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With the recent Election in Great Britain still up for grabs, esp w/ the possibility of a Labour/LibDem coalition, the Pound is taking a beating. I was pricing out some kits, comparing the UK prices vs the US prices and found an almost 10% if I could buy on the UK site w/ the current exchange rate.

That leads me to a few questions that I was hoping the Dakka crowd could help me out with.

1) Do the prices listed on the GW UK site include VAT? How about other discounters?
2) How hard is it to get VAT removed for buyers in the US? Is it a form? Can it be taken off at purchase?
3) A more meta question, is 'right' to go through this exercise and take advantage of the rate differences? Am I helping GW UK but hurting GW NA?

Has anyone done this fx rate arbitrage before? Care to share your story?

I have been watching exchange rates very often since Im Canadian and almost everything i bought is from outside my own country...

The customs are very sharp on these type of things , and they make sure you'll never end up with a cheaper deal ( if they can help it ) Even if the seller is nice and list the purchase to be very cheap , the custom will charge you insane handling fees.

GW know the exchange rates are really bad for Canadians , hence is why they allow Canadian discount retailer to give 30% off.
But even with that discount , the price is still 10% more expensive than American's.

So for me its a good time to buy from America , but awful for me to sell to Americans.

LunaHound wrote:I have been watching exchange rates very often since Im Canadian and almost everything i bought is from outside my own country...

The customs are very sharp on these type of things , and they make sure you'll never end up with a cheaper deal ( if they can help it ) Even if the seller is nice and list the purchase to be very cheap , the custom will charge you insane handling fees.

GW know the exchange rates are really bad for Canadians , hence is why they allow Canadian discount retailer to give 30% off.
But even with that discount , the price is still 10% more expensive than American's.

So for me its a good time to buy from America , but awful for me to sell to Americans.

Really? Of all the zillions of times I've ordered from the UK I have never paid any duty on models. Maybe now would be a good time to start my Tzeentch Daemons if the GBP is struggling

SPARKEYG wrote:With the recent Election in Great Britain still up for grabs, esp w/ the possibility of a Labour/LibDem coalition, the Pound is taking a beating. I was pricing out some kits, comparing the UK prices vs the US prices and found an almost 10% if I could buy on the UK site w/ the current exchange rate.

That leads me to a few questions that I was hoping the Dakka crowd could help me out with.

1) Do the prices listed on the GW UK site include VAT? How about other discounters?
2) How hard is it to get VAT removed for buyers in the US? Is it a form? Can it be taken off at purchase?
3) A more meta question, is 'right' to go through this exercise and take advantage of the rate differences? Am I helping GW UK but hurting GW NA?

Has anyone done this fx rate arbitrage before? Care to share your story?

1/ Yes 17.5%...for now (all prices in the UK include tax if applicable)
2/ If purchasing in store there is a form that can be stampped as you leave the country. But the admin rate is so high that you need to spend a fair bit to make it worth while, I can't remember the amounts but unless your spending £500+ your wasting your time. I don't know about mail order though.
3/? do you care?