Airport Duty Free price

Durbs

Durbs

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I was looking to get a 5D2, Currys (yes... I know) have it listed for £2099.91 with the 24-105 which is "only" £100 off Camera Price Buster price.

I'm going to Cuba at the end of month, so wondering if I can pick it up at the airport - for duty free prices, do I just knock of VAT at 20% - i.e. take the price down to £1750?, then -£80.00 for current Cashback offer, actually not a bad price...
Does anyone know if that's correct? I can't find their airport shop prices...
 
Durbs said:
I was looking to get a 5D2, Currys (yes... I know) have it listed for £2099.91 with the 24-105 which is "only" £100 off Camera Price Buster price.

I'm going to Cuba at the end of month, so wondering if I can pick it up at the airport - for duty free prices, do I just knock of VAT at 20% - i.e. take the price down to £1750?, then -£80.00 for current Cashback offer, actually not a bad price...
Does anyone know if that's correct? I can't find their airport shop prices...
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You'd like to think that's how it would work but in practice most of their "duty free" prices are not the high street price less the VAT.
 
They've stop listing their prices on site a while back, and as hzv5wk mentioned, the old rule of high street minus VAT does no longer apply. What I'd do is just give them a call to verify the price and you can check stock too (as I've found not all airports have all stock).

Just found this on their page which should be of use should you decide to give them a buzz:

Airport Telephone number Opening hours
Aberdeen +44 (0) 1224 729 102 06:00 - 20:00
Birmingham +44 (0) 121 782 7451 05:00 - 20:00
Bristol +44 (0) 1275 474 550 04:00 - 21:00
Dublin T1 +35 318 447 198 05:00 - 20:30
Dublin T2 +35 319 446 454 05:00 - 21:00
East Midlands +44 (0) 1332 815 180 04:30 - 19:30
Edinburgh +44 (0) 131 333 0002 05:00 - 21:00
Gatwick South +44 (0) 1293 569 509 (downstairs) 04:30 - 21:00
+44 (0) 1293 579 800 (upstairs) 04:30 - 21:00
Gatwick North +44 (0) 1293 569 737 (main store) 04:30 - 21:00
+44 (0) 1293 569 397 (satellite store) 04:30 - 21:00
Glasgow +44 (0) 141 847 1139 05:00 - 21:00
Heathrow T1 +44 (0) 208 897 3753 (travel store) 05:30 - 21:30
+44 (0) 208 897 0406 (tech store) 05:30 - 21:30
Heathrow T3 +44 (0) 208 990 9974 05:30 - 22:00
Heathrow T4 +44 (0) 208 754 1819 05:30 - 22:00
Heathrow T5 +44 (0) 208 897 5821 (upstairs) 05:30 - 22:00
+44 (0) 208 897 5820 (downstairs) 05:30 - 22:00
Luton +44 (0) 1582 456 767 05:00 - 21:00
Manchester T1 +44 (0) 161 436 3444 04:30 - 20:30
Manchester T2 +44 (0) 161 436 5436 04:30 - 20:30
Manchester T3 +44 (0) 161 498 9208 04:30 - 20:30
Newcastle +44 (0) 191 286 6212 05:30 - 21:00
Stansted +44 (0) 1279 681 001 04:30 - 21:30
 
Yeah, I did wonder if they'd bump their prices up to account for the duty-free part.

I'll give them a call at lunchtime and see what their price is.
 
Unless I'm very confused, would you not technically need to declare it when coming back into the UK? Most cashback schemes require VAT to have been paid, so I'm not sure how Duty Free at the airport would apply in those circumstances.
 
ukaskew said:
Unless I'm very confused, would you not technically need to declare it when coming back into the UK? Most cashback schemes require VAT to have been paid, so I'm not sure how Duty Free at the airport would apply in those circumstances.
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If you have travelled outside of the EU then technically you do need to go through the red channel and declare it when returning to the UK.
 
Doesn't that defeat the entire point of having duty-free shops at an airport?

