Miss Selfridge Dublin accepting Sterling

johnnyrotten

Let me explain....

Wife sees a nice dress in Miss Selfridge in Blanchardstown for €59 or £38
She asks if they will accept Sterling
Reply " Er eh well suppose so"
Wife goes downstairs to PTSB bank and queues for 3 mins to buy £40 for €44.30 including fee.
She goes back to Miss Selfridge and buys dress for £38 handing over the £40 and gets €2.47 change

So €44.30 less €2.47 = €41.83

Thats a €59 dress for €41.83

Speak out people and stop the great Sterling/Euro differential

The_Conductor

Errr- aside from anything else- Sterling is *not* legal tender here- and very few outlets will have the facilities to calculate the different currency transactions for giving change etc- so I cannot see this trend becoming widespread. I'd also hazard a guess that the shop assistant who facilitated this transaction will be forced to pay for it herself (though thankfully she was allowed to use her staff discount, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been).

S......

kingshankly

johnnyrotten wrote: »

Let me explain....

Wife sees a nice dress in Miss Selfridge in Blanchardstown for €59 or £38
She asks if they will accept Sterling
Reply " Er eh well suppose so"
Wife goes downstairs to PTSB bank and queues for 3 mins to buy £40 for €44.30 including fee.
She goes back to Miss Selfridge and buys dress for £38 handing over the £40 and gets €2.47 change

So €44.30 less €2.47 = €41.83

Thats a €59 dress for €41.83

Speak out people and stop the great Sterling/Euro differential

excellent stuff and too right its time for uk retailers to stop ripping of the irish some have reduced prices but most havent argos are the worst culprits

snubbleste

Agree with smccarrick here,
That poor shop clerk will be the one that loses out in this transaction

BendiBus

johnnyrotten wrote: »

Speak out people and stop the great Sterling/Euro differential

I think the Sterling/Euro exchange rate is determined by bigger factors!

johnnyrotten

smccarrick wrote: »

Errr- aside from anything else- Sterling is *not* legal tender here- and very few outlets will have the facilities to calculate the different currency transactions for giving change etc- so I cannot see this trend becoming widespread. I'd also hazard a guess that the shop assistant who facilitated this transaction will be forced to pay for it herself (though thankfully she was allowed to use her staff discount, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been).

S......

Where did you get the notion about her using her staff discount?

She scanned the dress after entering a code for sterling and the till worked out the euro change.

johnnyrotten

BendiBus wrote: »

I think the Sterling/Euro exchange rate is determined by bigger factors!

I never mentioned the Sterling/Euro exchange rate I am talking about the price differential

The_Conductor

johnnyrotten wrote: »

I never mentioned the Sterling/Euro exchange rate I am talking about the price differential

Much higher minimum wages
Much higher Irish VAT
Much higher business rates
Much higher rents
Much higher insurance
Much higher 'shrinkage'

These are all partially what contribute to the price differential between UK stores and their Irish branches.

If you wanted to pay in sterling- the norm would be to convert the Euro price into an equivalent sterling price @ prevailing business (as opposed to bank rates- normally about 5 business days in arrears).

While I am not trying to defend the way we are ripped off here- to simply put the blame at the door of the retailer is unfair. Stupid government policies and pandering to interest groups are far more to blame than profiteering by the British multiples here.

It really galls me that consumers are being called unpatriotic by a desperate government who don't know basic economic concepts and hope to guilt people into paying ridiculous prices to support the Irish economy. Hell- I can go to Dunnes in Omagh and get my identical basket of groceries for 40-45% less than I can anywhere in the Republic. This is not Dunnes fault- they have a similar margin on their goods in similar stores- its the bollox up that the government have made of the entire economy down here.

Re: the transaction that you did- I stand by my above comment- if its not the store assistant that pays for the dress- it'll be the manager. They do not have the discretion to discount goods in the manner you are suggesting- there is a reason for the price differential, and its absolutely nothing to do with 1 Euro = 93.2p Sterling........ Sure it galls us that the differential is as it is- but simply looking at the two prices- and not the reasons behind the two prices- is taking a way too simplistic view...........

johnnyrotten

smccarrick wrote: »

Re: the transaction that you did- I stand by my above comment- if its not the store assistant that pays for the dress- it'll be the manager. They do not have the discretion to discount goods in the manner you are suggesting- there is a reason for the price differential, and its absolutely nothing to do with 1 Euro = 93.2p Sterling........ Sure it galls us that the differential is as it is- but simply looking at the two prices- and not the reasons behind the two prices- is taking a way too simplistic view...........

