shops charging too much more than Uk, in ireland

totallytea

How do shops get off with charging so much extra on products in ireland? When you look at the tags, you see irish price and uk price and the conversion in not right. I understand that we pay an extra approx 4pc tax, They pay 17pc and we pay 21pc but most shops from what i can see, are adding a lot on top of this. Especially now that the pound aint as strong, we would be expecting prices to be brought down but not from what i see. This means we are paying a lot more for clothes etc than those in Northern ireland and England. These differences are very significant on larger more expensive items ie. teles, furniture etc.
How do they get off with this or am i missing something? Can anyone tell me a reason for the over charging? It is not fair.

dudara

Because Irish people aren't that price sensitive? Shops charge what they think people are willing to pay.

Doctor DooM

Walk away and buy it somewhere cheaper. Money is the only language shops understand, believe me.

totallytea

true, but unfortunately most of our shops are overcharging and unless we drive up North, we will not be getting value for money.

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

Latchy

Is there not a consumer watchdog group in ireland looking out for the intrests of the irish consumer or is it just a case of ' buy foreign goods here pay more ' ?

311

Irelands food exports cost more in other countries than they do here.

witnessmenow

Some places take the piss though

Maplin:

3 piece solder iron tip set : £9.99 in england - €16.47 here

jahalpin

totallytea wrote: »

true, but unfortunately most of our shops are overcharging and unless we drive up North, we will not be getting value for money.

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

Only certain shops have this facility. If you have a UK issued credit / debit card your card will be charged in sterling at the shops rate of exchange, however, this does not mean that you can pay the UK price on the tag.

The Sterling price is what the shop charges in the UK, where it is far cheaper to run a business due to the fact that wages etc are lower and the distribution costs are seriously reduced due to the far higher population densities in the UK.

Most branches of UK chains are actually run by seperate companies from the UK parent eg Tesco IRELAND Ltd., O2 IRELAND, HMV IRELAND, Debanhams IRELAND etc..

mcaul

totallytea wrote: »

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

This is a total myth.

To give a breakdown of average costs of a standard product retailing at 121.00 for a fashion store.

VAT - €21

Cost of product €50
Wages as a part of retail price - average 15%
Rent as a part of retail price - average 16%
Rates / Utilities as a part of retail price - average 4%
All other costs - marketing, security, bags etc etc - av. 7%
Net profit - 8%

Where a product is sourced / paid for in sterling, the only variable cost a store has is the cost price, so if sterling strengthens by 18% as it has, then the retail price can in reality only be reduced by €8 - €10 as staff, landlords & city councils will not drop their costs due to a currency from another country being weaker.

This said, I have seen some large stores bringing prices down, Tesco is one, + woodies, but the larger UK multiples such as B&Q & especailly Debenams are the slowest. You may find better value in smaller stores who buy many items in-season and therefore can pass on new exchange rates quicker.

MOH

There's also a thread on this once a week, as a quick search will show you.
(should these be merged/stickied?)

- Here

- and here

- also here and here

totallytea

Uk stores still pay the expenses irish stores do. and the increase in tax is 4% difference. I am not saying we need to expect to pay exactly the same price but do we need to pay quite so much extra?

Clothes stores seem to particularly over - charge and they must be buying products at the same price and place as uk stores and with all the irish stores must be getting more discounts in quantities bought.

What happens if we order on an UK website? Do most deliver to Ireland and accept our bank cards?

mcaul

totallytea wrote: »

Uk stores still pay the expenses irish stores do. and the increase in tax is 4% difference. I am not saying we need to expect to pay exactly the same price but do we need to pay quite so much extra?

Clothes stores seem to particularly over - charge and they must be buying products at the same price and place as uk stores and with all the irish stores must be getting more discounts in quantities bought.

What happens if we order on an UK website? Do most deliver to Ireland and accept our bank cards?

I totallly agree - I'd say a 1.4 multiplier should be the max for UK sourced goods. - I use 1.3 but as I operate on the internet, i don't have the rental cost. Still its a bonus that we can drop up north for some bigger purchases. - e.g. basic petrol mower in B&Q Newry £99, exact sam mower in B&Q naas €199:eek: Newry machine was on special from £119 but still £119 to €199 is not a fair reflection of the cost differences.

foggy_lad

one solution would be to only Buy Irish from an Irish store and you would not be tempted by sterling price tags on goods

Latchy

311 wrote: »

Irelands food exports cost more in other countries than they do here.

