Since it’s been awhile, I thought it would be nice to update my blog post on where to buy the cheapest Chanel in 2023. The U.S. dollar is still pretty strong throughout the world, but it’s definitely not as strong as it was back in October 2022. I kick myself for not buying more things when I was in Japan last year or even trying to make a trip out to Europe, but when you only have limited vacation days, your options are pretty much limited, right? Hopefully, for any of you traveling soon, this post will help you decide if that Chanel purchase is worth it or not.
- Related Article: Where to Buy the Cheapest Chanel in 2024
As mentioned in my 2022 post (and if you don’t already know), Chanel has decided to change all of it’s pricing to closely match with all of its stores around the world. Long gone are the days of saving hundreds to thousands of dollars on Chanel during your international vacations. So, with this new pricing system, one might wonder if it’s still beneficial to buy your Chanel abroad or not. Well, in 2023, there are definitely countries that will save you money and countries that definitely will not. Read on to find out!
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Just FYI, since there is a lot of data, this blog post is better viewed on a desktop device than on a mobile device. The charts down below will probably be squeezed too much for you to read them properly.
Chanel International Websites
If you are curious about certain items and their prices, I’ve listed Chanel’s international websites down below which I used to find all of my prices. Chanel does a pretty decent job of listing their prices online, unlike Goyard, so it was pretty easy to get a quick price comparison.
- United States: https://www.chanel.com/us/
- France: https://www.chanel.com/fr/
- Italy: https://www.chanel.com/it/
- Great Britain: https://www.chanel.com/gb/
- Japan: https://www.chanel.com/jp/
- South Korea: https://www.chanel.com/kr/
- China: https://www.chanel.com/zh_CN/
- Singapore: https://www.chanel.com/sg/
- Thailand: https://www.chanel.com/th/
- Australia: https://www.chanel.com/au/
Chanel Data Points
For my Chanel data sample, I decided to concentrate on four popular items:
Notes on How Things Were Calculated
- Sales Tax: Since each city has their own sales tax ranging from 0% to over 10%, I calculated the overall savings below “pre sales tax.” The savings do not take into account the sales tax that you would have to pay otherwise in your specific city. So, essentially what I’m saying is that your savings would most likely be more than what I’m indicating below.
- Customs: I did not take into account U.S. Customs. Anything less than $800 shall be duty free. Any additional amount, up to $1,000, shall be taxed at 3%. If you’re wondering, what about items above $1,800, unfortunately, I don’t know since the Customs and Border Protection’s website does not specify it anywhere. If anyone reading this blog post has a clue, please drop a comment down below!
Chanel Small Flap Bag with Handle
| Country | Price (Original Currency) | U.S. Dollar Conversion as of 6/29/23 | VAT Refund (Luxury Goods) | Grand Total (After VAT Refund) | Savings (Pre-Tax)* |
| France
(1 Euro= 1.09 USD) |
5,600 € | $6,086 | 12% | $5,356 | $544 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Italy
(1 Euro = 1.09 USD) |
5,600 € | $6,086 | 15% | $5,173 | $727 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Great Britain/ U.K.
(1 GBP = $1.26 USD) |
£4,920 | $6,206 |
0% (Ended on 12/31/2019) |
$6,206 | $306 more expensive than the U.S. |
| Japan
(1 Yen = 0.0069 USD) |
¥ 861,300 | $5,949 | 8% | $5,473 | $427 cheaper than the U.S. |
| South Korea
(1 Won = 0.00076 USD) |
₩ 8,620,000 | $6,517 | 10% | $5,865 | $35 cheaper than the U.S. |
| China
(1 Yuan = 0.14 USD) |
¥43,400 | $5,984 | 9% | $5,445 | $455 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Singapore
(1 SGD = 0.74 USD) |
SGD 8,410 | $6,201 | 7% | $5,767 | $133 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Thailand
(1 THB = 0.028 USD) |
210,500 THB | $5,986 | 7% | $5,567 | $333 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Australia
(1 AUD = 0.66 USD) |
AUD 9,680 | $6,405 | 10% | $5,765 | $136 cheaper than the U.S. |
*The savings do not take into account each U.S. city’s sales tax. If you factor in your own sales tax, the item that maybe was more expensive is now cheaper because of the amount of sales tax you have to pay.
Chanel Classic Handbag
| Country | Price (Original Currency) | U.S. Dollar Conversion as of 6/29/23 | VAT Refund (Luxury Goods) | Grand Total (After VAT Refund) | Savings (Pre-Tax)* |
| France
(1 Euro= 1.10 USD) |
9,700 € | $10,540 | 12% | $9,275 | $925 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Italy
(1 Euro = 1.10 USD) |
9,700 € | $10,540 | 15.5% | $8,906 | $1,294 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Great Britain/ U.K.
(1 GBP = $1.27 USD) |
£8,530 | $10,757 |
0% (Ended on 12/31/2019) |
$10,757 | $527 more expensive than the U.S. |
| Japan
(1 Yen = 0.0069 USD) |
¥ 1,490,500 | $10,294 | 8% | $9,470 | $730 cheaper than the U.S. |
| South Korea
(1 Won = 0.00077 USD) |
₩ 14,500,000 | $10,961 | 10% | $9,865 | $335 cheaper than the U.S. |
| China
(1 Yuan = 0.14 USD) |
¥74,900 | $10,327 | 9% | $9,398 | $802 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Singapore
(1 SGD = 0.74 USD) |
SGD 14,560 | $10,734 | 7% | $9,983 | $217 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Thailand
(1 THB = 0.028 USD) |
365,000 THB | $10,380 | 7% | $9,653 | $547 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Australia
(1 AUD = 0.67 USD) |
AUD 15,710 | $10,395 | 10% | $9,356 | $844 cheaper than the U.S. |
*The savings do not take into account each U.S. city’s sales tax. If you factor in your own sales tax, the item that maybe was more expensive is now cheaper because of the amount of sales tax you have to pay.
