Better than Amazon

doctorgeek

Hello!

I am seeking a site(s) and stores in Dublin and the Dublin area for bargain prices on electronics/computer accessories/etc. I have a few necessary purchases I would like to make but I cannot afford/wish to spend so much from amazon. The items I'm buying are not as expensive as the shipping costs to have them sent to my place. I was wondering what is the best place to go and buy some simple things without having to go hunting online. I'm a pretty spontaneous and hands on shopper, so if I have to order something from a catalog, I'm just simply not going to buy it. To give an idea of what kind of things I am looking for think of things like headphones, USB drives, wireless mouse, etc. Things that you should/can go in at anytime to purchase.

I am quite new to Dublin so I am still learning the ropes around here. But I am open to any suggestions. I don't mind buying online, but I want to make sure the sites are quite reliable and have reasonable prices.

Thanks!

Dr.G

L

MemoryC might be worth a look. They do free shipping over €25.

You might be better using Parcelmotel with Amazon though? It allows you to use free postage to UK to get your package to Dublin for ~€4.

Lu Tze

doctorgeek wrote: »

Hello!

I am seeking a site(s) and stores in Dublin and the Dublin area for bargain prices on electronics/computer accessories/etc. I have a few necessary purchases I would like to make but I cannot afford/wish to spend so much from amazon. The items I'm buying are not as expensive as the shipping costs to have them sent to my place. I was wondering what is the best place to go and buy some simple things without having to go hunting online. I'm a pretty spontaneous and hands on shopper, so if I have to order something from a catalog, I'm just simply not going to buy it. To give an idea of what kind of things I am looking for think of things like headphones, USB drives, wireless mouse, etc. Things that you should/can go in at anytime to purchase.

I am quite new to Dublin so I am still learning the ropes around here. But I am open to any suggestions. I don't mind buying online, but I want to make sure the sites are quite reliable and have reasonable prices.

Thanks!

Dr.G

PCWorld or currys would stock those items, dont expect the pricing to be similar to online shopping though.

FobleAsNuck

I'd go with the Amazon for the peace of mind in case something breaks

zxxtonyxxz

Have you had a look at mindfactory.de it's a German site not based in Dublin but shipping is 30 euro altogether and stuff is way cheaper on it compared to sites here and Amazon

cadete

zxxtonyxxz wrote: »

Have you had a look at mindfactory.de it's a German site not based in Dublin but shipping is 30 euro altogether and stuff is way cheaper on it compared to sites here and Amazon

Is it really cheaper than Amazon though? Free delivery from amazon(+4 for parcel motel) is hard to beat, basic product plus 30 shipping adds quite a bit

wotzgoingon

cadete wrote: »

Is it really cheaper than Amazon though? Free delivery from amazon(+4 for parcel motel) is hard to beat, basic product plus 30 shipping adds quite a bit

Yes mindfactory or similar are okay if you are buying a whole system with €30 shipping but small or single items with €30 shipping it adds up and cancels out the savings made.

battlestar

Maplins in Blanchardstown (39(a)bus) have a bunch of computer stuff like headphones, USB drives, wireless mice and a lot of gaming gear like that also and a lot of NAS and USB external HDD's
Maplins own brand gear is cheep and cheerfull their strange ergonomic mouse is nice and comfy for casual computing.
Currys/PC world are just across the way from them for some comparison shopping if you feel the need

Thinking Central city
Maplins between Parnel square and Henry St are near a Currys? downstairs in the Jervis center and cash converters are between Henry St and abby St there is a Game shop in Henery st that does mostly console accessories (but more than you expect)too. all in 5 minutes walk of the next shop.
There is a Chinese PC shop in The north end of Capel st and on the Liffy Quay side there is a mainly laptop shop next to the tea garden (someone else will pipe in with the name) the guys in there are decent when My PC fried they gave me a trade in dinosaur for parts and a Cmos battery for nothing so I could get back online.

Except for your catalog aversion I would have added Argos for cheep (often Logitech) peripherals.especially on sale.

ED E

Maplin are rip off central, dont give them a cent!

doctorgeek

So curry's and memoryC are pretty much the best places to go and get these things. From what I understand from amazon, if you buy something as much as 25 GBP or higher, then its free shipping to anywhere in Ireland. BUT 25 GBP can be a lot of money and frankly there's just too much overpriced stuff on amazon that just turns me off from making any purchases.

Jameschaplin zero

doctorgeek wrote: »

So curry's and memoryC are pretty much the best places to go and get these things. From what I understand from amazon, if you buy something as much as 25 GBP or higher, then its free shipping to anywhere in Ireland. BUT 25 GBP can be a lot of money and frankly there's just too much overpriced stuff on amazon that just turns me off from making any purchases.

Really? Overpriced in comparison to where? I've always thought Amazon had great prices, at least in comparison to what you'd pay in most Irish stores. Although Amazon UK is terrible at the moment due to the exchange-rate.

doctorgeek

Jameschaplin zero wrote: »

Really? Overpriced in comparison to where? I've always thought Amazon had great prices, at least in comparison to what you'd pay in most Irish stores. Although Amazon UK is terrible at the moment due to the exchange-rate.

