Turns out that destroying the planet is cheaper

[andrewducker]

Ordering a t-shirt from spreadshirt UK - £20.
Ordering a t-shirt from spreadshirt US, and then flying it to the UK - £13

Might I possibly enquire "WTF?"

Comments

[robhu.livejournal.com]

+VAT and import tax = ?

Which tee did you get?

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

All hail the weak dollar!

[andrewducker]

VAT and Import tax not payable on items under £30...

[matgb]

£20 will include VAT, you may get stung on import for VAT as well. So actual cost buying from UK is £17

Exchange rate is $2=£1, it should be about $1.6=£1
((20/1.175)/2)*1.6=£13.62

So that looks about right to me. Weak dollar is good for US business, but bad medium term for global economy, etc etc etc

[andrewducker]

it should be about $1.6=£1

How do you reach that figure?

[matgb]

I think (and I may be well off) that that was the notional exchange rate given as both a historical averagein recent decades and as a purchasing power parity comparison. Like I said, I may be off.

It's roughly what it was at when I was last over there anyway, and that's not that long ago.

[andrewducker]

The Big Mac index says $1.70 at the moment - but that's generally undervalued in UK/US comparisons, due to US labour costs and beef being so cheap over there.

Got any good PPP links?

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

Dear Andy

I would like to subscribe to the Daily Digest version of your livejournal rather than individual posts please.

Kthxbye

Nick

Buy both and see where the two t-shirts are made. Maybe the US one is made in the good ol' US of A and flown here, whilst the UK one is made in a Malaysian sweatshop, shipped to Hong Kong to get a print put on it, then flown to you.

[andrewducker]

Dear Nick,

I recommend putting me on a different filter, and then checking said filter one per day.

Glad to be of technical assistance,

Andy

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Wrong: VAT and import duty not payable on items under £15.

Also note: there is a long-running EU/US trade dispute and one of the categories affected by punitive tariffs on imports from the US into the EU is clothing; IIRC the extra import duty on clothing is something like 30%, plus VAT at 17.5%, plus the standard import duty of about 3%. Individual purchases typically slip past the punitive import duty, but commercial imports get nailed.

[themongkey.livejournal.com]

Under £18 actually, or £36 if it's a gift.
</nitpick>

Plus the Royal Mail handling fee which used to be £4 but is now a whopping £8. Which makes personal imports over the customs limit somewhat uncompetitive.

[themongkey.livejournal.com]

Maybe the US one is made in the good ol' US of A

I can almost guarantee that this is not the case.

[poisonduk.livejournal.com]

Dear Andy

Well done with your caring, considerate reply. I enjoy your witterings. It's on the Cons side of my 'Reasons to break the workmates' rule.

Lovc
Jackie XX

Ordering from Spreadshirt.com versus Spreadshirt.net

[jeggers.livejournal.com]

Hi, Andrew,

Sorry for the confusion. Let me try to clear it up from the Spreadshirt perspective:
The Spreadshirt.com (or US and Canada) site can ship worldwide. Sometimes it turns out to be a good deal, like the one you found, and other times it doesn't. Just depends on the shipping and shirt you chose... and as pointed out the exchange rate too.

Items ordered on the Spreadshirt.com site are actually made in the US. For Spreadshirt.net (or .co.uk, .de, .se, .fr, etc.), they are made in either Germany or Poland, as we have two production facilities for the EU.

The two sites (.com and .net) have different apparel choices and some other differences (like printing materials) that relate to availability or trent/cultural pieces. Americans and Europeans dressed and are sized somewhat differently for example.

I hope that helps! Thanks for ordering!
Jana

Re: Ordering from Spreadshirt.com versus Spreadshirt.net

[andrewducker]

Now that's what I call customer service!

The main thing that confused me was why a standard black cotton t-shirt was so much more expensive in Europe than it was in the US. £19.50 versus $15.90. As $15.90 is currently £8, that's a 250% difference in price. While I appreciate that taxes and operating costs in Europe are higher than in the US, I find it hard to believe that they're _that_ much higher...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

what themongkey said, £18 (double that if it is a personal gift)

Royal Mail handling costs ...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

a) depends on the difference in prices on the items
b) depends whether you get "caught" for the taxes
c) it's still a cheaper handling cost than DHL (£10 or £20 depending on some random variable)

I bought a Disney DVD boxset from Amazon US and it cost $90, while the same one over here would have been more than £100 ... and for whatever reason it arrived with no tax or duty or handling charges (via The Netherlands in fact)

On the other hand I bought a small box set of DVDs from the US which (including shipping, handling and insurance, which are all part of the £18 limit) came to £21, on which I got charged VAT, duty and the £4 handling charge, making it something like £30 and not really a bargain at all.

And of course (as you know) it's not the amount *over* £18, it's just that anything under £18 isn't worth their while collecting, and as soon as you hit £18 (or £18.01) then the whole amount is taxed/excised/handled!