Thank you so much for all this info !! Yes, he is going to claim it just in case. It will not be much money at all either.
Cheapest country to buy LV
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Thank you !! Very helpful ! Yes, he is going by himself . So of course he will claim the bag just to be safe. How much did you end up saving on your LV ?
I was just in France and found them to be much lower than here in the US, the prices in their website are the actual prices in the store and they include VAT.
They give you the form to receive the VAT back but you do not receive the whole 19.2% you receive 12% back. Adding both of those up and the items are far less than here in the US.
The form they give you has a barcode, just scan it at the kiosk next to the HUGE lines of people waiting for a handstand. The scan is considered a stamp. Then seal and drop in the box!
As a side note, in order to claim the VAT the item must be new aka not used if they ask to inspect it.
They give you the form to receive the VAT back but you do not receive the whole 19.2% you receive 12% back. Adding both of those up and the items are far less than here in the US.
The form they give you has a barcode, just scan it at the kiosk next to the HUGE lines of people waiting for a handstand. The scan is considered a stamp. Then seal and drop in the box!
As a side note, in order to claim the VAT the item must be new aka not used if they ask to inspect it.
Hi all gorgeous ladies!
Does anyone know price in Denmark / Sweden or UK?
I want to have Neverfull MM, but since the price increases I am kinda strugling. On the one hand I could buy Phillip Lim Medium Pashli in taupe/black and save around 200 euros. But I have been wanting LV for so loong, so can you suggest me what should I do?
Cuz I do not know, maybe it is a good idea to buy LV first, since I guess the prices will just go up anyway? What would you do in my position?
Does anyone know price in Denmark / Sweden or UK?
I want to have Neverfull MM, but since the price increases I am kinda strugling. On the one hand I could buy Phillip Lim Medium Pashli in taupe/black and save around 200 euros. But I have been wanting LV for so loong, so can you suggest me what should I do?
Cuz I do not know, maybe it is a good idea to buy LV first, since I guess the prices will just go up anyway? What would you do in my position?
Some follow-up on Global Blue for VAT refunds:
It's been more than 6 weeks since I got back from France. I received two of my refunds almost immediately, within about 5 days. These were from my two purchases at Chanel. That was excellent and I expected the other three refunds I submitted to come through quickly as well. However, that has not been the case.
These other three refunds were from purchases at LV and have been much more trouble to obtain. I finally received credit for two of them just a couple of days ago, but the last one is still pending. I called Global Blue and they told me that the form hadn't been properly stamped and to call them back in another 2 weeks. Ouch.
All of my forms were handled in the same way, at the same customs counter at CDG. I remember the person at the counter stamping the forms, but it almost looked like he was out of ink as the stamp didn't seem to be very clear. He also said that one of the forms didn't need a stamp. I didn't question him at the time, but I should have. I read countless times that no stamp equals no refund. Still, I thought, well, he must know what he's doing which was stupid on my part.
Fortunately, it is the smallest of the refunds I was to have received. Maybe $45 in total. Next time in Europe, I will be much more careful and will just wait in line at the Global Blue counter and get the refund immediately processed to my credit card. That way, if there is a problem, I can get it fixed. Dropping the forms in the mail is a nice time saver but certainly not worth it if there ends up being an issue with the forms. There is nothing that you can do once you are out of the country. So, while this will likely end up costing me about $45, it could have easily been one of my Chanel VAT refunds which were much, much larger. That would have been very upsetting.
So, overall, my advice is to leave plenty of time at the airport and don't use the mail to send in your forms for your VAT refunds. Stand in line at the Global Blue counter and have it processed that same day.
It's been more than 6 weeks since I got back from France. I received two of my refunds almost immediately, within about 5 days. These were from my two purchases at Chanel. That was excellent and I expected the other three refunds I submitted to come through quickly as well. However, that has not been the case.
These other three refunds were from purchases at LV and have been much more trouble to obtain. I finally received credit for two of them just a couple of days ago, but the last one is still pending. I called Global Blue and they told me that the form hadn't been properly stamped and to call them back in another 2 weeks. Ouch.
All of my forms were handled in the same way, at the same customs counter at CDG. I remember the person at the counter stamping the forms, but it almost looked like he was out of ink as the stamp didn't seem to be very clear. He also said that one of the forms didn't need a stamp. I didn't question him at the time, but I should have. I read countless times that no stamp equals no refund. Still, I thought, well, he must know what he's doing which was stupid on my part.
Fortunately, it is the smallest of the refunds I was to have received. Maybe $45 in total. Next time in Europe, I will be much more careful and will just wait in line at the Global Blue counter and get the refund immediately processed to my credit card. That way, if there is a problem, I can get it fixed. Dropping the forms in the mail is a nice time saver but certainly not worth it if there ends up being an issue with the forms. There is nothing that you can do once you are out of the country. So, while this will likely end up costing me about $45, it could have easily been one of my Chanel VAT refunds which were much, much larger. That would have been very upsetting.
