Beat the VAT?? Can I be bothered?

bl0at3r

bl0at3r

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How much difference is an extra 2.5% going to make come Jan 4th?

£25 in a £1000 isn't it? or are retailers going to use the VAT rise as an opportunity to bump prices further?

I have some kit I want to get but haven't totally decided - so should I be rushing out today to buy stuff to save a couple of quid, when it may be forcing me to make the wrong decision :help:

For example according to CPB today -

Sigma 10-20mm £367.16 - an extra £9.17 on top after VAT goes up

Canon 10-22mm £570 - an extra £14.25 after VAT rise

The prices of this stuff can fluctuate more than this on a daily basis - or am I missing something here?
 
£25 in a £1000 isn't it? or are retailers going to use the VAT rise as an opportunity to bump prices further?

that's what usually happens
 
bl0at3r said:
How much difference is an extra 2.5% going to make come Jan 4th?

£25 in a £1000 isn't it? or are retailers going to use the VAT rise as an opportunity to bump prices further?

I have some kit I want to get but haven't totally decided - so should I be rushing out today to buy stuff to save a couple of quid, when it may be forcing me to make the wrong decision :help:

For example according to CPB today -

Sigma 10-20mm £367.16 - an extra £9.17 on top after VAT goes up

Canon 10-22mm £570 - an extra £14.25 after VAT rise

The prices of this stuff can fluctuate more than this on a daily basis - or am I missing something here?
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The increase won't even be as much as that, the Sigma would actually rise by £7.81 and the Canon by £12.12, the extra 2.5% is on the pre-tax price, not the full vat-inclusive one.
 
i think retailers need to think carefully. with most people being told there will be no pay rises this yr and lots of people loosing jobs. plus a rise in vat, putting up prices further may be the last straw
the 2nd hand market will do very well this year, ive bought several 2nd user bits this yr , 5d , 17-40 and some lee filters. ive saved a lot of money and got some very good quality goods
 
manualfocus-g said:
It's quite funny watching people panic buy actually! Just proves that aggresive advertising does work!
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Spot on. Think the marketing machine has done it's job very well
 
I decided to get a few things in the last few weeks, on the basis that they were available for a good price now, and most photography equipment (lenses, flashes, etc) never really seems to depreciate much over time. Some other thins i was, like you, tempted to get now, but realised it was silly to jump in and spend £400+ on something that i wasn't 100% sure i really wanted.

But remember that you only need one shop to keep it's prices down to be able to buy something for the same as what you could do today. If you've seen a particularly good price on something, then that one good price may disappear. But if everyone is currently selling it for roughly the same price, then you'll be unlikely to notice the difference if you shop around.

David
 
For a £1000 purchase the extra VAT will make it £1021.28

Not really worth bothering about unless you know you would be buying within a couple of weeks anyway.
 
RichardtheSane said:
Not really worth bothering about unless you know you would be buying within a couple of weeks anyway.
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Exactly what was starting to think - thanks for all your replies.

I would probably lose more by buying now in a panic, deciding I didn't actually want it and then selling in a few weeks :bonk:

Happy New Year :wave:
 
The only thing worth trying to beat the vat increase on is extremely high value items such as cars. But to be honest if you haven't ordered one by now you will probably end up paying the higher rate.
 
I'm looking at an Astrotrac mount and some other goodies specific to the mount and astro photography in general with the money I got at Xmas and my birthday. I too decided to wait a week or three and not jump in and get everything before the VAT increase took effect. For the little extra it would cost, I would prefer to be certain of what I want rather than regret getting something I really didn't need (not the Astrotrac...!!!)

As usual retailers have jumped on the bandwagon and scared people into buying something now, even if it isn't actally even needed = the power of marketing and advertising in general.

Gary
 
See, I did it the other way around...

I brought thinking "Oh god I don't want to pay that extra bit".
Bad move! I ended up not buying anyone an xmas pressie because I had no money left...
 
There's a pound shop round here with a notice saying that as of Jan 4th they'll be charging 1p for a plastic bag due to the VAT increase :lol:
 
This VAT increase has really maddened me. I was going to buy that Learjet Bombadier 60 in January for $4.4m but I guess I will have to buy it now because of the VAT increase :lol:

To be honest, I wouldn't worry, the effect on price will be so small its not worth rushing to buy stuff now that may be best off being considered purchases later. ;)
 
I wouldn't worry too, for such a small amount I'm sure that it's possible to negotiate a similar saving with shops.

Of course all the TV ads are telling us we need to beat it.

Only thing I made sure would beat it by being delivered 2010 was my new Merc. 250 Sport but then the saving was a bit.
 
manualfocus-g said:
It's quite funny watching people panic buy actually!
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Looking at the queue of cars going into my local Morrisons, they aren't re-opening until about Jan 29th :D:D

TBH I don't think the extra VAT will make that much difference, if you are buying a £1000 camera you can save more than £25 by a bit of haggling/shopping around !
 
at the back end of 2008 when the credit crunch was on most retailers had a hard time selling gear, the prices of lenses dropped dramatically. Maybe with the VAT increase the same thing will happen, wait till February and see what happens, you have nothing to loose.
 
