General Advice for eCommerce Site

[J Rieggle]

Hi there,

I am stuck on a problem that relates to eCommerce sites, but isnt ASP.NET
specific (sorry). The ecommerce site is working in the UK, and products
will be sold in pounds stirling. However, should I be presenting the
currency figure in the currency of the visitor? I want to keep the site
simple to begin with, so if I choose to render localized currencies, I
probably need to something similar with the content too. I was *hoping* I
could just begin with leaving things in pounds stirling - any advice?

Thank you,

jr.

 

[Bruce Barker]

usually you leave the prices in native currencies (especially if thats what
you are charging in), and supply a link to currency converter (your bank
should supply one, or use any public one).

-- bruce (sqlwork.com)

 

[J Rieggle]

Bruce,

(slightly overwhelmed now), I have done some research and had a
mind-overload. From what you are saying which I understand, you mean I just
charge in £ and add VAT as normal? I played around with Amazon, getting it
to send my books to different countries and it seemed to charge VAT
differently depending on the destination - do I need to support this on my
ecommerce site? I cannot find any article or resource that would be
helpful - its all heavy weight...:-(

Thanks

jr.

 

[John Timney \(ASP.NET MVP\)]

If I remember correctly -

All sales to based in the UK should incur VAT at 17.5%.

All sales to customers in the EU should normally pay VAT at 17.5%. They can
have this adjusted by their own tax offices in their own country if they are
vat registered usually has to be a company)

All exports outside of the EU will not incur UK VAT charges, but may be
subject to local rates and taxes, possibly charged at import and you may
have to sign a declaration when shipping declaring the nature of the goods
and value for improt duties at destination customs.

Theres a ton of rules about what charges are incurred based on what and if
you can ship to certain countries, all bound up by trade agreements and
local legislation.

Best advice - ask DHL
http://www.dhl.ie/servlet/Tips?page=advice

--
Regards

John Timney
ASP.NET MVP
Microsoft Regional Director

 

[J Rieggle]

John,

Thanks for your advice here, as it seems somewhat simpler than it has been
coming across. I wil review the DHL site....one concern I had was based on
why Amazon charges 21% vat to Belguim fro the UK...it seems like it should
just be 17.5 or zero...this is what got me fearing a complicated set of
investigations and research being needed to understand all the different
tariffs...and yes, the enormity of that conclusion didnt make sense..its
been a long week.

Thanks John,

John.

 

[John Timney \(ASP.NET MVP\)]

I'm anything but a qualified VAT specialist so at a a guess - Amazon could
be charging VAT at the local rate, and shipping from within that country -
effectively offering a local service and as such it would be subject to
local tax.

--
Regards

John Timney
ASP.NET MVP
Microsoft Regional Director

 

[J Rieggle]

John,

You highlight a good point - its not really possible with a small bit of
research to understand how Amazon are working. My real situation is in
making the design of the system support credit cards, payments outside the
UK, along with deliveries...I cant seem to find anything on designing such
things, which is surprising - seems like a pattern-based problem for sure.

John.