Yes we pay irish prices on irish food products and other items as well as added tax

Corruptedmorals

totallytea wrote: »

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

Where did you hear that? The card readers are linked to Irish banks...would be very difficult to implement.

Also, yes, wages in England are terrible. A 'good' wage seems to be about €6.50 part time. Granted, it'd go further over there..

dudara

totallytea wrote: »

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

I don't know if this is true, but I would be surprised if it is. The euro is the legal tender of the Republic, not Sterling.

If you had a UK-issued card, then you might (and only if the store is equipped for it) be offered the option to pay in Sterling at the stores exchange rate or accept your credit card issuer's rate. However, this is a rare option. I've only tended to come across it in airports and so on. Generally your purchases are in the legal tender of the country you are in.

richrippedoff

Irish people are inbred to think here sure what can we do attitude thats why bulk of shops (english shops) charge what they want tell me i am wrong

totallytea

I totally agree, most people i talk to about it says "oh, its the tax" and are willing to leave it at that. But its not all the tax.

I emailed, some time ago, two of these companies, to ask for a valid brake down in their pricing in the republic and have got no proper response. Just a general thank you for your comment we will get back to you. Last year we saw a tele on a .co.uk website. So we did the conversion and added extra tax and went into the same store, maybe expecting to pay a little more but the tele was approx €1000 above the calculation we had. We did not buy it.

I love having these shops here as i am a shopaholic but just wish they would treat their Irish customers fairer. I hope with the way the economy is at the minute people will be more price aware and less willing to pay these prices. Now that the pound is down we should definitely be expecting these shops to put their product prices down, in accordance.

portomar

totallytea wrote: »

true, but unfortunately most of our shops are overcharging and unless we drive up North, we will not be getting value for money.

I heard that if we are paying on card - visa or debit, you can request to pay Uk price on tag. I have not tried it but does anyone know if we could do this. Would be saving a lot of money as we would get banks exchange rate rather than shops. !!!!

definitely not true! why should they charge the same price in both countries when their cost base is completely different?

MOH

richrippedoff wrote: »

Irish people are inbred to think here sure what can we do attitude thats why bulk of shops (english shops) charge what they want tell me i am wrong

You're wrong.

Wertz

Getting a bit tired of hearing this on talk radio the last 2 weeks...it's not exactly news to most of us along the border, and it's only the recent fall in £STG that has drawn a big red line under it.

I had to laugh at some apologist for an Irish branch of UK store on the last word tonight....he tried to use shoplifting as a part excuse for the price differences (saying that we have a much higher rate of shoplifting here than in the Uk; yeah right), along with all the other tried and tested excuses (VAT, delivery across Irish sea, irish minimum wage, rates & rents) but TBH I just got the impression that the guy was back peddling in true politician style.
The recent anecdotal reports of shops taking scissors to dual price tags in the wake of the media interest is cynical in the extreme, but doesn't surprise me in the least.
Many people in the UK believe that there is a rip off culture there as they like to compare to the continental prices....so we're being ripped off on top of a rip off.
As for the office of consumer affairs, yet another board/quango of useless suits with no teeth who pay lip service to the very real concerns of the Irish consumer. Have to laugh at Cowen coming out and saying UK chains need to change or else....or else what? What the f*ck can he or the government really do?
I'm just glad I can make the trip north so easily....I'd hate to be the part if the captive market in the south that hasn't any realistic choice othert than to pay the inflated prices....

Sid71

I was in Spain last week and visited a Lidl store. So here is a price comparsion
a parsol stand http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20080602.p.ParasolStand was €4.99 in Spain , next Monday its €19.99 here in Ireland.

Davidth88

Hi,

So I am in the UK this week on business , I am stocking up on things like deoderant/toothpaste..... they are half the price or less that the same brands in Ireland ( both in Tescos ), nappies are also about 70% of the price by the looks of it ( I may be stocking up on them too because I have the car ! )

I do feel things are more expensive in Ireland , for example I just got an egg sandwich in Tesco ( UK ) about 10 mins ago, cost me the grand sum of 88p , thats just over 1 euro.

You try getting a sandwich for that in Ireland .

However the fuel here is very expensive.

