Holy Crap - Topshop Have Some Euro Conversion Rate!!!!!

Kintarō Hattori

I was in Topshop with the missus a while back and she took a fancy to this bag. I snuck off today and went and got it for her. At the till the girl asked for €38 which I thought was a bit much but what the hell do I know. As a matter of interest I checked out how much the bag was on the UK website and it's £25 which works out at just under €30 using the latest rate.

So that's over €8 more I paid Topshop for absolutely nothing. That seems fairly scandelous. I'm almost tempted to go in and ask them how they justify charging the irish consumer so much more but I'm sure very little would come of it. Does this amount seem right? Can it really be that high on a single small item? I can only shudder to think if you were buying many items in there.

Klingon Hamlet

Don't we have higher VAT over here? And higher minimum wages? Basically it's more expensive to do business here and customers have more money, supply and demand...etc etc...

Kintarō Hattori

Klingon Hamlet wrote: »

Don't we have higher VAT over here? And higher minimum wages? Basically it's more expensive to do business here and customers have more money, supply and demand...etc etc...

Certainly we have a higher Vat rate, I think the UK is 17% and we are 21% but an €8 difference on a small item seems pretty inexcusable. What must it be like on more expensive items such as dresses or boots etc.

Pythia

They will say that the exchange rate was fixed a while ago and they have higher overheads in Ireland.

I'm sure it's just profiteering but they're not gonna admit to it.

amcalester

different country equals different price. The price in Ireland will be based on Irish Market conditions so can you call it profiteering? All they are doing is making the maximun return on their investment for the shareholders.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

sillymoo

eVeNtInE wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

+1

xOxSinéadxOx

everytime on come on there's a new thread about this and the answer remains the same. YES, we are being ripped off

PrivateEye

Topman/Topshop are undoubtably one of the guiltiest parties for the 'marking up' stuff, but they're far from alone. I think even when you take different economic situations into account between the Republic of Ireland and the UK/Northern Ireland, its still impossible to justify the price difference.

Best tip is a bus trip to Norn Iron.

Loads of Irish shops are pulling a fast one. Best is a prime example. They charge 65 YoYos for a Fred Perry poloshirt, when they retail for 40 of the Queens finest pounds.

40 pounds converted over?
At the minute its only 47 euro :pac:

I'm guilty of shopping in Topman etc. despite the sh!te rates because I live in Palmerstown and I can literally walk to Liffey Valley in 15 or 20 minutes, but when I've the time I make the trip up North. We can't give out about the rip off and fund it too.

**As for giving out about it, email the suits at the company.
Dont walk into topman/topshop and give out....
As a student worker (albeit in a pub, but prole work is all the same!) I can only imagine how horrible that'd be to deal with. 'Tis not their fault, even the boss(wo)man at the branch. Just doing a job, and most of them lose their wages in the same way you do.

KateF

Its always been like that. Its crap I know

mcauley

Pythia wrote: »

They will say that the exchange rate was fixed a while ago and they have higher overheads in Ireland.

I'm sure it's just profiteering but they're not gonna admit to it.

+1

Worked for a high-street department store for around 4 years, this is the excuse they generally rolled out when questioned on this...

Believe me, going in and letting off steam to a sales assistant / manager will not get you any satisfactory response on the issue. Its blatantly a markup on the price, and is common amongst almost all retailers.

moonflower

I believe they're getting better though, I was in Topshop today I noticed that on a few of the things I tried on there were little stickers placed over the euro price with a new price on them.
I took one of the stickers off the check and the new price was €3 cheaper than the original.

miss no stars

KateF wrote: »

Its always been like that. Its crap I know

It hasn't, I know because I've a hawkeye for conversion rates and ALWAYS check. Tesco won't release figures about the percentage of its profit derived from the Irish branches compared with the percentage of the company made up by the Irish branches. I wonder why?

One thing I saw lately - the sterling price cut off. I walked straight out of the shop. If you continue to shop, you make it acceptable for them to do that. Lesson is, stop being ripped off or you deserve it. There are plenty of shops out there that aren't ripping you off.

The excuse they will give if you ask them, is that they purchase all their euro currency at one time (or two at most) during the year and as such, can't bring down the price they're retailing at in eurozones because they paid a higher price for the euro to begin with. When I quoted actual figures, they hung up. I've noticed lately that a lot of shops ARE beginning to drop the euro price - they'll have to if people keep refusing to be ripped off. So keep refusing to buy until the euro price is in line with the sterling price (exchanged at current rate). Oh and there have been a number of strange "10% sales" on in the last 6 months that can't be just attributed to market slow down - aided but not caused by. And in fairness to them - tesco are one of those companies. (Although it still doesn't explain why they won't release such a simple figure).

