Hi Fellow Shopifiers,
My name is Jeroen Krielaars, and I run a webshop called Animography. I am based in the Netherlands and sell digital downloads. Being a EU based Shopify merchant, I am terribly frustrated by the fact that Shopify does not support VAT exemption.
The problem in a nutshell:
If an EU based customer with a valid VAT number places an order in a different EU country, no VAT should be added to the sales price. Shopify does not support a way to automatically validate VAT numbers during the checkout process. This makes it impossible to exclude business-to-business costumers from VAT.
When this problem is adressed, this is Shopify's reaction:
Thanks so much for the valuable feedback. We will take note of this and discuss it with the technical staff. The solution we offer is that you validate the VAT numbers yourself, and make a refund of the VAT to those who are eligible.
They have been saying that to lots of EU based Shopify merchants for well over a year now.
What they really mean to say:
We acknowledge the problem, but we are mainly focussed on North American businesses and don't want to spend our valuable time on proper EU VAT handling.
The solution:
A field in the checkout process where costumers can fill in their VAT number. This will the be validated by a publicly accessible database. If the VAT number is a match with the database, no VAT will be added on top of the sales price. Simple as that. Please note that lots of other e-commerce platforms are already using this method. So Shopify does not have to invent the wheel here. It's simply a case of implementing something that already exists.
With a quick browse on the Shopify fora you'll notice a lot of people are utterly frustrated by this problem, and the way Shopify chooses to ignore it. It makes it almost impossible to run an e-commerce business. On the other hand, it is a lot of work to switch to another e-commerce platform, after setting up your business. And to be honest, Shopify does a really great job on all the other aspects of e-commerce. It's just this tiny, but super important aspect, that causes a big problem.
So, why this petition?
Up until now a lot of individuals have been complaining about it. All the 'valuable feedback' has led to nothing. Instead of putting in individual requests, let's unite! Maybe when we all join forces, we can apply enough pressure on the Shopify team to address this point of feedback.
Plan B.
If Shopify chooses to keep ignoring the issue, we can all chip in to hire a programmer to address the issue as a third party. The Shopify App Store is full of solutions that are not standard within the platform. I'm positive, the solution can be handled from the outside as well. With a big enough group we can crowdfund an app we can all benefit from.
Strength in numbers!
I know only a few merchants myself, so please help to share this petition. Let's rally up fellow merchants and even your frustrated costumers. Then maybe next time we can address a real problem, like starving puppy's and burned down rainforests. But for now, let's get get out damn EU VAT Exemption!!!
#ShopifyVATexemption
Shopify, you know we love you. But like Jerry Maguire says; 'Help me, help you!'
UPDATE!!!
I got contacted by Sufio, a third party app that supports the functionality of automatic VAT validation. They have a really useful VAT guide on for Shopify owners selling in the EU: http://sufio.com/articles/shopify/selling/vat-eu-c...
And here's how to implement it http://sufio.com/articles/shopify/selling/vat-eu-c...
If you'd like to give it a go, please consider using our referral link: http://sufio.com/shopify/invoice/eu/?ref=xocf67sd It would be very much appreciated.
In the meantime, we are still active to get this working as a standard feature in Shopify. So keep the signatures and comments going!
Updates
July 4, 2016
The momentum behind this initiative has grown significantly in recent days. Your continued engagement confirms that the current checkout limitations are a widespread concern for many merchants operating within the European Union.
Reached 100 supporters
July 4, 2016
110 Comments
This should be a standard feature. Absolutely crucial to any business selling in the EU. Without this feature, Shopify eliminates trading with any vat registered business and public institution in the EU.
It's not just for B2B sales - I have customers who are disabled and have a right to claim vat free priced products and I do not have the ability to apply this to Shopify.
Please implement this .. it really has been years in they making. We either have to accept a 20% hit on an order or charge everyone VAT. It simply is not good enough.
Same problem for our wine webshop in Belgium. We are close to the Dutch border and maintain a growing business with B2B customers from the Netherlands. This results in a lot of extra manual interventions to refund the VAT amounts by credit notes. When could this be solved please?
I hope this can be solved in an elegant way. Also we need the VAT number for national market for invoice purposes and to deal with local particularities as the equivalence surcharge in Spain.
Spend hours searching how to fix it. Then spend hours with Shopify support for a fix. Finally they admit there is no fix.
