When I say I take advantage of my holidays in the UK to do some shopping some people think it’s weird, considering the high value of the pound. But the truth is I learnt how to shop well for less here. So here are some quick tips that might help you too:
- Non-Europeans who will export the product they bought to another continent are entitled to recieve the VAT (tax) back. All you need to do is request the ‘tax-free form’ when you’re paying. There’s usually a minimum amount for the purchase to qualify, between £30 and £50, depending on the shop. If your purchase qualifies, you’ll receive the VAT back, minus an admin fee. For small purchases, it might almost not be worth it, but for electronics or more expensive things, you can save a lot. In 2014 I bought an LV bag £1150 and received a little more than £100 back. Not bad!
- Do your shopping on Amazon UK and have it delivered to the address where you’ll stay, be it a hotel or a flat/someone’s house. As long as someone can receive the delivery, you’ll be ok. Hotels will usually do that for guests. Amazon has great prices and some promotions like Prime Day. This time we used that day to make most of our purchases before even getting here. An Xbox One with two games, extra controller and a controler keyboard (it came with it lol) that normally costs £300 was only £180 on Prime Day!
- The last tip is for people who come here often: open a bank account in the UK. If you’re in Brazil, you can transfer money over paying a fee (Itaú charges R$ 115,00) and the tax (IOF) is only 0,38%. Much lower than the IOF charged on international credit card purchases. And the exchange rate is not so bad. I paid R$ 4,40 for the pound when transfering from Itaú. My account is in HSBC Expat in Jersey, which allows for transactions in pound, euro and dollar. It’s really good for frequent travellers.
Well, I think that should help you save a little money and use your holiday here to do some shopping.
And remember: since Brexit the pound has gone down in value, so the UK is the cheapest place to buy luxury goods nowadays.