I think people have to start voting with their feet , for example I went to buy a memory card at Boots Liffey Valley , the price was stupid.... I left it there and purchased online at a fraction of the price.

Now it's not so easy I know to vote with your feet for basics like food , I have no idea how to overcome that.

mcaul

Newry / Banbridge / Lisburn are not too far away with the motorway open up to Newry and the scenery up North is quite spectacular espcially on the Antrim coast. You'll get a good hotel for £60 - £70 per room.

So do what tens of thousands of people are doing every week and take a short break with a few hours shopping.

- s&%T - wife calling, we're heading off now!!:D

podgeandrodge

portomar wrote: »

definitely not true! why should they charge the same price in both countries when their cost base is completely different?

because, and I had this out with a company man visiting maplins in jervis street the other day, when sterling rate was approx .66 the Maplin euro prices were actually converted at or about this rate believe it or not. So if they could match prices at the exchange rates a year or 2 back they should be able to do it now. He peddled out the usual excuses about wages, rents etc but was speechless when I pointed this out.

Latchy

In a similar vein ,British people for donkeys years have being complaining about how cheap booze and ciggies are abroad in other EEC countries compared to back in UK were prices are yet to rise again .The brits and the irish seem to be punished with prices more so then our european cousins .The mobile phone scam abroad has being exposed were brits were paying more to phone home than other europeans .It make a mockery of the whole concept of EEC membership / Lisbon treaty to be honest and G Browns britain is proving to be the most expensive to live in now than ever .

heyjude

I do think it is ironic though, that newspapers like The Irish Daily Mail and The Irish Star, who have been to the forefront in the campaign over this issue and complaining vigorously about British chains charging more here than they do in the UK,are actually guilty of the same thing themselves.

These newspapers regularly run premium rate phone/text competitions, in which they charge considerably more to Irish entrants. As an example, the Irish Star charge €1.25 per text(2 required per entry) for entries from the ROI compared to just 50p per text for entries from Northern Ireland (so a total of €2.50 per entry compared to £1(approx €1.70 at current exchange rate))and for calls they charge €1.50 per minute for ROI entries compared to just 60p/min from Northern Ireland(so a 2 minute call would cost €3 from the Republic or £1.20(approx €2.03) from Northern Ireland). I'm sure that most of the other newspapers do the same.

Now how can they justify this difference, while criticising M&S, Boots etc for their markups ? or is ripping people off only wrong when someone else is doing it ?

ejmaztec

heyjude wrote: »

I do think it is ironic though, that newspapers like The Irish Daily Mail and The Irish Star, who have been to the forefront in the campaign over this issue and complaining vigorously about British chains charging more here than they do in the UK,are actually guilty of the same thing themselves.

These newspapers regularly run premium rate phone/text competitions, in which they charge considerably more to Irish entrants. As an example, the Irish Star charge €1.25 per text(2 required per entry) for entries from the ROI compared to just 50p per text for entries from Northern Ireland (so a total of €2.50 per entry compared to £1(approx €1.70 at current exchange rate))and for calls they charge €1.50 per minute for ROI entries compared to just 60p/min from Northern Ireland(so a 2 minute call would cost €3 from the Republic or £1.20(approx €2.03) from Northern Ireland). I'm sure that most of the other newspapers do the same.


Now how can they justify this difference, while criticising M&S, Boots etc for their markups ? or is ripping people off only wrong when someone else is doing it ?

Some of this is due to the knock-on affect of all of the mobile phone companies also taking us to the cleaners. These outfits have turned rip-off into a worldwide art-form!

Tipsy Mac

For anyone who wants to see just how much extra we are being ripped off for groceries they should checkout Sainsburys home shopping website and compare it to either Tesco or Superquinn in Ireland.

www.sainsburystoyou.co.uk

www.superquinn4food.ie
www.tesco.ie

www.xe.com for the currency conversion.

mikemac

It doesn't just affect our imports but Irish exports too.

I don't know the current prices but I remember the Irish Independant was €1.50 but could be bought for 50p sterling. If you look at Page 1 you will see the Euro and Sterling prices.

I can understand companies incur costs to ship their products to Ireland and that has to be recovered
But how is a newspaper that is printed in Dublin sold for cheaper in Belfast?

I suppose they have to discount it as it has to compete against all the British papers but it would annoy you to see it.