) of VAT is that the price includes VAT. When I go to purchase something here in Sacramento, California the price tag will say $1.00, but I'll be charged $1.09.

And as Elfwreck also said, you are *supposed* to pay tax on items you purchase from other states through mail order, etc, but nobody does. There is a place on the California state income tax return where you are supposed to report any items you purchased from out of state without paying sales tax, but again nobody does this...At least nobody I know! And, I have been known to purchase higher cost items (tires, computers, etc) when I visit my Mother in Law who lives in Oregon to avoid paying the sales tax all together.

dordale

Thank you VAT is what I have seen the Danish term translated into, so I just assumed it was 'universal English'. Perhaps it's British.

And thanks for the run-down on how it works in USA. In EU, a seller collects VAT if they sell more than a certain (large) fixed amount to another country in the EU. So if you buy from some big store like Amazon.co.uk you definitely pay VAT, but usually not if it's a small one. I'm NOT surprised that no-one reports their inter-state purchases