OT: VAT refund on Rolex GMT Master II at T5
 

Good morning!

I am considering purchasing a Rolex GMT Master II in steel and yellow gold when I am back in the UK at Christmas time.

If I buy it in the UK it is much more expensive than here in Qatar but if I get the VAT back it will be about GBP 500 cheaper to buy in the UK.

Last time I was at T5 a few months ago I found the VAT refunds desk.

If I buy the Rolex in the UK what do I need to make sure I do to guarantee getting the VAT back at T5? Will a valid residence permit in my passport for the country I live (Qatar) be sufficient evidence to prove that I live overseas?

Also, if I buy the Rolex on my UK based BA Amex will that hinder my chances of getting the VAT back?

Many thanks in advance.

This site below has some info but .... Not sure whether you qualify...

http://www.taxfreetravel.com/VAT%20Refunds

You need to buy the watch from somewhere that does tax free for tourists, so perhaps Selfridges or Harrods. For this particular watch at this time of year, you may want to 'phone ahead to make sure they've got one.

After you've bought it, go the shop's tax refund desk to fill out the form - you'll need your passport with Qatar residency for this.

At T5, go through security as normal, then head to the Customs inspection desk as it's a jewellery item. If you're British, be ready to show your Qatar visa and inbound and outbound itineraries for your journey, to proove you don't live/spend much time in the UK.

After that, go to the Travelex VAT refund desk where they'll process the refund for you. You won't get all the VAT back as a commission is applied - it's probably about 12.5-15% that you'll see.

No worries re: the card. The shop won't care, customs won't check. I do this all the time using a UK amex and UAE visa and have no problems with customs, even on more expensive items.

Enjoy your new watch!

If you qualify for a tax-refund then the process is pretty painless, providing you follow the rules, one of which is to make sure you purchase from a retailer that is a member of the Retail Export Scheme and remember to get the relevant receipt from the retailer at the time of purchase.

Full details from HMRC are here.

Also note that certain items must be carried through security and presented at the HMRC desk airside, so be sure not to pack them in your checked-in bags.

If in doubt go to the landside desk first.

Probably a separate issue, but Heathrow Airport are currently advertising Christmas shopping on local radio claiming that airport purchases are around 15% cheaper than in comparable High Street shops. No mention of any residency restriction.

That would seem to imply net of VAT, though we know from separate threads that Dixons for example no longer sell 'tax free' at LHR. The whole 'tax free' argument is unclear, to me at least.

Why not just buy at T5 Mappin & Webb? You will have the VAT amount pre-deducted, which means you will be better off, because those VAT refunds through Global Blue or Premier Tax Free (most shops, including Harrods, Selfridges etc use VAT refund processing companies such as these) never give you the full VAT amount back, as they deduct administrative fees.

Telephone Mappin & Webb at T5 in advance to check if they have what you want in stock though. They have a pretty decent range of Rolex in stock (I bought mine from there), but not everything is there. Residency is immaterial if you buy airside at T5, as the discount applies to everyone.

Yes it should be. That's what I used to do when I was resident in Oman.

Not in my experience.

Thank you for your advice everyone. ^

Is there any 'tax free' in the EU - apart from maybe tobacco and alcohol duty?.

I bought a Sony computer from the SonyStyle store at T5, not only did I get 17.5% discount, but was also offered an additional 5% as an incentive to buy immediately. So I did, and it was delivered free to my office 2 days later.

In addition I was offered the chance to buy anything else from there under similar conditions (including the additional 5%) by phoning or emailing them. So I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse which was delivered, again free, to my office 1 day later.

All in all a steal, and I also got a VAT receipt, showing how much VAT I'd paid, so the bottom line is that airport shopping is just discounted shopping.

You don't get that much, I only got 10% back, the other 7.5% was the "commission". That's from those places that advertise the "tax free for tourists" plan.

What you really want is a VAT 407 form, and a retailer that will honour it. How it works is you fill out the card with what you bought for how much etc. As you leave the country there is a customs booth and you get the form stamped. At LHR T3 it's pre security near the check in desks. They examine your passport, sales receipt and stamp the form and mail it to the retailer where you bought the watch, and then the retailer will refund you the VAT.

