https://buyitthere.net/Whether a thing is really cheaper bought abroad — the VAT refund net of the operator's fee, the conversion spread, the duty on the way home, and a warranty that stops at the border. The whole sum, dated, ending in a verdict.Hugoenhttps://buyitthere.net/posts/vat-is-inside-the-price/Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0200https://buyitthere.net/posts/vat-is-inside-the-price/<p>To calculate a VAT refund from a gross price, multiply the price by <code>rate ÷ (1 + rate)</code>. Not by the rate. At France&rsquo;s 20% that is 16.67%, so €100 on the tag contains €16.67 of tax, not €20. Anyone who multiplies the tag price by the headline rate overstates their refund by 20% of itself before an operator has taken anything at all.</p>https://buyitthere.net/posts/vat-refund-operator-fee/Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0200https://buyitthere.net/posts/vat-refund-operator-fee/<p>Four reputable sources publish the VAT refund service fee as 4%, as 30%, as 10–20%, and as about 25%. Those cannot all be true. They are all true — of four different bases — and once you convert them to the same one, the spread collapses from a factor of seven to a factor of 1.3. Per €100 spent in France, all four leave you with between €11.67 and €15.00. Call it €12.50.</p>https://buyitthere.net/posts/what-a-vat-refund-actually-pays/Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0200https://buyitthere.net/posts/what-a-vat-refund-actually-pays/<p>A 20% VAT rate does not return 20%. On a €1,200 jacket bought in Paris in September 2026 and carried home to the United States, the refund that reaches the card is €150 — 12.5% of the tag price — and by the time the card&rsquo;s conversion fee and US duty are counted, the jacket has landed at $1,279.20 against a Paris tag of $1,393.80. The whole exercise is worth 8.2%.</p>