Well I travel a lot always on a different part of the world. Yes I know I shouldn't compare but it's hard not to!! >.> I do shop a lot on the American Amazon site cause well they've had most of the things I'm looking for but sadly this time it's not working in my favor. Yeah Amazon is cheaper relative to most Irish stores but value of product itself is not as high as Amazon.co.uk is selling for. Just my personal opinion thought

cadete

doctorgeek wrote: »

Well I travel a lot always on a different part of the world. Yes I know I shouldn't compare but it's hard not to!! >.> I do shop a lot on the American Amazon site cause well they've had most of the things I'm looking for but sadly this time it's not working in my favor. Yeah Amazon is cheaper relative to most Irish stores but value of product itself is not as high as Amazon.co.uk is selling for. Just my personal opinion thought

Check all European Amazon scores, curiua.com is your man or the Google extensions,
But you won't find a single store in Europe to come anywhere near US prices for most electronic items

Jameschaplin zero

doctorgeek wrote: »

Well I travel a lot always on a different part of the world. Yes I know I shouldn't compare but it's hard not to!! >.> I do shop a lot on the American Amazon site cause well they've had most of the things I'm looking for but sadly this time it's not working in my favor. Yeah Amazon is cheaper relative to most Irish stores but value of product itself is not as high as Amazon.co.uk is selling for. Just my personal opinion thought

Amazon.co.uk is a bust to be honest, the exchange-rate and postage counteract any savings that might be made. Amazon.de I've found to be great though.

Gumbi

Why are you comparing US pricing to UK Amazon? Sales tax is far cheaper and/or non existent there.

doctorgeek

Jameschaplin zero wrote: »

Amazon.co.uk is a bust to be honest, the exchange-rate and postage counteract any savings that might be made. Amazon.de I've found to be great though.

Great idea!! I'm going to check that out!!

doctorgeek

Gumbi wrote: »

Why are you comparing US pricing to UK Amazon? Sales tax is far cheaper and/or non existent there.

Not true, in fact US tax is there but shipping is very very cheap over in the US. There's so many companies there that are able to compete so it makes sense. The Amazon in the UK is a total rip off, to ship things to ireland, you have to meet a minimum of 35 euros on SELECT items. This means that only so many items can even qualify for free shipping. If not you have to pay a lot more. I was asked to pay 15 GBP for shipping costs for an item that costs only 10 euros...that'd be stupid to pay!!

cadete

doctorgeek wrote: »

Not true, in fact US tax is there but shipping is very very cheap over in the US. There's so many companies there that are able to compete so it makes sense. The Amazon in the UK is a total rip off, to ship things to ireland, you have to meet a minimum of 35 euros on SELECT items. This means that only so many items can even qualify for free shipping. If not you have to pay a lot more. I was asked to pay 15 GBP for shipping costs for an item that costs only 10 euros...that'd be stupid to pay!!

Or use prime and parcel motel and it's €3.50??? If you don't like Amazon that's cool but the various European stores are GENERALLY the cheapest place to shop

doctorgeek

yeah, I'm trying really hard to find good deals. I hope to find something reasonable soon though cause I really need to make some important purchases that are required for school

battlestar

doctorgeek wrote: »

yeah, I'm trying really hard to find good deals. I hope to find something reasonable soon though cause I really need to make some important purchases that are required for school

Post your list of necessaries DrGeek and we can all pipe in with where to go to get them individually or collectively.

There is also a specials (non discussion) thread where people post special offers from all sorts of suppliers as they come up for instance this week Tescos has a basic lenovo Celeron based laptop for €250 or a Galaxy4 tablet for €180 and IIRC Cmemory have a special on mice.

You can still use the US for purchases. Some suppliers are organized in a group that prepays the Import duties and fees at time of sale. Although you will have to find most of what you want at one supplier to stop your trans-Atlantic shipping costs from eating your savings.
Just Ordered a Lenovo flex3 15" Gaming for my girlfriend that way as Lenovo here (and elsewhere in EEC) won't do a Gaming Flex3 15" will post details on that thread of mine.

doctorgeek

well right now its bluetooth USB dongle, USB Hub, and a good pair of headphones (in-ear). But otherwise, I'd just like to know where would be good for future reference.

unkel

doctorgeek wrote: »

Not true, in fact US tax is there

Yes it is true, Gumbi is right.

Buy anything from Amazon.co.uk and you pay Irish sales tax of 23% (VAT)

The highest sales tax in the USA is 9%, the lowest 0%

Not fair to compare these, but fair play if you regularly manage to buy stuff in the USA or from there and you manage to evade / avoid the VAT you are supposed to pay for bringing it into Ireland

Johnboy1951

Also
Komplett.ie
Dabs.ie

might have the items you require.
One delivery charge if they have all of them.

battlestar

doctorgeek wrote: »

well right now its bluetooth USB dongle, USB Hub, and a good pair of headphones (in-ear). But otherwise, I'd just like to know where would be good for future reference.

You could pick that list up at a Tesco's extra while you do your shopping (and in other supermarkets I guess : I seldom grocery shop elsewhere)

doctorgeek

very true! I guess I'll be looking at the other sites suggested earlier as well to get an idea of whats good. I may have to delay a lot of my purchases for a while.

Thanks ALL!