are advertising free international delivery for orders over £90
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Inter...F8&extid=14751

Never shop there myself but if you are desperate for striped pyjamas or such.
I assume free means one does not pay the transport costs but the usual extortionate Swiss Post inspection, handling & other fees will apply.

Good to know, only snag is that on orders of £90, you'll get hammered for import duty......there's always a sting in the tail

Cheers for the heads up.

If I understood correctly, there is no sales taxes charges on outside EU shipments. You will have to pay your taxes somewhere - either here or in the UK... In some cases it is really cheaper to pay Swiss MstW than British VAT. What you really cannot avoid is the 18.8CHF for custom inspection, and that is the same for a big or small shipment.

When I've bought/shipped uk goods to CH in the past, generally I've had to pay the UK vat on the goods (as there was no option to recalculate/remove vat) and then if the goods are over a certain amount (in my experience generally~ £30-40) I pay swiss duties again, which is annoying. If the package has a CN1 declaration form attached, then no inspection charge has been made.

Perhaps I'm unlucky and admittedly I haven't ordered via M&S though. If there's any tips or tricks to avoid extra charges, I'm all ears.

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Completely hatstand!

Do you know anyone living in a neighbouring (EU) country, close to the border? If so, have the goods sent there.

What you do with your new goods after you pick them up and bring them into Switzerland is your business. Naturally, you will declare your new goodies and pay the appropriate Swiss VAT. (Admittedly, this is probably most useful for people who live near the border, unless you're satisfied with only the occasional trip to pick up your booty.)

This is great and even if your order is below £90 then delivery charge is only £12.50 which is still very reasonable, great to know we now have M&S and Next to browse and order from now

On their first advert for international delivery they stated that are selling furniture too, but when I contacted them a call centre agent had no idea of international delivery

I was forwarded to some furniture department in one of the stores and told no they don`t do this at all

Not good at all absolute rubbish!

You can give it a try ordering it and if the order passes, they should stick to their promise ;-)

I would be very wary of ordering anything due to the TAX, fees etc I had to pay on a recent Boden clothes experience. I ordered £200 worth of women's and children's clothing. Some VAT was taken off at source but not off the cost of the children's clothing which is VAT free in the UK.

I got stung for a whooping 90 FR by the post office!

Even worse was that most of the clothes did not fit and I had to send them back!

The funny bit for me was when I spoke to the call centre agent, sounded like some sixteen year old who had just left school and started his first job.

Reminded of the type of person working in the stores in the UK, such as B.Q. or Dixons or Halfords, the person who knows only one thing but to pass the buck when you need to ask them a question which to far above their IQ.

This is the key requirement here. If the declaration is attached and they believe correctly completed, they will calculate customs on the value of the goods inside.

If M&S drop the VAT for non-EU and mark it correctly, everyone should be happy.

And a point to add is that corporate use of DHL and UPS means, in my experience, that the packet is never opened and the declaration is taken as honest.

Here's what M&S say on VAT outside the EU:

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Inter...elp/b/43739031

"Can I claim VAT back?

We cannot refund VAT on goods purchased from outside the European Union. Why? Because even though the price might look the same, we have not included VAT on any of these goods.

TAKE VAT applied at the checkout is an internal price adjustment to reflect the temporary change in the UK VAT rate. It is not a VAT refund."

Have to admit I'm mighty confused by that - they seem to be suggesting that they do not account for VAT on international deliveries outside EU (so no option for you to claim a refund), but they do still charge you the same price you'd pay if you went into a store in the UK and they had included the VAT?!

So you don't pay VAT (good) they just stick you with higher prices (very bad). I guess the only way to find out would be to order something and see if they really did still charge the same price.

THEY ARE RIPPING US OFF -

Firstly they say all prices include VAT

But THEN they say they do not charge VAT on deliveries outside the UK/EU

Then they state they have a flat delivery charge - per delivery not item.

Quite clear isn't it?That's what they say in their T&C as well ....

BUT what they DON'T tell you is that they charge you an inflated VAT exclusive price which just happens to be plus 17.5%!!!!
Get real M&S - be honest, transparent and up front about your charging ...tell us that International Shipping is VAT exclusive price plus 17.5% handling charge plus delivery fee ( bloody exhorbitant !!!) and I could cope by shopping elsewhere...just don't be evasive and lie to me!!!!!! :

Welcome to the forum!

I ordered a dress and yes the charge the same price. At the same time I ordered somethin at the White Company. They were able to deduct the VAT without any problems.

How many packets of Eccles Cakes and/or Sultana Butter biscuits would one have to order to reach GBP 90?

Who on earth do you expect to be working in call centres? The best and the brightest?

All the way from New Zealand too

Not any more. Stealth Mod has made him go away...

I have ordered from them and there is nothing you can do to remove UK VAT from the price. Personally I think it's just a system thing where the implementers of their on-line system don't see it worthwhile building in VAT discrimination logic. I doubt the Swiss market is significant enough for them to change their systems but we can but hope it's on their todo list for the future.