I have just discovered a scam used by amazon.co.uk to trick Euro shoppers into buying products from them.

I am an Irish user of the amazon website and as such I pay attention to the ‘approx’ Euro price of products when shopping around for the best price. This Euro price I thought was an ‘approx’ because of the varying exchange rates, but I always assumed it was close enough to use. This is not the case!

The sterling price given for items contains VAT for the UK. The Euro price for items contains no VAT at all. It doesn’t say ‘ex. vat.’ or any other indication that the price you see in Euros can be a lot less than the price you will pay. Even when I am logged in an they know what country I am from they still leave out VAT on the Euro price.

When I asked amazon about this they said, “When VAT applies to an order, the relevant VAT charges for the country of destination will be clearly reflected on your e-mail confirmations and invoices.”

But it is too late! You have shopped around and decided to buy the item from amazon and only then do they say anything about VAT.