Hello. This is quite a strange one, I was hoping I could find someone somewhere who could help!

I'm currently abroad in Falkland islands. Due to being at an Overseas postcode, we are entitled to claim VAT back on certain goods.

Amazon are usually very good for this. I order something, I send an email to their VAT returns team, the VAT gets paid back to me. Job done.

Now unfortunately, due to the amazon website being very confusing I ordered a product from an independent seller on amazon. At the stage I realised I sent them this chain of questions, please read below

Me to Seller - Hi there, I didn't even realise I was buying this from an independant seller thanks to Amazon website being absolutely terrible. Anyway, I was hoping to get tax refund as I'm at a BFPO address. Is that possible with this item? If not I may have to cancel Kind regards,

Seller Back -
Hi, We would have to send the phone as priced and you will have to claim back your tax refund.

Me to seller -
Thanks ok I'll do the usual tax request via amazon once you have dispatched and hopefully this will be fine?

Them to me -
hello, yes thats fine

Then once dispatched I emailed Amazon the usual way to claim VAT back. They sent the usual hoo-hah to the seller.

Hello, We've been contacted by one of our mutual customers regarding an order placed with you. Below is the information provided by the customer: Order number: 202-6530295-0052306 Item: Samsung S8 64GB SIM-Free Smartphone - Orchid Grey (SM-G950F) Reason for contact: Returns & Refunds Details: Hello, We're contacting you to let you know that the buyer of order # 202-6530295-0052306 has requested a VAT refund. Can you please provide your buyer with the VAT refund if you are required to do so by law? If you are not required to do so, please contact your buyer advising them of this. If you're unsure as to whether or not you're required to provide a VAT refund to your buyer, we suggest you contact your tax advisor. Amazon is unable to provide you with any legal or tax advice. For information on how to contact your buyer, please read the following: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200389090 Thank you for selling on Amazon.co.uk. To respond to this customer, please reply to this e-mail or visit your seller account at the following link: [link removed] We hope you're able to work this out with this customer. Sincerely, Customer Service Department Amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk


To which they finally replied .


Hello, Customer needs to claim back VAT from HMRC not us.


Now if you see the earlier bit where they said I could claim back via Amazon, I thought I could. Do you think I have been mislead here? Or do I not have a leg to stand on...In any case, if i do have to claim vat back via HRMC, does anyone know how to go about it?

I may escalate this further with amazon as I feel i've been mislead with the 'yes that is fine email'.