Why are there no online retailers for Ireland

zod

Apart from Buy4now.ie

Irish (or foreign retailers operating in Ireland) have no Irish online presence.

when they do ...

1. Their products ranges are old/limited.
2. Shipping is expensive
3. You can't buy online - only view pdf catalogs (if you're lucky)
4. eMail response is monthly
5. It directs you to a UK website

Does anyone know of a URL that list good Irish online retailing websites ?

Paddy20

Have a look at: www.sourceireland.com/

Also Google also now have an exclusively Irish search engine, and if you search for just about anything that you might wish to purchase 'Online'. It usually comes up with the goods. Off the top of my head I think: www.google.ie
should take you there.

Personally, I am genuinely surprised at the range of items available in Ireland from small and large Online Retailers.

Good luck.

dudara

there's also armchair.ie

ArmChair.ie

Hi,

I am from ArmChair.ie , We are a directory of over 200 irish online stores.

I hope we can be of some use to you.

Cheer,
David,
ArmChair.ie

wolfe25

Just had a look at ArmChair and it's a useful site.
Have bookmarked it for future ref..:cool:

ednwireland

can only really relate to computer stuff www.komplett.ie (ok shipping is a bit stiff at times ) www.pc-memory-upgrade.co.uk based in kildare free shipping uk and ireland
www.computerbits.ie based in sligo mate used them and didn't charge shipping

the register bookshop http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/subject.asp?item=6234
free shipping to ireland

anyone know anymore ?

Yoda

I looked at Armchair.ie. With respect it's got a long way to go. (Probably because Ireland has a long way to go with regard to its internet culture. Of course, access has a lot to do with that.

An example. Compare what men's clothes Armchair.ie offers to, say, what L.L. Bean offers.

byte

Originally posted by ednwireland
the register bookshop http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/subject.asp?item=6234
free shipping to ireland

anyone know anymore ?

That link doesn't seem to work

Paddy20

Try;- http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/subject.asp?item=6234

Strangely, EdwinIreland's original link works perfectly for me ?..

Ripwave

Originally posted by Yoda
I looked at Armchair.ie. With respect it's got a long way to go. (Probably because Ireland has a long way to go with regard to its internet culture. Of course, access has a lot to do with that.

Actually, delivery has a lot more to do with it than anything else.

The US (and even the UK) has had a thriving mail order culture for decades (Sears used to sell whole houses by mail order in the early 20th Century in the US). We don't have a culture of mail order in Ireland, and don't have the background and experience with having stuff delivered through the post.

That's far more of a barrier for a lot of people when it first comes to buying stuff on line than you might think.

Yoda

Ireland AM this morning was plugging an online Irish clothing source, http://www.familyalbum.ie

por

Yoda wrote:

I looked at Armchair.ie. With respect it's got a long way to go. (Probably because Ireland has a long way to go with regard to its internet culture. Of course, access has a lot to do with that.

An example. Compare what men's clothes Armchair.ie offers to, say, what L.L. Bean offers.

At the moment there is no way you can compare a US online store like L L Bean with what you get in Ireland.

As was mentioned the lack of a mail order culture and the low internet (at home) usage are major factors in this.

What is needed are site like armchair.ie that can direct people to online stores, rather than having to do a Google search.

Could a sticky be setup containing a list of online stores in Ireland (broken into categories) and possible other good online retailers in other Euro-zone countries (makes price comparison easy) and the UK. People could add store they find to this list.
There is no use looking at US sites that 1. Will not ship to Ireland, 2. Will not accept non-US credit cards.

Anyone got ideas ?

Yoda

I just picked LL Bean more or less at random. I find them a bit pricey, actually, but they are an online store and they do deliver internationally. I'm not opposed to what Armchair.ie is trying to do; I just pointed out that the pickings are pretty slim in places, and as long as that's the case, people will Google and order from other countries. I guess I know what you mean by "mail order culture" Even the Argos catalogue doesn't deliver as far as I can tell.

