UK ebooks VAT 20%->0% 1st May 2020

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm glad to say that my PD titles are now showing as £0.77 at Amazon UK. This is certainly a change, as the lowest price allowed used to be higher than that.

Yes ours are fixed too. The "Free Book Bonanza" on the UK marketplace is over!
It was the case that the lowest non-US prices were often based on US$ ex tax converted to nearest Euro, Pound etc INCLUDING tax, but people on the Monopolistic KDP Select could charge less than 99c. The Publisher prices were not absolute minimums either as there is "Price Match"/"Lower Price Elsewhere", but that seemed to be less applied of late, or maybe only on KDP Select titles.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

0% = nothing = no VAT

Curiously "No VAT", "VAT Exempt" and "0% VAT" are not the same. Also it's not just an EU thing, or even just European. So VAT isn't going to vanish in the UK on the 31st December 2020, it's just the EU won't get a proportion. I'd not hold my breath for it being reduced either.

"No VAT", below a certain threshold of turnover and most private sales there is no VAT. Also certain kinds of organisations can't claim back VAT or charge VAT.
"0% VAT" means the rate is currently zero.
"VAT Exempt" means it's generally regarded as a kind of thing that should never have a tax.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Yes, I would assume the statement of "Includes VAT" means "Includes the appropriate amount of VAT". Removing it when the VAT is 0% might be neater, but, leaving it is simpler.

@JSWolf: If that statement on the book list pages is what you are basing your argument on, then you don't know. What needs to happen is for someone using the Amazon UK store to buy a book and see what it lists the VAT at during the purchase.

If I was an average Kindle user and I was looking to buy an eBook I've been keeping an eye on for the no VAT reduced price and I saw the price was the same and the listing still shows Includes VAT, I would be thinking Amazon is still charging VAT. Even if it no longer showed Includes VAT but the price was the same, I would think Amazon is still charging VAT. Getting to the point in the checkout to see that VAT is not being charged would not happen. Why would I pay a higher price when the price is supposed to be lower?

[Quoth]

Hah! Often I have to go to the Amazon checkout for non-ebook items to discover if it's shipped at all to Ireland and if it is, what the shipping cost is. Also French and German customers get charged in Euros and we (a Euro currency country) get charged in Sterling.
Slightly misleading VAT statements is the least of Irish annoyances with Amazon. Also for ebooks we sell, Smashwords differentiates Ireland and the UK. Amazon Irish ebook sales are "hidden" in USA sales (recent Kindle option) or UK sales.

Search on USA, Germany, UK marketplaces returns items that don't ship to Ireland even when you are logged in. The "official" site for Irish customers is the UK Marketplace, though the English translation and even translating search (i.e. rechargeable battery is translated internally to German for search) is quite good.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The Testaments by Margret Atwood (a different publisher)
ebooks.com - £8.33
Amazon - £9.99

Doctor Who: Star Tales
ebooks.com - £6.66
Amazon - £7.99

That's three different eBooks from three different publishers and this shows that Amazon are cheating customers where ebooks.com is playing fair.

I think this thread shows that it is the publishers and not amazon.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...50#post3983650
But expecting publishers to instantly react on a Friday during a pandemic induced shutdown is a bit much.

(And, as has been pointed out, they are under no legal requirement to pass the savings on.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I think this thread shows that it is the publishers and not amazon.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...50#post3983650
But expecting publishers to instantly react on a Friday during a pandemic induced shutdown is a bit much.

(And, as has been pointed out, they are under no legal requirement to pass the savings on.)

So why then is ebooks.com able to pass the VAT savings on if it's the publisher?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So why then is ebooks.com able to pass the VAT savings on if it's the publisher?

Ask them.

I'm asking you why did the price on Harry Potter books go down on amazon.uk?

[Quoth]

I was thinking that in big companies actually changing the price is done by minions. Some higher executives decide pricing. Perhaps there are committees.
The higher ups might not even realise that the price they set to Amazon isn't tax exclusive (like all wholesale prices everywhere) but logically tax inclusive. There wouldn't be a mad rush to reduce prices!

The real elephant in the room is not lack of passing on reductions due to VAT changing, but why do the "suppliers" to Amazon KDP, Apple store (apps, tunes, books), Google Playstore, etc all get a percentage of RETAIL price and set the RETAIL price?

They should only be setting a "wholesale" price (and getting 100% of that) and Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google etc should be deciding the retail price. The system is broken and technically illegal in many countries as in regular shops the suppliers can not set the retail price, only suggest it, they charge a wholesale price to the retailer.

The Amazon Marketplace, Etsy and ebay are separate, as they are listing services and you are dealing in reality directly with a supplier. Amazon, Etsy and ebay are in those cases like department store sub-leasing floor space.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Ask them.

I'm asking you why did the price on Harry Potter books go down on amazon.uk?

It may be a sale. It's not a VAT reduction as it's not a low enough price for that. The current price reduction is 16% and not the VAT reduction of 16.66%.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It may be a sale. It's not a VAT reduction as it's not a low enough price for that. The current price reduction is 16% and not the VAT reduction of 16.66%.

And you think that is an entirely co-incidental sale price, rather than rounding the 0% VAT change off to nice round number?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It may be a sale. It's not a VAT reduction as it's not a low enough price for that. The current price reduction is 16% and not the VAT reduction of 16.66%.

The amount of reduction is unlikely to be because of a sale.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

And you think that is an entirely co-incidental sale price, rather than rounding the 0% VAT change off to nice round number?

But if the 16% is intended to be the VAT free price, then the customers are getting cheated as that's not the VAT free price.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But if the 16% is intended to be the VAT free price, then the customers are getting cheated as that's not the VAT free price.

Prices are rounded to the nearest pound, then 1p is dropped, so things cost £x.99.
That is the case with almost everything.

[Quoth]

I hate it, but I do it too. Stupid search and everyone doing it.
19 shillings, 11 pence and 3 farthings.
My Grandparents retired just before Decimalisation and a lot of stuff was 19/11d
There was the other trick: Only 5 Guineas! Which was £5 and 5 shillings = £5.25
They had to bring in a law about the minimum percentage relative size of the decimal fraction on petrol signs. Maybe applies to lots of things now.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But if the 16% is intended to be the VAT free price, then the customers are getting cheated as that's not the VAT free price.

The Massachusetts Gasoline Tax is 24 cents per gallon. If it dropped to 23.1 cents per gallon, would pump prices eliminate fractional cents? (Hint, the answer is no.)