Pogue's Basics--Money by David Pogue

Author:David Pogue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

When you’re passing through an airport or seaport, you could argue that you’re not really in a country. So duty-free shops are stores where they don’t add on those whopping sales taxes, like VAT, GST, or consumption tax.

On top of that, they don’t pass on the import taxes that are normally built into the prices of imported products like liquor, tobacco, perfume, and jewelry. (Which is why duty-free shops tend to be mostly stocked with liquor, tobacco, perfume, and jewelry.)

Sounds great, right? You can buy stuff without being charged that massive 20 or 33 percent tax, and without having to go through the ritual of trying to get it back! In theory, that should save you a ton on things that are traditionally taxed to the hilt.

In practice, duty-free shops aren’t really much of a deal. Many of them now mark up their goods by that 20 or 33 percent. So you don’t save anything, but they pocket the equivalent of the taxes.

You may get discounts on tobacco; you can get deals on alcohol. Perfume and jewelry are usually less expensive outside the airport, though, once you get your VAT refund.

And souvenir-type stuff is always less expensive outside the airport.

The bottom line: Don’t buy anything at a duty-free shop unless you already know how much it would have cost downtown and you’re convinced that it’s a deal.

Scam ballpark: 25 percent markup

The beauty of an Airbnb trip

Airbnb.com is one of the great Internet-economy success stories. It’s a website where you can sign up to stay in someone’s home, instead of a hotel, when you travel.

Staying in an Airbnb offers three enormous benefits when you travel, and only two of them have to do with money.

First, Airbnbs are usually much cheaper than hotels. Second, because it’s a house or apartment, you can buy some groceries and make your own meals instead of eating in restaurants—further savings.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, an Airbnb is not a hotel. The rooms aren’t cookie-cutter clones, boring and commercial. You’re staying someplace that feels like a home; by the time you leave, you feel like you’ve really lived in your destination city, instead of just toured it.

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