Christmas Shopping

[woolley]

Went shopping local the other day,and found that one retailer had put their price up by £2 for one item,now it's exactly the same price as it's opposition just down the road,so in future I'm going on line to find out how much cheaper it can be or not.

Did buy something on line yesterday,cost £6.59,same here £29.95,I did try and get it local,but no luck.

Looking at the massive effort by the shops in Strand Street to make the place a bit more Christmas'y,I was disapointed,same as last year,even though the Corpy make an effort via the Lights,it seems like the street is full of scrooges as usual.

 

So. What can be bought at £6.59 online and £29.95 locally? I'd love to know and I bet it isn't like for like the same product.

 

Someone mentioned CDs from Amazon and Play.com. Of course, these come from the Channel Islands and anything under £15 can be sent from there under LVCR without charging VAT so this gives those traders a 20% competitive advantage before they start. This industrial scale smuggling operation has contributed to wiping out many UK high street operations and the likes of HMV had to open up in Guernsey to try to stem the tide. Thankfully, that relief is being stopped by the UK on 1st April 2012 so this will give a level playing field for the first time. The average buyer doesn't know, understand or care about this dodge. All he sees is that Amazon sell cheap CDs even though my £11.89 is cheaper than their £9.99 if you ignore the VAT I have to charge.

 

I appreciate that some local traders take the mickey on price either by bad buying or high markup. Costs here of course don't help on that and landlords need to get more realistic with the levels of rent they require. Don't tar everybody with the same brush.

[Mission]

Dont you have the internet?

 

No, I'm posting using my manual typewriter...

[Monkey boy]

Went shopping local the other day,and found that one retailer had put their price up by £2 for one item,now it's exactly the same price as it's opposition just down the road,so in future I'm going on line to find out how much cheaper it can be or not.

Did buy something on line yesterday,cost £6.59,same here £29.95,I did try and get it local,but no luck.

Looking at the massive effort by the shops in Strand Street to make the place a bit more Christmas'y,I was disapointed,same as last year,even though the Corpy make an effort via the Lights,it seems like the street is full of scrooges as usual.

 

So. What can be bought at £6.59 online and £29.95 locally? I'd love to know and I bet it isn't like for like the same product.

 

Someone mentioned CDs from Amazon and Play.com. Of course, these come from the Channel Islands and anything under £15 can be sent from there under LVCR without charging VAT so this gives those traders a 20% competitive advantage before they start. This industrial scale smuggling operation has contributed to wiping out many UK high street operations and the likes of HMV had to open up in Guernsey to try to stem the tide. Thankfully, that relief is being stopped by the UK on 1st April 2012 so this will give a level playing field for the first time. The average buyer doesn't know, understand or care about this dodge. All he sees is that Amazon sell cheap CDs even though my £11.89 is cheaper than their £9.99 if you ignore the VAT I have to charge.

 

I appreciate that some local traders take the mickey on price either by bad buying or high markup. Costs here of course don't help on that and landlords need to get more realistic with the levels of rent they require. Don't tar everybody with the same brush.

I totally agree with that. Many people assume that big companies are cheaper because they have greater "buying power" or even that they are more generous. This is rarely if ever the case & is much more likely to be for the reasons that Wooley has pointed out.

I also think it is a bit bizzare that there was also a long thread going on about how wonderful the Dealz shop is in Strand Street & how it was packed on its opening day. This depite the fact that they are apparently charging £1.20 for most items instead of £1 because of carriage costs. Now that IS a rip off. It doesn't cost them anything like 20p to ship a toothbrush or a pair of socks to the island when you bear in mind they will be importing them by the thousand and along with all their other overpriced tat.

[kokorito]

oh, the irony

[rednik]

I'm afraid it's a sign of the times,I am not the only scrooge on the Island,because if the price is £50 here,and £15 on the internet,the one who called me scrooge would buy the £50 one yes?,if you want to pay high prices,the shops here will welcome you with open arms,thinking,"I should have charged £60",there's one born every day.

I'd love to know what costs £50 in the shops and £15 on the internet?

 

16gb SD Memory cards

 

Are you sure you are comparing like for like. On Amazon 16GB SD cards, all of which would e covered by your description seem to range from around £10 to over £75.

 

Variables being thinks like brand, speed etc. Even just taking Sandisk as a brand there is a huge range of prices for different products which are all technically "16gb SD Memory cards"

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SANDISK-00108056-MEMORY-EXTREME-Safety/dp/9800353860/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1324130599&sr=1-5

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-16Gb-SDHC-SecureDigital-Capacity/dp/B00422F8XQ/ref=pd_rhf_se_shvl1

 

And loads others in between

[Blade Runner]

Rednik, I was not being very scientific in my comparison, I would go as far as saying, I actually made the statement up, it was a light hearted quip that answered a light hearted question, or so I thought.

