VAT is one of the most common sources of confusion for anyone buying from Perfumedom for the first time. This article explains what VAT is, why the rate you see may differ from what you expect, and how tax exemption works for registered EU businesses.

The retail mindset

As consumers, we’re used to treating every price tag as final, whether we’re buying from the grocery store around the corner or from a large online retailer abroad. But that price already has Value Added Tax built into it, which is what makes checkout simple and spares us the math.

What is VAT, exactly?

VAT is an indirect tax applied across the EU on goods and services. It isn’t something a business owner controls, and it isn’t extra revenue for them. It’s money collected on behalf of, and owed to, the tax office of the country where the business is based.

Why the rate may differ from what you expect

If you’re buying from a business based in another country, in our case Greece, the VAT rate applied is the one where the goods originate, not your own country’s rate. Unless a company is registered for VAT in every EU country it sells to (something only the largest corporations do), this is standard practice across the EU.

Pricing on our website

Every product on Perfumedom is listed as “Exc. VAT,” with a note that pricing is VAT-free for valid VAT-ID EU businesses. If you’re new to buying from a B2B supplier, it’s a fair assumption that this means a discount for everyone. It doesn’t, it specifically applies to registered businesses with a valid EU VAT-ID.

Three questions determine whether that applies to you:

1. Are you a registered business? If not, standard VAT (24%) applies to your order.
2. Is your business based in the EU? We currently only ship within the EU, so this is a prerequisite.
3. Does your business hold a valid VAT-ID for intra-EU transactions? If not, or you’re unsure, your local tax office can help you get one set up. If yes, you qualify for tax exemption.

What “B2B” means for pricing

We supply both businesses and private customers but we operate mainly on a business-to-business model. We’re not a retailer, and we don’t sell finished products, our materials are inputs that other companies use to make their own goods. We do accept orders from individuals, but if our system doesn’t recognize you as a registered business, your order is processed as retail, VAT included.

How exemption is verified

We check every order against VIES, the EU’s official VAT validation platform, which cross-references your VAT number with your billing address at checkout. If everything matches, the system applies 0% VAT automatically.

If you believe your business should qualify but the exemption isn’t being applied, two things are worth checking: that your billing address matches your VAT registration exactly, and that your VAT-ID is formatted correctly (country prefix followed immediately by your VAT number, no spaces). You can verify your VAT-ID directly at the VIES platform.