It's up to the retailer if they charge a commission or not. Most seem to deal with the third party tax refunders who do charge, but it never hurts to ask around.

Of course you already knew all that didn't you? You just wanted to show off your new watch. :D

Nice watch....heck of a price. I got my near identical Seiko divers watch on Ebay shipped from SIN for £65. :p

I looked into this a few years ago prior to buying a one of these and at that time Mappin & Webb wouldn't take orders for later collection - you just had to get lucky.

And as this watch is in extremely high demand (especially by travellers) the chance of wandering in and finding one ready to go is very slim. I've looked in M&W many a time and never seen a GMT Master II in there.

I have been told in the past by M&W that they will order stuff in if you pay a deposit.

Also worth noting that you get 15,000 BAA Worldpoints (15k M&M miles, 15k VS miles, 22,500 BMI miles) for spending over GBP 2,500 in certain Heathrow jewellers in November or December. You may actually, if you ask nicely, be able to pay on a number of credit cards (splitting the transaction into chunks of GBP 2,501) and putting a different WP number against each one ....

^ love this tip!

I had precisely the same situation two and a half years ago - I was buying a Breitling Gold Chronomat Evolution. I priced it up everywhere; UK high street with VAT refund, M&W T5, here in Cairo, Tourneau in the US, somewhere in Singapore. The best deal, by far, was the Breitling Boutique in Mall of the Emirates, Dubai - AED66k. However the exchange rate at time of purchase can make a significant difference to your decision on where to buy.

A valid overseas residence/work permit in a British passport is more than adequate to get a VAT refund at LHR T5

Whatever you do don't follow HIDDY's purchase route; otherwise that Rolex you order will have turned into a Relax upon delivery. ;)

In Hong Kong you can buy the same watch (very, very hard to tell it is a rip off) for around GBP 150,- or GBP 300,- if you want it waterproof and with the right secondhand movement.

Very bad if you do though. Very bad. ;)

I still don't understand people spending this kind of money on a watch, but a lot of people do not understand why I buy J and F tickets either. :D

a) because we can, b) because when you reach my age (55) you need all the help you can to attract the ladies. ;)

I (44) bought a convertible in the Netherlands. Go figure. :)

Still not sure what kind of ladies you will attract if they will only notice your watch*/car and not you. Don't really care either. :D

I am just amazed that I bought one of the $400 ripoffs and mixed it up with a friend's real one and it took a visit to a Rolex dealer and about 20 minutes before he could identify which was which. No surprise my friend was not amused. So, paying $10.000 for something that can apparently be made for $400 seems so... silly... to me at least. I guess it is the pleasure of knowing you are actually wearing a small car on your wrist... I just don't get it.

* I am 100% sure these ladies do not see the difference between the $400 ripoff and the real thing though.

More OT...
 

I am about to in the next month or so purchase a rolex sea-dweller deep sea. I have a stack of Goldsmith Vouchers that i will need to burn(i am clubcard voucher rich;)) and best to do so before the VAT rise in January. I am actually buying with the intention of selling, as i understand this model holds its value well & i already have enough BA miles. The money would be much more useful to me right now than on my wrist telling me the time, and i already wear a watch beyond my means. However having seen it and tried it on, i am having 'wrong' second thoughts about hanging on to it. Infact i can see me doing so...

FYI. Im 25, no help with the ladies needed at present

Exactly, my GMT is worth about £400 less now than when it was new 6/7 years ago. There will come a point when it will start to appreciate above it's purchase price. Traditionally watches have been a good way to preserve wealth without holding cash. And you get the nice sentimental value with it, mine was with me when I was married, son born, etc, etc. There's something about a nice watch which you can't replicate IMHO.

Encouraging me to hold on to it more so:rolleyes:, i really am being 'persuaded'. It just seems in such bad taste though that i am desperately trying to save for a house deposit, and i go out and buy this thing. Yes it is purchased on the cheap with clubcard vouchers, although my friends and family will not really understand that. Oh well, i suppose there are worst situations to be in.

Is that necessarily true?

The older watches in the Burlington Arcade are several thousand pounds cheaper than today's models.

