Why am I being charged VAT?

The European Union's Value-Added Tax (VAT) is applied to an order only when a customer who resides in a member state of the EU purchases electronically-supplied services from a non-EU supplier, in our case through the eSellerate system.  eSellerate remits all VAT amounts collected to the appropriate taxation authorities in the EU.

Customers who represent an organization with VAT-exempt or VAT-deferred status may avoid paying VAT by entering the organization's VAT ID in the VAT ID field of the shopping cart.  The Web Store will query a Web service provided by the EU to verify the customer's VAT ID.  If the VAT ID is verified by the EU's Web service, no VAT will be collected on the order, and the customer's VAT ID will be displayed on the invoice / receipt following the completed purchase.

eSellerate's VAT ID is included at the bottom of every invoice / receipt.  The ID begins with "EU" and  was issued by Ireland's Office of the Revenue Collectors in Limerick, Ireland.  For all orders that include VAT, eSellerate's physical address is also included on the invoice / receipt.