Courier's

PjC

Hi everyone,

im buyin a second hand Windsurfing kit in the uk and need to find a courier to bring it home for me. Anyone got any suggestions? Iv tried all the usual big companys and their coming back with silly quotes! Has anyone needed to use one to get surf gear over to ireland?

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TheP

I nearly brought a surf board in from the UK - in the end I bought it locally (bigsurf.ie). They were able to bring it in for me no bother, but I ended up just getting one off them in the end. They specialise in windsurfing stuff - ask them?

PjC

With the sterling as it is right now it doesn make sense to buy local, unless they'd match uk prices. Plus, i lost my job a few months ago so trying to save as much money on the purchase as possible. Oddly though, loosing my job is the only way i can afford to buy the kit iv wanted, with redundancy payment. Thanks for the reply all the same

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cornbb

PjC wrote: »

With the sterling as it is right now it doesn make sense to buy local, unless they'd match uk prices. Plus, i lost my job a few months ago so trying to save as much money on the purchase as possible. Oddly though, loosing my job is the only way i can afford to buy the kit iv wanted, with redundancy payment. Thanks for the reply all the same

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A guy told me about a store in the UK that similarly quoted crazy prices to ship windsurfing stuff to Ireland, but they did offer to ship stuff to the courier's depot in Belfast for the usual UK price (and a lot of them do that for free once you spend a minimum amount). So if you can make the trip up north that sounds like a good option. I ended up buying my gear locally, but I'll see if I can dig out the address of the website for you. And if you're buying from a different store or privately maybe you can find a UK courier that will do the same thing for you.

PjC

God i never thought of that! Cheers, will suggest it!

I would prefer to buy locally but im saving over 300 quid buyin in the uk. Thats on a a new kit. Which is a pity in some ways

PjC

just for the record I ended up buying new off surfstore.co.uk, bit thanks to kevin and mike for sorting me out. They gave me delivery for £40

Cheapest I could find was €120, and that was for just a windsurf board, I would most likely have had to get the rig etc sent over seperately.

Poster King

Are you aware of

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/windsurfireland/

for ll your windsurfing questions and info. Very active group.

cornbb

I'd just add that a lot of Irish retailers will probably attempt to match UK prices if you ask them to. And IWA membership gives you a 10% discount at most Irish windsurf stores.

PjC

I tried a few of the irish shops and schools and they wouldn't entertain a reduction of prices. The fat face rio package is some €600 cheaper in the uk. I very much doubt thats all due to the exchange rate.

As much as i would prefer to support the local business's i think they have to start lookin at how cheap gear can be got next door in comparison to what they're chargin!

cornbb

Yeah, fair point. I like supporting local businesses and all but I guess the UK market is far busier. There's not a bad market in used gear here though, almost all of my gear was bought second hand.

PjC

Yeah i've noticed alot of good quality used gear at good prices here but none that suited me starting off unfortunately. Thankfully i should be able to pick up used kit fairly handy when i grow outta the beginners kit i have.

loctite

PjC wrote: »

I tried a few of the irish shops and schools and they wouldn't entertain a reduction of prices. The fat face rio package is some €600 cheaper in the uk. I very much doubt thats all due to the exchange rate.

As much as i would prefer to support the local business's i think they have to start lookin at how cheap gear can be got next door in comparison to what they're chargin!

In defense of Irish retailers...

1) they all have the same problem that you are having. Transportation costs. The majority of Irish stores will have to buy off english distributors, hence delivery costs are added to retail price.

2) Higher rates of VAT in Ireland (Cheers Fianna Fail-ure) 21.5% versus 13% in the UK (I think)

3) Higher operating costs in Ireland. e.g Minimum wages....

It is a sad fact that Ireland's retailers are uncompetitive. But I can assure that it is not necessarily their faults. They have to price to be able to survive. Personally I'd pay the Irish prices. For a start, if you have a problem with your gear, tis gonna cost you to ship it back to them too...