 

I did however once look to buy a similar product on the island from a local large computer shop and their sales assistant told me to go on the net to buy the product as they could not buy them that cheap and from memory, no pun intended, if was for a Sony Memory Stick Duo that was for sale at about 3 times the price I ended up paying online. I use this computer shop quite a bit as they have always done good deals and whereas their hardware may be a little more expensive you do get problems sorted out easier than having to send your PC to the UK.

[Snowflake]

HDMI cable £9.97 in T***o and out of stock (nothing new there!)

 

same item £9.99 in Colbourns.

[Addie]

Obviously not the computer shop I've used Bladerunner - Oh I'm so very tempted to name them - as waiting for 3 months for someone to come and get my two computers to play nicely by sharing their printer and talking to one another after they replaced my laptop's heart. :-((

[manxie44]

i realised today that i have done 90% of my christmas shopping on the internet. it was so nice not having to traipse into douglas to face, roadworks on prospect hill, limited parking, arrogant locals and surly uninterested sales assistants. with the empty shelves thanks to the steam packet i am happy in the knowledge that all of my presents are wrapped and ready for my love ones to open. i dont care if the boat sails or if the douglas shops get their supplies. even my turkey is in the freezer ready to go. the steam packet is going to destroy christmas for many island residents luckily im not one of them. shop local? i would rather give my cash to people who treat me like a person.

 

You display all that is good about Christmas! It would be nice for the rest of us if we did not have to see you over the holiday. I take it you do observe the Holiday, or will you be offering voluntary services to those who do not have everything you have? It's not easy, but 'Happy Christmas'

[Monkey boy]

Obviously not the computer shop I've used Bladerunner - Oh I'm so very tempted to name them - as waiting for 3 months for someone to come and get my two computers to play nicely by sharing their printer and talking to one another after they replaced my laptop's heart. :-((

Name them, that's the kind of service which gives all local traders a bad name even though many of them don't deserve it.

[EORH]

HDMI cable £9.97 in T***o and out of stock (nothing new there!)

 

same item £9.99 in Colbourns.

Clock onto either Ebay or Amazon,HDMI cables 1.8m £1.46,and the reports on them,they are as good as the expensive ones.

[EORH]

I'm afraid it's a sign of the times,I am not the only scrooge on the Island,because if the price is £50 here,and £15 on the internet,the one who called me scrooge would buy the £50 one yes?,if you want to pay high prices,the shops here will welcome you with open arms,thinking,"I should have charged £60",there's one born every day.

I'd love to know what costs £50 in the shops and £15 on the internet?

 

16gb SD Memory cards

 

Are you sure you are comparing like for like. On Amazon 16GB SD cards, all of which would e covered by your description seem to range from around £10 to over £75.

 

Variables being thinks like brand, speed etc. Even just taking Sandisk as a brand there is a huge range of prices for different products which are all technically "16gb SD Memory cards"

 

http://www.amazon.co...24130599&sr=1-5

 

http://www.amazon.co...pd_rhf_se_shvl1

 

And loads others in between

There are 32gb cards from £19,to £23,I wonder what the price of them would be here ?.

[thebees]

Corletts the jewelers do gift wrapping, this is the kind of thing you don;t get on the internet, in fact mostly internet crap comes in a brown box from China - so, shop local and get nice things wrapped nice.

 

Honesty moment - I might know Gary from Corletts....... but I'd shop there even if I didn't

[wheels]

crap comes in a brown box from China ]

Why don't dog owners put their dogs crap in brown boxes then they can give it to each other at Christmas

[EORH]

I'm afraid it's a sign of the times,I am not the only scrooge on the Island,because if the price is £50 here,and £15 on the internet,the one who called me scrooge would buy the £50 one yes?,if you want to pay high prices,the shops here will welcome you with open arms,thinking,"I should have charged £60",there's one born every day.

I'd love to know what costs £50 in the shops and £15 on the internet?

 

16gb SD Memory cards

 

Are you sure you are comparing like for like. On Amazon 16GB SD cards, all of which would e covered by your description seem to range from around £10 to over £75.

 

Variables being thinks like brand, speed etc. Even just taking Sandisk as a brand there is a huge range of prices for different products which are all technically "16gb SD Memory cards"

 

http://www.amazon.co...24130599&sr=1-5

 

http://www.amazon.co...pd_rhf_se_shvl1

 

And loads others in between

There are 32gb cards from £19,to £23,I wonder what the price of them would be here ?.

Just checked,64gb cards £46,I think a mortage would be in order here for the same.