ilmaestro said:
Where can you pre-pay, apart from Amazon?
Well, blow me down with a feather - I found out something interesting about this today.
The 'VAT pre-paid' thing has been a selling point of Planet Axel for as long as I can remember, as well as a few Amazon marketplace sellers. Amazon.com offer a pre-pay facility as well, apparently (though I've never been able to find it on their site, annoyingly!)
HOWEVER:
I was talking to a buddy of mine who works in comics retail today, and telling him about my recent sting. He listened to what I'd told him, looking a little concerned and then told me 'But... there is NO mechanism at all for pre-paying VAT or customs charges!'
As you can imagine, this leaves me a little concerned now.
I need to do some digging into this. I'm inclined to believe what my friend tells me, as he has a great deal of experience with importing goods for sale. If he is indeed correct, then it means that any claim by retailers that they can send goods with no fear of VAT and handling charges being levied isn't worth squat.
I'll share my findings when I have something concrete.