THe real question here is - where the hell is the consumner watch dog/ombudsman/whoever is paid to deal with this kinda thing in the whole debacle?! Irish people are awful doormats at times...

KateF

miss no stars wrote: »

It hasn't, I know because I've a hawkeye for conversion rates and ALWAYS check.

Well it definitely has been that way for as long as I've been living in Scotland, which is coming on 5 years now. Especially in shops like Topshop because its one of my favourite shops so its something I've always noticed on trips back home, I remember because it was such a shock to me in my first year here

phantom_lord

do u guys really expect them to drop the price of everything just because the exchange rate changed? they're selling their products in euro not pounds.

Pythia

Saw a dress in Monsoon today, 200 pounds or 310 euro. At today's exchange rate 200 pounds is 233 euro. Where does the extra 80 or so come from? Costs and VAT aren't that high!

kittex

It's a disgrace alright. I live in Glasgow and my family often send me a list of stuff they want before I come over, so I can buy it at a proper price for them.

Most shops stuck on a 50% mark up when they entered the Irish market and have simply kept it.
Whatever happened to that court case that was supposedly going against Tesco for it?
Not heard anything about it in months.

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I was in Topshop with the missus a while back and she took a fancy to this bag. I snuck off today and went and got it for her. At the till the girl asked for €38 which I thought was a bit much but what the hell do I know. As a matter of interest I checked out how much the bag was on the UK website and it's £25 which works out at just under €30 using the latest rate.

So that's over €8 more I paid Topshop for absolutely nothing. That seems fairly scandelous. I'm almost tempted to go in and ask them how they justify charging the irish consumer so much more but I'm sure very little would come of it. Does this amount seem right? Can it really be that high on a single small item? I can only shudder to think if you were buying many items in there.

YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!

Shops put prices at what people will pay, i'm so sick of people buying something then bitching about the prices. Rip off Ireland, more like Stupid Fook Ireland

Kintarō Hattori

Fighting Irish wrote: »

YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!

Shops put prices at what people will pay, i'm so sick of people buying something then bitching about the prices. Rip off Ireland, more like Stupid Fook Ireland

On this occasion no I am not the problem. I bought the bag for her unaware of how much it was in sterling. She liked it, I picked it up and it was only BY CHANCE thinking about it afterwards that I discovered there was such a difference.

As a result of having checked it BY CHANCE I can assure you I will not be buying anything for her or myself in a store that has such a high difference between sterling and euro.

Ogham

Just shop online and pay in Sterling (after you have tried on the stuff in a shop here ) You will still save money even with delivery charges added on.

WindSock

rite a letr 2 dem!!!

Kintarō Hattori

WindSock wrote: »

rite a letr 2 dem!!!

You know I have been thinking about that. No point in complaining about it on the net and not doing anything about it and all that.

Milo98

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Certainly we have a higher Vat rate, I think the UK is 17% and we are 21% but an €8 difference on a small item seems pretty inexcusable. What must it be like on more expensive items such as dresses or boots etc.

I used to work for an english concession (like TS but a competitor) Basically biggest diff with price differences is VAT. In the UK its only 12.5% on clothing here its 21%. Obviously wages are bigger here too & if I remember correctly (its going back a while so not 100% sure on it) we have a higher level of insurance on wages or something (I'm a bit vague here). As well as higher public liability insurance.
Its not very transperent why there is a difference in prices because its a combination of factors & most shop staff wont have a clue why but a lot more goes into it than daily exchange rates.
If you want to buy something at today's exchange rate shop on-line.

Sangre

God forbid a company tries to make as much money as it can.

Kintarō Hattori

Sangre wrote: »

God forbid a company tries to make as much money as it can.

Of course it's in the interest of a company to make money but blatantly ripping people off is another thing. It shows bad business ethics and a lack of appreciation of your customers.

KateF

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Of course it's in the interest of a company to make money but blatantly ripping people off is another thing. It shows bad business ethics and a lack of appreciation of your customers.

Here here!!

eth0_

The prices are set far, far in advance. No company could afford to adjust their prices to suit the exchange rate on even a monthly basis...

I live in Edinburgh and McDonalds is a lot cheaper here - do you hear me complaining when I go home to Ireland?

