The name says it all. Alibaba and the 40 th**ves

I made a purchase on Alibaba valued at 700€ and proceeded to check out with PayPal, once payment was made, within 5 minutes I received a phone call from Alibaba informing me that they have no stock and the shipping value in the listing was incorrect, this gentleman requested that I cancel the purchase so that I would retrieve my payment within 24 hours. This is exactly what I did but no refund was issued in that time frame. I opened a case through PayPal and approximately 20 days later I got my refund but to my astonishment the refund was not in total, it was about 30€ short. I contacted Alibaba about this issue and they replied that VAT had to be deducted on this purchase, although they were perfectly aware of this transaction I explained again that this transaction did not go ahead due to lack of stock and the order was cancelled immediately as requested by Alibaba. I questioned again about this VAT deduction, VAT was paid on what as there was no purchase? I requested an invoice with information regarding this transaction and the value of VAT that was paid by me.
This is now 1 month later and still no reply from Alibaba._____________________________________________

This the reply I got from ALIBABA

Dear Buyer,

Alibaba.com is obligated to collect value-added tax (VAT) for purchases made through the marketplace under certain circumstances, unless the buyer is an eligible VAT-registered customer in the UK/EU and the purchase is for a business purpose.

If you have a valid VAT ID in one or more UK/EU countries, you may provide it to us. Once we confirm you as a UK/EU VAT-registered customer, we will not charge UK/EU VAT on your future business purchases on Alibaba.com. Please be reminded to account for VAT yourself in accordance with the applicable tax regulations.

You may provide your VAT ID by logging into your Alibaba.com account

C'est un site web qui permet d'acheter des produits en toutes confiance. Laisser vous allez! Waouh très cool!