How to Shop Online and Get the Best Prices Delivered to Your Door!

Living in Britain, I'd become used to logging on to the net and ordering whatever I fancied from sites like Amazon, VAT-free and no delivery costs, but two years ago, life took me to Denmark (or rather the missus did!), and boy, was I in for a shock! Get this...a 25% sales tax, or MOMs, as it's called here on everything you buy, including food! Even so, after I'd been here a few months, I naively logged onto Amazon to buy a few English books I fancied. Everything looked fine as I added to my basket, but once at the checkout, the price of all the items more than DOUBLED, simply as a result of where they were being sent to.
So, get this, Amazon is selling the same goods to you, from the same warehouse, but you have to pay twice the price? Why? Well, turns out it isn't Amazons fault at all. You can blame the EU for this one, and this after all those years of cheek we were sold the EU with the excuse that it was going to be a free trade bloc of one big European Nation. Just because your books are going to be delivered to Denmark instead of the UK you have to pay delivery (okay, that one you can cope with) and an extra 25% sales tax. Ha ha, how I laughed as I gave up on my attempted purchase and prepared myself for a life of no reading ever again.
But then I discovered, completely by chance, a rather nifty outfit called Play, who based themselves in a small island off the coast of France, called Jersey that has zero sales tax. Better still, these guys even do free delivery to Denmark, and best of all to buy from them (or anywhere else in the world for that matter), is 100% legal, subject to certain limits. Wow, I was like a pig in.....err excuse me. Anyhow, to say the least I was a very happy man and logging on every other night from thereon buying all of the books I could possibly get my hands on to make up for lost time.
After this I really got into buying a lot of things I wanted elsewhere in the EU, and once you start getting into this buying abroad off the internet lark you'll realise that Amazon is the exception in charging Sales Taxes at the buyers' rate. Most EU based companies will only charge their local rate, 100% legal again. Well, this little bit of info opened up another new horizon! Blimey, I even found a little-used, SECRET way of buying from Amazon and avoiding the Sales tax. 100% LEGAL again, and you can read about it here as I'm happy to give you this secret for free.
Then I started thinking...how many other websites or shopping opportunities are there out there like this? Completely legal opportunities to beat the taxman and keep more of your own money in your own pocket, while buying exactly what you want. Hell, half this stuff isn't even available here! The same probably applies to whatever European country you happen to be living in right now. Am I right?
Now, just think about all those people out there who know nothing about these sites. Maybe this even includes you? You come back from the UK with a holdall full of English books or decent underwear (my partner does!) simply because you think you'll never get the chance to stock up again. Well, forget it! Now you can buy from the comfort of your own home with delivery to your door!
There is now a site of my favourite online shops! These are personally tested and recommended shops with great prices, a fantastic range, and best of all, free or low delivery costs to Denmark and most of the rest of Europe. You can visit it right now at www.expatshop.eu.

Pound in freefall, but the dollar hides it

I must admit that I have been worried about the Pound for some time, what with the trade deficit, budget deficit and now the Northern Rock crisis.

Actually, the trade deficit bothers me least of the problems, as Britain has a large reputation for investing abroad. The others are not so good. especially the Northern Rock crisis, since the implication is the government have magically created the necessary backup reserves out of thin air (is there any other method?)

Now, I notice that in the past couple of months, the Pound has dropped about 6% against the Euro and Danish Krone. This has hardly got a mention, as all the media are going on about the weakening Dollar and the bargains available for those taking a shopping trip to the USA.

So please, Germany and Holland, don't give in to whingeing France and Italy about needing a weaker Euro, and the usual rubbish about generating exports. A devalued currency helps no-one long term.

If it carries on like this, the Euro could become the world's new reserve currency, especially for pricing oil, at least until China is ready to claim its spot.

Just a thought.

As for me, I'm off to browse the internet for some bargains from Britain...

