Zavvi - Retailer chat [Europe]

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**Retailer charges cards when items ship

Per update received at HDN, starting with August 4,2014 releases, Zavvi will ship in boxes again.

[email protected]

Possible contact #s:

- 08442 640702
- 01606 336169
- 08442 439088

Thanks yeslek!

Current packaging is a cardboard mailer with the steelbook usually wrapped in either a layer of bubble wrap or foam

Update 9/5/2013:

https://www.hidefninja.com/forums/showpost.php?p=753977&postcount=1732

Current packaging-thanks dv8mad:






Previous packaging:

3/20/2013 Comparison of Play's old packaging to Zavvi's new packaging-thanks Zesty!

newpackage.jpg


14/03/2013 By Wreck:
I now have confirmation that I can announce ... for all those worried about future packaging from Zavvi. My Play contact has been working with zavvi as well on this mission for better packaging. Between the 3 of us and the future comments from this community after its in place I'm sure it will be go over well.
View attachment 29368
from the pick line ......... :thumbs:
foam inside

1/19/2013 Member Nyvo tweeted Zaavi about packaging concerns. They said they may be looking into alternate packaging methods.


Zavvi shipping international list:
Zavvi UK

Box update1- 1/7/2014


Box update 2-1/17//2014-we're told they have boxes again.
 

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So lets clarify. You order a steelbook say £25 + £2 shipping. That is the retail price.
Do you pay £25 +£2 shipping or do you pay 20% less as a tax relief?

So you pay £20 + shipping + the customs on top?

I can explain. Non-UK buyer but in EU.
I order a steelbook for £25 + £0 for shipping (the order is above €20).
Exactly £25 is taken from my cc but the label doesn't show any VAT even though I have paid it just like UK buyers.
Then customs would charge me on top of those £25 because they think I didn't pay VAT because it is not shown on the label.
And even if there was a VAT there, they would still charge customs because it exceeds €22.

I hope I explained it.


Edit: The easiest way to explain is, Zavvi (The Hut Group) is counting on international buyers because they don't show a VAT charge on their labels and can pocket the full amount that was charged for the item.
And the most annoying thing is that we ALL pay VAT :)
 
As a UK buyer, we do not get charged customs for orders over the £15 threshold. The CN22 label (customs label) states the price of £20 + £5 VAT for a £25 item. So the VAT is paid for and I can order any amount.

Not every steel gets dispatched from Guernsey. The Hutt can also ship directly to UK buyers. So have you had shipping from The Hutt (from UK) and if so what was declared? Was a VAT still 0?

The only thing that's on the label is the price I was charged + 0 VAT + 0 shipping charge and this yellow sticker.

We actually pay the tax just like UK customers do but our labels don't show that so we are liable for import charges. That's how Zavvi screws with their international customers.

Is tax shown on your label?

20170430151215.jpg
 
I can explain. Non-UK buyer but in EU.
I order a steelbook for £25 + £0 for shipping (the order is above €20).
Exactly £25 is taken from my cc but the label doesn't show any VAT even though I have paid it just like UK buyers.
Then customs would charge me on top of those £25 because they think I didn't pay VAT because it is not shown on the label.
And even if there was a VAT there, they would still charge customs because it exceeds €22.

I hope I explained it.


Edit: The easiest way to explain is, Zavvi (The Hut Group) is counting on international buyers because they don't show a VAT charge on their labels and can pocket the full amount that was charged for the item.
And the most annoying thing is that we ALL pay VAT :)

So for a £25 steel, how much customs do you get charged to your destination? Do you get billed for courier fee's for calculating the additional custom bill like we do in the UK? We will have to £8 courier fee + 20% VAT on top of the item and shipping.
 
@javiermendoza @Ranavalone - the question I would put to Zavvi is, are they breaking any laws here? You purchase from zavvi, a UK retailer based in the UK and in the EU. But you receive the item and ending up paying customs on top on the belief that there are no additional taxes/customs. No one is going to know they ship from Guernsey. Is this information disclosed on Zavvi's website that EU customers will be liable for customs/taxes?

@lgans316 if you read the previous posts that the cheap shipping appears to come from the hidden 20% VAT that is not paid for international buyers according to the discussion with javier and ranavalone
 
So for a £25 steel, how much customs do you get charged to your destination? Do you get billed for courier fee's for calculating the additional custom bill like we do in the UK? We will have to £8 courier fee + 20% VAT on top of the item and shipping.

