Packaging material - huge price difference to Germany

chook

I've been trying to source a certain size of heavy duty corrugated cardboard box, about 50 of them for now. Ireland (2 online office supplies shops): 2.20 / 2.70 per box ex VAT ex shipping. Germany (packaging material company with online order): 0.70 per box ex VAT ex shipping Explain that one. It's just unreal! oh, and the ones available in Ireland are made in Ireland, it's not like they have to be shipped in! Take a wild guess where I'll be buying my supply.

Nody

chook wrote: »

I've been trying to source a certain size of heavy duty corrugated cardboard box, about 50 of them for now. Ireland (2 online office supplies shops): 2.20 / 2.70 per box ex VAT ex shipping. Germany (packaging material company with online order): 0.70 per box ex VAT ex shipping Explain that one. It's just unreal! oh, and the ones available in Ireland are made in Ireland, it's not like they have to be shipped in! Take a wild guess where I'll be buying my supply.

Ireland clearly as you're doing your civic duty keeping people employeed locally!

chook

Well, I could support Ryanair instead, to do my civic duty, because it would actually be cheaper to get a cheap flight over to Bremen, where the company is located, pick up my order and bring it back, then to buy them here in Ireland.:D

ejmaztec

chook wrote: »

Well, I could support Ryanair instead, to do my civic duty, because it would actually be cheaper to get a cheap flight over to Bremen, where the company is located, pick up my order and bring it back, then to buy them here in Ireland.:D

You may well exceed your hand luggage limit.

rubadub

chook wrote: »

Explain that one.

Probably economies of scale in play, and greater competition on mainland europe.

chook wrote: »

Take a wild guess where I'll be buying my supply.

The cheaper one? which could be the Irish one when you take shipping into account.

darc

Try www.discountpackaging.ie or www.alpack.ie - for a uk supplier try www.postpack.co.uk

Generally I find prices do not differ too much when coparing similar companies. Obviuosly comparing an office supply shop against a specialist packaging supplier will see a huge difference in price.

darc

chook wrote: »

Well, I could support Ryanair instead, to do my civic duty, because it would actually be cheaper to get a cheap flight over to Bremen, where the company is located, pick up my order and bring it back, then to buy them here in Ireland.:D

at €15 per kilo over your 15kg limit, it be cheaper to bring them by limosine:D

Guy:Incognito

Unless we're talkign about the same product made by the same company, how is this "rip off Ireland"? It's a company in Ireland makes a product and it's X price, while a German company makes a similar product that they sell in Germany for X amount. A Chinese company may make and sell them for 0.20 in China (and before anyone starts, yes it is relevant)

chook

Stekelly wrote: »

Unless we're talkign about the same product made by the same company, how is this "rip off Ireland"?

It's a cardboard box for ***'s sake. I assume that the (very large) office supplies places can buy them for about the same as I would pay if I bought them in Germany, so we're talking somewhere between 100% and 200% mark-ups. I used to own a shop in the 80s and I would have been ashamed of myself to mark up anything by 100%, not even highly perishable stuff.
As the German company wasn't forthcoming with the postage quote I got them from an ebay trader in the UK now. 45 boxes for about 40€ including shipping. Here they would have set me back 99 Euro plus shipping from the suppliers I had found or from darc's link 76.50 plus shipping

On to 'fragile tape': 9.00 Euro per role in large office shop in Ennis or ebay uk 8.16 Euro for 3 including shipping from a powerseller. Which one would you go for?

I sell a product on and off ebay that goes for 10-15 Euro. Domestic shipping is 7.50 which is crazy in itself (it was a more reasonable 5.50 until ebay withdrew the An Post Discount Card in December). If I have to factor in or add on 3 Euro for packaging I might as well give up now. :rolleyes:

@darc Thanks for the links. :)They will come in handy for some other stuff. Much appreciated!

Guy:Incognito

chook wrote: »

It's a cardboard box for ***'s sake.!

Doesnt matter. Unless your talkign about the same boxes made by the same company then its different. It's like giving out that rice krispies are expensive compared to Tesco own brand rice snaps.

A tv is just a plastic box with some glass and wires for ****s sake!

chook

darc wrote: »

Generally I find prices do not differ too much when comparing similar companies. Obviously comparing an office supply shop against a specialist packaging supplier will see a huge difference in price.

Yes, I agree I wasn't really comparing like with like. At the same time, if I as a private person or sole trader can access either one, why should I pay 2-3 times as much?

Another example: Last year I had to buy a heatlamp. I checked out two outlets, both mail-order poultry supply outlets, one in Ireland, one in Germany. Exact same product. The Irish shop wanted 36 Euro, the German one 12.50. That's way beyond economies of scale.
The problem was solved when a friend send me a spare one for a tenner
Similarly I bought an incubator a few years ago. 160 Euro + 36 Euro shipping from Italy from the company's Italian agent. The exact same model from the company's Irish agent was quoted at 220 Euro plus domestic shipping.


chook

pullandbang

chook wrote: »

On to 'fragile tape': 9.00 Euro per role in large office shop in Ennis or ebay uk 8.16 Euro for 3 including shipping from a powerseller. Which one would you go for?

I see the fragile tape here on discountpackaging.ie for only €3.20 if you are buying loose rolls or €1.56 per roll if you buy the full box. Even cheaper if you were buying 10 boxes - €1.17 per roll.

All plus VAT of course.

chook

pullandbang wrote: »

I see the fragile tape here on discountpackaging.ie for only €3.20 if you are buying loose rolls or €1.56 per roll if you buy the full box. Even cheaper if you were buying 10 boxes - €1.17 per roll.

All plus VAT of course.

umh, you can only buy boxes of 36 rolls each, not individual loose rolls. See what happens if you enter "Order Quantity:" 1 and click Buy Now. It's a good deal alright but by the time I have used up 36 of them I'll be crumbling in my grave...

Shows you though how much mark-up the office shop puts on it. :mad:

ps. Edit: sorry, I stand corrected. Did not see the "To order single rolls please use the next product →" bit. 3.20 it is alright.