ในช่วงเวลานี้ เชื่อว่าคนไทยนั้นจะต้องประสบพบปัญหาว่างงานหรือมีปัญหาเรื่องของการเงินอย่างแน่แท้ เนื่องจากว่าไม่ว่าจะเป็นเศรษฐกิจที่เสื่อมถอย ไม่อาจจะทำงานหาเงิน วันนี้ทางคาสิโนออนไลน์เว็บตรงมีวิธีการหาเงินกล้วยๆกับการเล่นslotonlineที่เป็นเกมออนไลน์หาเงินได้จริง สามารถหารายได้ออนไลน์ได้ทุกที่ตลอดทั้งวัน 24 ชั่วโมง ซึ่ง g2gbk8 เป็นเกมสล็อตเว็บตรงมีความปลอดภัยถูกกฎหมายคาสิโนสากล ยืนยันจากผู้เล่นจริงทั่วทั้งประเทศ เพื่อนๆสามารถหาเงินง่ายๆ โดยทาง g2gbk8 นั้นมีค่ายเกมเว็บตรง joker,pg slot ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์,xoslot เว็บตรง,superslot เว็บตรง เพียงแค่สมัครสล็อต xo เว็บตรงกับทาง g2gbk8 ที่เป็นคาสิโนออนไลน์เว็บตรง ซึ่งไม่ผ่านผู้แทนหรือตัวกลางใดๆเล่นslot machineได้โดยตรงกับค่ายเกม มีเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ให้เลือกเล่นมากยิ่งกว่า 500 เกมส์ แล้วก็ยังมีบริการต่างๆมากที่จะเพิ่มความสบายสบายให้กับสมาชิกเว็บตรง ไม่ว่าจะเป็นการฝาก-ถอน ไม่มีอย่างต่ำรวมทั้งมีความรวดเร็วประเมินผลด้วยระบบai มีความแม่นยำสูง ไม่จำเป็นต้องส่งหลักฐานการโอนให้กับทางผู้ดูแลให้เสียเวล่ำเวลา หรือจะเป็นโปรโมชั่นแจกเครดิตฟรี100% หรือจะเป็นโปรฝาก 50 รับ 200 คนไทยสามารถหาเงินออนไลน์ได้แล้วที่เว็บสล็อตแตกง่าย 2022 ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ G2GBK8
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Hi Fellow Shopifiers,
My name is Jeroen Krielaars, and I run a webshop called Animography. I am based in the Netherlands and sell digital downloads. Being a EU based Shopify merchant, I am terribly frustrated by the fact that Shopify does not support VAT exemption.
The problem in a nutshell:
If an EU based customer with a valid VAT number places an order in a different EU country, no VAT should be added to the sales price. Shopify does not support a way to automatically validate VAT numbers during the checkout process. This makes it impossible to exclude business-to-business costumers from VAT.
When this problem is adressed, this is Shopify's reaction:
Thanks so much for the valuable feedback. We will take note of this and discuss it with the technical staff. The solution we offer is that you validate the VAT numbers yourself, and make a refund of the VAT to those who are eligible.
They have been saying that to lots of EU based Shopify merchants for well over a year now.
What they really mean to say:
We acknowledge the problem, but we are mainly focussed on North American businesses and don't want to spend our valuable time on proper EU VAT handling.
The solution:
A field in the checkout process where costumers can fill in their VAT number. This will the be validated by a publicly accessible database. If the VAT number is a match with the database, no VAT will be added on top of the sales price. Simple as that. Please note that lots of other e-commerce platforms are already using this method. So Shopify does not have to invent the wheel here. It's simply a case of implementing something that already exists.
With a quick browse on the Shopify fora you'll notice a lot of people are utterly frustrated by this problem, and the way Shopify chooses to ignore it. It makes it almost impossible to run an e-commerce business. On the other hand, it is a lot of work to switch to another e-commerce platform, after setting up your business. And to be honest, Shopify does a really great job on all the other aspects of e-commerce. It's just this tiny, but super important aspect, that causes a big problem.
So, why this petition?
Up until now a lot of individuals have been complaining about it. All the 'valuable feedback' has led to nothing. Instead of putting in individual requests, let's unite! Maybe when we all join forces, we can apply enough pressure on the Shopify team to address this point of feedback.
Plan B.
If Shopify chooses to keep ignoring the issue, we can all chip in to hire a programmer to address the issue as a third party. The Shopify App Store is full of solutions that are not standard within the platform. I'm positive, the solution can be handled from the outside as well. With a big enough group we can crowdfund an app we can all benefit from.
Strength in numbers!