So, overall, my advice is to leave plenty of time at the airport and don't use the mail to send in your forms for your VAT refunds. Stand in line at the Global Blue counter and have it processed that same day.
i just bought one speedy 25 with strap in Stockholm，the price is even lower than France!!
france website list price is EUro935, but i bouoght at SEK8250 equal to Euro890. dont mention they got higher tax refund.
Thank you for this information
Alright, guys, I need some help here. My husband is going on a business trip to London and Munich in early November, and I want him to bring me home a bag since they're so much cheaper than in the US. But I'm going to need to give him very specific instructions, and make it as simple as possible for him.
First question: Is it better to buy in London or in Germany? Anyone have a preference?
Second: If he buys in London, then goes to Germany, then comes home to the US, is he going to have to declare the bag in customs in both Germany and the US?
And lastly, let me run through this to make sure I have it correctly: He'll go to LV to buy the bag, and while there he'll need to ask for the VAT form and two receipts (one to keep, one for the form). He'll go to the Global Blue counter in customs with the VAT form and they'll issue him a cash refund on the spot. The refund will be in US dollars, correct? Anything else I'm missing? Any other steps he'll need to take?
Thanks!
First question: Is it better to buy in London or in Germany? Anyone have a preference?
Second: If he buys in London, then goes to Germany, then comes home to the US, is he going to have to declare the bag in customs in both Germany and the US?
And lastly, let me run through this to make sure I have it correctly: He'll go to LV to buy the bag, and while there he'll need to ask for the VAT form and two receipts (one to keep, one for the form). He'll go to the Global Blue counter in customs with the VAT form and they'll issue him a cash refund on the spot. The refund will be in US dollars, correct? Anything else I'm missing? Any other steps he'll need to take?
Thanks!
I can only answer #3. Global Blue lets you pick between getting cash refund or crediting it back to your card. They charge an additional fee of ~1% to give you cash on the spot. They don't tell you that unless you ask...sneaky!
At the airport (last stop in EU), he'll need to go the Customs counter first, get his VAT form stamped (the Customs officer might ask to examine the item), then go to the Global Blue counter to hand in the form.
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I don't know anything about London or Germany unfortunately, but I can answer a few of your questions. LV will give your DH the VAT form which they will have filled out. Remember to remind your husband to bring his passport with him to LV as they will need information on it like the passport #, your address, etc. They will ask him if he wants the transaction processed in dollars or Euros. My understanding is that you should ask for it in Euros as then you won't get hit with a separate foreign currency fee by LV. (Sneaky!)
Once he goes to the airport, the customs official scans the bar code on the VAT form and stamps it. They may or may not ask to inspect the item. (They didn't with me.) He can then go to the Global Blue counter and get either a cash refund (about 8%) or a credit back to his credit card (about 12%) minus the smallish Global Blue processing fee. I think they ask you again if you want the transaction to be processed in dollars or Euros. I would take the credit back in Euros as, again, you'd like to avoid a separate foreign currency fee by Global Blue. He should definitely use a "no foreign transaction fee" credit card so that your U.S. credit card company won't hit you with a 3% or so fee to convert those Euros back to dollars.
This is a great time for him to be going! The U.S. dollar is strong and it cost substantially less for me to purchase my items there, than here at home. Since I went, the rates have improved another 2 or 3% in your favor! Lucky you!
Oh, and this is how I compare prices in different countries. Go to the main LV website. Down at the bottom, click on "Change Locations" and choose the country you are interested in.
Here is the link for the UK: http://uk.louisvuitton.com/eng-gb/homepage
Here is the link for Germany: http://de.louisvuitton.com/deu-de/homepage
Obviously, the UK site is easy to navigate since it's in English but you can still get around other foreign sites as they are set up the same way as the U.S. WIth all the photos and filters where you just click away, it's pretty easy to compare pricing even if you don't speak the language.
For fun (!) I did a price comparison using the UK and Germany sites for a zippy epi wallet.
In the UK, a zippy epi wallet is 510 British pounds (GBP). That's $817.59 U.S. dollars, using today's exchange rate, not including whatever VAT refund you would get. ETA: With the VAT refund, the net cost would be closer to $720.
In Germany, a zippy epi wallet is 615 Euros. That's $777.88 in U.S. dollars, using today's exchange rate, not including whatever VAT refund you would get. ETA: With the VAT refund, the net cost would be closer to $690.
So, Germany is less expensive. Overall, both places are sooooo much cheaper than in the U.S., where a zippy epi is $905 plus sales tax.