Also, I've been trying to remember earlier books I've bought and I think I've mostly been paying the same amount for ebooks as everyone else just going on internet comments and so on
I suspect you bought them before VATMOSS came into effect? Before VATMOSS, Amazon charged every EU buyer the VAT costs of the country its main office is located in (Luxembourgh). If I recall, it also classed ebooks as books rather than digital products, meaning that all EU members paid 3% more than the list price for an ebook to cover the VAT costs.
After VATMOSS, however, Amazon is no longer allowed to do this. It has to charge EU customers VAT based on where they live. It also has to charge EU customers the VAT for digital goods. For Sweden, that comes to 25% VAT.
I'm not sure why Amazon is showing you a cheaper price in search results, but it's been doing that for as long as I've shopped there as well, I'm afraid. It's possible that the search result prices don't take IP addresses/geolocation into account. I could see that taking up quite a bit of resources when rendering a whole page full of prices, but it's incredibly annoying for consumers to be lied to like that.
Anyway! I'm not entirely sure why Amazon won't show people VAT-inclusive prices in the search results, but VATMOSS is why you're seeing the 25% increase in ebook costs.
no subject
I suspect you bought them before VATMOSS came into effect? Before VATMOSS, Amazon charged every EU buyer the VAT costs of the country its main office is located in (Luxembourgh). If I recall, it also classed ebooks as books rather than digital products, meaning that all EU members paid 3% more than the list price for an ebook to cover the VAT costs.
After VATMOSS, however, Amazon is no longer allowed to do this. It has to charge EU customers VAT based on where they live. It also has to charge EU customers the VAT for digital goods. For Sweden, that comes to 25% VAT.
I'm not sure why Amazon is showing you a cheaper price in search results, but it's been doing that for as long as I've shopped there as well, I'm afraid. It's possible that the search result prices don't take IP addresses/geolocation into account. I could see that taking up quite a bit of resources when rendering a whole page full of prices, but it's incredibly annoying for consumers to be lied to like that.
Anyway! I'm not entirely sure why Amazon won't show people VAT-inclusive prices in the search results, but VATMOSS is why you're seeing the 25% increase in ebook costs.
I hope that helps clarify things a little!