AMAZON PRICING: Pádraig McCarthy got in touch with us in connection with Amazon's pricing and Vat. He says the company has a policy of charging Vat, not at the rate in the supplying country which is, in this case, the UK, but in the destination country.

"This, however, is not advised on the ordering web page".

He says that when he contacted the company he was told that "since Vat rates differ widely within the EU, the final price of your order will often change to reflect the Vat rate that is in place in the EU country of destination".

McCarthy accepts that the company is obliged to apply Vat but claims it is not "obliged to impose the Vat rate of the destination country". He says that on other orders he has placed with websites operating from within the EU, the rate in the country from where the goods are being sent is applied. "This is in accordance with EU law."

He says the practice is strange for two reasons. He says by using the UK Vat rate, they would have an extra price advantage, and there would be greater price-transparency on their website. And they would also simplify their own procedures by not applying different Vat rates depending on the destination country.

He wonders if, when the company imposes the higher Irish Vat rate, is the full Irish Vat rate payable to the Irish Government? Or do they pay the UK rate to the UK government, and pay the balance to the Irish government? Or do they pay the UK rate to the UK government, and add the "tilly" to Amazon profits?

We contacted the folk at Revenue and they confirmed that the company had to pay all the Vat on all the goods shipped into Ireland to the Irish taxman.

VODAFONE ROAMING

Eoin Walsh recently spent a week in Italy and a week in Spain; when he received his mobile phone bill from Vodafone shortly after his return home he was "quite surprised" to discover his bill had doubled. "I understand that I will be charged 65 cent plus Vat for every call I receive while away but I was also charged for 'calls' that lasted one, two, three and four seconds." He rang Vodafone to query this and was told that calls of any duration attract the charge. "What had happened was that friends had tried to ring me and when they heard the 'foreign' tone they simply hung up. I never got to speak to anyone nor did I receive any voice messages but I was still charged because my phone rang and I answered it !"