Just been looking at this thread with some interest, and I think there's a further misunderstanding here, unless I've misunderstood it myself, which is quite possible.
Disregarding the whole VAT Registration number element (just because that's a special case and I think it's covered OK above), if a retailer is within the EU VAT zone, and the customer is outside the EU VAT zone, then the customer doesn't have to pay any VAT. So just comparing countries isn't good enough. If I sell an item from the UK to an ordinary, non-vat-registered customer in France, then they pay 20% VAT (unless it's zero-rated, such as books, sheet music etc), but if they're from Turkey, or the USA for example, they pay no VAT.
So say we have a guitar listed at £120 (including VAT) on the UK website, if it goes to France the customer pays £120 (plus shipping plus VAT on the shipping), whereas if it goes to Turkey the customer should only pay £100 (plus shipping with no VAT). So it's not just "different countries" that matter, it's "which different countries".
Just thought I'd throw that in!
Ade
Disregarding the whole VAT Registration number element (just because that's a special case and I think it's covered OK above), if a retailer is within the EU VAT zone, and the customer is outside the EU VAT zone, then the customer doesn't have to pay any VAT. So just comparing countries isn't good enough. If I sell an item from the UK to an ordinary, non-vat-registered customer in France, then they pay 20% VAT (unless it's zero-rated, such as books, sheet music etc), but if they're from Turkey, or the USA for example, they pay no VAT.
So say we have a guitar listed at £120 (including VAT) on the UK website, if it goes to France the customer pays £120 (plus shipping plus VAT on the shipping), whereas if it goes to Turkey the customer should only pay £100 (plus shipping with no VAT). So it's not just "different countries" that matter, it's "which different countries".
Just thought I'd throw that in!
Ade