Just use topshop.com, they ship to Ireland for £5, you can use your NUS student card on there for a 10% discount, and you will benefit as you will be paying in sterling...

Also there's a better range online.

mallet head

The "dearer to do business here" pony has been trotted out here for years without anyone ever mentioning the fact that we have cheaper fuel costs and way lower corporation tax. We are being ripped off pure and simple. I was in Newry last Thursday and the choice was simple........

Pay €60 for a PS3 game or £39.99 which equates to around €43. Thats a 33% difference in sticker price on one item. Sterling has not been 33% higher in over a year.

I seen one jewellery shop offering 90p to the euro in the Quays centre and he was happily making a profit.

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

On this occasion no I am not the problem. I bought the bag for her unaware of how much it was in sterling. She liked it, I picked it up and it was only BY CHANCE thinking about it afterwards that I discovered there was such a difference.

As a result of having checked it BY CHANCE I can assure you I will not be buying anything for her or myself in a store that has such a high difference between sterling and euro.

I see

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

You know I have been thinking about that. No point in complaining about it on the net and not doing anything about it and all that.

They won't care, they can set prices at whatever they want. Its up to the customers if they pay the price or not. Obviously most of Ireland does, or else we;d see a huge drop in prices.

ironictoaster

Topman are just as bad. I got a pair of jeans for £40 in Newry last month. My friend got them up in Blanchardstown SC for €60

KateF

creggy wrote: »

Topman are just as bad. I got a pair of jeans for £40 in Newry last month. My friend got them up in Blanchardstown SC for €60

Well they're the same shop silly!

Mark Hamill

Milo98 wrote: »

I used to work for an english concession (like TS but a competitor) Basically biggest diff with price differences is VAT. In the UK its only 12.5% on clothing here its 21%. Obviously wages are bigger here too & if I remember correctly (its going back a while so not 100% sure on it) we have a higher level of insurance on wages or something (I'm a bit vague here). As well as higher public liability insurance.
Its not very transperent why there is a difference in prices because its a combination of factors & most shop staff wont have a clue why but a lot more goes into it than daily exchange rates.

Well cheaper fuel and corporation tax in Ireland has been mentioned already, but theres also the fact that there's usually a far higher number of these fashion outlets in the uk than in ireland. Eg there are only 16 top shop outlets in Ireland, while there are 185 in the uk. Individually, the shops in Ireland may be more expensive to run (although the largest fashion store in the world is a topshop in Oxford street, I'd say that costs a pretty penny to run and rent), but overall, running the costs of a few Irish topshops are going to be a lot less than the costs of running nearly 200 in the uk.

Fighting Irish

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Well cheaper fuel and corporation tax in Ireland has been mentioned already, but theres also the fact that there's usually a far higher number of these fashion outlets in the uk than in ireland. Eg there are only 16 top shop outlets in Ireland, while there are 185 in the uk. Individually, the shops in Ireland may be more expensive to run (although the largest fashion store in the world is a topshop in Oxford street, I'd say that costs a pretty penny to run and rent), but overall, running the costs of a few Irish topshops are going to be a lot less than the costs of running nearly 200 in the uk.

thats true but you think the UK stores are making about the same money as irish stores?

Mark Hamill

Fighting Irish wrote: »

thats true but you think the UK stores are making about the same money as irish stores?

I dont know, I cant find any info on the profit margins of Irish vs Uk stores, although, it certainly seems that they are pricing that way.

daveharnett

Meh tbh. Free market in action. If you don't like the price take your euros elsewhere.

I don't blame topshop/arcadia for this in the least. They are in business to make money.

Fighting Irish

daveharnett wrote: »

Meh tbh. Free market in action. If you don't like the price take your euros elsewhere.

I don't blame topshop/arcadia for this in the least. They are in business to make money.

werd

Nevyn

It is the same with all of the Arcadia group which is top shop, topman, dorthy perkins and evans.
They will site higher over heads of rent, esb, wages, vat and the expense of importing goods
that bit further from the UK to here for the reasons in the price difference.

When the euro came in Uk retail chains rushed to set up shops here and will use what they take in in euros to pay
towards buying goods in euros rather then pay all of the foreign exchange cost they would incur other wise.

Drodan

Had the same thing in Debanums(spelling please) in the north last week. For example this big box of sweets(really big)was £15, however the euro conversion was at 25e, almost double.

