I plan to buy some electronics in Darty online store. They don't deliver to Geneva, but I have friends who live not far away from the border in France, so I am thinking of arranging the delivery there.
The reason why I am doing it this way is because Darty seems to have all I need in "one place" and it is cheaper than in Geneva. I could have gone to the store itself, which is in Annemasse, but they don't deliver from there to geneva either, so I decided to do it online.

My question is - can you get a tax refund on the border if you buy things from French online store and they deliver it to France?

Anybody had any problems with Darty?

Thanks.

Any VAT refund has to be initiated by the seller at the point of sale in the form of a completed signed and stamped form that you hand in at the border. The refund comes weeks later less commission for the handling company.

However, if their online store was set up correctly they a would charge the French VAT rate to all sales in the EU and zero outside the EU...

Thanks.

I don't think the website is set up for that.
I heard that after you place the order, pay and receive the merchandise you then have to go to the store, present the pasport and the will issue the form for the customs.

Curious - how much is the commision for the handling?

This is most strange but each seller has their own methods...

Commission can vary between 100% and 0%. It all depends on how they do it. If they use Global Refund then they look up in a table the amount of refund you receive for the amount you have spent. Circa 50% of the value is held by Global Refund and the seller, however this starts at say €40 ie under that you receive nothing and then increase up to around 10% of the total spend. If on the other hand they have an export form to fill out then you will receive normally 100% of the VAT.

Thanks for the info.