I know only a few merchants myself, so please help to share this petition. Let's rally up fellow merchants and even your frustrated costumers. Then maybe next time we can address a real problem, like starving puppy's and burned down rainforests. But for now, let's get get out damn EU VAT Exemption!!!
#ShopifyVATexemption
Shopify, you know we love you. But like Jerry Maguire says; 'Help me, help you!'
UPDATE!!!
I got contacted by Sufio, a third party app that supports the functionality of automatic VAT validation. They have a really useful VAT guide on for Shopify owners selling in the EU: http://sufio.com/articles/shopify/selling/vat-eu-c...
And here's how to implement it http://sufio.com/articles/shopify/selling/vat-eu-c...
If you'd like to give it a go, please consider using our referral link: http://sufio.com/shopify/invoice/eu/?ref=xocf67sd It would be very much appreciated.
In the meantime, we are still active to get this working as a standard feature in Shopify. So keep the signatures and comments going!
Updates
July 4, 2016
The momentum behind this initiative has grown significantly in recent days. Your continued engagement confirms that the current checkout limitations are a widespread concern for many merchants operating within the European Union.
Reached 100 supporters
July 4, 2016
110 Comments
this is a basic requirement, if I would have known that this was not available, I would have never started a store using shopify. Other platforms like Ecwid offer this as a default
This should be a standard feature. Absolutely crucial to any business selling in the EU. Without this feature, Shopify eliminates trading with any vat registered business and public institution in the EU.
It's not just for B2B sales - I have customers who are disabled and have a right to claim vat free priced products and I do not have the ability to apply this to Shopify.
Please implement this .. it really has been years in they making. We either have to accept a 20% hit on an order or charge everyone VAT. It simply is not good enough.
Same problem for our wine webshop in Belgium. We are close to the Dutch border and maintain a growing business with B2B customers from the Netherlands. This results in a lot of extra manual interventions to refund the VAT amounts by credit notes. When could this be solved please?
I hope this can be solved in an elegant way. Also we need the VAT number for national market for invoice purposes and to deal with local particularities as the equivalence surcharge in Spain.
Spend hours searching how to fix it. Then spend hours with Shopify support for a fix. Finally they admit there is no fix.
ในช่วงเวลานี้ เชื่อว่าคนไทยนั้นจะต้องประสบพบปัญหาว่างงานหรือมีปัญหาเรื่องของการเงินอย่างแน่แท้ เนื่องจากว่าไม่ว่าจะเป็นเศรษฐกิจที่เสื่อมถอย ไม่อาจจะทำงานหาเงิน วันนี้ทางคาสิโนออนไลน์เว็บตรงมีวิธีการหาเงินกล้วยๆกับการเล่นslotonlineที่เป็นเกมออนไลน์หาเงินได้จริง สามารถหารายได้ออนไลน์ได้ทุกที่ตลอดทั้งวัน 24 ชั่วโมง ซึ่ง g2gbk8 เป็นเกมสล็อตเว็บตรงมีความปลอดภัยถูกกฎหมายคาสิโนสากล ยืนยันจากผู้เล่นจริงทั่วทั้งประเทศ เพื่อนๆสามารถหาเงินง่ายๆ โดยทาง g2gbk8 นั้นมีค่ายเกมเว็บตรง joker,pg slot ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์,xoslot เว็บตรง,superslot เว็บตรง เพียงแค่สมัครสล็อต xo เว็บตรงกับทาง g2gbk8 ที่เป็นคาสิโนออนไลน์เว็บตรง ซึ่งไม่ผ่านผู้แทนหรือตัวกลางใดๆเล่นslot machineได้โดยตรงกับค่ายเกม มีเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ให้เลือกเล่นมากยิ่งกว่า 500 เกมส์ แล้วก็ยังมีบริการต่างๆมากที่จะเพิ่มความสบายสบายให้กับสมาชิกเว็บตรง ไม่ว่าจะเป็นการฝาก-ถอน ไม่มีอย่างต่ำรวมทั้งมีความรวดเร็วประเมินผลด้วยระบบai มีความแม่นยำสูง ไม่จำเป็นต้องส่งหลักฐานการโอนให้กับทางผู้ดูแลให้เสียเวล่ำเวลา หรือจะเป็นโปรโมชั่นแจกเครดิตฟรี100% หรือจะเป็นโปรฝาก 50 รับ 200 คนไทยสามารถหาเงินออนไลน์ได้แล้วที่เว็บสล็อตแตกง่าย 2022 ไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ G2GBK8
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this is a basic requirement, if I would have known that this was not available, I would have never started a store using shopify. Other platforms like Ecwid offer this as a default