Dubray Books. How can they justify Euro/Sterling exchange rate being used.

[Fortune]

I purchased a book in Dubray Books Blackrock today that cost £12.99 GBP. At the till I was charged €18.15 for the book.

That is a rate of circa .71 when today's rate is .85.

I reckon I was overcharged by about €3 for the book.

How can they justify an exchange rate of this magnitude?

They can justify their pricing in a few ways.

1. If people buy at that price
2. If it covers their costs and a profit margin
3. If there is no legal impediment to their pricing.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it

 

[Showme tm]

That's the worst one I've ever heard of

I know.even the girl on the till said I was Wright not taking it to which I said I could fly to London buy the same item in there London store and fly back and it would still be cheaper.

 

[SlurrySlump]

They bought that book from a wholesaler or publisher at a price,

I have bought many times in Dubray ( no particular loyalty to them or their prices) and the euro price has always been prominent. All we know is that it wasnt in this case on this one book.

Why would the book already have a sticker on it showing the Sterling price unless it was purchased "retail" by Dubray books?

 

[huskerdu]

Why would the book already have a sticker on it showing the Sterling price unless it was purchased "retail" by Dubray books?

The UK price is frequently printed on the actual back cover of the book . I’ve just checked the pile of 10 books I bought recently and it’s in all of them

 

[jpd]

To be correct, this is the recommended price and not necessarily the price in the shop - retailers can increase or decrease their selling price as they wish

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I will randomly check about 20 books in their store to see what the story is and report back.

Good detective work there Grizzly.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

It is easy to say that you can still walk away when you hear the Irish price, but you have made a commitment to buy the book at this juncture.
I would say that very few people walk away at this point in the transaction and Dubray Books know this.

Do you mean a psychological commitment? Donnybrook Fair used to be terrible for not displaying prices. On a few occasions, I brought stuff to the cashier and asked the price only to reject it after it was too dear and telling them in front of other customers that they are obliged to show the price of the goods. From memory, I reported them to someone - The CCPC maybe?

Why else would they have only the Sterling price on the book?

Most likely a bored employee forgot to put a sticker over this particular one. I doubt that there is a grand conspiracy.

Brendan

 

[messyleo]

Having worked in retails, the stickers can easily come off when reshelving products or moving them or customers handling them. It will often happen as a customer and I usually pick up another one and more often than not it will be priced.

Some fancy food stores definitely do try and avoid pricing things and before you know it you have paid 17 euro for a packet of fancy pasta, though but tbf to dubray they don't

 

[mathepac]

Having worked in retails, the stickers can easily come off when reshelving products or moving them or customers handling them. It will often happen as a customer and I usually pick up another one and more often than not it will be priced.

It didn't occur to anyone to buy better quality stickers? "I don't do de stickers, it's de system!"

 

[rustbucket]

Op noted that the GBP price was 12.99
If no euro price on book (for whatever reason) surely the simple thing to do is ask what price it is?

No obligation to buy it. If not happy I’m sure they’d refund or give a credit note.

 

[messyleo]

Then customers give out that they can't take the stickers off without damaging the book/product/packaging. Everyone hates that sticky residue being left on stuff tbf

 

[SlurrySlump]

To be correct, this is the recommended price and not necessarily the price in the shop - retailers can increase or decrease their selling price as they wish

If the U.K. wholesaler is recommending a retail price of £12.99 then this would include a profit margin for the retailer, including the Irish retailer. It seems that the Irish shop is topping this up a second time if they are selling the same book for €18 or £15.00 GBP.

 

[DeeKie]

World of books - https://www.wob.com/en-gb is the website.

Free postage to Ireland just FYI.

Best,

Opus2018

I think a lot of UK retailers price gouge in Ireland

 

[Dr Strangelove]

Bookselling is a simple business with low barriers to entry.

If anyone wants to come in and sell UK prices or even below they are free to do so.

 

[IsleOfMan]

We priced the Beano & Dandy 2024 annuals in Dubray books at €11.99.

They were for sale in Dunnes Stores at €9.99, plus we were able to use our €5 off voucher also, as they are considered a grocery item.

We were in Cornelscourt. Bought two of the annuals plus some non alcoholic beer. Came to just over €25 less the €5 voucher.

So in my mind we got the non alcoholic beer for free.

 

[Leo]

The price in euros should have been displayed on the book. It’s a breach of law otherwise

On the book or the shelf nearby, items don't have to be individually labelled.

Then, prices displayed are not legally binding and a retailer is permitted to charge a different price. Displaying an incorrect price only becomes problematic if it was done in a deliberate act to mislead consumers.

 

[peemac]

In defence, they generally have a euro price sticker on every book. There can be human error and some get missed.

However, even with extra costs, there should never be such a difference between stg & EUR prices especially on books. There's no vat difference and no customs duty.

My own belief is "paddy tax" was the primary reason Debenhams lost so much in Ireland as they used a €1.6 exchange rate. And people do notice and stores do lose business. Sometimes it's too late when they work it out.

For the consumer, the solution is to shop around and never be afraid to decline politely at the till and take your business elsewhere.

Btw, Dubray is owned by Eason.

 

[DeeKie]

I think Eason did not rebrand to continue to benefit from the Paddy tax.

 

[Leo]

I think Eason did not rebrand to continue to benefit from the Paddy tax.

Paddy Tax like the one that provides free water to most of the population?

It's common for businesses to operate multiple brands, each with it's own place in the market. Centra charge very different prices to SuperValu, but they're both Musgraves.