Re: tobacco sales

Brian -

> Hello all.
> I was just recently approached by a gentleman from England who wishes to
> have a site that sells tobacco products, mainly cigarettes. He has
> expressed that this is perfectly legal; I have my doubts, but it may be
> different in England. Does anyone know whether the sale of tobacco over
the
> internet is legal or not? Thank  you!
>
> Brian
> http://www.elysian-design.com/

Hmm. I'm a smoker myself, based in the UK, so it'd be a nice idea, but IIRC,
there was a company recently, based (I think) in the Canary Islands, that
ran into a lot of problems with this. Firstly, keep in mind that smokes over
here (even roll-your-own) is *heavily* taxed. On average, I think it's
something like 75% tax on each packet. And that does not include VAT,
another 17.5% on top of the gross price!

While the initial idea that inter-EU sales are fine, with no additional VAT
to pay, this does not take into account the various duties that EU nations
charge their own citizens for tobacco-related products. This, IIRC, is where
that company fouled up. One of the BBC television investigative programs (I
think it was "Watchdog"; deals in commercial wrong-doings and consumer
issues), ran a couple of items about this a year ago or so. The reason I
recall this, is that there was a web-based part to their business, but it
was based someplace else. IIRC, the company in question closed their doors
over the tax angle, leaving many customers out of pocket, with no product.

I am *not* for a moment suggesting that this potential client is related in
any way with that series of events. However, tread carefully - the last
thing you want is to be left 'holding the baby'.

I'd check exactly what this potential client wants to do, then check with a
lawyer with *good* international, UK, and Inter-EU, law under his/her/it's
belt, before taking this on. If all pans out fine, good luck, but I'd tread
cautiously, to start with.

Good luck!

Best regards,

Roger Stenning
Webmaster,
the Impossible Scenarios Group
www.the-isg.co.uk
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