Komplett and Irish customers

Blade

Komplett Prices seem to be higher in Ireland for certain goods (Not all) and I'm not talking about the VAT difference, I'm talkin ex VAT prices here. Delivery has nothing to do with it either as you pay separately for that. So what is it, is it just because we're Irish that komplett assume we're used to being screwed? Or is the Irish site not updated enough, either ways we're being ripped off. OK let me show you what I mean:

take this digital camera for EUR 128.92 ex. VAT on the Irish Site:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&AvdID=1&CatID=&GrpID=&p=24174&s=fp

Now just change the .ie to .de and notice the price for Germany EUR 101.69 ex. VAT.

Heres another example, the JazPiper MP3 player, EUR 98.84 ex. VAT:

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&AvdID=1&CatID=&GrpID=&p=22141&s=fp

Again a simple change in URL from the dreaded .ie to .de and hey presto, EUR 82.26 ex. VAT.

Now heres the strange thing......... This difference is only on certain items, for example have a look at the western digital 80 and 120 gig drives and you'll see the prices are exactly the same ex. VAT as they are on the Irish site! So what the hell is going on? To me it looks like the Irish site is not updated regularly so Irish customers end up paying a lot more than they should be. My advise to anyone buyin from komplett.ie is to check the German site to see if your paying too much before clicking that 'BUY' button, in most cases you only need to change the .ie to .de to check.

Wossack

But can you buy from the .de site, or will they refer you to their
Ireland sales div, and hence .ie prices?

Blade

No I mean to check if your being ripped off have a look at the .de but you probably can't buy from there anyway. It's just to know, be interesting if someone tried to buy stuff from the .de would they pay the cheaper price and still have their goods delivered here? You never know. My point anyway is that the prices should all be the same.

I've mailed them about it and I've pointed them to this thread and asked them to give a response.

tuxy

gainward gf4 ti4200 64 mb gs EUR 160.35(on .de)171.90(on .ie) both prices ex vat
im going to email them too

KdjaCL

from PC LIve Ad they ran

"www.komplett.ie ship to the ROI only"
"www.komplett.co.uk ship to uk only"
"also have webshops in germany www.de swededn www.se norway www.no"

Im guessing its them same for all them.

Interesting if they respond and typical For Sale mod notices it ...LOL


kdja

Lorax

I don't think you can use this to justify calling komplett crooks.. Ive ordered from them successfully a few times now and the service has always been reliable and timely. The prices are a fraction of what you would pay in a place like compustore/pc world/dixons.
Perhaps the cost of storing goods is more expensive in germany? Or maybe their inflation is higher than ours? (Im not too sure on about economic side of it)

quozl

the .ie komplett is in norway, it's only 'irish' in name. I'd be surprised if the german one isnt the exact same norkom outfit in oslo. So there's no excuses.
quozl

Kali

So what is it, is it just because we're Irish that komplett assume we're used to being screwed?

Get out on the wrong side of the bed today Blade?
Personally I wouldn't go writing "ripping off" either... they are easily the cheapest and most reliable store I and many others have ever used for computer parts.. I don't see the need to go jumping to wild accusations of european wide conspiracys to get money out of the Irish

Perhaps the cost of storing goods is more expensive in germany? Or maybe their inflation is higher than ours?

Good point, however all their products (afaik) come from the same distribution centre (in norway).. so delivery or storage shouldn't be an issue, unless of course they have a smaller dist. centre in mainland europe for certain goods, or goods that have a manufacturers plant in Germany itself.

Just on the variation in prices.. take RicherSounds for example.. their HQ and main dist. centre is located in Britain, however the Irish webprices are in the region of 5-10% cheaper than British webprices. Don't ask me why, but I don't see the British complaining about Richer Sounds ripping them off.

RicardoSmith

They probably haven't noticed it thats all...

You could always get cheaper than all Irish stores and Komplett in many of the UK online stores, even taking into account the exchange rate, and shipping. Even some US stores are cheaper.

Been like that for years. Only disadvantage is if you have a problem and you have to return something which can take a bit of time going back and forward to UK. Though thats mainly our postal service our end.

Most of the PC hardware companies are based in Ireland yet it cheaper to buy their products in the UK than here, and you THINK we are being ripped off? Don't make me laugh.