Let me try to make it simple for you.
The girl accepted the Sterling from us and scanned the dress under Sterling ie £38 and the till worked out the change at €2.47.
The receipt even has the conversion rate printed on it !

The assistant or manager is hardly going to take the £40 Stg and bring it back to the bank, convert it and then put it back minus her staff discount.

smccarrick wrote: »

Errr- aside from anything else- Sterling is *not* legal tender here- and very few outlets will have the facilities to calculate the different currency transactions for giving change etc- so I cannot see this trend becoming widespread.

Euro is not the legal tender in UK yet almost all shops in Northern Ireland accept it and can work out the difference for change so why not the same in ROI

kingshankly

Smccarrick you post a valid argument but there are no parallels in the depreciation of sterling and the depreciation of prices on Uk products

Richard

johnnyrotten wrote: »

Let me try to make it simple for you.
The girl accepted the Sterling from us and scanned the dress under Sterling ie £38 and the till worked out the change at €2.47.
The receipt even has the conversion rate printed on it !

The assistant or manager is hardly going to take the £40 Stg and bring it back to the bank, convert it and then put it back minus her staff discount.



Euro is not the legal tender in UK yet almost all shops in Northern Ireland accept it and can work out the difference for change so why not the same in ROI

Not almost all! The reason, however that many do it is that the Euro is used by many more people than GBP. Don't forget that before the Euro came in, very few shops in NI accepted IRP and most in the Republic accepted GBP. Now the tables are reversed for understandable reasons.

rubadub

johnnyrotten wrote: »

Euro is not the legal tender in UK yet almost all shops in Northern Ireland accept it and can work out the difference for change so why not the same in ROI

They give an exchange rate, that and dual pricing are entirely different. It is also a marketing thing in NI, they know people do not like calculating stuff and so want to know prices right off, and not have to carry sterling up with them.

I doubt this will be common, most probably a mistake. They should have really accepted sterling but at an exchange rate and ignored the sterling price on the label. In which case she would have probably lost out.

If all shops did this I would carry loads of currencies. Go into mcdonalds and demand to pay for burgers in Chinese RMB, since a big mac is €1.40 or so there. Then I would go to the levis store with US dollars and get 501s for €35 worth of $.

If the goods were not dual priced then they would cost even more, for both euro and sterling payers. i.e. they would need separate labels done up and different stocking etc, ending up costing more which the company would pass on to you.

None of these currency/dual pricings are ripoffs, if the product is not worth it you do not buy it. The company is not pulling any scam or marketing/confidence trick.

People see an item and think it is worth the price, then see the dual price and get all upset and do not buy it. If it only had the euro price they would have bought it though. And if it was just the euro price it could well have ended up costing more than a dual priced one.

Tipsy Mac

smccarrick wrote: »

Much higher minimum wages
Much higher Irish VAT
Much higher business rates
Much higher rents
Much higher insurance
Much higher 'shrinkage'

These are all partially what contribute to the price differential between UK stores and their Irish branches.
...........

Yes but the real rip off is that almost all of the goods in these clothing stores are sourced in the Far East and so the Euro has gained almost 20% on sterling in the past year so in theory all goods sold in Ireland in these stores should be 20% cheaper or there abouts than they were a year ago. Prices in the UK stores should be rising to compensate for the weak currency, instead it seems to me that the Irish are subsidising low UK prices.

golden gal

Although I would agree that some English chains are over priced, I work in one and have been on the recieving end of a sterling conversion rants. I would just like to point out what I say to customers, if we were to match the prices according to the currency exchange market we would need to change our prices every other day. Also many of the clothes in the shop have been there any time from a week to a month and keeping track of the conversion is not easily done. Also as many have pointed out the Sterling is not legal tender and our tills cannot accept it.

stevenmu

As mentioned, a lot of products in UK chain stores have dual pricing. The price is printed on the label in both sterling and euros. Some stores will allow you to pay in sterling at the sterling price, Marks and spencer is another example. It's a kind of semi-official policy as far as I know, so if you ask a particular clerk about it they may not allow it or know about it, but if you ask to speak to a floor manager you might get lucky.

The till is switched into a sterling mode, it scans the barcode and gives the listed sterling price. There isn't any discount applied, or the rates aren't converted, the system simply has both prices, the euro and the sterling, and when it's set to sterling it gives the sterling list price.