Scotty Pro said:
at the back end of 2008 when the credit crunch was on most retailers had a hard time selling gear, the prices of lenses dropped dramatically. Maybe with the VAT increase the same thing will happen, wait till February and see what happens, you have nothing to loose.
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We deal with equipment in the 100'ks, so people have been making moves earlier rather than later to not pay the extra.

I think there are several companies which are going to sneak in a little rise at the same time as the VAT rise. Specifically smaller companies, who advertise post-VAT prices.
They need to update their advertised prices due to the increase anyway, and the excuses seem to be that they haven't raised prices for 2 years anyway because of the economy, and people want pay rises now (info gleaned from the business section on here, perhaps isn't indicative of all small companies, but seems to make sense).

I think that if you know what you want, buy it this week (personally, have made a reasonably large buy, squeezed in just after credit card statement, and before advertised VAT increases [as the shop I was buying at advertises ex. vat] won't have to realise the money until FEB).

I think that January is going to be very lean for some companies. Some people will have spent all they need in December, and may not re-buy until Feb,
 
I think the hike in fuel prices will have a greater effect in the long-term, what with another scheduled price rise in April coupled with predicted rises in crude - could be looking at almost £1.50 a litre in some places by May/June.
 
Arkady2 said:
I think the hike in fuel prices will have a greater effect in the long-term, what with another scheduled price rise in April coupled with predicted rises in crude - could be looking at almost £1.50 a litre in some places by May/June.
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Joy oh joy :thumbs:
 
time to sell my gas guzzler I think for an electric smart car:eek:

agree with the comments re negotiating,you can get 2.5% off by negotiating especially on large purchases- retailers need cash- cash is king- be prepared to walk away as someone will take it- its getting worse this year with the fuel hikes and vat increase so batten down the hatches and negotiate on everything
 
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Don't mean to be rude but people really ought to realise that an additional 2.5% on the VAT rate will not cause prices to rise by 2.5%. Didn't anyone pass O-Level or GCSE maths?

This is the difference between percent and percentage points. VAT is rising by 2.5 percentage points, which is a rise of 14.3 percent in the rate of VAT and a rise of 2.13 percent in the total price of items including VAT.

:)
 
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Vertigo1 said:
Don't mean to be rude but people really ought to realise that an additional 2.5% on the VAT rate will not cause prices to rise by 2.5%. Didn't anyone pass O-Level or GCSE maths?

This is the difference between percent and percentage points. VAT is rising by 2.5 percentage points, which is a rise of 14.3 percent in the rate of VAT and a rise of 21.3 percent in the total price of items including VAT.

:)
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You were doing so well with your maths lesson until the last number! ;)

I suspect a lot of people know it's not actually 2.5%, but it's near enough to make no difference when you're talking about hypothetical (in the sense that most retailers will round prices one way or another) price increases anyway.

David
 
Vertigo1 said:
Don't mean to be rude but people really ought to realise that an additional 2.5% on the VAT rate will not cause prices to rise by 2.5%. Didn't anyone pass O-Level or GCSE maths?
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Of course if you'd read the thread from the beginning you'd have noticed that was pointed out in post #3....;)
 
My mother in law is rushing but she's getting a conservatory and a kitchen which is totalling about £30k, so makes sense. Otherwise I would try not to worry to much! Shops may be willing to knock a bit off later on in January as sales will be quite slow, so you may end up with more of a bargain anyway...
 
scuby said:
You were doing so well with your maths lesson until the last number! ;)
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Haha! Oops, misplaced the decimal point, of course it's 2.13% :)

There's still a world of difference between a typo and being innumerate, just as there's a world of difference between being genuinely dyslexic and not knowing the difference between 'there', 'their' and 'they're' ;)
 
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bl0at3r said:
How much difference is an extra 2.5% going to make come Jan 4th?

£25 in a £1000 isn't it? or are retailers going to use the VAT rise as an opportunity to bump prices further?

I have some kit I want to get but haven't totally decided - so should I be rushing out today to buy stuff to save a couple of quid, when it may be forcing me to make the wrong decision :help:

For example according to CPB today -

Sigma 10-20mm £367.16 - an extra £9.17 on top after VAT goes up

Canon 10-22mm £570 - an extra £14.25 after VAT rise

The prices of this stuff can fluctuate more than this on a daily basis - or am I missing something here?
Click to expand...


I'd sit back Alan . . . re appraise, to include the 'Tokina WA lenses'. They are supposed to be the dogs swingers? A personal view of course :shrug:

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/tokina_12-24_4_n15/

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/11-16mm.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-wide-zooms/comparison.htm

CJS
 
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