Questions and Answers From The Author

This book, by Alan Dunwiddie, is the ideal gold and silver investing guide for beginners. It is packed full of honest advice on the whys and hows of investing in gold and silver.

Here, Alan answers some of your questions

http://www.investgold.co.uk/invest_in_gold_and_silver_uk_fast_track.html

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZHepUhX3cYLnSqZV2tm_byrun3AD8SV1B5O2

So Liberty Dollar is now under attack by the US goverment, as well as E-gold. It's no surprise, since to many, the USA is turning into a fascist state reminiscent of 1930s Germany.

What made me laugh was that apparently the Fed says their minting of Silver dollars violates the constitution. Surely in any free nation, currency is whatever the people themselves decide it is, so if enough people had decided to use Liberty Dollars, in what way could that possibly have been illegal?

Tragic. In a funny way, I actually feel safer in the more socialist EU. For a start, with 24 nations in the EU, the chances of them agreeing on anything cross-borders are remote, and if one country does become not to your liking, then the answer is to move to another one with rules that suit you better.

Gold Investing cons

Please don't ever be conned by those dubious emails or websites offering you the chance to earn 0.5 to 5% PER DAY. Through "e-currency", gold or whatever. They often also chuck in a load of acronyms like HYIP (high yield investment plan), and the like.

I just found this example advertising on Google Adwords.

http://e-currencyprofitshome.com/?gclid=COjug5DY2Y8CFQJxaAodlSaW8g

If anyone can truly find an investment that returns that much per day, the best approach would be to keep quiet until you owned all the money in the entire world, which, with compounding actually probably wouldn't take as long as you think!

There are plenty of sites out there full of sad cases of people who are complaining about how their money has gone, no replies, no money back, etc. Actually, I don't think they are totally to blame because of their naiveity, since none of us ever get the right financial training in school to prepare us for the serious financial decisions we'll have to make in our adult lives.

The other sad thing is that E-gold is often the route for this money because it's harder to trace. I don't blame e-gold in the slightest, as these irreversible payments are a feature of a cash-based society instead of a credit one, but it probably will affect their credibility longer term.

The Big Government Inflation Game

When it comes to the official government inflation figures, these often understate true increases in the cost of living, due to the statistical reporting methods used. As the famous old adage goes, there are "lies, damned lies and statistics", and nowhere could this be truer than here. One trick is to reduce the real price still further if the assumed quality of an item included in the basket of goods has gone up in quality. For example, a 2007 computer could be classified as ten times more powerful than a 1997 computer, and even though they have the same retail price of say, £1,000; the figures are adjusted downward due to the increased processing power: whether you really needed that extra processing power, or whether it is even possible to buy a 1997 specification computer is not considered. Another trick is replacement, or substitution theory, where, say, if high quality beef rises in price, then it is assumed that many households will trade down to cheaper beef, or even some other type of meat.

Neither of these sound like correct ways to measure price increases in anything, but they do sound like nice ways to massage the true inflation figure downward.

What's the best way to get yourself and your savings outside of the inflationary, currency devaluation, welath destruction cycle? Buy Gold and Silver, and any other commodities you use in your daily life. Historically proven to usually work.

More Investing tips for UK Investors

If you live in the UK, you'll often hear a lot about how great tax-free ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts) are. But did you know about all the vested interests of financial advisors, banks, building societies and governments? Furthermore, did you ever realise how these interests all revolve about how much money they can squeeze out of you without you noticing?

Visit the Successful Tax-Free ISA Investing site and see this great new ebook that can give you all kinds of tips on saving fees and making the most of your investment pot. It even explains how you can put plain old gold and silver into your ISA ...legally!

It'll pay itself back many times over, for sure.

Invest Gold UK

This blog has been created in conjunction with the new gold investing book How to Invest in Gold and Silver, and website available at Invest Gold UK.

Hopefully it can become a forum for free and open Gold and Silver investing discussion.