I doubt very much the till clerk had to pay the difference, as far as the system is concerned the correct price was paid, and some stores do allow people to pay in sterling at the sterling list price.

A great way to get a bargain when they allow it.

c4cat

smccarrick wrote: »

Errr- aside from anything else- Sterling is *not* legal tender here- and very few outlets will have the facilities to calculate the different currency transactions for giving change etc- so I cannot see this trend becoming widespread. I'd also hazard a guess that the shop assistant who facilitated this transaction will be forced to pay for it herself (though thankfully she was allowed to use her staff discount, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been).

S......

Its be become widespread here in Dundalk to accept sterling. All of the pubs and shops in Dundalk accept sterling and give change in Euro, they use a wonderful piece of Tech call a calculator to work out the exchange rate. and no one gives sh@te if its legal tender or not

acalmenvoy

stevenmu wrote: »

As mentioned, a lot of products in UK chain stores have dual pricing. The price is printed on the label in both sterling and euros. Some stores will allow you to pay in sterling at the sterling price, Marks and spencer is another example. It's a kind of semi-official policy as far as I know, so if you ask a particular clerk about it they may not allow it or know about it, but if you ask to speak to a floor manager you might get lucky.

The till is switched into a sterling mode, it scans the barcode and gives the listed sterling price. There isn't any discount applied, or the rates aren't converted, the system simply has both prices, the euro and the sterling, and when it's set to sterling it gives the sterling list price.

I doubt very much the till clerk had to pay the difference, as far as the system is concerned the correct price was paid, and some stores do allow people to pay in sterling at the sterling list price.

A great way to get a bargain when they allow it.

Would be great to have a list of the UK stores that allow this , 'cos they probably won't advertise that they do, would be a great heads up in the week to come...

jenizzle

The Penneys I worked in accepted Sterling and gave change in Euro. The exchange rate was cack at the time but a fair few people took advantage of it.

Jeapy

Im a little bit fed up of hearing about higher minimum wage, higher tax here blah blah blah. If these factors are so influencial on the price now, why were they not a year ago when sterling was worth about 70p to the euro?
Eg Last December, item in high street shop £40 or 60 euro (£40 being worth ~57 euro)
This year, similar item in high street shop £40 or 60 euro (£40 is now worth ~43.50 euro)

I KNOW tax is higher, along with rent, minimum wage, business rates etc but i also KNOW we are being absolutely screwed over. Enniskillin/ Belfast ftw when it comes to these stores.

delly

I was in Marks & Spencer Tallaght today buying a new pair of shoes for €45. I then saw the Sterling price of £29 and thought back to this thread. I asked if they would accept the Sterling price and initially they did, but what they meant was they would accept Sterling payment on the Euro amount which obviously was pointless

viv2

All this euro vs sterling comparison is ridiculous.The shops arent banks.They are selling something and have a set price for wherever they are selling that item.What about erropean stores that have different euro prices?Why arent people going into the stores that sell american branded items and complain that they are much more expensive here or demanding to pay in $s??????

JackieChan

viv2 wrote: »

All this euro vs sterling comparison is ridiculous.The shops arent banks.They are selling something and have a set price for wherever they are selling that item.

Viv, what you say is true but I still think it brings to punters attention the currency differences and how over time, the Euro price is still the same when the pound is freefalling.

viv2 wrote: »

What about erropean stores that have different euro prices?Why arent people going into the stores that sell american branded items and complain that they are much more expensive here or demanding to pay in $s??????

I don't think our European neighbours are picking up a pair of shoes/jeans/whatever and seeing in front of their eyes the offer price in another country.
With the dual pricing it's very in your face!

boopolo

smccarrick wrote: »

Much higher minimum wages
Much higher Irish VAT
Much higher business rates
Much higher rents
Much higher insurance
Much higher 'shrinkage'

These are all partially what contribute to the price differential between UK stores and their Irish branches.

Partially being the appropriate word.

VAT is high indeed
Rates are not always higher here
RENT - Not always the case - High rents = more passing trade
Insurance will vary in different parts of UK as in Ireland


Its funny that the Irish branches of M&S had better profit than UK last year. That was when the sterling prices on their products matched the exhange rate. They have 25% more now (via exchange rate) and their profit have slumped. So the other part of the partiality you mention is greed and people know this and are talking with their feet.


Boo

wmpdd3

Tesco clothing has had 10% sterling discount on all clothing since july 21st this year.

Also you can order topshop and oasis clothes from the uk website and get them at sterling and cc exchange rate.

