Amazon Prime Member Fee? Charged £48...

societys_child

Scarpacci wrote: »

Yes, they do. National Insurance is generated by having employees in the United Kingdom, which Amazon do - plenty of employees in fact. Being based in Luxembourg would not effect N.I. As for VAT, it's charged based on where the customer is based and so will be sent to the UK. Amazon will be collecting on all VAT-able UK sales through its Luxembourg company for the UK authorities. As the goods are shipped from the UK, it would also be the case that import tax would be due when Amazon imports them into the UK for its warehouses.

The Luxembourg tax benefits namely apply to corporation tax. All sales are happening from this corporation - Amazon.co.uk really just being a brand name - so the corporation tax bill exists in Luxembourg, at more favourable rates than it would in the UK, France or Germany (all of Amazon's European locales are run by the Luxembourg company).

So yes, they will be paying all three of those taxes. Incidentally, those will add up to a much greater amount than what we lose from the corporation tax.

Oh great, Luxemburg corporation tax is how much? and it's ok that they have an unfair advantage over uk based businesses and screw the country out of £millions . . .

much the same as facebook, Vodaphone, Google etc etc etc

Scarpacci

societys_child wrote: »

Oh great, Luxemburg corporation tax is how much?

That's up to the Luxembourg government, isn't it? Their corporate tax rate is notionally higher than ours, but they have different exceptions and so clearly there comes to be some advantage for companies basing there. It's the UK's fault if our companies are overly burdened.

It's a reality that companies, especially in the EU, are able to shop around for the most competitive rates. If our tax regime was more competitive, our government less bloated, it might be here.

societys_child wrote: »

and it's ok that they have an unfair advantage over uk based businesses and screw the country out of £millions . . .

The country was never entitled to this money, under EU law, so it's not being screwed out of any money. There is just no tax due here under the law. The press are being depective when they talk of these companies' UK activity, because for corporation tax it's ultimately Luxembourg activity.

societys_child wrote: »

much the same as facebook, Vodaphone, Google etc etc etc

Vodafone is a special case in that the HMRC basically failed to prove Vodafone owed the money under our tax law. The tax man has a duty to prove his demands and they should be subject to legal appeal. A tax man not subject to the rule of law is a scary prospect - for companies or for regular people.

As for the others, yes they take advantage of the internal market in the European Union to set up where it's most economical. In Facebook and Google's case it's in Ireland. Our options are to leave the EU, make our tax system more competitive or just get over it. There's not really much else that can be done.

zuggie_t

I also visit Amazon quite often and thought I'd sign up to the prime membership trial as I wanted to get the item I purchased delivered for free.

Although it was my fault because I totally forgot that I had signed up and @ custardy your right they don't make you jump through hoops and give you any reminders to cancel it. But I guess why would they as they're trying to make money right...

Anyways I took your advice @MSE Andrea and called them up and explained that I had forgot to cancel and the fee had been taken. The woman in the call centre actually apologised for this and cancelled it for me and processed a full! Refund for me straight away with no hesitation.

To make sure I had confirmation of all what she said she did, i asked her to e-mail me the that she had definitely cancelled the membership and had processed the return of the membership fee.

Now I just have to wait 2-3 business days for the £49.00 to be fully credited back to my account.

And @ Joanne35 your right to be more careful, as from now I think I'll have to start doing the same.

55soundman

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When I clicked on "free delivery" there was no other page that came up with details of a subscription service or a fee, the transaction just completed. There were 3 options on radio buttons including free delivery and none were selected so it is not unreasonable to think I had to select free delivery. There was no mention of a fee and I did not tick a box to agree to terms and conditions as Amazon said I must have. Posts on this date back to 2009 so it has been a problem for a long time and I would expect Amazon to have re-designed that part of their site to prevent them having to pay back thousands of us who have complained. Perhaps they haven't done this because enough people do not notice the scam and it is a nice little earner.

meer53

55soundman wrote: »

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When I clicked on "free delivery" there was no other page that came up with details of a subscription service or a fee, the transaction just completed. There were 3 options on radio buttons including free delivery and none were selected so it is not unreasonable to think I had to select free delivery. There was no mention of a fee and I did not tick a box to agree to terms and conditions as Amazon said I must have. Posts on this date back to 2009 so it has been a problem for a long time and I would expect Amazon to have re-designed that part of their site to prevent them having to pay back thousands of us who have complained. Perhaps they haven't done this because enough people do not notice the scam and it is a nice little earner.