Chanel Cuff
| Country | Price | U.S. Dollar Conversion as of 6/29/23 | VAT Refund (Luxury Goods) | Grand Total (After VAT Refund) | Savings (Pre-Tax)* |
| France
(1 Euro= 1.10 USD) |
2,100 € | $2,282 | 12% | $2,008 | $167 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Italy
(1 Euro = 1.10 USD) |
2,100 € | $2,282 | 13.5% | $1,974 | $201 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Great Britain/ U.K.
(1 GBP = $1.27 USD) |
£1,820 | $2,295 |
0% (Ended on 12/31/2019) |
$2,295 | $120 more expensive than the U.S. |
| Japan
(1 Yen = 0.0069 USD) |
¥ 309,100 | $2,135 | 8% | $1,964 | $211 cheaper than the U.S. |
| South Korea
(1 Won = 0.00077 USD) |
₩ 2,959,000 | $2,238 | 10% | $2,014 | $161 cheaper than the U.S. |
| China
(1 Yuan = 0.14 USD) |
¥16,200 | $2,234 | 9% | $2,033 | $142 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Singapore
(1 SGD = 0.74 USD) |
SGD 3,150 | $2,323 | 7% | $2,160 | $15 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Thailand
(1 THB = 0.028 USD) |
79,000 THB | $2,247 | 7% | $2,090 | $85 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Australia
(1 AUD = 0.67 USD) |
AUD 3,400 | $2,250 | 10% | $2,025 | $150 cheaper than the U.S. |
Chanel Espadrilles
| Country | Price | U.S. Dollar Conversion as of 6/29/23 | VAT Refund (Luxury Goods) | Grand Total (After VAT Refund) | Savings (Pre-Tax)* |
| France
(1 Euro= 1.10 USD) |
790 € | $858 | 12% | $755 | $45 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Italy
(1 Euro = 1.10 USD) |
790 € | $858 | 12.8% | $748 | $52 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Great Britain/ U.K.
(1 GBP = $1.27 USD) |
£690 | $870 |
0% (Ended on 12/31/2019) |
$870 | $70 more expensive than the U.S. |
| Japan
(1 Yen = 0.0069 USD) |
¥ 121,000 | $836 | 8% | $769 | $31 cheaper than the U.S. |
| South Korea
(1 Won = 0.00077 USD) |
₩ 1,216,000 | $919 | 10% | $827 | $27 more expensive than the U.S. |
| China
(1 Yuan = 0.14 USD) |
¥6,300 | $869 | 9% | $791 | $9 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Singapore
(1 SGD = 0.74 USD) |
SGD 1,200 | $885 | 7% | $823 | $23 more expensive than the U.S. |
| Thailand
(1 THB = 0.028 USD) |
31,000 THB | $811 | 7% | $754 | $46 cheaper than the U.S. |
| Australia
(1 AUD = 0.67 USD) |
AUD 1,330 | $880 | 10% | $792 | $8 cheaper than the U.S. |
Conclusion on Where to Buy the Cheapest Chanel
Surprisingly, there are a couple interesting differences from my 2022 post!
- Not all countries are cheaper than the U.S. anymore (at least pre sales tax). Whereas last year, all of the countries that were sampled all came in lower than the U.S. This year, I see that the U.K. can possibly be more expensive depending on what U.S. city you live in. For example, if I were to factor in Los Angeles’ sales tax (9.5%), then the U.K. would be cheaper (but not by much). If you leave in a place with no sales tax like Portland, then the U.K. would be more expensive.
- As you get lower in price, it seems that more countries start out-pricing the U.S. If you look at the espadrilles, you’ll notice that the U.K., South Korea, and Singapore come in more expensive than the U.S. Again, this is PRE SALES TAX. So, always remember to factor in your own city’s sales tax to get the true value of your savings.
Overall Country with the Cheapest Chanel
Out of the ten countries, Italy won in terms of where to buy the cheapest Chanel since they have a tiered VAT refund system. So, the more expensive the item, the bigger VAT refund you’ll get. You can use this Italy VAT refund calculator here if you want to find out more. France is coming in a close second and Japan is surprisingly third! I think Japan is still a good place to buy Chanel because of how strong the dollar is against the yen still. Right now, you can get about 140 yen to $1 USD. Pre-pandemic, you could only get 100 yen to $1 USD.
Overall Country with the Least Amount of Savings
The country that has the least amount of savings for the American tourist would be the U.K. This is mostly due to the fact that Great Britain got rid of their VAT refund benefit a couple of years ago so the savings aren’t great compared to their European neighbors. Also, compared to last year, it looks like depending on what sales tax you have, buying Chanel in the U.K. can actually be more expensive. Since I live in L.A., my sales tax is 9.5% so buying in the U.K. would probably still be cheaper. But if you live in Portland or even Honolulu, I would definitely do the math to see if you are really saving money or not.