Usually when there is a high street reprice it happens between February and April so watch out for sterling prices becoming very close to euro but not in our favour.

taram

JackieChan wrote: »

I don't think our European neighbours are picking up a pair of shoes/jeans/whatever and seeing in front of their eyes the offer price in another country.
With the dual pricing it's very in your face!

Not true, Pull and Bear and Vero Moda are the ones that comes to mind, they have multi-european country tags, so the price of your top in greece is different to sweden etc. Though tbh, the difference is usually not great, like a bag I have in front of me for a christmas present is 45 in greece, 38 here.

_Whimsical_

The argument that the differential between prices in Ireland and the UK can at all be completely justified is just not true.The National Consummer Agency has been expressing concern about it for some time.

In June an NCA survey looked at price difference between a trolley of 42 branded items from Tesco and Dunnes North of the border, and the same 42 items from these stores South of the border.They calculated price items to exclude all VAT and excise charges.The study revealed that goods from Tesco South of the border were 28% more expensive than goods in the North,and that Dunnes in the South was 31% more expensive than it's Northern counterpart. Since June there has been a 12% difference in the Euro exchange rate so the price differencial has increased considerably.We all know the same is true in all of the major high street chains.

The thing is that while it's extremely annoying that we are being ripped off on virtually everything we buy there are wider implications of these pricing policies.These are not normal times.Our economy is in crisis.As goods in our large chain stores remain often 1/3 more expensive than is justifiable we will shop less,buy online from the UK in sterling and go North to shop.If it contiues our economy will contract more and we'll seep deeper into recession.Job losses and a lowering of our standard of life are the natural progression. It is ridiculous that the Governments response to this is to tell us it's unpatriotic to shop abroad because we are not forking out these extra charges on goods for Ireland here.We are forking it out for the bosses of greedy retail conglomerates.While there's no legal measures to deal with this situation some political pressure should be brought to bear on this issue to improve things at least a little.

soc

I'm a long-time reader of these boards, and first-time poster, and must say I'm fed up with the price-difference between GBP and EUR. This difference is not down to factors such as rent, etc... it is simply down to the fact that UK customers are more 'bargain-driven' than us Irish consumers. They shop around, and if they don't like the price of something, they go somewhere else.

For example, I was 'window-shopping' on Lego's online shop, and noticed a considerable price difference if I shopped as an Irish consumer (EUR) versus UK consumer (GBP). I emailed Lego, asking them why this difference existed, considering the item was being shipped from the same location. I'd understand that the shipping costs would be different, but the actual price of the item should be the same. Here's the response I got from them:

From: LEGO-DIRECT1 (reply-lego@cybercrs.net)

Dear ...
Thanks for getting in touch with us.

I'm sorry to hear you're unhappy about the pricing of LEGO® toys.

We always suggest a retail price for every toy in each country and this depends on the local market.This means there are sometimes differences in the price of LEGO sets from country to country. In the United Kingdom toys cost less, so if we want to sell LEGO sets to LEGO fans in the United Kingdom we need to price them competitively.

LEGO Shop at Home has different special offers every fortnight so go to www.LEGOshop.com and click on "Sales & Deals" to find out what's on offer.

Please get in touch again if you have any other queries (you'll need to quote the reference number 024454242A).

Best wishes

Tania Sidenius
LEGO Direct

I promptly wrote back to Lego, telling them that:
* I felt their pricing policy was unfair to Irish consumers
* I would not buy their products again nor encourage anyone else to
* I would inform people I know, of their pricing policy.

If you check out Lego's online shop, and object to the price discrepancies, by all means do email them, and quote the reference number (included in their response).

That's just my two-cent...

_Whimsical_

Marks and Spencers website now ships clothing almost internationally but excludes Ireland from it's delivery charter.People all over the world can pay for M&S merchandise on the site in sterling and across Europe delivery costs just £10 despite quantity of purchases.

I wonder why they decided it would not be profitable to sell online to us...:rolleyes:
We really need a more sarcastic smiley.

The_Conductor

chilly wrote: »

Marks and Spencers website now ships clothing almost internationally but excludes Ireland from it's delivery charter.People all over the world can pay for M&S merchandise on the site in sterling and across Europe delivery costs just £10 despite quantity of purchases.

I wonder why they decided it would not be profitable to sell online to us...:rolleyes:
We really need a more sarcastic smiley.

