Digikey UK site and UPS Brokerage /VAT charges

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- Mike Harrison
  
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posted
17 years ago

Thu, Jan 11, 2007 11:12 AM

Can anyone confirm or refute my recollection that when Digikey launched their uk.digikey site, their advertising stated that both duty AND brokerage charges were included? I may be mis-remembering this, but I do usually have a good memory for this sort of detail. Does anyone have one of the first UK printed catalogues they sent out?

It appears to be the case now that UPS are adding a charge, of the order of

2-3%, and the DK site warns of (unspecified) brokerage fees. However UPS invoice does NOT list any fees seperately - they just show a VAT amount.

After some time on the phone to HMRC and UPS, the extra amount in the VAT figure on the UPS invoice appears to not be a brokerage fee, but VAT on the 'Free shipping' charge ( on orders >£100). HMRC also suggested that there may be an element of VAT on the duty which is included in the Digikey UK prices. I have requested a VAT breakdown from a recent UPS invoice to see the actual figures.

As I'm VAT registered, I'm now happy that I've been claiming the correct input tax so it's not a problem for me, however I would encourage any non-VAT registered customers or potential customers to take this up with Digikey as it is effectively a hidden charge for them.

What is a little worrying is that Digikey are no longer claiming to include brokerage fees, so I wonder if these may sneak in at some time in the future.

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- martin.shoebridge
  
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posted
17 years ago

Thu, Jan 11, 2007 1:31 PM

A lot of stuff from Digikey will give savings of 60%+ if bought from the USA instead of the UK operation. Even allowing for shipping, duty and vat, there are still savings of 30%+ Strange but true.

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- Lostgallifreyan
  
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posted
17 years ago

Thu, Jan 11, 2007 4:05 PM

Mike Harrison wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

In short, it's a middle-man taking advantage of the strong pound sterling relative th e US dollar. It doesn't matter how they dress it up, they do it because they CAN, it's as simple as that. The reason it wasn't happening before is that if they tried it would cost them sales, which kind of proves the point. If Digikey weren't responsible for it, they'd have found another system to carry them that didn't hit their customers, and in turn, themselves. Taking it up with Digikey won't do a thing unless you vote with your feet, and start buying elsewhere. Again, this is purely a means to make money out of a s situation, and unless that situation changes to make it unviable, it will continue.