Ripwave

Yoda wrote:

I guess I know what you mean by "mail order culture" Even the Argos catalogue doesn't deliver as far as I can tell.

Argos will apparently deliver in Ireland, at least in areas where they have stores. But their website is a .co.uk site, and they won't accept orders for Irish stores, or for delivery to Irish addresses.

(There are a number of UK retailers that can't bother their arses enabling Irish versions of their websites. Though if everything we hear about how much more they charge in Ireland for the same items is true, maybe they just don't want us doing easy price comparisons!)

Yoda

I was looking at the printed catalogue they give out in SuperQuinn's and it doesn't appear that they deliver except for BIG items which they ONLY deliver.

Ernest

The major site which does deliver to Ireland is Amazon - the UK one not the American one. The problems are that their UK prices are stripped of UK VAT, jacked up for Ireland, also not giving special offer prices to Irish customers, Irish VAT is then added as well as expensive shipping costs and then a Sterling Price quoted. Delivery is not prompt sometimes taking weeks for stuff claimed to be ready to ship within 24 hours. Overall a poor enough service but even with that Amazon are still sometimes the cheapest for some things - despite their special Irish rip-off pricing system/ But its all we've got - god help us!! :rolleyes:

sceptre

Ernest wrote:

despite their special Irish rip-off pricing system

Ignoring the shipping costs for a moment (which are expensive), they've got no option but to charge Irish VAT as the EU make them do it (like all other retailers with over a certain amount of cross-border trade to any given country) and I haven't noticed any additional "jacking up" of the item price itself just because it's going to shamrockland.

The site does give the option to show indicative pricing in euros (they still bill in UKP) but the rate they're using for this is more than a little borked. I've mailed them about this but they appear unable to do simple maths. It's only an indicative price but the rate error is pretty annoying to be honest.

Ripwave

Ernest wrote:

The major site which does deliver to Ireland is Amazon - the UK one not the American one. The problems are that their UK prices are stripped of UK VAT, jacked up for Ireland, Irish VAT is then added

They replace the 17.5% UK VAT rate with the 21% Irish VAT rate, as they are required to do by law. This week I bought a scanner priced at £39.99, and was charged £41.18 - that's ((39.99 / 1.175) * 1.21).

Ernest wrote:

also not giving special offer prices to Irish customers,

Which special offer prices didn't work for you? Obviously the "Free delivery in the UK" special offer doesn't apply, but I haven't come across any others (not that I've been looking for them!)

Ernest wrote:

as well as expensive shipping costs and then a Sterling Price quoted.

They're a sterling based company - they will bill your credit card in sterling, not Euro. They're up front and open about it, but it is a pain. Given that they have French, Spanish, German and Austrian services, you'd think they'd provide a generic Eurozone service, as a number of other retailers seem perfectly capable of.

Delivery costs, though, are bizarre. When I was ordering that scanner, I saw a link for a 128MB Secure Digital card for £18.99, and made a rash decision to buy it. When the order was finalised, the order was split in 2 (despite the fact that I didn't request this) and I was charged £8.45 for delivery of the SD Memory card (yes, an item weighing less than an ounce, and smaller than a postage stamp!) and £2.40 for delivery of the scanner! So for 2 items advertised at £58.98 (which cost me £60.73), I had to pay £10.85 in delivery charges!

(Even without the bizarre delivery charge, I could have gotten the SD card cheaper elsewhere, if I'd stopped to think about it, but that's what online retailers love about impulse purchases).

Ernest wrote:

Delivery is not prompt sometimes taking weeks for stuff claimed to be ready to ship within 24 hours.

I placed the order on Sunday afternoon. I received "your order has been dispatched" emails on Monday evening. The SD card was delivered on Thursday morning (by the postman with the regular post). I hope the scanner will be delivered today, but it's pot luck on any delivery from the UK.