Pixmania & VAT

I wonder if anyone has bought a camera from pixmania for a VAT registered business? I tried to do so today, and logged on to pixmania.com- the camera and extras came to €348, inclusive of VAT, but noticing I could not give my VAT number, I rang Pixmania- after an age holding, I was told to ring a different number, then after holding yet again, was told to order on pixmania-pro.com instead. Now when I got the total for the same goods on pixmania-pro.com, the VAT exclusive price was €391 ! So I duly rang again...anyway to cut a long story short, the rep told me that they could sell me the items at the Irish price only if I did a bank transfer rather than purchasing on-line by credit card. Even at that it seems I still won't be getting the same as €348 if it were VAT exclusive, because they will be using the UK Vat rates ? I've asked them for an e-mail confirming the above before I order, but wondered if anyone else has had similar difficulties.

I guess there wouldn't be that many people legitmately buying cameras for business purposes, so they may not have a tried & tested process for this.

You could be right. Most solicitors would have a camera ( accidents/ assaults & equity disputes), and I imagine most engineers. In fact it was a post on the legal/financial board that reminded me to order a new one as I had been using an old one from home that broke earlier this year. The whole pixmania thing is quite annoying though, as there is a big difference between the Irish price on pixmania.com ( which VAT exclusive should be €287) and the price on pixmania-pro.com ( €391). Although I'm still waiting for that e-mail, so it will be interesting to see what price they arrive at.