Cybook Gen3: Latest about supported formats, price, etc.

[anotherchance]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Free education? I hope you're talking university-level education here. Because education is a given, and government-paid-for, to every child between Kindergarten and 12th grade here in the US. Yes, parents *can* choose to pay for private schooling, but they don't have to.

Best we don't get into the difference between "public and private schools" in the US and UK. Stephen Fry described it best in his autobiography Moab is my Washpot.

From Moab is my Washpot - Chapter 1 (New York Times)....

There may be some reading this who are hazy (and proudly so) about the precise meanings of "prep school" and "public school."

A prep school is an establishment designed, as the name implies, untypically for a British institution, to prepare a child. In this instance the preparation is for public school. Public school, as the name decidedly does not imply, very typically for a British institution, is wholly private. Public schools undertake to guide, mould and instruct pupils aged between thirteen and eighteen. Prep schools accept their intake from somewhere in the region of eight, nine or ten years old, and prepare them for the Common Entrance Examination, a test recognised by all the public schools. Different public schools are satisfied by different CE results. Thus Winchester, which has an interest in only the cleverest boys, would expect CE marks way above seventy per cent, while Malvern and Worksop and Monckton Combe, by way of example, might be content with percentages in the nether fifties or upper forties. There is, it follows, no absolute pass mark in the Common Entrance. Public schools can decide whom they take according to their need to have a fully pupilled and profitable school roll, according to their own sense of academic reputation, according to a candidate's athletic, musical or artistic qualities, or according to his status as offspring of an old boy or a Great, Rich and Desirable Parent.

[NatCh]

Sure makes that Sorting Hat look pretty good.

[delphidb96]

Clearly 'public' schools in the UK are the (in general terms) equivalent of our high schools.

No. A "public" school in the UK is an exclusive private school. What you call "public schools" (ie the normal schools which virtually everybody attends) we call "state schools".

[mcramer]

So to change back to the tax thing

Will Bookeen charge the same end user price for the Cybook everywhere in Europe that has the euro?

Given that there seems to be differing tax rates in different countries, even in those euro countries, doesn't that mean that the money that goes back to Bookeen differs from country to country?

Cost in Euros - tax = money to Bookeen.

Is this the case?

[BKeeper]

Originally Posted by mcramer

Given that there seems to be differing tax rates in different countries, even in those euro countries, doesn't that mean that the money that goes back to Bookeen differs from country to country?

Cost in Euros - tax = money to Bookeen.

Is this the case?

Not exactly, Bookeen will always have to charge french VAT to consumers.
i.e.: if they charge VAT they must charge the french rate.

But businesses or professionals from other EU countries will be able to buy Cybook directly without VAT as log as they provide a VAT ID number.

If ever Bookeen decides to expand operations and seeks local distribution in other EU countries then it could make a difference for local consumers and distributors, but not to bookeen.

Let me explain: Let's suppose bookeen's price for distributors is €250, the as log as distributors respected the MSRP, then yes, there could/would be a small -+3% profit difference among different distributors.

To sum it up, Bookeen doen't care, they would always get those €250, the only tax bookeen cares about is the corporate income tax.

God I hate tax law.

nah, just kidding

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mcramer

So to change back to the tax thing

Will Bookeen charge the same end user price for the Cybook everywhere in Europe that has the euro?

Nothing to do with having the Euro. The price will be the same across the EU.

Given that there seems to be differing tax rates in different countries, even in those euro countries, doesn't that mean that the money that goes back to Bookeen differs from country to country?

Cost in Euros - tax = money to Bookeen.

Is this the case?

No. The way that VAT works is that the seller charges HIS rate of VAT to people anywhere in the EU, regardless of what the rate is in the buyer's country.

A buyer in a country NOT in the EU (eg Switzerland) would not be charged VAT, but would then be liable to pay whatever local taxes apply on receipt of the package.

[mcramer]

OK - so the price is the same across the EU. The price to the user or the pre tax price?

If it's the end use price and the tax rates differ between countries then the pre-tax price has to be different surely.

If 350 is the pre-tax price then the point is moot

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mcramer

OK - so the price is the same across the EU. The price to the user or the pre tax price?

If it's the end use price and the tax rates differ between countries then the pre-tax price has to be different surely.

If 350 is the pre-tax price then the point is moot

No.

As I stated above, if someone in the EU sells a product to someone else in the EU, the VAT rate charged is that of the SELLER'S country, not the BUYER'S country. Everybody in the EU will therefore be charged the French VAT rate of 19.6%, regardless of what the VAT rate is in their own country.

[mcramer]

ahhhh - now it makes it's way into my dense skull!

Ta

[dedojozef]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No.

As I stated above, if someone in the EU sells a product to someone else in the EU, the VAT rate charged is that of the SELLER'S country, not the BUYER'S country. Everybody in the EU will therefore be charged the French VAT rate of 19.6%, regardless of what the VAT rate is in their own country.

Not really. This is generally true if the seller is selling low numbers to the buyers country, but above some level of sales he should register:

Businesses can be required to register for VAT in EU member states, other than the one in which they are based, if they supply goods via mail order to those states, over a certain threshold.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_a..._within_the_EU

[HarryT]

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. The situation I describe is the one where the seller is registered for VAT. If the seller is not VAT registered, then obviously they won't charge VAT to the customer.

[dedojozef]

An example:
Amazon DE is based in Germany and charges German VAT rates. This is also true if Amazon DE sells to customers in Poland. But if sales from Amazon DE to customers in Poland reach certain threshold, say 100k euro per year, Amazon DE is per EU laws required to register in Poland and charge customers from Poland Poland's VAT rates, instead of German. Of course I don't know exact numbers.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dedojozef

An example:
Amazon DE is based in Germany and charges German VAT rates. This is also true if Amazon DE sells to customers in Poland. But if sales from Amazon DE to customers in Poland reach certain threshold, say 100k euro per year, Amazon DE is required to register in Poland and charge customers from Poland Poland's VAT rates, instead of German. Of course I don't know exact numbers.

Perhaps this is something which varies from country to country? I run a business here in the UK, and that's certainly NOT the situation here. I can sell as much as I wish to any other EU country without having to register for VAT in that country! I have to declare sales to other EU countries separately on my VAT return every 3 months, but that's all.

[jbenny]

I find it amusing, in a grim way, that we blithely accept such terms as "value added tax" and "digital rights management". George Orwell would be proud of the inventors of such doublespeak. I know all about who's "digital rights" are being managed (certainly not mine), but being an American, I have to ask--exactly what "value" is being added to your purchase by a tax of up to 19% on everything you buy?

I know this isn't on topic, but none of the recent posts seem to be, so don't shoot me

[Ortep]

The value is not added by the tax, but is is tax you pay over the value of the product.

One way or another, you have to pay money to live. It is comparable with the sales tax in the US