I won't want a grey import via Panamoz/DR - happy to legally avoid VAT with Duty-Free, but not with them.
 
Durbs said:
Doesn't that defeat the entire point of having duty-free shops at an airport?

I won't want a grey import via Panamoz/DR - happy to legally avoid VAT with Duty-Free, but not with them.
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The shops are there for you to buy as you leave the country so that you can take the goods to your destination without having to pay tax on things not staying in the UK. The receipts normally have a note somewhere to say that you may need to pay tax if you bring the items back to the UK. Obviously if you bring them back and are below the tax-free limit then there is no issue. It's really no different from buying abroad - you haven't paid UK tax so if the goods come into the UK then tax is due.
 
Ah...
To cloud matters further, upon further readnig - "Duty free" shops at the airport often aren't actually duty-free...
 
I'm off to Cuba as well, although I'm going back in March. I called T5 at Heathrow 2 weeks ago and they were doing the Nikon D7000 "duty free" for £629. That was only £15 less than Jessops. Didn't bloody bother! That's not duty free!!
 
when we have gone through terminal 5 at Heathrow dixons have always had that camera and it has only ever been about £100 cheaper than the cheapest UK option. So do not expect to get a bargin.
 
I bought my d5100 from T5 Dixons on the way to China. It was £80 cheaper than the cheapest online retailer (except grey imports), which corresponds (almost) to the VAT free price. I called ahead a few days before I left to check price, just in case, and reserved one (so they didn't run out of stock). Before he checked stock, the man said he could order in for the next day if it wasn't in stock. I would call 2 or 3 days before travel, just in case.
 
hzv5wk said:
The shops are there for you to buy as you leave the country so that you can take the goods to your destination without having to pay tax on things not staying in the UK. The receipts normally have a note somewhere to say that you may need to pay tax if you bring the items back to the UK. Obviously if you bring them back and are below the tax-free limit then there is no issue. It's really no different from buying abroad - you haven't paid UK tax so if the goods come into the UK then tax is due.
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That's only if you apply for a tax refund, and many shops (on the high street) offer this service. See http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_000141&propertyType=document

You pay the same at the shops (beyond security) at airports whether you are a UK national, other EU country national, or non-EU national, irrespective of where you fly to:

WDF said:
Shopping at ‘Tax Free Prices’ is offered in all our stores with the Departure Lounge after security.

....

Hence tax free equivalent prices are available to all passengers, regardless of where they are travelling.
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From: http://www.worlddutyfree.com/information/tax-and-duty-free-shopping.html. Same applies to all shops in the departure lounge.


You aren't avoiding tax if you are a UK resident buying from the airport shops in the UK terminals (beyond security - in the departure lounge). My receipt, for my d5100, has no note saying tax is due as it has already been paid. They are not tax free, but are prices that are equivalent to tax free (but tax is paid).
 
Durbs said:
Ah...
To cloud matters further, upon further readnig - "Duty free" shops at the airport often aren't actually duty-free...
Click to expand...

yep we was in spain and oakley glasses were £20 euro's more expensive then in a posh area we was staying not sure how that worked


same in the uk oakly glasses we not cheap at all

igot a bragain while in spain glad i got them now
 
I bought a camcorder a few years back from the airport 'tax free' shop thinking I would get a bargain. On my return I checked online and found it was a few quid more expensive than I could have paid on the high street... it's all a big con if you ask me. People are attracted by the tax free signs and impulse buy. But the prices are more expensive anyway, as they would be in an airport with the humungous rents charged by the airport owners. I don't recall ever finding anything cheap at an airport (except Koh Samui where food and drinks were free in the lounges but me being typical untrusting Brit didn't believe it was free until it was too late to go an an all you can eat spree)...
 
FatherTime - best bet is to call ahead for a price, knowing how much it costs elsewhere. I got £80 off the high street price of a d5100 and kit lens a year ago, beating amazon as well. The only cheaper place was online traders I had never heard of (by maybe a tenner) and the grey imports. I think the discount (positive or negative) depends on the individual item.

