Cheaper in France?!?!

#16
kathyrose said:
I think you pay the tax in the country you buy stuff from but reclaim it while exiting at the customs or something. I've heard my parents talk about this but I don't exactly know how it works.
Click to expand...

If you want to collect on the reclaim VAT, you must make sure that the store you are buying the goods from fills out the form for you and validates it so that when you clear customs to go back to the states it gets looked over and approved. It also helps if you or someone you know back at home in the states can read the language on the forms or else you will not exactly know where to send which copy to and all the effort will have gone to waste. Even if you do your part of sending in the correct form, you sometimes have to buy a phone card and somehow communicate with someone in the foreign store you shopped at to see when you will be getting your refund bc if they know you are American, they sometimes stiff you and won't send you the refund...

LV is cheaper in Europe bc the currency difference...the USD is usually weaker than the Euro and most definitely always weaker than the British pound...this does effect pricing bc Lv does come from France and is a French product regardless of their satellite manufacturing branches in the US & Spain...whew, hope this helps gals!
 
#20
ShopRodeo said:
What do you mean?
Click to expand...

I mean that most replica factories are based in China. It's really sad how big their business is over there.. You can find replicas of anything and they're good ones too! A friend of mine goes there all the time for work and he is always wearing top brand name stuff, and it looks so real. He once gave me a Longines watch and I was intrigued and wanted to see what a professional would think. I went to fancy watch store and they said it was 100% real :wacko: Makes me sick :evil: I wish there was something the designers could do about all these replica factories..
 
#21
Swedie said:
I mean that most replica factories are based in China. It's really sad how big their business is over there.. You can find replicas of anything and they're good ones too! A friend of mine goes there all the time for work and he is always wearing top brand name stuff, and it looks so real. He once gave me a Longines watch and I was intrigued and wanted to see what a professional would think. I went to fancy watch store and they said it was 100% real :wacko: Makes me sick :evil: I wish there was something the designers could do about all these replica factories..
Click to expand...

Yes but I don't want any fakes. I'm just wondering whether it would be cheaper for a real one there.
 
#23
Does anyone know if I will be able to find a Chloe Paddington on Sale at the end of the summer at their Paris boutiques? I am going to be there the second week of August when the sales start. Anyone know?
 
#26
CeeJay said:
I think what she's referring to is "reclaiming" the VAT (value-added tax) which is assessed all goods in Europe. As a non-european citizen, we are able to 'reclaim' it (it gets refunded to you - either on your credit card or you get cash). So, when she comes back to the states, she gets the refund.
Click to expand...

If you go back to the States from Sweden, you won't be able to get the refund from Sweden becasue you are on their system. Swedie, I'd be interested if it works for you, if it does, then the Swedish custom is not too strict. I lived in Europe for many years, I tried doing it, there were different results. E.g. I was Dutch resident, leaving Europe via Frankfurt, Germany. I tried claiming VAT at the Dutch airport by presenting my boarding pass to prove the I was leaving Europe and my non-European passport. They checked on their computer. Boom, they saw that I was resdient there, so they didn't give me the VAT refund. When I transitted at Frankfurt, I tried the custom there, I did the same thing, presented my non-EU passport and boarding pass, they stamped the invoice/VAT reclaim form and gave me the refund:nuts:. I guess because they couldn't check everyone's residency except at the origin of the residency/citizenship. From my own experience, I didn't need to send any copy of the VAT reclaim forms in order to get the refund. It depends which country the form is from.

One piece of advise: carry the items you need to reclaim VAT with you. You need to present the items you bought in order to be able to reclaim VAT. At least this is the case in UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
 
#27
OMG, this whole thing a/b claiming VAT, presenting the forms at customs, etc... so complicated.
I got excited when knowing that LV is cheaper in Europe, but hearing all the troubles that we'll have to go thru.... May be it's not all that great to purchase in Europe
 
#28
I have to tell my mom all of this, she's going to Lourdes, France this summer with my brother and she said she's going to try to get me bags and stuff, so now I gotta tell her about that form.
 
#29
vuittonGirl said:
OMG, this whole thing a/b claiming VAT, presenting the forms at customs, etc... so complicated.
I got excited when knowing that LV is cheaper in Europe, but hearing all the troubles that we'll have to go thru.... May be it's not all that great to purchase in Europe
Click to expand...

Honestly, I've never had a problem with VAT refunds. It was a piece of cake. I bought my Speedy 25 in Dublin, told the SA I need a VAT form & we filled out the form there in the store together.

At the Dublin airport I went to the VAT refund booth, gave them the refund slip (which took all of 2 minutes) & nine weeks later my credit card was refunded the amount of the tax.

The two minutes of paperwork it took was definitely worth the $100 refund.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back