Shops displaying Sterling prices

endplate

There seems to be a trend for British owned clothing shops here in Dublin lately to display 2 prices on the clothing tags the sterling price in large lettering and the euro price in smallering lettering. This happened to me about a year ago in a sports shop in Blanchardstown when I purchased a sports bag for what I thought was E5.99 only to find at the till it was actually E8.99. Now the price of the item was no big deal but I thought I'd ask why it displayed a cheaper price and I was informed it was the sterling price. So I paid for the item as I was at the till and thought nothing more of it untill today I was reading an article in the Irish Independant magazine about a woman that went into Cleary's and tried to buy a top for E15.00 only to find out at the till it was the stirling price and she had to pay E25 for the top which was 7.5% about above currency differential.

So the advice is when shopping check you are looking at the euro price and stop the shop keepers taking us for fools at the till

RuggieBear

yep....

but you also got a realise that our vat is 21% while in britain it's 17.5%. So our prices will always be more relative to the exchange rate anyway

dermo88

I'd be happy if the VAT rate in the UK was 21% if it meant that we did'nt have to pay council tax and water rates in the UK. Its not as bad as you think over there in Ireland

dSTAR

Why not just rejoin the United Kingdom, Commonwealth and revert to British currency? The majority of shops in Ireland are British owned anyhow.

It would make much more sense instead of being in the European Union. Eventually the countries that joined the EEC back in the 70's will pull out when weak economies like Albania and Romania join devaluing the currency even more and turning countries like Ireland into third world economies.

dermo88

Thats not likely. The criteria for entering the Euro are incredibly strict. The covergence criteria are very tough.

Both the Romanians and the Albanians have tight currency board style regimes in place, but they are not likely to join the Euro for decades. Joining it too soon is a recipe for poverty, it is really a currency meant for fully fledged, economically free, competitive market economies.

The Euro is a strong currency. I for one have faith in it, at least for the next few years. Plenty of other countries use Dollars when the locals have no confidence in the Leu or Lek, or Colon, or Peso. Why not the Euro, circulating as the hedge, just as the Deutschmark and Sterling did before.

You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs, making the currency union in the United States was not a simple matter either. The Euro has a good past precedent, the pre 1914 Latin Monetary Union.

MorningStar

endplate wrote:

So the advice is when shopping check you are looking at the euro price and stop the shop keepers taking us for fools at the till

Kind of scarey that you only realised this recently. It has been mentioned in the newspapers a few times over the last 3 years and it has been on the labels all that time.
To really understand the whole thing you need to know how exchange rates are worked out on a larger scale, production cycles, pricing methods and loacal cost factors.
It is not as simple as I buy this here it should cost the same as a place 100 miles away accross the sea which even shows why there might be a difference in cost.
If you jump to a conclusion with out knowing a little about the above you are a fool. There are other different expenses here too.

Enii

In principles in Blanchardstown they have the sterling and the irish price on things. On one pair earrings I found the sterling price £7 converted to €11. The next pair I looked at were £6 with a euro price of €15. When I noted this to the shop assistant she just said "Yeah, I know they all convert differently"........ Can anyone shed any light on this. I know sometimes it is not just a direct conversion from sterling but they also add on money because of higher costs in Ireland (eg. Staff wages, etc.)

MorningStar

Enii wrote:

In principles in Blanchardstown they have the sterling and the irish price on things. On one pair earrings I found the sterling price £7 converted to €11. The next pair I looked at were £6 with a euro price of €15. When I noted this to the shop assistant she just said "Yeah, I know they all convert differently"........ Can anyone shed any light on this. I know sometimes it is not just a direct conversion from sterling but they also add on money because of higher costs in Ireland (eg. Staff wages, etc.)