If the item is above €22 we have to pay customs 22% VAT on top the 20% VAT that is already included in the price. It doesn't happen very often, at least not to me, but it does happen from time to time. If I ordered GOTG vol. 2, customs could potentially send me an invoice for that 22% VAT - around €6.5. Shipping costs are not included in this, only the price of the goods. And it would be wrong considering I already paid VAT which was hidden. If UK VAT is 20% and I already paid that, I would only have to pay additional 2% but since it's not indicated anywhere, I can get stuck with the whole 22%.


As a UK buyer, we do not get charged customs for orders over the £15 threshold. The CN22 label (customs label) states the price of £20 + £5 VAT for a £25 item. So the VAT is paid for and I can order any amount.

Not every steel gets dispatched from Guernsey. The Hutt can also ship directly to UK buyers. So have you had shipping from The Hutt (from UK) and if so what was declared? Was a VAT still 0?

I have never received a steelbook I've ordered on Zavvi from The Hut.
I did however order 3 steelbooks from The Hut website and if my memory's any good, I think there was no VAT on the labels either. I could be wrong, though.


@javiermendoza @Ranavalone - the question I would put to Zavvi is, are they breaking any laws here? You purchase from zavvi, a UK retailer based in the UK and in the EU. But you receive the item and ending up paying customs on top on the belief that there are no additional taxes/customs. No one is going to know they ship from Guernsey. Is this information disclosed on Zavvi's website that EU customers will be liable for customs/taxes?

@lgans316 if you read the previous posts that the cheap shipping appears to come from the hidden 20% VAT that is not paid for international buyers according to the discussion with javier and ranavalone

This is how Zavvi or better yet, The Hut Group gets away with it, when it comes to international buyers. They avoid paying taxes for every single international order and there are a crapload of them every single day.
And, yes, this kind of practice is fraudulent. If I have to pay them VAT and they can keep that money and not report it, that's the definition of stealing.

I think Zavvi nor The Hut haven't written aynwhere that packages my be shipped from Guernsey warehouse.

The only info that Zavvi has put up on their website is this:

WILL I BE CHARGED CUSTOMS AND IMPORT CHARGES?
Orders being placed for delivery outside of the UK may be subject to customs charges or import duties which are levied by the importing country at the time the delivery arrives in your country.

These charges must be paid by the recipient of the parcel. Unfortunately, we have no control over these charges, and cannot advise what the cost may be (customs policies and import duties vary widely from country to country).

There is no information of where the items are shipped from. That's how they cover their backs in case of an issue :)
 
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@javiermendoza interesting it is and indeed it can be perceived as fraudulent. The confusion I had is that as Guernsey is not in the EU then technically the UK is liable for customs which we never do as it would make no sense for a UK customer to buy something in the UK that is a UK retailer to pay customs on top (lol) regardless of where it is shipped from. But on the CN22 label it covers the VAT paid so we don't get the custom charges.

I assumed it was the same as for the EU. The packages from zavvi will have declared on the CN22 label that you paid the VAT. But in this case it isn't.

For buyers outside EU, I thought there maybe a tax relief like from Amazon 20% but it appears there isn't.

But on the flip side they are using the 20% VAT to pay for the shipping. So essentially you are not getting 'cheap' shipping but liable for customs and taxes.

So which do you prefer for EU customers? pay the exact shipping + cost of steel BUT no custom charges, or pay cheap shipping + cost of steel BUT liable for custom charges? I think most would prefer cheaper shipping most steels should be able to sneak through customs.

I think it's the shady tactics Zavvi have employed here but to benefit International Buyers.
 
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@javiermendoza interesting it is and indeed it can be perceived as fraudulent. The confusion I had is that as Guernsey is not in the EU then technically the UK is liable for customs which we never do as it would make no sense for a UK customer to buy something in the UK that is a UK retailer to pay customs on top (lol) regardless of where it is shipped from. But on the CN22 label it covers the VAT paid so we don't get the custom charges.

I assumed it was the same as for the EU. The packages from zavvi will have declared on the CN22 label that you paid the VAT. But in this case it isn't.

For buyers outside EU, I thought there maybe a tax relief like from Amazon 20% but there appears there isn't.

But on the flip side they are using the 20% VAT to pay for the shipping. So essentially you are not getting 'cheap' shipping but liable for customs and taxes.

So which do you prefer for EU customers? pay the exact shipping + cost of steel BUT no custom charges, or pay cheap shipping + cost of steel BUT not liable for custom charges? I think most would prefer cheaper shipping most steels should be able to sneak through customs.

I think it's the shady tactics Zavvi have employed here but to benefit International Buyers.


I would actually much rather prefer that VAT'd be written on the label. Right now, my customs only sees that yellow label and can choose whether to charge me VAT or not. If the VAT was also on the label that would make things much easier.

We don't have any tax relief. Out only defense is that we are ordering things from UK registered company (which is easily checkable) and we don't care which warehouse the items are coming from.

