Easons, Magazines , Prices ?

jonski

Before I run off to the RipOff Ireland Forum , I thought I would ask the question here .

For the last few weeks my wife has been buying a magazine for the kids . It clearly states at the top of the mag , ROI 8.99 , but on the Easons receipt it says goods €9.59 tax €1.29 total price €10.88 . When she asked an assistant she was told that they had been told to charge 21% vat on part works . Now I reckon that maybe the assistant was wrong because the receipt says vat @ 13.5% but I also think that maybe they added the Vat , then added it again at the till .

Having said all that , I thought that if it gave an ROI price at the top of a magazine , then that was the price .

opinions ?

John

BrianD

It's always been a no win situation with Easons on magazine prices. they claim foreign exchange issues. When Sterling goes down they claim they have bought in advance. I think you'll find that Irish price is a recommended retail price so really Easons can charge above that if they wish.

jonski

A reply from an e-mail I sent them this morning .

john
in response to your query in relation to partworks, the situation is as follows. Up until 1 jan 2006 partworks attracted no vat at all -they were classed at 0% vat, like books , and so therefore the printed price on the UK magazine was correct at 8.99euro.
Since 1st january, the vat rate has changed to 21%, which means that the new price in the republic is 10.88. This was not a decision by eason or the wholesaler, in fact there were long negotiations between ourselves and Revenue in an attempt to keep the status quo in relation to partworks ( most of them were always classed as 'educational' and consequently had no vat added).
As to why the reciept says 13.5 % vat, the till assistant may have hit the wrong button on the till, but this would not affect the price , which was correct at 10.88. In any case, all the partworks are now scanning correctly, so sales will now show the correct vat as a % of the total cost.
As to why any other retailer would be selling them at 8.99, my guess is that they were not aware of the change yet, as they would have presumably been charged by their suppliers at the same rate as we were ( there are only two wholesalers who supply all shops).

i hope this is a bit clearer, but if you need more information, please let me know, or call in at any time. We have had a few queries over this, as it affects all the partworks that have been running for the last year.

MorningStar

So why are you blaming Easons?

This is obviously a revenue issue. It is near impossible for them to actually remove a tax on items. We need reduce taxes on certain types of goods rather than the gross bad plan of reducing it by 1%. A new tax rate must be created. It is possible the UK did it.

jonski

MorningStar wrote:

So why are you blaming Easons?

I wasn't , I was asking the question .

eth0_

Magazines in this country really p*ss me off. Retailers should not be allowed to choose what price they sell a magazine at! Every shop you go into a magazine is on sale at differing prices.

Magazines should be sold at the price that is printed on the front cover. If there is a tax on them, it should be included in this price and the publisher should print it.

Culchie

eth0_ wrote:

Magazines in this country really p*ss me off. Retailers should not be allowed to choose what price they sell a magazine at! Every shop you go into a magazine is on sale at differing prices.

Magazines should be sold at the price that is printed on the front cover. If there is a tax on them, it should be included in this price and the publisher should print it.

I must declare I have an interest here, however it is relevant.

At http://www.magazines365.com, the prices are set directly from the publishers.

neilled

jonski wrote:

Before I run off to the RipOff Ireland Forum , I thought I would ask the question here .

For the last few weeks my wife has been buying a magazine for the kids . It clearly states at the top of the mag , ROI 8.99 , but on the Easons receipt it says goods €9.59 tax €1.29 total price €10.88 . When she asked an assistant she was told that they had been told to charge 21% vat on part works . Now I reckon that maybe the assistant was wrong because the receipt says vat @ 13.5% but I also think that maybe they added the Vat , then added it again at the till .

Having said all that , I thought that if it gave an ROI price at the top of a magazine , then that was the price .

opinions ?


John

How about buying in reads - i find its much cheaper!

Tiriel

but don't Eason's own Reads now? Are they going to bump up the prices?

Culchie

Cork_girl wrote:

but don't Eason's own Reads now? Are they going to bump up the prices?

Yes Eason's do own Reads now, but they are not going to re-brand from what I hear.

Dub13

I hope they end those horrible "Reads of Nassau" adds on the radio.

Culchie

Dub13 wrote:

I hope they end those horrible "Reads of Nassau" adds on the radio.

I very much doubt ... They only have to get 2 messages across really ...1) They are a discount Store and 2) Their Location

It works for them.

Bee

MorningStar wrote:

So why are you blaming Easons?

This is obviously a revenue issue. It is near impossible for them to actually remove a tax on items. We need reduce taxes on certain types of goods rather than the gross bad plan of reducing it by 1%. A new tax rate must be created. It is possible the UK did it.

Err,

Easons have consistently ripped off the Irish public for years claiming exchange issues for their disgraceful over charging. They also used to add a minimum of 5% for "distribution costs" I was told this when querying a shop floor manager.

Unfortunately they have the Republic sewn up on the distribution front.

I would advocate anyone to buy whatever magazines they can by direct subscription to by pass Easons anti consumer rip offs

Bee

Bee

Culchie wrote:

Yes Eason's do own Reads now, but they are not going to re-brand from what I hear.

And they have have increased the Rip Off charges to the usual Easons level as well


Bee

J.P.M

jonski wrote:

Having said all that , I thought that if it gave an ROI price at the top of a magazine , then that was the price .

opinions ?

John

That was my understaning of it as well. I have had the same problem with partworks. It cleary states on the magazine R.O.I 8.99 yet Easons have been trying to charge 10.88.

