Taxes on watches in Hong Kong?

[dolce]

Hi everyone,

I am coming to Hong Kong for a holiday in June and was wanting to buy a watch. I have heard Hong Kong is tax free. Does anyone know if there will be tax on a Swiss watch with an RRP of ~£4800 in the UK? (I don't want to pay the VAT in the UK if I can get it cheaper elsewhere)

Maybe a better question is to ask if anyone knows where to find a RRP price list in Hong Kong.

Thanks

[virago]

HK is tax free.

I would call the store directly to get a price. You should be able to find the contact details from their website whichever brand you are wanting.

[vmlinuz]

There is no VAT/sales tax in Hong Kong, and there are almost no duties, with the exception of tobacco, strong booze, 'hydrocarbon fuel' (i.e. petrol/diesel/etc.) and methyl alcohol, for some reason.

You would probably theoretically become liable for VAT when you go back to the UK, but it would be up to your own conscience as to whether you declared your taxable watch, or took the (probably small, particularly if you're a Brit) chance of getting pulled up...

[aslan]

You should be able to get a discount on the watch in HK as well which is something I doubt you will get in the U.K.

[imparanoic]

You should be able to get a discount on the watch in HK as well which is something I doubt you will get in the U.K.

I noted when my friend brought a swiss watch from cwb, it was crowded with locals, mainlanders and westerners

you will get a better discount if you speak cantonese, i noted that a westerner haggled in english and was offered some discount, while the mainlander spoken mandarin next to none discount even with intense haggling, no doubt it will vary by which store

[TheBrit]

I doubt it really matters what language you speak. It is all to do with the salespersons perceptions on how much they can actually take you for. All these watches are sold at a gross profit margin of 90% plus - so the material & assembly cost is less than 10% of the retail price.

They have a huge margin to cut prices to lure people to buy... whether they do so depends on what they think they need to do to close the sale.

Have a look at Hengdeli (3389 HK) if you want to see how the watch market has exploded recently.

[imparanoic]

I doubt it really matters what language you speak. It is all to do with the salespersons perceptions on how much they can actually take you for. All these watches are sold at a gross profit margin of 90% plus - so the material & assembly cost is less than 10% of the retail price.

They have a huge margin to cut prices to lure people to buy... whether they do so depends on what they think they need to do to close the sale.

Have a look at Hengdeli (3389 HK) if you want to see how the watch market has exploded recently.

have you heard of 鬼佬價 (transliterated as gwai lo ga) which applies to a lot of purchases within hk, there is even a cafe in cwb that had price differentials between chinese and english menu for the same items.

[TheBrit]

have you heard of 鬼佬價 (transliterated as gwai lo ga) which applies to a lot of purchases within hk, there is even a cafe in cwb that had price differentials between chinese and english menu for the same items.

Yes, I have. I hope you are not seriously comparing a $30 bowl of noodles with a $60,000 watch? There are some teensy-weensy differences in the two markets which you might like to ponder before thinking noodles and watches are comparable.

[shri]

TheBrit - There are price and negotiation differences on high priced items like watches and jewelry. Unfortunately in this case, I know imparanoic is right. Lets not dig a hole with noodles ....

[TheBrit]

TheBrit - There are price and negotiation differences on high priced items like watches and jewelry. Unfortunately in this case, I know imparanoic is right. Lets not dig a hole with noodles ....

Yes, I know imparanoic is right and there are restaurants which overcharge westerners. Unless you had problems reading my post you should have been able to discern that.