Blade

Problem here is kali, people in Ireland are used to being ripped off and when a company like komplett come here and offer reasonable prices everyone goes mad and buys from them thinking they're the bees knees, however my post should make it quite clear that they are infact ripping people off and perhaps playing on their ignorance as to the reality of prices for goods.

I've yet to get a clear answer from anyone as to why 'some' goods cost 20 odd % more here and yet others are exactly the same price. I still go along with my theory that the .IE site is not updated regularly and therefor 'some' of the prices are much dearer because they haven't been edited. I've seen a few pages on komplett.ie that should have been updated but haven't been. This all boils down to Irish customers paying more for their goods than they should be. This bull$hit about storage holds no water.

Just go to komplett.com for their various sites. The Irish market is nothing compared to the German one and I believe this is the reason we get a lot less attention. Sure we'll see what explanation they come back with

P.S. Of course I expected a lot of flaming Kali, when I come here and complain about a company whos offered the best prices and service the Irish consumer has ever got. I intend buying stuff from them myself too, however we are still being taken for a ride here. Something with these price differences don't add up and the fact that only certain products differ in price would lead me to believe that they've made a mistake somewhere.

Blade

Originally posted by Lorax
I don't think you can use this to justify calling komplett crooks.. Ive ordered from them successfully a few times now and the service has always been reliable and timely. The prices are a fraction of what you would pay in a place like compustore/pc world/dixons.

I never said anything about their service, and of course they're cheaper than compustore/pc world/dixons!! FFS who isn't?!

Originally posted by Lorax
Perhaps the cost of storing goods is more expensive in germany? Or maybe their inflation is higher than ours? (Im not too sure on about economic side of it)

Yeh right whatever Haven't you got your theory the wrong way round?

Blade

Originally posted by kdja
Interesting if they respond and typical For Sale mod notices it ...LOL

Thats why I was made the for sale mod

logic1

Originally posted by quozl
the .ie komplett is in norway, it's only 'irish' in name. I'd be surprised if the german one isnt the exact same norkom outfit in oslo. So there's no excuses.
quozl

I don't think that's right anymore. I got a mail from them a few days ago saying they had opened a new distribution centre in Dublin and from now on all Irish returns and inquiries should be directed at to that centre. Haven't the mail on hand but I'll post it up when I get home.

.logic.

MisterAnarchy

I have noticed this discrepancy in pricing for quite some time.
It does seem strange that there should be a difference in the prices between different countries especially since all goods are sent from the same source.
All of the Komplett sites seem to be updated regularly so I dont believe this is the reason.
I also wonder why some goods are only available in the Scandinavian countries when they could quite easily be sold here, i.e Creative 5300 Speaker Sets.
I dont go along with the statement that Komplett are 'easily the cheapest '.
For some products they are very reasonable but for others they are not.However their delivery is exemplary .
When browsing the Komplett site I compare with Ebuyer in the UK .
Between both of these you will find the lowest price on 90% of items.
Should be interesting to see what comes of this.

yankinlk

jesus blade relax. dont hang them untill you get an answer from them. Having experience running this sort of business myself it looks strangely familiar to me. it is more than likely shipping/handling charges being added to the price.

Matt Simis

I got that mail too. AFAIK, their Disti centre is still in Norway. Their address for returns is now in Ireland instead of the UK. Im sure the Irish returns address is just a depot anyway:

Dear Customer

Please be aware that of our new address from today:

Komplett.ie
PO Box 9036
Dublin 15

Our old address will be terminated from 1. November 2002.

Please use this address for post, return shipments etc and be aware that we cannot accept deliveries to any physical address.

Regardless of the suspicious pricing between IE, DE, UK Komplett Shops, they seem to have lost much of their competitive edge too. For example, its now cheaper to buy at least Graphics Cards (if not memory too) direct from Crucial UK than it is to purchase from Komplett.

Crucial Radeon 9700:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmfgr.asp?cat=Video+Card
(€449 inc Vat)

http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspAvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&t=278&l=2
(€520 inc Vat)


Companys like Crucial sell stuff at their RRP, their Online Store is not there to put their own retailers out of business, therefore I cant see a reason for this difference in price.



Matt

RicardoSmith

its like when you go into some place like shopping center, which has PC world, Dixons, game etc. Price something like a graphics card and a game. The price of the card could be €200 more in one shop than the next, and the game could be €20 more expensive. Yet even though the cheaper competition is across the hall in the shopping center, most people don't bother walking across to compare and check the prices. So shops don't bother reducing their prices either.

