Debenhams exchange rate

uli84

is it a rip off or im overreacting? Shoes which are 35pounds on the uk website are 56 € on the irish one - thats over 10 € difference of what the actual exchange rate is...Now I know about different tax rates and all that but other shops operating in both countries do not seem to be this harsh.
I also dont think we can choose which currency we want to pay in so no way to avoid it really I think.
Any other shops which have both UK and Irish websites and are quite bad in this respect?( do not always have time to compare the prices)

daenerysstormborn3

Monsoon don't have an irish website but the price difference between their pound sterling prices and euro prices is appalling. I find them the worst offenders.

sandin

Debenhams and Monsoon have been at this for years and have never changed their conversion rate since the days of 70p / €1. Even at 95p / €1 they had a 1.6 exchange.

Higher costs do come into play, but not by that extent and many other chains such as Next, Oasis, B&Q etc have had no problem with a more reasonable conversion.

Debenhams are one of the store to be avoided for their prices - even local independents are way cheaper.

Geuze

Yes, typically the UK retailers are known for very bad exchange rates in their Irish shops.

I have noticed Debenhams to be particularly bad in this respect.

I have taken photos of their price tags as evidence.

Mongarra

I have found Heatons to be fairly scaldy. They have the double price tag on a lot of their stock so it is easy to compare.

Some years ago I queried a magazine price that was outlandish to be told the Easons buy sterling some months in advance and they use this exchange rate when pricing the later magazines which they pay for in sterling. I don't know if that was ever true or if it is still the practice but maybe some of the chains use the same lame excuse. It's lame because even when the rate was more favourable the prices did not come down.

littleteapot

Mongarra wrote: »

Some years ago I queried a magazine price that was outlandish to be told the Easons buy sterling some months in advance and they use this exchange rate when pricing the later magazines which they pay for in sterling. I don't know if that was ever true or if it is still the practice but maybe some of the chains use the same lame excuse. It's lame because even when the rate was more favourable the prices did not come down.

As far as I know the sterling thing isn't true, unless it's Menzies who do this. I used to deal with invoices for the magazine dept in easons and the invoices came to us in euros.
The fact is Menzies (who supply the vast majority of magazines to Ireland) give a sterling - euro ready reckoner to magazine retailers which is only changed once every 3 months regardless of what the exchange rate is doing in between. I never saw the price of magazines come down by a lot but it did fluctuate a bit. Menzies really do take advantage of the fact there's no VAT on magazines in the UK to slap on a whole lot of mark up when adding the VAT and converting prices here.

sandin

Magazine prices follow a set formula and chage every 3 months with the currency.

Its along the lines of

Cover price x exchange rate + 12% service fee (distributor) + vat at 9%

so a 99p mag should work out at 99p x 1.24 + 12% + 9% = €1.50

Its a few years since I dealt in magazines, but I doubt if there has been much change in the system.

coylemj

VAT is higher, minimum wage is higher and rents are higher over here. Thanks to the Celtc Tiger and the number of shoplifters operating in the city centre, we are one of the most expensive places in Europe to do business if you are in the retail trade.

uli84

agreed. still 12 euro mark up over exchange rate is a bit excessive I believe, also doubt there's less of shoplifters in the UK...