It's pretty simple, they use a fixed limit noramally based on the average of the last six months or maybe a year. They then put in a slight contigency to cater for any large change. They really only tend to change the rate after some major change. THey then put in a margin for differnt areas based on the expenses of that market. So it might be 10% or 15% depending on where you are. Shipping may be added to supply costs. They then do things to make the price attractive ( ever wonder why things cost €14.99 instead of €15) generally it is a rounding up but can be down. Some items with recommend margin may come out as €15.56 so they drop it it to €14.99 but you might get €12.67 and they might want to round up to €14.99. As products are priced normally months before they go anywhere plays it's part too.
For some items you deal with more problems from the distributors. DVDs for example are supplied by the same supplier to NI and here. The ones for NI are sold at a different price by the distributor. This is to do with the market controls the producers want. Many times we are seen as the same as the UK market so for some things we get their beniftis but other times we get UK prices converted as mentioned already. Ikea is actually cheaper in the EUro zone than the UK. I would be nervous that when IKea open here we will be fed via the UK distibution and therefore paying the more expensive UK prices with conversion and other expenses added.
In short the companies do probably make an extra profit here but it is not quite as evil as suggested by some. It would be great for the UK to join the Euro as it would help us out as most of our goods come from there or at least through there.

Cabaal

dermo88 wrote:

Thats not likely. The criteria for entering the Euro are incredibly strict. The covergence criteria are very tough.<snip>

I was going to reply with much the same info as yourself, nice to see somebody here has sense because its obvious that dSTAR hasn't a clue when it comes to countries joining the euro.
:rolleyes:

viking

I emailed 'Next' last year regarding their exchange rates to Euro

Thank you for your recent e mail enquiry regarding the exchange rate we use for conversion from sterling to euros.

I can advise that our prices are set at the beginning of each season, and are based on the prevailing exchange rate at that time. Unfortunately, it is not logistically possible for us to vary our prices according to fluctuations in the exchange rate on a more regular basis.

Thank you for writing to us and for the interest you have shown in Next.


Yours sincerely.

Saruman

Hang on whats all this about the exchange rate?? When will people get it through their heads that it DOES NOT MATTER if some things are cheaper in the UK and sold at a higher price over here.. even if the exchange rate and even VAT cant explain it it DOES NOT MATTER!!! Do you not realise we have a different economy, different standard of living, different earnings etc???

Sure there are plenty of things we get ripped off on.. Pubs etc, housing.. Spar etc... But your average everyday items like clothing etc cant be included in this. If we are willing to pay the price we pay then thats what we will be charged.. The fact its more expensive than some other country with different standard of living etc does not matter... Did you know that after Luxemburg we have the Highest GDP in the EU??? that means we have more disposable income than your average person in the UK.

Things are not that bad!!!

Solair

I just find displaying sterling prices confusing. I have picked up an item on several occasions and thought the sterling price was actually in euros.

It's just a very lazy practice.

GerardKeating

Solair wrote:

I just find displaying sterling prices confusing. I have picked up an item on several occasions and thought the sterling price was actually in euros.

It's just a very lazy practice.

The BodyShop in the UK also dispaly dual EUR/GBP prices..

whiskeyman

endplate wrote:

untill today I was reading an article in the Irish Independant magazine about a woman that went into Cleary's and tried to buy a top for E15.00 only to find out at the till it was the stirling price and she had to pay E25 for the top which was 7.5% about above currency differential.

She didnt have to pay if she still felt agrieved at the price.

Doesnt bother me in the slightest - if anything, it just proves how similar goods can be more expensive here than in the UK.
If you think it's too dear, dont shop there anymore.

This type of dual pricing is also an issue on lotos web based shops. Once you change over to Euros from Sterling, there's always a price difference from the current rate.

endplate wrote:

So the advice is when shopping check you are looking at the euro price and stop the shop keepers taking us for fools at the till

Caveat emptor... in this situation, and all situations.
Always check you are being charged what you expected and what is correct tbh.

whiskeyman

GerardKeating wrote:

The BodyShop in the UK also dispaly dual EUR/GBP prices..

as do M&S afaik

nlgbbbblth

Anyone remember when you used get charged the sterling price (numeric) for magazines or newspapers?

Pre-scanning days.

Always worked in your advantage.

NME was 40p stg or 73p Irish in 1987.

'That's 40p please'.



LOSERS.