Non luxury VAT refund scheme retailers

Jago25_98_2

Some friends and I are thinking about doing a lot of shopping in the UK while on holiday.

The thing is, if I remember correctly, most participating retailers are selling luxury goods.

Are there any shops out there selling cheaper goods? Food, clothes and essentials especially.

Jago25_98_2

globalblue
Some retailers here (search. Can't post links) Not many. Maybe there's another company providing the beaurocracy... Though it would be nice to know how to claim direct without using these companies or queuing at healthrow

Owain_Moneysaver

https://www.planetpayment.com/en/shoppers/where-to-shop-tax-free/

does retailers including Argos, Boots, Marks & Spencers

Remember you need a special VAT Reclaim form from each shop, and the goods must be exported from the EU unused. Many retailers will also have a minimum spend and the payment processor will charge a fee, so the actual refund will be less than the approx 16% of the retail price (VAT is 20% on the pre-VAT price, not 20% of total)

00ec25

Jago25_98 wrote: »

how to claim direct without using these companies or queuing at healthrow

you cannot

the whole purpose is that you are exporting physical goods in person. The evidence of that is showing the goods to customs at the airport hence you cannot reclaim vat on goods you mail home yourself or buy online

you cannot claim "direct" because retailers do not have the resources to set up their own processors to handle a relatively low volume of transactions per day. Much easier to let someone else take a cut for processing it.

That said you can get paid immediately at a refund booth at the airport. I have no idea what commission they take on that, i doubt it is free since someone has to be paid to operate it. However, you may find that some shops will require you, as part of the contract of sale, to use a nominated processor.

00ec25

this appears to be an airport "booth" but more relevantly they have links to 4 sites incl global blue you already know of who have shops list and searchable mapping at the bottom of the page in the "our partners" section

https://www.travelex.co.uk/vat-refunds