New Philatelic Catalogues From Stanley Gibbons

Hi!

Last week I bought Great Britain Specialised Volume 1 Part 1 'Queen Victoria' Stamp Catalogue (1st Edition).

The book I have got looked as an used book. I complained to the seller that pretended that Stanley Gibbons did not deliver philatelic catalogues covered in a shrink-wrap. Last year I bought two brochures from Stanley Gibbons that had plastic protection.

All the previous new catalogues that I have recently bought (Yvert Tellier, Spink Maury and some others) have been delivered in a (plastic) shrink-wrap.

In case you bought new catalogues from Stanley Gibbons (maybe Victoria specialised), did they have a shrink-wrap or not?

Thanks in advance for your answer.

Late last year I purchased the 2022 Commonwealth and Empire catalogue new from Nordfrim. It arrived wrapped in plastic.

Dale

Hi I bought the Great britain Concise 2021 edition - it wss not wrapped.

Just because a book isn't wrapped in film doesn't mean that it isn't new. And just because a book is wrapped in film doesn't mean it will be in perfect condition. How is your catalogue damaged?

@GeoffHa

The front cover is dirty inside, extremely dusty, more than 2 cm close to the edge, more visible in the upper corner.
The first 55 pages are folded in the upper corner 2-3 cm, and all the other pages just a bit in the upper corner. The first page is also dirty in the upper corner. The upper corners of the cover look like being pressed in a strange way.

Is Stanley Gibbons printing house worse than Yvert Tellier, Spink Maury, Michel or SBHV (catalogues I have previously bought in perfect condition) or is the seller that carelessly treated this catalogue?

I can understand that new books are not always in perfect condition but they should not be sold for full price.

According to my previous experience with new philatelic catalogues I thought that it is a common practice to deliver them wrapped in plastic.

I just received the new SG Italy & Colonies direct from SG and it was not shrink wrapped.

In that case, I'd return it for a refund or an undamaged copy. Not all books are shipped from the publisher in perfect condition, so the problem could be with the publisher or the seller. Publishers may sell off damaged volumes cheap, although these will usually be marked as damaged.

I ordered the SG Specialised Volume 1, Part 1 from Amazon, two weeks ago. Buying it from SG would have commanded 22% VAT plus € 4, due to BREXIT. Together with SG's P&P, that would have made it more expensive than buying it post free from Amazon that ships from within the EU.

It came shrink-wrapped.

Should there be VAT on books? They've always been VAT-free here.

I have now had new issue stamps charged at 0% + € 4, 9% + € 4, and 22% + € 4. It is a lottery. They even charge a fee if you should not pay VAT. There was a scheme that allowed British companies to charge VAT for the EU, which would exempt them from British VAT. But Royal Mail no longer subscribes to it, or the scheme was abandoned.

For a recent £ 16 new issue, I had to pay almost € 8 in VAT and service fee. Paying between 30 and 50% extra on each order, I am considering giving up on GB new issues.

Books, normally are charged at 9% here. The 9% is the VAT tariff for printed matters and applies for items recognisable as 'books.' Buy a set at over - I think - € 122, and you get an additional 22% import duty. The morons at PostNL that charge theVAT and / or import duties just throw darts at the numbers. So, whereas 9% should be charged, you should not be surprised to be charged 22% and not get anything back when you object. It takes a lot of effort toget any overcharged VAT back as they, essentially, require you to prove they were wrong. And there reasoning is they are correct until they agree they are not.

The UK priced itself out of the European market due to Brexit. Some companies, like Twinings are smarter and ship from Northern Ireland. The Tories are hell-bent on reversing the Northern-Ireland agreement. So it may be a matter of time until they slam the door on those companies as well.

As far as I know, the Government has been all over the place on not charging VAT for overseas visitors, or enabling them to reclaim it. That's of a piece with the inept, damaging way in which pretty juch every aspect of the exit from the EU has been handled. Northern Ireland has done much better than other parts of the country out of the agreement, because of its mixed status. Whilst there are plainly arguments for revisiting elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the main Conservative and DUP thrust is ideological, not economic.