Do what most of us do- use the magic postcode BT1 2AB...... Its Belfast City Hall. We've been using it on the Bargain Alerts Forum for years. There is some postman in Belfast cursing all of us to hell, but I don't give a rats arse.

mathie

smccarrick wrote: »

Do what most of us do- use the magic postcode BT1 2AB...... Its Belfast City Hall. We've been using it on the Bargain Alerts Forum for years. There is some postman in Belfast cursing all of us to hell, but I don't give a rats arse.

Do you use that postcode and then provide a Republic address?

bagels

smccarrick wrote: »

Do what most of us do- use the magic postcode BT1 2AB...... Its Belfast City Hall. We've been using it on the Bargain Alerts Forum for years. There is some postman in Belfast cursing all of us to hell, but I don't give a rats arse.

i'd be delighted to use that method but i'm apprehensive that not all of the mail with that postcode, destined for the republic, will reach its destination;
i'd appreciate learning about others experiences in trying this method.

Webbs

golden gal wrote: »

Although I would agree that some English chains are over priced, I work in one and have been on the recieving end of a sterling conversion rants. I would just like to point out what I say to customers, if we were to match the prices according to the currency exchange market we would need to change our prices every other day. Also many of the clothes in the shop have been there any time from a week to a month and keeping track of the conversion is not easily done. Also as many have pointed out the Sterling is not legal tender and our tills cannot accept it.

People are not expecting the cost to be exactly the same or to change prices on a daily basis but when you have a multinational that has stores in uk and ireland then prices should be vaguely comaparable.
As an example a camera in boots uk is £79 and here is 134euro, that is at present over a 60% :eek: difference in price - how can that be justified!

_Whimsical_

smccarrick wrote: »

Do what most of us do- use the magic postcode BT1 2AB...... Its Belfast City Hall. We've been using it on the Bargain Alerts Forum for years. There is some postman in Belfast cursing all of us to hell, but I don't give a rats arse.

Wow.

Do you select "UK" from a drop down menu for country when you use this?

Have you ,or anyone. ordered parcels via that postcode or is it mainly small envelopes in "freebie alerts"?

It looks risky but I would definitely use that if I thought the stuff would eventually make it down here.

The_Conductor

chilly wrote: »

Wow.

Do you select "UK" from a drop down menu for country when you use this?

Have you ,or anyone. ordered parcels via that postcode or is it mainly small envelopes in "freebie alerts"?

It looks risky but I would definitely use that if I thought the stuff would eventually make it down here.

I get a few UK magazine subscriptions this way (its less than half the price of putting Europe down instead of UK). It takes a day or two longer to get here- depending on the time of year of course, but its well worth it. I've sent loads of stuff this- never ever lost anything. I've even got recorded delivery this way!

Cionád

smccarrick wrote: »

I get a few UK magazine subscriptions this way (its less than half the price of putting Europe down instead of UK). It takes a day or two longer to get here- depending on the time of year of course, but its well worth it. I've sent loads of stuff this- never ever lost anything. I've even got recorded delivery this way!

So you enter your address like this?

street address,
village,
Co. Leitrim,
BT1 2AB
UK

Fantastic if it works!

The_Conductor

Cionád wrote: »

So you enter your address like this?

street address,
village,
Co. Leitrim,
BT1 2AB
UK

Fantastic if it works!

More along the lines of:

SMcCarrick
No. 14 The Watermill
Ballydehob
Co.Galway
EIRE
BT1A 2AB

I always put the EIRE in. Then again I like pissing off the postie up there in Belfast.......

mathie

smccarrick wrote: »

More along the lines of:

SMcCarrick
No. 14 The Watermill
Ballydehob
Co.Galway
EIRE
BT1A 2AB

I always put the EIRE in. Then again I like pissing off the postie up there in Belfast.......

Which sites have you tried this with?
Does it work 100% of the time?
Thanks

The_Conductor

mathie wrote: »

Which sites have you tried this with?
Does it work 100% of the time?
Thanks

I'm not aware that I've ever lost anything- its not the same as saying it works 100% of the time- but I do get a couple of items a week this way?

_Whimsical_

smccarrick wrote: »

More along the lines of:

SMcCarrick
No. 14 The Watermill
Ballydehob
Co.Galway
EIRE
BT1A 2AB

I always put the EIRE in. Then again I like pissing off the postie up there in Belfast.......

Thanks for sharing SMcCarrick!:)

I've looked at 6 websites now and all require you to select "United Kingdom" in the address section.Can you remember if you ever used "UK" on a drop down menu?

I might try it buying something tiny from play.com and see if its successful.