Thats the real reason we get ripped off is because 1) "they can" and 2) we as a nation let them.

Another thing that bothers me is when these shops sell ancient hardware like TNT/voodoo cards for their original prices 4 years after they were released. Some unknowing punter is going to buy it and completely fleeced.

Incidentally just as a comparision the 9700 is €544.75 on Komplett but I can buy it for €432.23 + del (probably €10-20) from OcUK and theres probably better prices out there if I was to look harder. Remember Komplett is probably the cheapest you'll buy it in Ireland by some margin.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by RicardoSmith

Another thing that bothers me is when these shops sell ancient hardware like TNT/voodoo cards for their original prices 4 years after they were released. Some unknowing punter is going to buy it and completely fleeced.

Im sure said shops can make a good argument that they are merely selling it for the RRP. I got into arguments with shops on this before, thats basically what it boiled down to. I suppose the real people at fault are the uninformed idiots buying the stuff .

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
Remember Komplett is probably the cheapest you'll buy it in Ireland by some margin.

What does that actaully mean tho? They ship the stuff from Norway, stock it in Norway, conduct their business in Norway. I cant walk into a Komplett shop and pick something up and buy it, therefore I wouldnt really say that count as the "cheapest in Ireland". They could have just as easily sold stuff to Ireland via Komplett.co.uk, and what difference would that have really made in the end? Its merely a clever marketting trick to make it appear they are based in Ireland.

If they had sold through the .co.uk then we would have paid less VAT and the same shipping (still comes from Norway)!



Matt

MisterAnarchy

Good point about the VAT , but then you would get idiots complaining about the immense mental computation required to convert from Sterling to Euro.
Its the same thing with Amazon in the UK.
If you buy an item off them advertised for 30 pounds Sterling you will actually pay more.
They will remove the VAT at 17.5% and tack it back on at 21%.
A sneaky little ploy I dont like one bit.

tuxy

well iv just looked at the gf4 card on the .no site and its 2 euro more expensive then the irish site

Samson

Originally posted by MisterAnarchy
Its the same thing with Amazon in the UK.
If you buy an item off them advertised for 30 pounds Sterling you will actually pay more.
They will remove the VAT at 17.5% and tack it back on at 21%.
A sneaky little ploy I dont like one bit.

That does not sound legal.
Surely they would have to be VAT registered in Ireland to charge an Irish VAT rate.
Are you sure about that MisterAnarchy?
I have bought from Amazon UK and have never noticed this.

Xterminator

Blade your absolutely right.

It is a rip off, and now with the euro its become very transparent.

There is no acceptable reason that there be any significant price differential, if shipping and vat is excluded, (which it is).

Although Komplett are a big improvement of buying pc parts in Dixons, and Compusore etc, and there delivery and customer servie has been reasonable up till now, it is not good enough that they rip people off in thsi country.

I suggest we create a petition, get as many sigs as possible and send it too them sauying we will boycot there store until the policy is changed.

Whether the price differential is simply the lack of speed updating the irish prices, or deliberate padding of the profit margins would be irrelavent. The result is the same.

X

MisterAnarchy

If you are buying an item from Amazon.co.uk to an Irish address you wil pay VAT at 21% ,not the advertised price.
They obviously have a 'ghost' unit here ala Komplett so as to charge this ridiculous extra 3.5% .
I can see no reason why I should have to pay Irish VAT rates when I am buying an item from another EU country ?
Bit of a joke really.
Should we have to pay VAT on Komplett purchases at all as these items are originatingoutside the EU ?

Mountjoy Mugger

I would bring it to the attention of the relevant authorities here. If they are charging, and paying the VAT at 21% to the VAT man here, I'd have no problem.

If, on the other hand, they are paying 17% VAT to Her Majesty's Customs & Excise, or whoever they should pay it to, and pocketing the balance - then, there'd be hell to pay.

niallsmart

I emailed Komplett about this and got the following reply:

"Dear Niall,

The German site is currently under a pilot phase where some prices are lowered to attract new customers. The prices will be adjusted up shortly when the pilot phase is over.

Komplett.ie used the same strategy when it first opened for business."

spongebob

The Germans are entitled to FAR lower prices than the Irish because of lower population dispersal and because Germany is a lot closer to Norway.

tuxy

i got a differnt reply from them

As you might be aware of, Komplett (UK/IE and DE (together with NO and SE) are companies under Norkom ASA. Our warehouse is located in Norway and all orders are shipped from there. Still we are able to maintain a Next Day Delivery including full tracking of every order both through your account at Komplett or through DHL's website.

