Reply to post: Re: Apple said the case was not about "how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it."

Re: Apple said the case was not about "how much tax we pay, but where we are required to pay it."

Did that.

Was made to buy a ton of iPads for a workplace.

Got them from some grey import from Singapore in the end. Damn sight cheaper, and I have an invoice from the usual IT supplier to say we paid for them in full - they're legit, and I wouldn't be liable for any taxation reinspection on them, so it's not my business where they have come from.

Signed them all up, they all worked, for many years - some still in use years later despite my protestations. Never had a problem.

The only issue is that Apple won't support them, but given responses received from Apple's support on a number of issues in the past, that's actually one headache less than if I had bought them in this country.

Our usual suppliers threw all kinds of accusations at the company that supplied them (who we obviously went with because they were so much cheaper), but as a customer, that's not my problem - we weren't dealing with cowboys, so where our supplier gets them is their business, and they were very upfront in emails etc. that they were imports from Singapore.

I'm far more concerned that it's cheaper to buy the same product in Singapore, ship it halfway round the world and STILL undercut all your competitors, than it would be to just buy the product direct in this country. That's the issue, as far as I can tell. And I don't believe that whoever imported them didn't actually pay import taxes, etc., as they were quite openly on the record doing so and it's not easy to import thousands of iPads under the radar, I imagine.

When the profit margin for all involved happily ships expensive containers of heavy, valuable items around the world and still wins, there's something wrong with the business model.