Payment for private tours

I'm not sure what your concern is......are you concerned that they're illegally not collecting VAT if you pay cash, or that VAT is already included and they're charging you extra if you pay by credit card?

We visited the Amalfi coast last year which is now my favorite part of Italy so far...

Our hotel recommended Luxury Limo and we used them. They had standard prices and didn't differentiate between cash or credit card pricing.

I am not concerned at all. I just thought that a charge of 12% beyond the quoted price is a lot, and I was wondering if most tour companies require that if paying by credit card.

VAT for most items in Italy is 22%. There are various exceptions to this rate all spelled out in the tax laws. But it is always included in quoted prices. I see no reason why there would be VAT added on to the price. Have ALL the tour companies given you this figure?

Is the price you give Dollars or Euros? You state it is both (i.e. "$300 euros") which is confusing.

They may be quoting the DCC charge they will be using for credit card purchases. This is dynamic currency conversion and represents the upcharge on the exchange rate to bill you in your home currency. It can be as high as 15%, but this is one of the higher rates if this is what the extra actually is.

I would just pay cash from the Euros you get from an ATM in Italy using your debit card.

It sounds to me like you have found a company who try to milk US tourists by exploiting things which sound sort of "like home" to get extra money.

In Europe the VAT (Value Added Tax) is required to be included in the headline price. Americans are used to paying for an item plus tax which is added to the headline price.

By calling this extra cost a tax they think they can extract an extra 12% easy. And then to tell you it is before tips is another one. Tell that to an Italian and see what reception you get. They only mention tips because they see you coming and know you are used to tipping for everything.

So if they can get away with raising their profit 12 + 20 = 32 they have made an additional third on their usual prices, you none the wiser.

That's not good business practice. What else will they try to cheat with? I'd look elsewhere.

If you pay by plastic they can't cheat on taxes. In short, they want you to pay 12% VAT because you are forcing them to pay 12% VAT on the money they make. It's quite simple.

There is no need to tip for anything in Italy and you shouldn't.

Compare your tour with what you find on Viator.com

Thanks for the advice everyone. The tour company never mentioned a tip being required. I just assumed that it was, as mentioned...we tip for everything in the US. And...I actually checked out viator pricing last night for the same type of tours and the viator pricing was higher than what we were quoted.

In planning for our trip in April I had a bit of a surprise in booking a food tour with Savor Italy Tours. It was advertised for 79 euros; not only was the actual cost higher, they added a service charge not otherwise mentioned, making the total cost 12% higher than expected. I reported this on a feedback form offered by their processor, and never got a response. Also - though the terms and conditions are not clearly written, it is basically non-refundable. Hopefully it all works out and we end up enjoying the tour.

Viator is a tour consolidator and does not run tours. I'd prefer to book directly with the tour company as you've researched than to book with Trip Advisor's Viator 3rd party platform. According to other frequent posters Viator charges the tour company 20-25% booking fees.