eXpansys Irish site

ondafly

in case no one noticed

http://www.expansys.ie/ prices in Euro dollars

The Corinthian

Interesting...

Originally posted by ondafly
prices in Euro dollars

They're just Euros. Not dollars.

flywheel

i wonder what exchange rate they are using that currently makes a P900 (ex VAT) on expansys.com STG 442.51 convert to Eur 708.46 on expansys.ie (xe.com converts it at Eur 630.98)...

good to see better shipping prices... although what is the story with the VAT - it disappears at checkout - are they expecting everyone to cough up to the courier when the goods are delivered?

BrianG

lotas

i think becasue expansys is a UK company you wont be charged vat when it comes to ireland from the courrier. only from outside the EU. handy that. great place to have the site. handy for getting new gear! hmmm. 7650 looking quite old now. need a new phone... [update] after looking at the site and finding what i was looking for, im now wondering how they manage that. now i know what you mean fully by the vat thing. it may just be a billing problem on there part that could be fixed after christmas, or it could be a major cock up where you are charged vat from the courier, but i dont think that could happen. all items, i think, are shipped from the UK so they dont get vat checked that way. i could be wrong though...

Moriarty

If i order through the .ie site, would they still demand i fax credit card and id info to them? I've already mailed their customer support but they wont be in until monday.

flywheel

Originally posted by lotas
[update] after looking at the site and finding what i was looking for, im now wondering how they manage that. now i know what you mean fully by the vat thing.

yeah - VAT always applied when ordering from the UK .com store (unless you had VAT registration details) so don't know why they wouldn't apply it on the .ie site checkout page?

they don't have the VAT applied on the French site checkout page, but they do on the German one...

Originally posted by Moriarty

If i order through the .ie site, would they still demand i fax credit card and id info to them?

if you haven't ordered from them previously then i expect so - the .ie checkout page says: "New customers may be asked to provide proof of identification" - once you've ordered and provided the info previously (and the goods are shipping to the billing address) they usually just process the order without asking for the info again... (that's what the "Have you used us before?:" box is for on the checkout page)

BrianG

tribble

Interesting...

quote:

---

Originally posted by ondafly
prices in Euro dollars

---

They're just Euros. Not dollars.

No Corinthian - They are euro - there is no s.

See European Central Bank .

/me mumbles, god damn foreigners...

tribble

carrotcake

Originally posted by tribble
No Corinthian - They are euro - there is no s.

See European Central Bank .

see all the threads on this subject where it's shown that he's right :rolleyes:

ondafly

ah priceless

flywheel

Originally posted by DubWireless
VAT always applied when ordering from the UK .com store (unless you had VAT registration details) so don't know why they wouldn't apply it on the .ie site checkout page?

they have now updated the checkout page to include 21% VAT, and the option of adding your VAT No. to have this removed if applicable

BrianG

flywheel

ok so now the VAT situation is sorted out, they also answered that the Euro (or Euros ) value on the expansys.ie site was what would be billed to the card (not the sterling amount)

eXpanays customer service
The prices are in euros and will be charged in euros that is on the irish website.

so why would i want to order e.g. a P900 from the eXpansys Irish site currently Eur. 864.50, when i could order it from the eXpansys UK site for delivery to Ireland for STG 548.15 at approx Eur 780.350 (on XE.com)...

BrianG

wheresmybeaver

Yeah I dunno why anyone would use the Irish expansys site when the uk one is cheaper. I did a few comparisons, eg for the P900 and the Nokia 6600, between www.expansys.ie and www.mobilefun.co.uk and mobilefun was a LOT cheaper every time. Again, using xe.com.

Anyone who's intersted:
nokia 6600 in grey, expansys.co.uk for £339.95
nokia 6600 in rose, expansys.co.uk for £386.58
nokia 6600 in grey, expansys.ie for £392.99 (used xe.com to convert €560)
nokia 6600 in grey, mobilefun.co.uk for £329.95

Don't know why the Rose coloured one on expansys.co.uk costs so much more, is pink really that valuable? :-)

Tom Dunne

I think this is taking Rip-Off Ireland to a new level.

Foriegn companies can see how much Irish consumers are screwed and are now getting in on the act.

Incredible.

wheresmybeaver

What is worrying is the possibility that expansys.co.uk will stop taking orders from Irish customers on their UK site and refer them to the expansys.ie site instead. At least at the moment its possible for consumers who are aware of the price differences to make a saving, but what if this choice is taken away?

Hopefully we won't see too many UK companies creating Irish mirror sites with inflated prices. Its unfortunate to think of all the unsuspecting consumers out there who will use the expansys.ie site and think they're actually making a saving by using an Irish site over a UK one...

flywheel

ok, after a few weeks I got a reply re the UK vs. Irish site pricing difference, they have decided:

to standardise EU prices so the Irish web will match up to the French website

but said it is ok to order from the UK site, but mentioned highlighting that you'd want to be billed in GBP in the Notes when making an order(?)

If you want to order off the uk website and be billed in pounds just make a note at the bottom of the order

ok - so with the current exchange rate situation - looks like if you are better off buying any high value items / orders off the UK site, the Irish site would be better for any lower value items / orders due to the lower shipping cost (and smaller exchange rate impact)

BrianG

longword

Originally posted by DubWireless
ok - so with the current exchange rate situation - looks like if you are better off buying any high value items / orders off the UK site

When you're running the numbers, don't forget that on your credit card transaction you probably won't get the 'interbank' exchange rate you see on xe.com. The rate you get will be a cent or two worse - I've seen it as bad as five cents, it's what they call 'hedging'. On top of that most cards will charge an additional currency conversion commission - on my card it's 1.75%.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by longword
When you're running the numbers, don't forget that on your credit card transaction you probably won't get the 'interbank' exchange rate you see on xe.com. The rate you get will be a cent or two worse - I've seen it as bad as five cents, it's what they call 'hedging'. On top of that most cards will charge an additional currency conversion commission - on my card it's 1.75%.

Still that doesn't account the large difference in price does it?

longword

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Still that doesn't account the large difference in price does it?

That doesn't account for /any/ of the difference in price. Just something to bear in mind when choosing which site to order from.

flywheel

Originally posted by longword
When you're running the numbers, don't forget that on your credit card transaction you probably won't get the 'interbank' exchange rate you see on xe.com.

yup - you definately won't get the exact exchange rate - but i find xe.com a handy guide... and saves calling the bank and working it out

if the price difference was small for the higher value items then i wouldn't have any issue - but it's not - hence the problem

BrianG