Since a few people have been asking recently… I am currently coaching at two clubs in the North-West: Manchester and Altrincham. Beginner geeks are welcome to turn up to either, and will be welcomed by a smile and a circuit board.

Manchester – Manchester Fencing Club
This club caters for all fencers from beginners to international.
I’m here every other week (other coaches are availible at other times). Ping for details.
West Hill School, Stalybridge, SK15 1LX
Thursday 1900-2130

Altrincham – Salle Kiss This club is a new club, currently catering to beginners. A good environment for beginners to feel comfortable.
Altrincham Grammar School For Boys, Altrincham, WA14 2RS
Wednesday 1900-2100

Fees vary from club to club. For your first session, stick a tenner in your pocket and you’ll get plenty of change (I don’t handle money and can rarely remember what fees are from one week to the next).

I’m horribly unfit!

Isn’t that the point? Seriously, we cater for all shapes, sizes and fitness. Turn up and give it a try. The sport is fun, addictive, painless (mostly) and we provide all the kit you need. Just bring yourself, a pair of trainers or squash shoes, tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt. You’ll want some water and a towel as well.

To make it a bit more fun (and to leave out those first week blues), why not organise a couple of you to turn up together?

Oh, and you’ll get to hit me in a large leather jacket repeatedly. What could be more fun?

Interested?

Drop me a quick e-mail or comment to let me know you’re coming. It’s also useful to know how big you are (chest size and height) so I know if I need to grab some larger jackets from elsewhere.

But I’m a Foreigner!

Not a problem – there are plenty of clubs out there. Have a look at the British Fencing Club directory, and contact the club secretary (using that old-tech thing called a phone). That’s why they’re listed.

I felt this warranted a blog post.

I’m currently writing an e-commerce system for some very nice people which is quite literally all-singing, all-dancing. When we originally wrote the prices part of the system, we had a very serious conversation about how pricing and VAT would be handled. It went something like this:

Client) We want to store prices inclusive of VAT.
Me) Are you sure? Inclusive of who’s VAT?
Client) We want the prices to be nicely rounded, and then we take the VAT off the total price.
Me) Are you sure? This has some interesting international implications.
Client) Yes, we’re sure. Here – go do pretty things.
Me) Ok.

Seems fair enough. They want pretty rounded prices on the site which meant they didn’t have to think about VAT. Which is great for working in the UK. Then I received a change request asking us to display the VAT dependant upon which country the user was purchasing from. This would still be calculated as a percentage of the earlier specified total price.

Me) So if the user’s country has a VAT of 90%, you’re happy to only receive 10% of the total sale value?
Client) Erm…. Ah.

This is a little extreme, no-one as of yet uses a VAT of 90%. The UK has a rather modest 15%, but countries such as Norway have a rather more eye-watering 25%. Admittedly, if you’re shipping to Panama, you’re quids in, since VAT is only 5%.

There are several different ways pricing and VAT can be managed on an e-commerce site. When I brought this topic up in an IRC channel I frequent, I thought the following exchange illustrated the complexity and confusion rather nicely:

15:17 <@ccooke> kian: you need to store the VAT on the exact item at the exact moment it was stored.
15:18 < kian> ccooke: no you don’t.
15:18 < kian> ccooke: hold. for which scenario. a, b or c?
15:19 <@ccooke> which one’s which?
15:19 < kian> ccooke: a) static price, flexible VAT b) static base price + UK VAT, remove VAT add countries VAT, c) Price Ex VAT + WhateverVAT, d) sod this – pub.
15:20 <@ccooke> d!
15:20 < kian> I’m with you. Be there in three hours.

So, for your interest and ponderings, here are the three options I see:

Fixed Price, Flexible VAT

Price is stored, inclusive of VAT. VAT is calculated as a percentage of the price at point of sale with respect to the user’s country. So if you buy from the UK, you’re paying £100 of which 15% is VAT and if you buy from Norway, you’re paying £100 of which 25% is VAT.

Pros: Nice pretty prices. Cons: The amount of money you return from each sale is dependant upon where the user purchases your item from.

Price + “Home” VAT, Flexible VAT

Prices are stored, inclusive of “home” VAT. When calculating prices for foreign countries, the VAT for the home country is deducted before adding on the VAT for the user’s country. So if you buy from the UK, you’re paying £100 of which 15% is VAT, and if you buy from Norway, you pay £108 (100 * 1.25 / 1.15 ) of which 25% is VAT.

Pros: Pretty prices for home country, protected base price for foreign country. If home VAT rate changes, prices remain same (gain or loss dependant on home VAT). Cons: You could end up with some odd prices for non-home countries.

Price Ex VAT, Flexible VAT

Prices are stored, exclusive of any VAT. VAT is calculated on the shop at run time dependant on the user’s country. So if you buy from the UK, you’re paying £115 of which 15% is VAT, and if you buy from Norway, you pay £125 of which 25% is VAT.

Pros: Your base price does not fluctuate, therefore the value of the VAT is irrelevant. Cons: Potentially ugly, non marketing friendly prices. Price changes on VAT changes.

We’re still debating which one of these is the best option for the system we are currently building. We are currently using “fixed price, flexible VAT”, but this position may change as we delve into the implications more deeply.

If you’re still with us at this point, well done. I’ve spent an hour trying to get my head around this rather prickly topic, double checking import/export and VAT regulations as I go. But its a good example of how something so initially clean-cut as product pricing can lead into a headache of trouble.

It’s all about scope.

The Android 1.6 API has now been released, and with it is coming one feature which outshines all others. The “Quick Search Bar” provides instant access to local phone and Google results in near real-time.

Basically, it’s spotlight for Android, launched as a widget from your home screen. I can see this really becoming the central hub of any phone.

The new marketplace looks a hell of a lot better as well.