Being in Norway means that all items going out are subject to different treatment. For instance: The VAT rates are different in these countries. (DE=16%, UK=17.5% and IE=21%) The Import taxes are slightly different on some of the product groups and the freight costs are differing from country to country.

All of these factors contribute to somewhat of a difference in comparing this prices. The rest is adjustment to the market. We have rules to follow in dealing with import/export of computer equipment; for instance we are not allowed by Abit, Asus, AMD etc to sell cheaper in neather UK or IE than we are today.

Xterminator

Originally posted by Muck
The Germans are entitled to FAR lower prices than the Irish because of lower population dispersal and because Germany is a lot closer to Norway.

First off, if shipping is not a factor, ie shipping costs are not included in the product price, how can the distance be a factor?

DHL deliver from the warehouse, we pay DHL .. how does this make Komplett's prices any dearer? Have u thought about this before you posted?

And as for population dispersal, think about it.

Komplett service all of europe, thus they can buy in bulk, negotiate a cheaper price and sell the products cheaper, because they buy in bulk. That means they dont pay more for graphics cards earmarked for ireland, than they do for ones earmarked more germany.

The costs to the company are the same, so the selling price (not including vat or shipping differences) should be the same.
There is no two ways about it.

X

spongebob

companies are charged more for delivery to Ireland by the big full service shippers DHL FEDEX UPS etc, from middle Europe, but may not pass it on in full.

It does affect their overall discounting policy but as they are all in the same boat using the same carriers then they need not start a price war here and their gross margin works out around the same.

M

Blade

niallsmart: Must be a standard email they send out so cause it's the exact response I got too, they probably got a good few complaints from different countries. I don't know about anyone else here but personally I don't buy it. I've just seen the reply tuxx got and he seemed to get more of an explanation than me and you got. I don't buy his one either but ours was a joke.

Muck: If you think Germany is entitled to lower prices over the Internet than we are, then thats good for you. Personally I was under the impression that the idea of the EU was that all member states were now entitled to purchase goods from any other EU country in order to lower prices and encourage competition. I was also under the impression that we also had the option of either paying local VAT rates on these products or pay our own at point of entry.

The whole point of the Internet is to give people information and access to goods and services from anywhere in the world. Any other online shop I've seen has given the same prices to all countries, the only difference is what VAT you pay and how much shipping you pay, thats fair enough of course. What komplett is doing is sectioning off it's market into different domains and charging as much as it can get away with in each one. Of course the Germans are well used to getting cheap stuff so they wouldn't pay the rediculous prices that we are willing to pay. Thats my whole point! We need to speak up a bit more in this country.

komplett's resonse of the reason the German site is cheaper is because it is trying to attract new customers and that 'The prices will be adjusted UP shortly' is bull$hit. Look at this:

*The TRUST Family C@m 510FX on the Irish site is simpley OVER priced at 156.00 inc. VAT
*The same cam on the German site is EUR 117.96 inkl. MwSt
*Yet the same cam on a random google search site shows the cam on an Italian site for EUR 108,20 IVA compresa (Inc. VAT!) http://www.libertybusiness.it/negozi/bmtinformatica/php/catalogo.php?cat_id=69

Any other online shop I've searched for this cam shows it around the 100 Euro mark so do you seriously think they are going to adjust the prices UP on the german site to around the 150 we pay for this camera from here? Can you see a German paying 150 euro for a cam he can get anywhere else for 100? I don't think so! I bet you anything that they will NOT up the price on that cam on the German site to 150 as they said in their email. If anything they'll have to drop the Irish one.

Simple fact is they are OVER charging on the Irish site NOT undercharging on the German.

Blade

Slutmonkey57b

What a lot of "simple facts" and "blatant truths" we have here -

The German site is currently under a pilot phase where some prices are lowered to attract new customers. The prices will be adjusted up shortly when the pilot phase is over.

Komplett.ie used the same strategy when it first opened for business.