I would say stueys was being rather optimistic with the valuation of a second hand watch.
A mate of mine is a jeweller back in Glasgow and he told me what the mark up on a watch was especially a Rolex, it made my jaw drop. I would say as soon as you pay the purchase price and take it out of the shop it's value will already have dropped by a whacking amount.

But then again, they probably would have been several thousand pounds less expensive when they were bought 7 years or so ago. A regular vintage GMT fetches about $3000 to $5000 depending on the exact model, state and age. Of course you have the exceptional models who keep their value better.

http://www.watches.co.uk/watch/10554...ster-ii-16710/

Don't shatter my investment plan:D The watch above is 6 months 'newer' than mine, mine was purchased for £2,600 from Selfridges. Of course I've no idea what these guys pay for the watches when they buy them but I doubt they are making more than £300 or £400?

Reason the GMT's have gone up is they changed the model. Also as HB says, the list price tends to increase about £100 a year.

This is correct, Airport shops cannot sell without VAT so any "taxfree" advert is just a discount.

Depends where you are flying. If you go ex EU then obviously it is tax free.

No-one understands this. When I was in Watches of Switzerland in T1 on Thursday, discussing ordering something for Ms Raffles, I was trying to get them to give me a bigger discount if I walked in with a boarding pass for, say, Norway on the day I pick it up, as opposed to Berlin. The saleswoman had absolutely no idea what I was on about, even though the shop would make an extra GBP 800 on a GBP 5,000 purchase depending on which boarding card I show when I collect.

Well, a properly serviced Rolex will quite simply last forever. They really are extraordinarily well made and reliable.

I am interested in this as I am hankering after a GMT Master II as well, in steel however. The best deal I have found was a dealer in Bahrain who would give a whopping 25% discount on list price if one were to pay cash rather than card (no doubt because of the lack of paperwork). May be worth checking out if someone in Qatar will do you a similar deal?

If not then I would go for the M&W option purely for the lack of hassle.

If someone holds dual Nationality, or has Indefinite leave to remain in the UK what is the deal then? Can VAT still be reclaimed?

Really, can discount's this large really be sourced? My understanding(albeit insuperior to most of you all no doubt), is that the mark up is incredibly small with Rolex setting a fix price across the board. Obviously VAT can be adittional, although a 25% discount seems higher than i would have thought was possible. The watch i have my eye on; the sea dweller(for resale or not) is similar to the GMT(should i consider that in terms of holding its value?) will 'need' to be purchased at Goldsmiths(with reward vouchers) so i do expect to lose out on a mark up that will have to be paid in full.

I have also been able to source discounts of 25% on Breitling in Thailand (at reputable dealers).

If Goldsmiths can offer a notional 75%* discount to Tesco Clubcard customers, their margins must be at least comfortable. @:-)

That notional discount will shortly reduce to a mere 66.67%*, so if you were thinking of exchanging some Clubcard vouchers for Goldsmiths vouchers, now could be a good time to do so. There is currently no minimum value for Tesco/Goldsmiths exchanges.

Goldsmiths Tesco vouchers cannot be used in Goldsmiths airport stores.

* assuming that I have calculated the 1:4 and 1:3 ratios correctly.

Agreed, I'll be wary of a significant discount. This is fairly anecdotal but the jeweller who sold me my wedding rings told me that Rolex strictly controlled who could be a reseller, only one per area. He also said that the price list was completely fixed and any deviation from it instantly resulted in removal of the reseller mark. I tried to get a Daytona in Sinagapore once, spending a fair bit of time negotiating with 3 dealers, got nowhere in terms of any discounts and Singapore is normally good for a deal. I'd expect the margin's to be good but believe that price list is very rigid.

Edited to add: This is what I've heard re Rolex, no idea what other manufacturers do.

Sixth Freedom, just a word of warning/suggestion. I do not know if this applies universally, however, if you use a GBP card and get a refund from the likes of Global Blue/Global Refund or Premier Tax Free but your residency is in Qatar, it is possible that they (the refund company) will convert it to Qatari currency when they put the money back on your credit card, should you choose the "refund to credit card later" option. This will then be converted by your credit card company, potentially making you lose quite a substantial sum in double currency exchanges, usually at an awful rate, leading to double-loss. I have been burnt by this a few times - the loss rate was around 10% of the refund amount.