There's nothing to redesign really, it's quite clear on their website, maybe there was a problem with what was displayed on your screen ? Have you had a refund now ?

Leodogger

BUYER BEWARE !

I have just been speaking to my daughter and we were comparing the price of SatNavs on Amazon and I was telling her the one I was thinking of buying. She was looking at the same model as me but it was £3 more. She has just been offered a 30 day free trial of PRIME next day delivery on items she orders. When she came out of the PRIME account and logged in anonamously the price dropped to the same as mine. This appears to indicate that you are not getting a free 30 day trial as they are inflating the electrical items by £3 when you log in under your username and it logs into your PRIME account.

You have been warned ! It appears Amazon will be making a killing off Xmas presents from people who have opted for this so called "FREE" 30 day trial. This coming from a company who pays no tax in the UK !!! Now my daughter knows she is not going to log in under her own name but that of her partner's if she wants anything for Christmas. I suggest anyone with a free PRIME trial does the same if they are thinking of buying presents. What a SCAM !!! Is this legal? To charge one price to one person and another to another person ?

custardy

JWhite wrote: »

BUYER BEWARE !

I have just been speaking to my daughter and we were comparing the price of SatNavs on Amazon and I was telling her the one I was thinking of buying. She was looking at the same model as me but it was £3 more. She has just been offered a 30 day free trial of PRIME next day delivery on items she orders. When she came out of the PRIME account and logged in anonamously the price dropped to the same as mine. This appears to indicate that you are not getting a free 30 day trial as they are inflating the electrical items by £3 when you log in under your username and it logs into your PRIME account.

You have been warned ! It appears Amazon will be making a killing off Xmas presents from people who have opted for this so called "FREE" 30 day trial. This coming from a company who pays no tax in the UK !!! Now my daughter knows she is not going to log in under her own name but that of her partner's if she wants anything for Christmas. I suggest anyone with a free PRIME trial does the same if they are thinking of buying presents. What a SCAM !!! Is this legal? To charge one price to one person and another to another person ?

Amazon prices fluctuate all the time.
I have used the trials on multiple occasions, and never paid more than non prime prices

Hermia

JWhite wrote: »

BUYER BEWARE !

I have just been speaking to my daughter and we were comparing the price of SatNavs on Amazon and I was telling her the one I was thinking of buying. She was looking at the same model as me but it was £3 more. She has just been offered a 30 day free trial of PRIME next day delivery on items she orders. When she came out of the PRIME account and logged in anonamously the price dropped to the same as mine. This appears to indicate that you are not getting a free 30 day trial as they are inflating the electrical items by £3 when you log in under your username and it logs into your PRIME account.

You have been warned ! It appears Amazon will be making a killing off Xmas presents from people who have opted for this so called "FREE" 30 day trial. This coming from a company who pays no tax in the UK !!! Now my daughter knows she is not going to log in under her own name but that of her partner's if she wants anything for Christmas. I suggest anyone with a free PRIME trial does the same if they are thinking of buying presents. What a SCAM !!! Is this legal? To charge one price to one person and another to another person ?

I am a prime member & have never noticed this. I don't keep my computer logged into Amazon so when I search for items I am not logged in. I only log in when I want to buy something and I haven't noticed the prices magically change. As custardy says the prices change daily. The prices of the items on my wishlist bounce around all over the place.

Leodogger

custardy wrote: »

Amazon prices fluctuate all the time.
I have used the trials on multiple occasions, and never paid more than non prime prices

No sorry to disagree, I know that is what they say but me and my daughter both refreshed our screens at the same time to check the price and it was coming up £3 more on her PRIME account than when she logged in anonamously.

custardy

JWhite wrote: »

No sorry to disagree, I know that is what they say but me and my daughter both refreshed our screens at the same time to check the price and it was coming up £3 more on her PRIME account than when she logged in anonamously.

well, you feel free to disagree