Supermarkets cartel

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

ASDA claim to be 10% cheaper and Sainsbury price match on brand, on that basis our branded shopping should be free by now?

It's all scam and the power the supermarkets have shows as they have all (bar ASDA) voluntarily signed up not to mislead consumers with false pricing promises/promotions. The OFT said they didn't have any hard evidence, despite us all knowing it's a big con, if only businesses had to keep a record of everything they had sold, when and for how much, oh wait...

Exactly the same will happen online with everyone shopping at Amazon and then people wonder why we have pay more tax to make up for the billions these big companies pump overseas rather than going to local businesses paying tax to the UK Treasury.

Money is tight so people further embrace those perceived to be the cheapest and round it goes with the few profiting off the misery of the many whilst we sit content with our flat screen TVs and comfy sofas in our match box houses for which we should consider ourselves lucky to actually own.

Supporting your local stores is the best in the long run.

System

Gilbert2 wrote: »

Supermarket fuel is the same.

Morrisons told me they just alter the price to whatever ASDA sets it at.

Do Morrisons employ anybody who is responsible for setting their fuel prices?

Because all he needs to do is drive past an ASDA. And I bet he will be on about 80k!

Interestingly I read somewhere that most petrol stations set their prices to Asda, For some reason Asda are the cheapest petrol stations in the UK. Any area which has an Asda in it tends to have cheaper petrol than an area that doesn't have an Asda in it.

I blame the Americans

will.i.amnt

I've been unclear in my explanation; does nobody else think it's all rather convenient that the supermarkets put their prices up on the same item to the same new price at the same time i.e before the new price was public knowledge?

Of course, it could all be a massive coincidence, but either the manufacturer has set the price for retail (illegal), OR the supermarkets have all colluded on their pricing (also illegal).

Impossible to prove, but this is going on constantly. They either are making their price changes known in advance to competitors or each of them have head office moles in their competitors pricing depts

will.i.amnt

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Only if you bring it back yourself.
If you have tobacco or alcohol products delivered to you in the UK then you are still required to pay excise duty even if they were purchased from another EU country.

Not sure if you're right there. I paid German vat/duty so im not liable to pay uk duty on top.

At least, that's what the seller told me, and this was confirmed by a few other chaps on beerhere.com

Still, if you fancy pointing me to this info on the web I will certainly have a look at it.

Azari

will.i.amnt wrote: »

Not sure if you're right there. I paid German vat/duty so im not liable to pay uk duty on top.

That applies to most things but not to alcohol or tobacco.

Otherwise there would not be all that fuss about people illegally importing these items from the continent for resale as it would be perfectly legal. (At least from the revenue POV, they would still be selling alcohol and tobacco without a licence.)

System

Azari wrote: »

That applies to most things but not to alcohol or tobacco.

Otherwise there would not be all that fuss about people illegally importing these items from the continent for resale as it would be perfectly legal. (At least from the revenue POV, they would still be selling alcohol and tobacco without a licence.)

I believe this is wrong. I think you don't have to pay duty unless you import more than £36 worth of beer into the country. It used to be £40.

I blame the government!

shaun_from_Africa

will.i.amnt wrote: »

Not sure if you're right there. I paid German vat/duty so im not liable to pay uk duty on top.

You won't be liable for VAT but you will for excise duty.

I believe this is wrong. I think you don't have to pay duty unless you import more than £36 worth of beer into the country

There is no free limit with regards to goods that are due excise duty. Any amount that is not carried into the UK with you is liable for this.


https://www.gov.uk/importing-and-exporting-by-post/importing-by-post

Excise duty is charged on alcohol and tobacco sent by post from other EU countries or from outside the EU. It doesn’t matter if you purchased the items or if they were sent to you as a gift.
Excise duty has to be paid by the sender and should be included in the price you pay for the goods. Check that it has been paid. If the sender hasn’t paid the excise duty, the goods can be seized by customs and you might not get a refund.
The rates depend on the type of alcohol and its strength.
For tobacco they depend on the product.

System

Thats surprising. I sent quite a lot of wine over to the UK from Tuscany 6 months ago. The guy made me split it into separate packages to keep it below £40. He must have made a mistake.

Then again nobody every charged me any duty for it so I must have got away with it

yangptangkipperbang

Azari wrote: »

That applies to most things but not to alcohol or tobacco.

Otherwise there would not be all that fuss about people illegally importing these items from the continent for resale as it would be perfectly legal. (At least from the revenue POV, they would still be selling alcohol and tobacco without a licence.)

It DOES apply to booze and tobacco.

You have answered your own question: "people illegally importing" (my highlighting). You can bring in as much as you like for your own personal use. If you bring it in to sell on that is a criminal offence.
Because of the high taxes in UK compared to much of the EU it was a nice little earner to bring in huge quantities of booze and fags. To stop this HMRC have introduced a "limit" - which is what they consider to be a reasonable amount for your own personal use.
If you can prove at the port of entry that the ten million Rothmans and the 400 bottles of Scotch are for your use alone then you can bring them in..........

Azari

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

It DOES apply to booze and tobacco.

You have answered your own question: "people illegally importing" (my highlighting). You can bring in as much as you like for your own personal use. If you bring it in to sell on that is a criminal offence.
Because of the high taxes in UK compared to much of the EU it was a nice little earner to bring in huge quantities of booze and fags. To stop this HMRC have introduced a "limit" - which is what they consider to be a reasonable amount for your own personal use.

I think you may have misunderstood my post.

I was responding to someone who thought you didn't have to pay duty.

Quite how you managed to get that wrong, when the second paragraph of mine quoted makes a very similar point to the one you make above, is unclear.