Hola Market Prices

I thought I was getting good prices at Hola Market until I realized at the register I was being charged 16% IVA. This brings the prices the same as Pancho's and Fresh Market. The only difference, they have some things the other markets don't.

They do not charge the 16% on food items, only those items you buy that are taxable (ie. cleaning products, paper products). The problem is that the "taxable" items are not identified on the receipt like it is on the receipts of most other stores. You have to do a bit of math to see which ones are by calculating what the 16% is of.

For example, I recently purchased a bag of Kirkland dog food that had a sticker price on the bag as $923. My receipt for the purchase showed $795.69 and at the bottom of the receipt was added IVA 16% of $127.31. If you do the math, $795.69 + $127.31 = $923.00. Still a lot less expensive than the same bag at other stores in the area.

I had always understood that the prices displayed or advertised MUST include any IVA.

Displayed prices must include IVA, it's the law.
I suggest those of you who are saying it doesn't at this market recheck your receipts. Receipts in Mexico should show each item including IVA (which should match the displayed price), but at the bottom of the receipt it shows the IVA. That IVA isn't added to the total, it's just showing you how much of your bill was IVA.

If your receipt isn't like that, this market isn't posting prices correctly or legally.

Official facturas are different- they show the cost of the items, that is subtotalled, then the IVA is shown and added for the total.

Here is one of my recent supermarket receipts. At the bottom on the left you can see "IVA 16% 21.85".
That was the IVA on the cat food and the toilet paper, which is taxed- everything else I bought was human food.
But if you add up all the line items, you can see that it matches the total- the IVA of 21.85 wasn't added to the total, it was already included in the rung up price.

rafterbr wrote:I thought I was getting good prices at Hola Market until I realized at the register I was being charged 16% IVA.  This brings the prices the same as Pancho's and Fresh Market.  The only difference, they have some things the other markets don't.  

The shelf price must include IVA if subject to it.

Business are allowed to show IVA separately on the bill, showing both the item's pre-IVA price and the applicable IVA.  

There was a time when Tony's restaurant did this...full price on menu, then broke it down on bill.  Many thought he was wrong, but he wasn't.  I haven't been since it changed mgmt/ownership so I can't speak to what they do now.  

Are you sure the shelf price was less than what was shown on the receipt when the base+IVA are added together??

The shelf price is correct. For example, I recently purchased a bag of Kirkland dog food that had a sticker price on the bag as $923. My receipt for the purchase showed $795.69 and at the bottom of the receipt was added IVA 16% of $127.31. If you do the math, $795.69 + $127.31 = $923.00.

Then they are doing their receipts wrong. They are supposed to list the total price of the item including IVA, on the receipt, with a breakdown on the bottom as to how much of what you paid was IVA.
But as long as the displayed price includes IVA, so there are no surprises when you go to pay, that doesn't really matter.

The items I bought were listed on the receipt at the price displayed in the store and they were totaled. After this an IVA of 16% was added for all the non-food items. My total was $505.93 than IVA of $62.07 was added making a total of $568.00

To clarify, are you saying the shelf price was 505.93 or 568.00?

Hola Market Confusion. Every time I go to the market the person on the register seems to be in training. Today I purchased $185 pesos worth of goods. At the register I gave the young man a $200 peso bill, another person took it to the back and brought two $100 peso bills back. The man asked me for 15 pesos and gave me a $100 peso bill. I told him no, give me my 15 pesos back and give me another 15 pesos. I than gave him the $100 peso bill. He seemed very confused, I took the receipt which was correct and pointed to the bottom number which was correct. When I left they all seemed to be very confused.

Back to your original allegation,
To clarify, are you saying the shelf price was 505.93 or 568.00?

rafterbr wrote:Hola Market Confusion.  Every time I go to the market the person on the register seems to be in training.  Today I purchased $185 pesos worth of goods.  At the register I gave the young man a $200 peso bill, another person took it to the back and brought two $100 peso bills back.  The man asked me for 15 pesos and gave me a $100 peso bill.  I told him no, give me my 15 pesos back and  give me another 15 pesos.  I than gave him the $100 peso bill.  He seemed very confused, I took the receipt which was correct and pointed to the bottom number which was correct.  When I left they all seemed to be very confused.

You seem to have problems wherever you shop or eat.

This being the week before Christmas, I would have handed them the 200 pesos and wished them a Feliz Navidad as I left.

Not everyone can afford to hand out 200 peso bills to some grocery store clerks, BisbeeGal. If you can, that's fine, but trying to make someone sound like they are some tightwad because they don't, isn't.

This being the week before Christmas, I would have handed them the 200 pesos and wished them a Feliz Navidad as I left.  [/quote


I wanted my pesos change so I could give it to the bagger and I did wish them a Feliz Navidad. I have never not tipped the bagger and often it is only for one or two items. I try to keep pesos in my pocket for this. When I was first coming to Mexico, once I threw some coins on the counter for an older woman and she gave me the finger salute. After that I put the tip in their hand and thanked them.