Seems to cover it pretty simply other than the "evil Norwegians" theory. Has it occurred to you that maybe this is actually the case and that the German site may actually be running special offers? Or that they may actually be using them as loss leaders (which are illegal here btw)? Are you going to complain every time something goes off "special offer" on the .ie site and the price goes up as well? FFS, get a grip. You're not forced to buy from them - if you're too lazy to look for the best price going when you're buying, you're probably going to get ripped off, end of story. And we already know that there isn't 1 single site on the net that's always, completely 100% cheaper on everything it sells compared to everywhere else in the entire universe.

There's a price difference? Buy elsewhere and don't have a brain haemmorage.

Slutmonkey57b

Anyway, as has already been pointed out the real ripoff is the manufacturers having their production/distro centres in Ireland, and the prices here being higher than elsewhere (currency differentials taken into account).

TacT

bottom line, they should not have such discrepencies between they're sites for different countries, I think they know only too well what they are doing and with some of the above comments they will continue to do so. Don't support them, I won't until I see EQUALITY!

There is no excuse for it, get your head out of the sand, don't support them and we will get fair pricing, otherwise you're only helping them to rip us off. :mad:

well spotted blade

Blade

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
Has it occurred to you that maybe this is actually the case and that the German site may actually be running special offers? Or that they may actually be using them as loss leaders (which are illegal here btw)?

Have you not read my post properly? What special offers are you on about? Selling a camera in Germany for 117 Euro is hardly a special offer let alone a loss leader when it can be got elsewhere for 108. Theres nothing special about that price. There is however something wrong when it's 156 Euros to the Irish public! Thats some price difference would you not agree? Theres nothing that can justify that, when you give me an answer to that then I'll listen to you. Sure if it's a special offer we'll see if they increase that camera in Germany to the 156 Euros we pay here like they said in their email. Your seriously think they will?

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
Are you going to complain every time something goes off "special offer" on the .ie site and the price goes up as well? FFS, get a grip.

Again if you read the posts properly you'd realise that this has NOTHING to do with any special offers.

Originally posted by Slutmonkey57b
You're not forced to buy from them - if you're too lazy to look for the best price going when you're buying, you're probably going to get ripped off, end of story. And we already know that there isn't 1 single site on the net that's always, completely 100% cheaper on everything it sells compared to everywhere else in the entire universe.

There's a price difference? Buy elsewhere and don't have a brain haemmorage.

Yes but your leaving out one TINY factor here and that is that komplett.de and komplett.ie are ONE company not 2 different ones which understandably would vary slightly in prices. And the other thing is that there is a HUGH difference in prices between the 2 sites that belong to the same company depending on where you buy from which to me sounds like discrimination in an EU thats supposed to be an open market and an Internet thats supposed to give us access to that market, yet we are denied this right by one company who has decided to segregate us from it and give us our own price list which is higher than what they and everyone else is charging in the rest of the EU.

I don't give a damn about their prices personally, I'll buy wherever I want anyway. I'm not anoyed about it, I just think this should be pointed out to the Irish buyers who think komplett are the dogs b0ll0cks cause they've been used to being screwed in Ireland by places like compustore/pc world etc. Buy wherever the hell yous want guys, I just thought some people might appreciate knowing what they're up to. Obviously some of you don't.

pertinax

Since norway arent in the eu and then maybe Different countries have to deal with them differently. Like germanies policy towards imports from non eu countries is different to Irelands? I thought that wasnt the case but maybe..... Just to be arsey and that

quozl

Originally posted by logic1
I don't think that's right anymore. I got a mail from them a few days ago saying they had opened a new distribution centre in Dublin and from now on all Irish returns and inquiries should be directed at to that centre.
.logic.

I just returned something today. They sent me a mx420 instead a Ti4200 (tits!). I had to pay, myself, to send it to Reading, Eng. And the package came from Oslo norway.
quozl

spongebob

Blade has raised an issue that is supposed to disappear with the euro...I raised a lesser known counter issue... I think he should compain to the ODCA , get aref number (www.odca.ie) post it here and let others 'join' the complaint. It is a fair issue. I see them leveling prices against other Irish suppliers more than across the EU. Norway is a member of the EEA which accepts EU rules in many ways (swiss and iceland are in it too, as are all eu members)

below cost selling applies to groceries ISTR, it is not illegal in every aspect.

the komplett return address in ireland is active form the 01/11/02 ...not yet in other words. Its a po box on de nortsoide....shudder...

M

Winters

I think the problem is really just the high tax (21%) that we have to pay..... in the UK its only something like 17.5% and i think its even less aroundd europe .. Prices in shops are getting higher but i cant see komplett rising there prices just because ireland is such a big ripp-off

tuxy

no the prices we are talking about are ex VAT so that isnt it

rob1891

feck arse, deleted my post. grrrrr.

