Play.com closes retail business as VAT loophole closed

[emigre]

All work and no play makes Jack very dull boy can be traced to James Howell wrote in his books Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish. This seemingly is the first usage of the age old proverb in the form we all know and love. Why is it important? Well it looks like Jack may end up being a very dull boy as Play.com, one of pioneers of online shopping, shuts down its retail business after changes to VAT loophole.

Recent seething over tax loopholes have led theCoalition government to act upon public anger and sort out this loophole malarkey. However the Play.com marketplace will stay in tact even though, I'm sure no one actually uses it.​

​

​

Source​

​

​

 

[Rizsparky]

Thank god.. the tax evading crooks. Slowmo delivery and sloppy service too

 

[Kouen Hasuki]

Shame really I didn't mind the Play.com store we had in the next town

 

[jalaneme]

shame, I used them for years, brought my first hdtv and ipod from them too.

 

[Qtis]

Thank god.. the tax evading crooks. Slowmo delivery and sloppy service too

Well considering that there might be a free trade agreement between the EU and the US, this is a bad thing. I don't see any reason to buy items from the EU with added VAT (+24% in Finland now) when the US has the same items in USD without the same level of VAT (roughly -20% for conversion rates + the bonus of smaller VAT).

As for the loophole, at least in Finland (Åland tax free) the discount was pretty much 100% for the items sold from Åland. I don't mind paying full price for certain items, but in this case, most games and DVDs are overpriced. Very overpriced. Hell, Play.com actually had cheaper prices on other items too, not just the items capable of using the discounted VAT.

Btw, are they having a closing sale? I'd love to grab a few more Wii motes and possibly a PS3 controller :3

[rant]I already pay 24% VAT on everything, roughly 15-20% income tax, production taxes, item taxes (like alcohol, Finland has a heavy tax on everything with alcohol), etc. The Channel Islands/Åland/etc where the only places where I wasn't paying roughly 40-50% as tax. And I'm a student for crying out loud! [/rant]

 

[EJames2100]

Does this mean Play.com is closing it's site down or they're closing physical shops down?

 

[xist]

Does this mean Play.com is closing it's site down or they're closing physical shops down?

Play is now just a marketplace for other sellers (well from March) - it's closing down all of it's own trading and is now effectively an online shopping centre (as in a structure which holds other retailers)

 

[EJames2100]

Ahh now I see, shame as they had some cheap prices.

 

[shakirmoledina]

they had good prices and they had the fame for a reason. is this what most businesses are doing today? in one way or the other?

 

[Jamstruth]

So p.because they now hace to pay the taxes they're supposed to pay they're shutting down.
Fuck off.
More and more big businesses are coming out as avoiding tax in the UK. we all have to pay our way and if they actually paid their taxes then we might not actually need the 20% VAT that Play is complaining about.

 

[Qtis]

So p.because they now hace to pay the taxes they're supposed to pay they're shutting down.
Fuck off.
More and more big businesses are coming out as avoiding tax in the UK. we all have to pay our way and if they actually paid their taxes then we might not actually need the 20% VAT that Play is complaining about.

Just because they're not paying VAT doesn't mean they're not paying other taxes. Sure some brick and mortar stores will complain about companies like these, but then again, who really buys games and stuff like that from brick and mortar stores if it's available from Amazon at -40% for example? That'd be more than the VAT reduction..