How to buy duty free other than at the airport?
Everybody knows you can buy things duty free at airports if you are leaving for or coming from another country.
(You can also buy on airplanes and I think I've seen on some international ferries and some land border crossings.)
But rent for retail space in airports is so high that you can often end up paying higher prices without duty at the airport than you could pay including the duty in a regular shop in the city away from the airport. I guess this is why airport duty free shops are full of luxury items...
But I seem to recall being told the best way to shop when travelling overseas is to do something like buying from duty free shops in cities or somehow buying from regular shops but without duty ... but I don't know the details.
Where can you buy things duty-free outside airports? Can any shop sell without duty to people with plane tickets? Are there duty-free shops in most cities? If it varies by country and city, what are the common variations and how can I know which is possible in a given place?
Best Answer
The nearest thing I know of to what you're asking about is the ability for visitors to some countries to another country to either buy an item and avoid tax provided the item is shipped directly abroad; or to pay full price, but apply for a refund of the taxed amount after returning home. Details vary country to country (if offered at all), and usually required collecting receipts and filling out forms, and possibly getting something stamped at the point of departure. There's often a minimum per-item amount, and not all stores may participate in one or either scheme. Often stores where tourists are likely to make big-item purchases (eg. department stores hoping to sell an expensive cashmere sweater) will have "Tax Free Shopping For Visitors/Tourists" signs in their windows. Also notable that within the EU, this generally only applies to visitors from outside of the EU.
A couple of examples of this that I know of:
Tax Free Worldwide is an agent for tax refunds in Ireland and several other European countries. They do take a cut of the refund amount, however.
It seems it's possible to deal directly with the Irish Revenue folks yourself if you with to avoid the agent fees.
Visitors to Canada can also claim a rebate
Global Blue appears to be another type of agent, so may take a cut, but either way the site has more info on the topic.
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Answer 2
Well there is one way to get duty free products at places other than the airports. The most easiest and cost-effective way is finding the right traveller to get it for you who is not going to use the duty free allowance he has.
Now this sounds a bit off, but actually it is very easy and a lot of people do it as well. You don't have to worry about finding anyone - just download apps that do it for you.
For instance one that I use is proxymate (download from the link) - it is a simple app where I can place the request for products I need including duty free goods and the registered travellers get notified and a willing traveller will then approach you.
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Images: Pixabay, Tim Douglas, Ketut Subiyanto, Tim Douglas