Dixons at T5 do a price match to John Lewis and amazon, but only if you show them when you pick up. The joys of smart phones!
 
FatherTime66 said:
I bought a camcorder a few years back from the airport 'tax free' shop thinking I would get a bargain. On my return I checked online and found it was a few quid more expensive than I could have paid on the high street... it's all a big con if you ask me. People are attracted by the tax free signs and impulse buy. But the prices are more expensive anyway, as they would be in an airport with the humungous rents charged by the airport owners. I don't recall ever finding anything cheap at an airport (except Koh Samui where food and drinks were free in the lounges but me being typical untrusting Brit didn't believe it was free until it was too late to go an an all you can eat spree)...
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As was pointed out above, duty free doesn't mean profit free...

I've never found anything that has taken my interest to be worth buying 'duty free' (other than Drambuie a few years ago!).
 
FatherTime66 said:
I bought a camcorder a few years back from the airport 'tax free' shop thinking I would get a bargain. On my return I checked online and found it was a few quid more expensive than I could have paid on the high street... it's all a big con if you ask me.
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Er, nope. Dixons taking advantage of people who can't be bothered to do any research isn't a con.

Several years ago my friend decided she wanted to buy a PDA (HP iPaq) on the way out to Portugal. Luckily, I knew roughly what current prices were, and checked them out on my iPaq. So we went in and negotiated a deal, one that was just a little cheaper than my friend could have got it outside the 'Duty Free'. I don't think the salesdroid actually hated me until he tried to get her to buy a memory card at a 'special' price. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a card and gave it to her saying 'Here, you can have one of my spares.'
 
spacester said:
You aren't avoiding tax if you are a UK resident buying from the airport shops in the UK terminals (beyond security - in the departure lounge). My receipt, for my d5100, has no note saying tax is due as it has already been paid. They are not tax free, but are prices that are equivalent to tax free (but tax is paid).
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Thanks, those links were interesting. The advice I received a couple of years back was that WDF only paid the tax if the flight you were taking was within the UK/EU. If you left the EU then they did not pay the tax and thus it became due if the goods returned to the UK.

The bit about them only paying the tax if your flight is EU/UK does still appear on the WDF site http://www.worlddutyfree.com/information/tax-and-duty-free-shopping.html

WDF said:
If the passenger is flying within the UK or EU the VAT will be accounted for to HM Revenue & Customs by WDF on behalf of the customer. Because the VAT is fully accounted for typically there are no limits to the amount that can be purchased (for personal use) by those passengers flying within the UK or EU.
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I've emailed them to ask if things have changed since I last asked as it's always good info to know:thumbs:
 
That's interesting. So you pay the same price whether flying within EU or not, but they don't pay VAT if you fly outside the EU. What happens to the 20% then? Re-reading, it does seem to be the case. Maybe I was wrong?

However, my Dixons Travel receipt had VAT on it, and I was flying to China. That means I didn't have to declare.....
 
I'd be quite surprised if VAT is paid on goods leaving the EU, that means they are surely selling things well under cost as they are selling things at roughly 20% less, then losing another 20% of that.
 
hzv5wk said:
The bit about them only paying the tax if your flight is EU/UK does still appear on the WDF site http://www.worlddutyfree.com/information/tax-and-duty-free-shopping.html

I've emailed them to ask if things have changed since I last asked as it's always good info to know:thumbs:
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Have received.a reply from WDF

WDF said:
Anything which you bring back into the UK, which is not alcohol or cigarettes, and which is worth over £390.00 will need to be declared when you re-enter the United Kingdom. Customs will then make the decision as to whether any charges need to be made.

This applies to purchases made whilst abroad or from the airport before departing.
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So, if the goods leave the EU and are worth over £390 they should be declared if you bring them back to the UK.
 
Now that's cheeky! The goods are the same price, whether you leave the EU or not, so if you buy something before a long-haul flight, then you end up paying 20% more than a chap flying to the EU.
 
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