If you buy from abroad, you get no sales tax ... you get import duties instead, which is set by where you live. Unless I've been mistaken ever since school ...
I guess you have been wrong ever since school then ... but in relation to Cheung's post you, outside of the EU anyway, don't or shouldn't be charged the sales tax of the seller's country. Instead you can, or should be, pay the much higher Belgian "sales" tax on values greater than 22 euro. Import duties are not in play until value of goods is above 150 euro (like textile tax for example on denim jeans) ... In the past these import duties were also charged starting from 22 euro and then it can really add up on certain items like clothing (believe me I know ). Obviously badminton rackets have a completely different TARIC code and the % is probably quite low so is nothing compared to the BTW percentage. But like maarten mentioned Adidas is out in France roughly about now.
OT: import tax on women's denim now 38% up from the 12% I just found for men's http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/03/business/la-fi-denim-tariff-20130503 "Third country duty (01-01-2005 - ) : 12.00 % R1789/03 United States of America (US) Additional duties (01-05-2013 - 30-04-2014) : 26.00 % (TM600) R0349/13" just to show an example ... The way it worked was first these import duties were charged and added to the total value and only after that the BTW was calculated (iirc) For badminton rackets the duty is only 2,70%.
Well, I stand corrected ... Though all these rules ... Why is it so complicated? But if you import it from France, you'll never get to test it out beforehand. I always think it's very important, if you want to make sure of a good purchase.
EU protectionism "". Try before buy would be the best situation indeed. Perhaps visit the demo days and then order online. Chances of a shop near you carrying Adidas and having demo rackets available shouldn't be the big I imagine for the time being ...
http://badmania.fr/badminton-124-raquette-adidas.html#menu Shipping should be quite cheap as well to certain countries ...
I already asked my local shop, and they said they wouldn't be carrying Adidas, though they're aware of them, and they'll pick it up if it becomes popular. I wonder how they'll know it's getting popular if they don't put it on the market ...
Cheung, is there enough weight on top of the head to get the smash down? From all the pictures i have seen it seems the top of the head is quite thin as well so although the bp is 295mm but i am worry there's no enough weight on top of the head. thanks
Hi. There is not much weight on the top of the head. That is true. Whether that affects the direction downwards is a different issue. I didn't have a problem making the shuttle go downwards. However, some people like to have heaviness or 'weight' behind the smash. I don't think this is a racquet that has that charateristic.
Ermm... that make me wonder if it's really any better than my cheap Ashaway Superlight 99SQ - weights only 86g with string and AC102 grip on, bp 300mm. i can get decent power when i get it right.
Hey all, I received a PM about my review pointing out I described the AZP as 'headlight'. Certainly an interesting point that I hadn't picked up. I definitely feel the head is lightweight. However, the Adidas chart of the racquets classifies it as 'head heavy'. So my subjective feeling of the racquet is at odds with the Adidas' information that we are given. Just comparing the swings with the Precision Pro that I have, definitely the AZP is faster on the swings and I feel the head is lighter. The Precision Pro is placed right on the centre line between head heavy and head light but you can feel there is more weight in the head.