KateF

Thaedydal wrote: »

It is the same with all of the Arcadia group which is top shop, topman, dorthy perkins and evans.
They will site higher over heads of rent, esb, wages, vat and the expense of importing goods
that bit further from the UK to here for the reasons in the price difference.

When the euro came in Uk retail chains rushed to set up shops here and will use what they take in in euros to pay
towards buying goods in euros rather then pay all of the foreign exchange cost they would incur other wise.

Hmm thats very cunning of them! Smart business moves. Still sucks when shopping in Ireland though

PrivateEye

Basically...

Newry or STFU.


Going up there Friday, going to buy like there's no tomorrow.

Kintarō Hattori

Fighting Irish wrote: »

I see

Why should I have been aware of such a difference? My shopping consists of going to Tescos or buying the occasional thing from the net. I do very little clothes shopping. I only became aware of such a difference after buying the bag for my other half.

Were I female and used to shopping every day then yes of course I should be aware of the prices and hence not shopping somewhere that has such a huge difference in their sterling/euro prices.

But to imply I should automatically be aware of the sterling/euro hit is silly and unfair.

Captain Chaos

Should also consider that since the recession, our VAT rate has increased to cover government spending and discourage the average Irish consumer from putting more money back into the economy.

Where as the UK government have lowered the VAT rate from 17%-15% to encourage more consumer spending to prop up their economy.

Just something to think about but its heading into a different topic altogether.

I have zero sympathy for people who get ripped off by Irish retailers. They would have to lower their prices if more people didnt buy from the and went elsewhere.

Everyone knows the savings that can be made by shopping online/uk/usa so if you pay over the odds its tough sh1te in my book.

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Why should I have been aware of such a difference? My shopping consists of going to Tescos or buying the occasional thing from the net. I do very little clothes shopping. I only became aware of such a difference after buying the bag for my other half.

Were I female and used to shopping every day then yes of course I should be aware of the prices and hence not shopping somewhere that has such a huge difference in their sterling/euro prices.

But to imply I should automatically be aware of the sterling/euro hit is silly and unfair.

I'm saying you should be aware of the price you're paying before you buy something, and if you're not then you don't really have the right to complain about it

Kintarō Hattori

Fighting Irish wrote: »

I'm saying you should be aware of the price you're paying before you buy something, and if you're not then you don't really have the right to complain about it

Would you get off of your high horse. If it was something I bought reguarly fair enough. Why the hell would I be question buying a handbag for the lady, how the hell am I supposed to know what it should/shouldn't cost.

Do you buy much ladies fashions FI?

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Would you get off of your high horse. If it was something I bought reguarly fair enough. Why the hell would I be question buying a handbag for the lady, how the hell am I supposed to know what it should/shouldn't cost.

Do you buy much ladies fashions FI?

Ye all the time :pac:


I'm not trying to be a dick but the reason Ireland is such a rip off is because people buy **** and then just complain about the price later, all you have to do is look at the "consumer issues" subforum here at boards. Most threads there are not really about consumer issues they're mainly about someone buying something then complaining about how Ireland is such a rip off.

Kintarō Hattori

Fighting Irish wrote: »

Ye all the time :pac:


I'm not trying to be a dick but the reason Ireland is such a rip off is because people buy **** and then just complain about the price later, all you have to do is look at the "consumer issues" subforum here at boards. Most threads there are not really about consumer issues they're mainly about someone buying something then complaining about how Ireland is such a rip off.

Fair enough I'm glad you said that. I appreciate that you get annoyed about folk complaining about the prices but then go and shop there again. I won't be complaining about this in the future because........ I won't shop there again and I'll mention to the misses that she shouldn't either.

In fairness I can't have been expected to know about something I'm so unfamilar with....... ladies fashions it's a whole minefield, so go easy on the next poor unsucpecting sap who falls victim!

Fighting Irish

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Fair enough I'm glad you said that. I appreciate that you get annoyed about folk complaining about the prices but then go and shop there again. I won't be complaining about this in the future because........ I won't shop there again and I'll mention to the misses that she shouldn't either.

In fairness I can't have been expected to know about something I'm so unfamilar with....... ladies fashions it's a whole minefield, so go easy on the next poor unsucpecting sap who falls victim!

Maybe you should call over and and we'll have a fashion show

Kintarō Hattori

As great as that sounds she'd probably come over all jealous!

Papillon87

Hmmm.....no one else seems to share my sentiments.....I think Oasis are one of THE ABSOLUTE WORST for this! Refuse to go in there anymore after a few shocking conversion experiments on my trusty calculator a few months ago.