If you have an option to get the refund in GBP cash, or if you are able to have an on-the-spot refund in GBP onto your credit card (absolutely make sure the refund company will not credit your card in GBP) I suggest do so. There is a small fee (I think it's £2.50 per receipt) for cash refund. I do not know if there is a cash/immediate refund limit though.

Some shops do not use a VAT refund processing company, and process the VAT refund themselves through export schemes. In this case, you are likely to be better off as you will get the refund in GBP, there is no admin fees taken from your refunds, and while it will take longer to process (no 'instant refund' at the airport), you may well find it better considering the amount involved in your purchase.

So, I would suggest you ask at the store what arrangements can be made for this purpose.

Of course, there has to be a margin. I have spent some time reseraching a site called PaidToShop(a site of Clubcard geeks like myself basically), and with high value items such as a Rolex, which are out of reach to most people, Goldsmiths do take a pretty big loss -infact, it is surprising they have not introduced a maximum purchase limit yet.

I am aware of the clubcard>reward exchange rate reducung by a third in a few weeks, hence i am already in the process of ordering my Goldsmith Vouchers as it would be ridiculous not to. With the VAT rise in January, i am keen to buy the Rolex before then. It's all very rushed and i actually do not how i am going to sell what i buy. All i know is that i don't need more BA miles, or £5000+ of Pizza Express Vouchers;) so a nice watch, or some sort of cash out seemed the best option. Tesco only announced this reduction a couple of weeks ago.

Sorry for maybe going off topic with the Tesco chat here.

I travel to and from the UK quite frequently with groups of non-EU nationals and IME they always opt for a cash refund on departure by ticking the "other" refund method option on the refund document and writing next to it the word "cash" when buying the goods from the seller.

The Travelex agent will usually try to get you to agree to process the refund onto a credit card but if you insist on cash then (s)he will eventually give up and hand over a nice fistful of readies

However, like LTN Phobia I don't know whether there is an upper limit for a refund in cash.

What I did was buy one share in Signet Jewelers (LSE:SIG) for about £20 and they sent me their discount card which entitles shareholders to 10% off at Ernest Jones, H. Samuel and Leslie Davis.

I then rang a few local Ernest Jones branches (not all are Rolex dealers) to find out which had the Deepsea Sea-Dweller in stock and made my purchase making sure to get the VAT refund form from them.

My Swiss residence permit was enough to get a 12.5% VAT refund (the other 5% went on "commission" :rolleyes:) at T5, so a total of 22.5% off list. :)

They even offered me interest-free credit over two years which I declined.


No.

The Sea Dweller, GMT and Submariner all hold their value very well, although I believe that the Sea Dweller is at least £1000 more expensive (I'm comparing Stainless steel models, not bi-metal or gold). All three are fairly difficult to find however and it is basically pot luck if you find one. FWIW there is (or at least was) a Sea Dweller in Lakeside shopping centre last week. It was about £6000 :eek: and I believe the the GMT and Submariners are about £4500 (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

I have just now put a deposit down on 'the only' one at Goldsmiths, Newcastle. Naturally tried 3 closer stores across the Homeland, however all Scottish branches do not stock them, although almost all of the branches South of the Border do... "do we really have that much less dispoable income:rolleyes:"

It was £6300(have to pay the RRP) with the vouchers that i have, and i have 4 weeks that they will hold it for before giving me a full refund. However just now counting it looks like ill have nearer £5k of vouchers so perhaps i should rethink and go for the GMT or the submariner, do both hold their value just as well. The Submariner, looks more my preference.

...off to call Goldsmiths now to see exactly how much they sell both models for. Great advice here, thanks

UPDATE:
So the Submariner is £3500(without date) and £3900(with). The GMT is £4300, both cheaper than i thought. Might just stick with the Deep Sea-dweller, or as the girl on the phone called it 'Beckhams watch'. Apparently they will hold it for up to 6 months; not 4 weeks, if the deposit has been paid which would give me more time to raise the remainder in vouchers. Just hope i have it locked down at that price and it does not go up in January with the VAT increase.

VAT is due at the time of payment and cannot be locked by the vendor (I think) so I would make very sure about that. It is simply tax that is due at the time of the sale.