"In brief, where a price is stated it must be clear what particular item of goods it applies to. It should be the total price (no hidden extras)."
taken from theThe Office Of The Director of Consumer Affairs website

http://www.odca.ie/index.cfm

Surly this must apply in Easons case. I have had an instance were a manager of a store argued and casued a scene over the price when I questioned it (very embarassing in a busy shop.)

So can someone please help and settle this whole Easons pricing policy and what are rights are?, and what if Easons try to price over the R.O.I cover price printed on the magazine?

Thanks so much

JP

gerrycollins

well unless they tell you before you buy it that it is in fact 10.99 and not 8.99 as advertised then they are technically breaking the law as the ODCA.ie

J.P.M

gerrycollins wrote:

well unless they tell you before you buy it that it is in fact 10.99 and not 8.99 as advertised then they are technically breaking the law as the ODCA.ie

Thanks for the info.

That has never happened its just scanned from the barcode and registers at 10.88. So they would have to verbally inform me to charge it?

Thanks again

JP

grumpytrousers

J.P.M wrote:

Thanks for the info.

That has never happened its just scanned from the barcode and registers at 10.88. So they would have to verbally inform me to charge it?

Thanks again

JP

the only get out they might have is that it's not their own price tag that they're "ignoring". in other words, the publisher, in the UK, who possibly isn't au fait with Irish Revenue Law is printing 8.99 on it...and that's only an RRP. Now, if easons themselves were using wee stickers to say 8.99 and then ignoring it, you might be on more terra firma...

jimmycrackcorm

If the receipt shows 13.5% vat andnow 21%VAT but both prices are the same you can be pretty much sure that they only paid the revenue only the 13.5% for a period.

monkeyfudge

Bee wrote:

I would advocate anyone to buy whatever magazines they can by direct subscription to by pass Easons anti consumer rip offs

Too bad you get screwed over by the hopeless postal system then.

I have a subsription to New Scientist Magazine, over €5 a week in the shops but only €120 for a years subscription. But the postal service is so bad... I get each issue over a week after it's on the shelves, sometimes earlier issues arrive before later issues, and sometimes they don't arrive at all... oh and one issue ended up in the house of a mentaly retarded guy who lives two doors down...

J.P.M

To be honest all we want is a clear answer. Can Easons charge more than a cover price that is flashed on the magazine? Cover has R.O.I 8.99. I dont care about the government, the publisher,or Easons, or the money! Im going on principals and thats all that matters.

Thanks

JP

monkeyfudge

J.P.M wrote:

To be honest all we want is a clear answer. Can Easons charge more than a cover price that is flashed on the magazine? Cover has R.O.I 8.99. I dont care about the government, the publisher,or Easons, or the money! Im going on principals and thats all that matters.

Thanks

JP

Does it say RRP underneath the €8.99?

J.P.M

monkeyfudge wrote:

Does it say RRP underneath the €8.99?

Nope it says R.O.I 8.99 thats all, no RRP.

Thanks

JP

John R

monkeyfudge wrote:

Too bad you get screwed over by the hopeless postal system then.

I have a subsription to New Scientist Magazine, over €5 a week in the shops but only €120 for a years subscription. But the postal service is so bad... I get each issue over a week after it's on the shelves, sometimes earlier issues arrive before later issues, and sometimes they don't arrive at all... oh and one issue ended up in the house of a mentaly retarded guy who lives two doors down...

Many UK magazines cost more by subscription because they charge a huge extra postal charge for Europe, even though there is only around 10p extra for printed material.

The other problem I found with subscriptions was getting mangled and water damaged magazines.

John R

J.P.M wrote:

To be honest all we want is a clear answer. Can Easons charge more than a cover price that is flashed on the magazine? Cover has R.O.I 8.99. I dont care about the government, the publisher,or Easons, or the money! Im going on principals and thats all that matters.

Thanks

JP

Yes, AFAIK the price set by publishers/manufacturers is only indicative and not binding in any way.

J.P.M

John R wrote:

Many UK magazines cost more by subscription because they charge a huge extra postal charge for Europe, even though there is only around 10p extra for printed material.

The other problem I found with subscriptions was getting mangled and water damaged magazines.

If I was to subscribe to this mag all I would pay for it it is 8.99! But I dont want to as our postal service is poor.

Thanks

JP

monkeyfudge

John R wrote:

Many UK magazines cost more by subscription because they charge a huge extra postal charge for Europe, even though there is only around 10p extra for printed material.

The other problem I found with subscriptions was getting mangled and water damaged magazines.

Well as I said it costs about €5 a week for this magazine, which is over €250 a year, so I'm saving a lot by subscribing... so it's almost worth the hassle of the shoddy postal service.

J.P.M

J.P.M wrote:

To be honest all we want is a clear answer. Can Easons charge more than a cover price that is flashed on the magazine? Cover has R.O.I 8.99. I dont care about the government, the publisher,or Easons, or the money! Im going on principals and thats all that matters.

Thanks

JP

All I want is an answer? to my question. does anyone know?

Thanks

JP

monkeyfudge

Yes. They can. It's merely an invitation to purchase the item, you are more than welcome to refuse to purchase it once you are informed of the price at the till.

J.P.M

monkeyfudge wrote:

Yes. They can. It's merely an invitation to purchase the item, you are more than welcome to refuse to purchase it once you are informed of the price at the till.

Yes i know that, but they never inform me at the till

Thanks
JP

monkeyfudge

J.P.M wrote:

Yes i know that, but they never inform me at the till

Thanks
JP

How did they try to charge you €10.88 if they didn't tell you that was the price?