This is not the receipt in my article but another receipt which shows the same problem.

The IVA is listed separately and than added to total.

The question is, what was the DISPLAYED (on the shelf) price on the Listerine (which was what the IVA was charged on)?

The displayed price on the shelf should have been 222 pesos, as displayed prices in Mexico must include IVA. How they show it on the bill isn't that big a deal, and not sure why you consider it a "problem".

Upthread, Ezzie said the displayed price on her dog food included IVA. It seems strange if they would be showing shelf prices with IVA on some items and without IVA on others which do have an IVA charge. I doubt that is the case.

FYI, in Canada, the sales tax, which is the same as in Mexico, 16%, is always added to the total at check-out. And the shelf prices are always displayed without the sales tax.

rafterbr wrote:


This is not the receipt in my article but another receipt which shows the same problem.

The IVA is listed separately and than added to total.

You continue to sidestep the question.  WHAT WAS THE SHELF PRICE???

When you make an allegation against a business, you ought to be able to back it up.

rafterbr wrote:

This being the week before Christmas, I would have handed them the 200 pesos and wished them a Feliz Navidad as I left.  [/quote


I wanted my pesos change so I could give it to the bagger and I did wish them a Feliz Navidad.  I have never not tipped the bagger and often it is only for one or two items.  I try to keep pesos in my pocket for this.  When I was first coming to Mexico, once I threw some coins on the counter for an older woman and she gave me the finger salute.  After that I put the tip in their hand and thanked them.

Yet you indicated you gave them 15 pesos at some point.

rafterbr wrote:Hola Market Confusion. Every time I go to the market the person on the register seems to be in training. Today I purchased $185 pesos worth of goods. At the register I gave the young man a $200 peso bill, another person took it to the back and brought two $100 peso bills back. The man asked me for 15 pesos and gave me a $100 peso bill. I told him no, give me my 15 pesos back and give me another 15 pesos. I than gave him the $100 peso bill. He seemed very confused, I took the receipt which was correct and pointed to the bottom number which was correct. When I left they all seemed to be very confused.

I did not understand the pricing breakout until Ezzie explained it. Now I understand they are charging IVA separately for non-food items on the ticket. The market is not cheating anyone but I still don't understand why the IVA isn't included on the item when it is rung up. I checked my Walmart tickets and the IVA is included on all the items at the time it is rung up and at the bottom the IVA is shown. For instance on the above I believe the shelf price did include the IVA for the listerene. So I have no problem with it. This was just confusing to me. As for the 15 pesos, I had not received my receipt when the clerk asked for the 15 pesos. I didn't know what I owed until I received the receipt. The clerk gave me the receipt and $100 pesos. I was confused why he gave me the $100 pesos and knew I owed much more. I looked at the receipt and realized he was making a mistake. I gave the $100 pesos back pointed to the bottom of the receipt asked for my 15 pesos back and said he owed me another 15 pesos. This 15 pesos I gave the bagger. The easy thing would have been to keep the $100 pesos and leave. I do not treat people this way. BisbeeGal you have been very unkind to me but I still wish you Feliz Navidad.

rafterbr---  You have been very unkind to Hola Market accusing them of something they did not do.  

Many people only read the first few posts in a thread, and some will get the impression your allegation is true, when it is not.  

I'll ghost you since it took you a very long time to finally admit this was your mistake on the pricing.  

And your explanation of the 15 pesos lacks credibility, too.  At first you said you gave 200p because the bill was 185.  You also said you didn't have any coins, then you admit you had 15p.  Now you say you didn't even know what the bill was when you gave them the 200p.  

Adios!

"I gave the $100 pesos back pointed to the bottom of the receipt asked for my 15 pesos back and said he owed me another 15 pesos."

If they obviously don't know basic math, or how to make change, pointing at the total did nothing to help them understand and would only confuse them more. If I really wanted to help them understand, I would have said, "Let's start over. Give me back the 15 pesos you just asked me for, and give me the 2 one hundred peso bills, which is the amount I originally handed you. Now subtract the 185 pesos receipt from the 200 pesos I gave you. The difference is 15 pesos. So now I am going to give you the 200 pesos again and you will give me the change of 15 pesos."

And as far as the receipt being confusing, I find it far more confusing when the other stores ring the items up with the IVA included, and then put the amount of IVA at the bottom of the bill but it isn't added to the total.

What are really confusing are Costco receipts, as there are discounts on items, but the discounts are totalled at the bottom of the receipt, with no indication of which items they pertained to, and subtracted from the total.

It's not a problem if you are just buying things for yourself, but if you also have things you picked up for someone else, you don't know if any of their items were discounted. So whenever I buy things for other people, at Costco or anywhere, I separate the items and get 2 separate receipts, that way you don't have to go through one receipt and try to figure out what's what.