As you're probably aware komplett provide their price list in xls, I've done some simple analysis on it. eeep, hope I got my percentages right! If I were any good at MS crap I'd have you comparisons with every komplett. site, but I aint, so that would be a whole lot of work.

Basically everything is at least ~4.2% more expensive on the .ie, when compared to .de, and some popular products are more than 5% more expensive, eg all Intel Processors (bar xeons?), all AMD processors (or so it looks), Seagate and other popular harddrives, flash-type memory sticks .... take gander for yourself at the main offenders:

http://www.netsoc.ucd.ie/~roberth/stuff/sheet001.htm

and the list of comparisons:

http://www.netsoc.ucd.ie/~roberth/stuff/komplett_cutdown.zip

I don't know what to think, the 4.2% increase could be something to do with import taxes, as it is right across the board, I didn't see any deviation, with products priced exactly the same or less that those for sale to Germany. Maybe someone can dig up Irish and German import taxes. Of course it could just be a blanket hike, to snatch at unsavvy Irishmen.

The price differences on popular items looks more like this, Komplett knowing what sells and what doesn't tries to make the most profit on those products that do. But again one cannot be certain, Intel and other Big-Wigs might insist on pricing, (though from the new car racket that went on in Britain, I would have thought such practices illegal).

If it is part of a promotion then I guess we will have to make sure they go back to equal pricing at some stage .... perhaps it could end up prolonged "promotion".

I'd still say I'm a happy customer of theirs, though it's a little displeasing to think Europe sees the Irish consumer as a soft target ...

rob

rob1891

The 4.2% difference is accounted for by our differing vat rates, 21% versus 16% (standard rate, don't ask me what isn't standard!).

So, there is still the selection of products that are even more expensive here, but I would now be more convinced that it is only part of a introductory pricing scheme they have for the .de site (how new is it?)

rob

edit: actually screw the "promotion", I am forgetting Blade's comparison with Italian online retailers. hmmm. Might do another comparison tomorrow evening (can't at work, it's all unix, weeeee!!!) with the British site, would be interesting methinks.

rob1891

The difference here is 3% in .uk's favour across the board. (2 items were 4% more expensive, out of 2300ish). This would be understandable as the uk's vat rate is 17.5% and my conversion rate is 5% off There were no items more costing more than 4% extra.

Now I am confused!

Ugh, I guess I should do norway and sweden as well, ha, that is definitely tomorrow!

goodnight ye bastards!

Turner

anybody know anybody living in germany, they could make a fortune in comission off us

RicardoSmith

As Matt said earlier. As Komplett aren't actually "in" Ireland they can't be considered the cheapest in Ireland. In fact you really have to compare them against other online retailers in the UK and US and when you do they are actually quite expensive for quite a lot of items. The key difference is that they are paying the Irish VAT whereas a lot of the other online retailers you are only paying UK rate etc. However even taking into account the difference in tax the UK retailers are still cheaper. So I guess if you are looking for the cheapest place in Ireland to buy hardware, its probably not actually in Ireland at all!!!

Incidentally those of you in Dublin, should compare Komplett against ITDirect.ie as they seem to match their prices (after you take delivery from UK into account) to the UK online retailers. They only have a limited range but they have great opening hours and are handy when you need to pick up some thing immediately say at the weekend. etc.

Blade

rob1891 etc. This has NOTHING to do with the different VAT rates! I've already shown comparisons of ex vat prices. And the camera I gave as an example showed a difference of nearly 50% more on the incl.vat price from komplett.ie to that of an Italian web site. 108 to 156 Euro. Yet the German komplett was more inline with the rest of the European sites.

Ba$tard

I would suggest the pricing difference is made up of 2 factors;

1) Our fannytastic Government charging tarrifs/levies/or such like to this company to operate in Ireland more than other EU nations.

2) They know they can get away with charging slightly more due to less competition in that price/profit margin.


J.

Slutmonkey57b

Yes they are! Hmm... I wonder if the same bloke sets all the prices for all the webstores or do different people do it? Companies will always charge as much as they possibly can for things - that's not illegal unless they're a monopoly!

Simple parallel:
International Hotel chains charge different room rates in different countries for the same standard of accommodation. (as with all multinationals they price things based on their own costs and add in local taxes, rates, service charges etc later before you get into that). In fact they charge different rates in different parts of the same country. In extreme cases they'll sell rooms at different rates in the same city. OMG! FFS! They're out to get us!!

Uhh no, that's market capitalism folks.
Stuff is cheaper in Germany? Wow. Maybe they have more competition in Germany so they cut their margins. Maybe there's more volume of sales so their cost of sale is lower. Maybe they're trying to maximise their profit. That's what companies do.

Selling a camera in Germany for 117 Euro is hardly a special offer let alone a loss leader when it can be got elsewhere for 108. Theres nothing that can justify that, when you give me an answer to that then I'll listen to you. Sure if it's a special offer we'll see if they increase that camera in Germany to the 156 Euros we pay here like they said in their email. Your seriously think they will?

I think they'll do whatever the market forces them to do. Unless you happen to know their COS structures for their various subsiduaries you have no idea whether or not this is a special offer or not. You either believe what they tell you based on their reputation of dealing with their customers or you don't. Take your pick, but it doesn't in my view warrent all this indignant scaremongering. If they were a monopoly, then I'd agree. But they aren't. They're a company trying to get as much money for what they're selling as they can.

rob1891

rob1891 etc. This has NOTHING to do with the different VAT rates! I've already shown comparisons of ex vat prices. And the camera I gave as an example showed a difference of nearly 50% more on the incl.vat price from komplett.ie to that of an Italian web site. 108 to 156 Euro. Yet the German komplett was more inline with the rest of the European sites.

Blade, I am not comparing komplett with other european retailers. I compared komplett.ie with komplett.co.uk & komplett.de, as per your original claim that komplett was ripping off Irish customers with huge differences in pricing between their ie and de sites.

Komplett's price lists all include vat for whatever particular nation they are selling to, hence vat rates are an issue. I compared ie to co.uk and found that every price was 3% more expensive on the .ie site, and this difference is accounted for by our higher vat rate of 20% vs. 17.5% and my made up exchange rate.

So, I would conclude that komplett are charging the exact same prices, ex vat, for products that they are selling to the irish and uk market.

When I looked at the German prices, again including vat, I saw that most products were 4% more expensive on the .ie site, again this is expalined by the difference in vat rates (20% vs 16%), so _most_ products are priced the exact same.

Some are cheaper, and I produced a list of those for you. They are quiet a small proportion of the total number of products for sale, but as you can see they could all be considered popular items or regular buys. Komplett themselves have explained that these prices are lower because of the new introduction of the .de website. If this lower pricing is continued on the .de site and not applied to the other .ie and .co.uk sites I would be displeased with the situation, but for now you can only take their word for it. The fact that they _are_ charging exact same prices on .co.uk & .ie would indicate that there is a common pricing scheme, that .de is in a "drum up business" mode and that they are (shock horror) telling the truth.

What happens in the future, to keep komplett.de competitive with other german and mainland european retailers will be interesting, but I don't think you can hang draw and quarter them just yet.

I have not compared prices with other retailers. I am only comparing komplett to komplett and I have shown that your contention that komplett are specifically ripping off Irish customers is not true, if they are taking us up the ass, they are also doing it to the uk, and perhaps norway and sweden too (and I will look at those sites this evening).

With regard to komplett vs the rest of the world, I don't know. It's clear that you can get items cheaper elsewhere, you always can. Why komplett are charging British and Irish customers the same when a Brisish customer could beat their prices on English site like dabs (perhaps, I'm not checking :P) I don't know. I don't think it's such an issue, every consumer knows to shop around, most are just lazy! The main issue is with the .de "special offers", and I'd be interested to see how they play out.

rob

BKtje

Rob: 2 things.

1. irish vat is 21%

and 2. Komplett show prices excl VAT and those are the ones that differ between ireland and germany etc.

BigEejit

2. Komplett show prices excl VAT and those are the ones that differ between ireland and germany etc.

From the Komplett.ie website
EUR 161.20 inc. VAT
(EUR 133.22 ex. VAT)

Quigs Snr

Well they're still about the best you can get here, their customer service is outstanding and they often cost less than half what you'd pay in irish stores. Sure Ebuyer among others(who I also use) are cheaper on some things, but I find Kompletts service very reassuring and I use them a lot.

Anyway lads if we're being shafted, you should just pull your pants down, bend over and take it. Like our spineless government does.