PatPat and VAT on Childrens Clothing

MissyHMac

Hello, Hopefully someone can help or guide.

I was a regular buyer from PatPat online children's clothing company, until my last basket. I found that they wanted to add VAT.  I challenged them and eventually they accepted a mistake had been made but they are continuing to apply VAT on baby clothes and on my prospective orders.  Although the company seems to be based in the US, they state that orders in the UK are coming from a UK base. From my understanding I should not be paying VAT on children's clothes,  regardless if they are imported or not. Has anyone else had similar experiences? Any ideas on moving forward? Many Thanks 

user1977

All that should really matter is that you're happy with the total price. Whether or not they're paying VAT out of that isn't your concern. After all, if you were buying from a UK-based retailer, you don't normally get a breakdown of the price.

Aylesbury_Duck

If they're happy to amend your actual orders to remove the VAT, then does it matter?  If they won't, and they only did it last time as a one-off, it's simple, really.  Either pay the price with VAT or find another retailer.  You can't force them to sell to you.

Sandtree

Childrens clothes technically do have VAT applied but at 0%... there are important accounting differences for the company on a 0% rated and VAT exempt product.

If a company wants to pay more VAT than it has to HMRC will not turn the money away and so as long as the VAT they state they are charging is being passed across there is no foul... they are shooting themselves in the foot by charging more than they have to though. If they arent paying the VAT they have collected then thats a different issue but one between HMRC and them.

As others have said, ultimately, if you are happy with the total price inc shipping, vat etc then buy, if your not then look elsewhere. I dont know the brand but the pricing and 75% discounting etc seen on the landing page does immediately raise question marks as to their quality etc.

MissyHMac

Thanks for all your responses. They have not removed the additional amount for VAT on my basket, though they accepted that it shouldn't be there. I have a refund  voucher from a past transaction but the VAT is more than the voucher   I suppose I thought that their VAT application was more significant of an issue, as I had never paid previously and thought they were pocketing the difference and not passing it on. Like you say I have no power to change that. They do enjoy boasting about "75% off", but I was happy with the items I had chosen to buy in the past. Anyway, thanks again everyone.

ItsComingRome

They're not a US seller so you're not likely to get anywhere with them.

They're a Chinese seller masquerading as a US one.  They take UnionPay which is a dead giveaway and their US "HQ" is a mailbox at a UPS store. The EU one appears to be completely bogus. Once you delve into the FAQs the grammar isn't great and there's some pretty weird random capitalisation.

I suspect the VAT is being trousered if I'm being honest. I'll eat my hat if a company like this is fully registered for UK VAT.