Suppliers with free delivery?

[grrr_arrghh]

Hi.

Old question, but with a new slant.

Does anyone know of any electronics suppliers in the UK who do free shipping? (please don't say Maplin...)

Or anywhere in the world, as long as it doesn't cost me anything to order it online, and have it sent to me...

Thanks

Tim

 

[andrew2022]

most places have free shipping on orderes over a certain value

i think RS is free on all orders to account holders

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

most places have free shipping on orderes over a certain value

i think RS is free on all orders to account holders

Yes it is - but it's only fair not to abuse the service, presumably you have to do a certain amount of business a year to keep an account open. We've had an RS (previously Radio Spares) account at work for many, many years - I can still remember the Radio Spares rep calling!.

Generally you can't expect free shipping on low cost orders, most of the companies I deal with at work give free shipping for orders over £30 - which I think is quite reasonable.

 

[grrr_arrghh]

most of the companies I deal with at work give free shipping for orders over £30

Such as?

Yeah, I knew about RS, but I don't order enough stuff to have an account...

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

most of the companies I deal with at work give free shipping for orders over £30

Such as?

CPC, SEME, HRS, Willowvale, CHS.

 

[grrr_arrghh]

ah, thanks Nigel, really appreciate it.

Tim

 

[pittuck]

Rapid electronics also do free shipping over £35 i think, may be less...

 

[andrew2022]

Rapid electronics also do free shipping over £35 i think, may be less...

i think itz £25. i usually use rapid electronics

 

[grrr_arrghh]

£25 exc. VAT

equates to about £30 incl. VAT.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

£25 exc. VAT

equates to about £30 incl. VAT.

All the companies I mentioned are +VAT, as are all their prices.

 

[Johnson777717]

Okay fellers, yankee here. What does VAT and all of that mean? I'm just interested in learning about different cultures etc.

£25 exc. VAT

equates to about £30 incl. VAT.

All the companies I mentioned are +VAT, as are all their prices.

Thanks!

 

[grrr_arrghh]

VAT = Value Added Tax

tax on everthing you buy. Currently at 17.5%. In a normal shop, VAT is already part of the price that you pay...

however

if your are a bussiness, you can often buy stuff withouth having to pay the VAT, and so many bussinesses buy from these electronics shops they often give the prices exclusive of VAT.

Does that clear it up?

 

[Johnson777717]

Yes sir thank you. Is VAT just a UK thing? or is it a Europe thing?

Also, I understand the meaning behind the phrase "value-added" but how does that apply to retail in the UK? I'm just wondering why it is called value-added. Who adds the value to the product?

The US has a similar sales tax, but it is nowhere near 17.5% :shock: .....17.5% seems like quite a hefty tax.

Am I misunderstanding somehow?

 

[grrr_arrghh]

lol, welcome to the british government!!

err, not sure why its called 'value added'.

I think you understand correctly...

as to 'who adds the value', the shopkeeper does. Well, sort of. (Nigel will prob be able to explain it better as he works in a shop, but here goes). Any sale that is made, has a tax (VAT) added to it. ANY SALE. So when the farmer sells the pig to the butcher, he adds VAT to the price, and then has to send that VAT off to the goevernment. The butcher then adds VAT to the price that he want to sell it for, and sells the VAT (that he collects) off to the government at the end of the month. But this is silly, I hear you cry, because by the time the product gets to the consumer, almost all of the price would be VAT. Well, yes. So, instead, if you are a bussiness (the butcher) buying something from another bussiness (the farmer) you don't have to pay VAT, and the farmer doesn't have to charge VAT. Using this system, the only bussiness in the chain that adds VAT is the bussiness that sells it to the consumer (usually the shop).

Edit: In this thread, sometimes, people like me buy stuff from (e.g.) Rapid Electronics. So Rapid charges me VAT (because I am the consumer). But, if Nigel bought the stuff, for use in his shop, from Rapid, he wouldn't pay VAT because he would add VAT when he sold it to his customer.

And at 17.5% you can understand why there is so much discussion about VAT!!

Does that help?

 

[grrr_arrghh]

oh, and another thing... :lol:

you may ask "what if I sell my car to my neighbour? Do I have to charge him VAT, and then send the VAT to the government?"

No, you don't, lol, anyone can have a bussiness, or sell stuff, up to a value of about £40,000 per person (I think), and you don't have to charge VAT. Obviously, the bloke you sell it to doesn't know the difference, because he doesn't care whether it has VAT in it or not, he just cares about how much it cost in total.

Something to add to my last post...
An example. My Dad is a courier. When he fills up his van with gas (by which I mean REAL gas :lol, the casier doesn't offer him the choice to pay VAT or not. He gets charged it anyway. Then, at the end of the year (or month or whatever) he claims that VAT back from the government (using a form called a 'tax return'), because he shouldn't have paid it in the first place.

I think maybe I've gone a bit too far, but you get the picture.

Tim

 

[andrew2022]

u have 2 pay tax twice... u get charged tax on ur wage then on what u buy

altho some stuff is tax free. books being 1 of em

 

[grrr_arrghh]

thats true. But you only have to pay VAt once...

tax on the salary is a different matter - don't get me started!!

yeah, some things are VAT free, I forgot to meantion that (i can't think of anything other than books though... :? ?)

 

[zevon8]

Here in Canada we have something similar called the " Goods and Services Tax" , it gets slapped on anything that fits the description of the name of the Tax. Yes thats right, pretty much EVERYTHING is either a Good or Service, so pretty much everything gets 7% GST added, along with 8% Provincial tax ( in Ontario )


Want to hear a good one... the government even charges GST on postage stamps........ don't get me started.....

Last time I looked Postage stamps WERE TAX !!!!! Nice scam or what?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Here in Canada we have something similar called the " Goods and Services Tax" , it gets slapped on anything that fits the description of the name of the Tax. Yes thats right, pretty much EVERYTHING is either a Good or Service, so pretty much everything gets 7% GST added, along with 8% Provincial tax ( in Ontario )


Want to hear a good one... the government even charges GST on postage stamps........ don't get me started.....

Last time I looked Postage stamps WERE TAX !!!!! Nice scam or what?

Pretty much the same here with Petrol, almost all of the cost is tax - then they stick VAT on top again, so we're actually paying tax on our taxes!.

VAT is similar to your GST, except in the UK it's currently 17.5%, it has been as high as 25% in the past.

 

[andrew2022]

we shud have a tax rant forum :lol: