Fashion & Beauty
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Anyone know about LV & Chanel prices in France?
Anyone know if the prices at Chanel or Louis Vuitton are less expensive in Paris? Going in a few weeks and am curious. I definitely plan on making a purchase at rue cambon anyway for the experience but wanted to check. Also, any makeup I should pick up there that isn't available here? Thank you!
Re: Anyone know about LV & Chanel prices in France?
No not less expensive. You do get the VAT back but with the exchange rate I'm not sure it's worth it.
It usually just a little cheaper, not a whole lot. I bought my speedy in europe 5 years ago and it was just a tad cheaper, like $40, which at the time the speedy was $500, so like 8% cheaper, and I didn't pay the 8.25% sales tax that we have here in TX.
I had done my research, and TPF is the best place for that (they have most of the current world wide prices for most popular items). I knew exactly what I wanted, how much it cost in US (tax included).
Don't forget to let them know that you want the VAT refund, because they have to give you a special form, and have your item handy, the tax office in airport likes to see the items, they didn't care so much about my shopping from Zara and H&M, but they wanted to see the LV bag and the Hermes tie I had bought.
If you know the US prices of the items you want to buy, you can check the exchange rate the day you make your purchase in the store and figure if it will come out cheaper to buy it there. And like the PP's mentioned, you get the VAT back if you do the paperwork and procedure with the customs desk. Ask what the VAT is at the store to see what percentage you get back, I recall it was around 19% for my purchase.
Have fun at the Rue Cambon store, it's a blast to shop in there. Much less hectic than the LV store on the Champs. Just a tip if you're looking to buy a Chanel classic flap bag at the Chanel store, they may not have it in stock when you go. That happened to me, so I did not buy my bag there.
Blog: Call Me Imelda
When I went to Italy in 2009 (when the Euro I think was a little stronger than it is now), LV was about 20% cheaper than it was in NY once you factored in price, exchange rate, VAT refund, and difference in sales tax. Not sure about Chanel. Hermes was about the same price as the US all things considered, so LV could have been the anomaly.
If you want to find out, go to the LV website and you can price compare by looking at the US prices and then the French prices.
One thing to keep in mind though is that you typically don't get 100% of VAT back. I think when I was in Italy last, VAT was 19ish%, but I only got 12% back at the VAT refund at Fiumicino.
But, for instance -- if I wanted to buy a Damier Speedy 30 right now... It is $775 in the US, plus I'd pay 8.7% sales tax, so it would be $842. In France it is 500 Euros, which is $665. And then I'd get a VAT refund off of that. If my math is right, not a bad deal at all.
Some of this has to do with the very frequent price increases by these lines, sometimes US lags behind europe and sometimes the other way around. So OP you may also want to find out when will be the next price increase.
You are correct, the VAT refund has different percentages, depending on the price of the goods. I didn't get the full refund, too.
Also if you are doing the above math, if you are using a credit card, you need to add the fee or find out if your card has any, or if you are buying cash, you will have some fees when exchanging. But those fees are generally not that significant.
Precisely, TX-Bride.
Yes, there is an adminstrative/processing fee that gets deducted from your VAT refund.
If you decide to get cash back at the point of departure for your VAT refund, you have to pay additional fees/charges, probably the exchange fee, and they rake you over the coals with very sh!tty exchange rates at airports, hotels, etc.
If you decide to get the VAT refunded with your credit card, you do not have to pay the exchange fee with the customs person in the foreign country.
However, you may have to pay an exchange fee to your credit card company.
Whenever we bought stuff in the EU, we used a CC that had no exchange fees and opted for the VAT refund as a credit to our CC account. So, we only paid one set of fees. And it was pretty close to the applicable VAT in the country we bought goods in.
Blog: Call Me Imelda
Just another note - if they ask if you want your credit card charged in dollars or euros, say euros. Your credit card company almost always has a better exchange rate than what stores give you.
I live in London right now and have bought a few Chanel purses and even with the exchange rate they have all been cheaper. It you have a layover at Heathrow, there is a Chanel (I think in terminal 3) and they have the cheapest prices world wide. (You get the whole vat back.) I'm not sure about the Paris prices and I second checking out the Purse Forum to do some pre trip research. Have fun!