I always said that despite Zavvi having a free shipping option, you always pay for shipping.

If I had to choose, I'd go with the free shipping as it always was + cost of the steel. In any case, every international buyer pays for shipping even if the invoice says it was free.
 
To answer your question @sunnyx about non EU addresses, I can confirm that the steelbook price is the same whether I have it delivered to my US or any of my other addresses (in or outside the EU). The VAT is not deducted like Amazon EU does it.
 
If we work out the cost to send a large letter mailer zavvi box under 250g it cost the following:
EU - £3.80
Asia, North and South America - £4.75
ROW (Australia) - £5.05

Of course Zavvi have business rates agreed with Royal Mail so it will be cheaper.
Zavvi Price
UK - Steel (Full Price) + Free shipping
EU - Steel (Full Price) + Free shipping
Asia, North and South America - Steel (Full Price) + £2 shipping
ROW (Australia) - Steel (Full Price) + £2 shipping I assume?

As you can see the biggest benefit for Zavvi is for the highest priced steels. More expensive the steel, more Zavvi can 'pocket' from this shady practice. The cheaper the steel, the less they will benefit.

Example for £25 steel (based on cost to dispatch from UK)
EU - £25 steel - 20% VAT = £20. £3.80 for shipping. Gross profit £21.20. Zavvi 'pocket' £1.20.
EU - £16 steel - 20% VAT = £3.20. £3.80 for shipping. Zavvi gain nothing. Zavvi negative £14.80. Zavvi losing out 60p.
EU - £10 steel - 20% VAT = £8. £3.80 for shipping. Zavvi gain nothing. Zavvi negative £6.20 so losing out £1.80.

The above is just an example. Cheaper the steel less profit they actually make as the 20% hidden VAT is not enough to cover shipping. So they hope is that customers pre-order the steels at full price than wait for the price drop.
 
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To answer your question @sunnyx about non EU addresses, I can confirm that the steelbook price is the same whether I have it delivered to my US or any of my other addresses (in or outside the EU). The VAT is not deducted like Amazon EU does it.

Have you ever been stung by customs (in particular orders for £20 - £25)?
 
Have you ever been stung by customs (in particular orders for £20 - £25)?

No. I rarely order from Zavvi to my UK address, haven't actually in over a year. And the threshold for customs is much higher for the US and Dubai, invoice would need to be $150-$200 (US) - $270 (Dubai) to have to pay customs.
 
Im a little late here, but when the hell did they start charging for shipping!?
I was just about to order for 15 punds but got charged with and extra 2.49 for shipping. Lel. Forget about it Zavvi. One biiiig reason ive used Zavvi before was the no shipping cost.
This will pretty much stop me from using Zavvi completely.
 
Im a little late here, but when the hell did they start charging for shipping!?
I was just about to order for 15 punds but got charged with and extra 2.49 for shipping. Lel. Forget about it Zavvi. One biiiig reason ive used Zavvi before was the no shipping cost.
They started to charge (more) for international shipping a few months back.

You still get no shipping cost if the order total is at or above a certain threshold; for Finland this threshold is £30.00.

Zavvi's free (or very low cost) international shipping has always been more of an illusion, as they charge the same prices as from their UK customers. UK prices include 20% VAT, international prices include 0% VAT.
 
Hi guys,

I had to intervene, since I also saw the "no more free shipping"

Although they still advertise that for spending more than £75, tracked shipping to Romania (in my case)
is £1.99 (no more free as it was until recently)
upload_2017-5-8_10-22-25.png


the actual price at checkout is £4.99
upload_2017-5-8_10-22-50.png


Bottom line:
- Zavvi SURELY LIE TO US, their customers, and SURELY take advantage of our good trust to not double check!

Beware what you do with Zavvi!

I wonder how come that YOU GUYS that are living in a more civilized/evolved countries do not dare to sue them (I was thinking of, when I received from outside UE something I ordered from them, and I had to pay import taxes and fees); how long can you endure this cheating and lying?


Felix
 
Have many of you had steels shipped overseas from zavvi and how was packing have you had any damaged ones arrive and what was the outcome when getting one damaged.
 
Does anyone get a replacement copy if they receive a damaged one?

The reason I ask Is, if they advertise 2,000 copies, they actually make about 2,200-300.

Without replacing damaged copies, their original claim of 2,000 copies is false advertising.
 
This is slightly off topic but still related to @Starling above. From what I remember the minimum print of an steelbook is closer to 8-10.000 copies with each version of a steelbook? But they may be sold in different regions. Amazon.FR, Amazon.DE etc etc. Can never imagine they only print 2000 steelbooks of a movie. Please correct me if iam wrong, I would like to know more.