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DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

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Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#21

Post by kintamanimatt »

adamt wrote: post #18
corford wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, one of the nice things with using US services that bill in USD (apart from the current exchange rate benefit) is there's no VAT to pay. So, UK retail customers at least, get a 20% discount compared to using home grown offerings. Personally, I love being able to spin up Linode (and now DO) vms in London but pay USD prices.

Whether or not VAT is payable is independent of what currency is used to bill in. If you're using a VPS in the UK then there's almost certainly VAT payable by the vendor. If they are in another EU country, and you're VAT registered, and they have your VAT number they can zero-rate the transaction.

They can do that if you're in the same country too.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#22

Post by kintamanimatt »

vertex-four wrote: post #7
raiyu wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the moment all of our billing across all of our geographies is done in US dollars, which given the exchange rate of the UK and EU is usually within your favor. Is there a conversion charge that your credit card company levies on you for paying in US$?

My bank will charge £1.50 plus a variable commission for paying in anything but GBP.

Who's that? Halifax? They're great for everything else but non-GBP debit card transactions, and why I moved to HSBC and Co-Operative Bank.

CaxtonFX are also really good for foreign currency cards (2% markup, which is lower than I get with any of my British banks) and have really good customer service too.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#23

Post by dmacedo »

marcosscriven wrote: post #19
corford wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, one of the nice things with using US services that bill in USD (apart from the current exchange rate benefit) is there's no VAT to pay. So, UK retail customers at least, get a 20% discount compared to using home grown offerings. Personally, I love being able to spin up Linode (and now DO) vms in London but pay USD prices.

How is there a benefit at the 'current' exchange rate? If the price isn't set in GBP, what have you got to compare against, regardless of the rate right now?

You compare against previous payments...

If you were never in that situation, my experience is in paying less over time as both GBP/EUR have been getting stronger than USD.

Plus, pricing in the home currency is usually larger than the exchange rate (i.e. $10 = £5.83, so pricing would probably be something like $10, £6. Or even more - if not $10/£10 - you know who does that!...)

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#24

Post by kintamanimatt »

jordanthoms wrote: post #12
justincormack wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not in our favour unless our exchange rate appreciates every month more than our fees. And yes we get charged just like you would if I charged euros to your card.

Most good US cards don't charge an extra fee for non-USD transactions.

They do, they just hide it in the applied exchange rate.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#26

Post by fendale »

jordanthoms wrote: post #11
vertex-four wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My bank will charge £1.50 plus a variable commission for paying in anything but GBP.

Ouch. Seems credit cards out of the US are nowhere near as good, common there to have no foreign transaction fees (apart from probably some margin on the exchange rate).

If you shop around in the UK for a credit card, you will get one with zero fees and an excellent exchange rate on foreign currency transactions.

I use the Halifax Clarity card and I believe The Nationwide and the Post Office do a good card too.

I'd never use a Debit Card for foreign currency transactions though, they always seem to have fees involved.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#28

Post by corford »

adamt wrote: post #18
corford wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, one of the nice things with using US services that bill in USD (apart from the current exchange rate benefit) is there's no VAT to pay. So, UK retail customers at least, get a 20% discount compared to using home grown offerings. Personally, I love being able to spin up Linode (and now DO) vms in London but pay USD prices.

Whether or not VAT is payable is independent of what currency is used to bill in. If you're using a VPS in the UK then there's almost certainly VAT payable by the vendor. If they are in another EU country, and you're VAT registered, and they have your VAT number they can zero-rate the transaction.

Yeah, I'm talking for retail customers who don't have a VAT number and can't benefit from the reverse charge scheme.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#29

Post by corford »

justincormack wrote: post #16
corford wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, one of the nice things with using US services that bill in USD (apart from the current exchange rate benefit) is there's no VAT to pay. So, UK retail customers at least, get a 20% discount compared to using home grown offerings. Personally, I love being able to spin up Linode (and now DO) vms in London but pay USD prices.

There is VAT to pay and these companies are required to register for VAT and charge it I believe. Eg see http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110202144320/htt...

That doc is dated 2003 so I guess the regs have changed (and there have been some pretty major changes recently like CA2006 and FA2011). I certainly don't get VAT invoices from the US suppliers I use (linode and digital ocean for example).

Edit: The 4th paragraph here seems to settle it: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/vatpossmanual/vatposs14300.ht...

The reverse charge mechanism places the burden for accounting for VAT on the recipient if the supplier is outside the UK.

Re: DigitalOcean: Introducing Our London Region

#30

Post by corford »

marcosscriven wrote: post #19
corford wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, one of the nice things with using US services that bill in USD (apart from the current exchange rate benefit) is there's no VAT to pay. So, UK retail customers at least, get a 20% discount compared to using home grown offerings. Personally, I love being able to spin up Linode (and now DO) vms in London but pay USD prices.

How is there a benefit at the 'current' exchange rate? If the price isn't set in GBP, what have you got to compare against, regardless of the rate right now?

I'm working on the assumption that if they suddenly started offering services in GBP, they'd price at £5 rather than $5 (like virtually all companies do). Meaning the same service would end up costing £2/month more than it does atm with the current exchange rate.
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