JonMcD wrote:If you haven't seen
this thread then note that it can be cheaper shopping in Euro rather than £ on the RoseBikes site (change the dropdown choice at top right of the RoseBike page) if you have the right credit card with a 0% Visa currency conversion fee.
Scratch my previous post.
Just put in an order to RoseBikes and at the final checkout stage my order was converted to £ and the VAT changed to the UK rate. The VAT change wasn’t too bad (19% Germany, 20% UK) but the exchange rate was criminal. Together they added 12% to my order compared to the Euro price converted at the current Visa currency rate with 0% fee and German VAT.
I emailed RoseBikes who responded:
As soon as we deliver goods to an EU country where our turnover exceeds a certain amount, we are committed to pay turnover tax into the country and need to calculate the tax and currency of the country for the goods we send there. This is an EU Directive which every company should follow.
I bet the EU Directive doesn’t say they have to gouge customers on the exchange rate, although it is not unheard of. I have seen warnings about paying by credit card when visiting Europe where for Euro priced goods or services some shops and hotels “helpfully” debit your card in £ at a very poor exchange rate.
Fortunately other German on-line shops like
http://www.bike-components.de charge in Euro with German VAT rates.