Hi @philm , please forgive me if I post this question in the wrong forum… I really don’t know where to ask otherwise.
I was looking into ordering the “Manjaro phone” but it comes out I would need to pay 25% VAT because that’s how much VAT you pay in Poland.
I’m in Germany: how does it work when the phone gets here? Is there a way to get the extra-VAT back?
If you look for it to ship to a German address you would get this for the 3GB version:
| Subtotal | $199.99 |
|---|---|
| Shipping | PinePhone Courier Shipping Method with VAT: $19.99 Shipping to Berlin, Germany . |
| VAT | $50.60 |
| Total | $270.58 |
And for the normal edition:
| Subtotal | $149.99 |
|---|---|
| Shipping | * PinePhone Courier Shipping Method with VAT: $19.99 Shipping to Berlin, Germany . |
| VAT | $39.10 |
| Total | $209.08 |
Tax-Free is only for people not living within the EU. So you only pay the tax once. Private consumers who buy goods in another EU country usually pay VAT in that country. They are not required to pay VAT on the goods a second time in their European home country.
Americans are mostly lucky, as they don’t have to pay taxes for goods bought outside of their country …
| Subtotal | $149.99 |
|---|---|
| Shipping | PinePhone Standard Shipping Method: $15.00 Shipping to AL, United States (US) . |
| Total | $164.99 |
Also they are used to net-prices, as each state has different taxes.
Where exactly is this pine64.com located and from what country do they ship their products from to EU countries? Is it inside EU or not? I mean if the origin country isn’t even inside EU, they should not ask VAT at all (it’s our customs job to do)!
Going through the ordering process in the PINE shop myself, they somewhere mentioned that they would be shipping from their Polish fulfilment center to The Netherlands. Hence, they were charging the Polish VAT percentage, which in effect is then the EU VAT, regardless whether your particular EU country would charge more or less VAT on that product.
The pine store is located in Hong Kong if I rember right. There should be an option to choose dhl and that option is without Vat.
The EU shipping we pay the Vat when we buy the pp.
That option is for me cheaper because here in Denmark the postal service charge me close to 25 $ in fee just for collect Vat for the customs .
This way I get no surprise.
They ship all EU in bulk to Poland and then from there out to the buyer. It takes a bit longer.
I bought the Manjaro convergence edition and and payid $269.98 in total inc Vat .
I’ve been following the blog post and the shipping thread, that’s where I have the info from .
[PinePhone blog ]
(Blog | PINE64)
Edit
There is a shipping info page here
Shipping information
PINEPHONE-MANJARO – Estimate to be dispatched in late October 2020 – Ships from Hong Kong
I hope it’s okay to share some thoughts here. Great to have picked up this topic.
Extra VAT explictly means I will ditch the idea of getting a PinePhone and wait until I finished studying or it gets cheaper. I dislike hidden costs in the marketing process. I still can get my old favorite secret device for 100-120€ with a new LineageOS version (Android 10) working.
However I like the idea that people support the Manjaro team and you might get me as a customer in the future for this PinePhone thing 
Well yes, that kind of makes no sense to charge a person VAT when Pine64 do not operate a physical business location in the EU (which is the only reason for a business for being liable to collect VAT), I am not sure if the poland storage location counts as a business branch (correct me if I am wrong), the fact that the product was shipped to Poland that is used as a shipping forwarding point, does not mean that there is a pine64 polish business entity which processed my credit card (I highly doubt that), and was liable to collect VAT on the transaction.
I didn’t mind paying, since I feel that we are doing here a good thing, and trying to support a good cause for a great new kind of phone. but yes, in general the guy has a point.
Last note, i’d say… the guys from Manjaro linux, for sure have nothing to do with how Pine64 are operating, since Manjaro is the software and they do not ship the phones them self.