No need for a National Strategy and jobs for the boys. I will give you the solution for free – don’t charge so much

Reduce prices in Ireland and maybe we will spent more money here. a good few years back I bougth the Canon EOS 350D, it was just out at the time and I bought it from a UK supplier online and saved well over €1200 euro when compare to online Irish shops and actual camera shops.

Erm … what the …

People buy stuff online from abroad because they can’t get it here or because it’s cheaper abroad.

Bring down prices generally, allow for bigger supermarkets, let us have Asda.

People now go where the buck in their pocket goes furthest. Rip off Ireland is just too expensive…!!!

People are sick of being ripped off so much. I never realised how bad it was until i started to shop online. Id be lost without Amazon.co.uk now. Although they have a data centre in Dublin so its technically still supporting Irish jobs.

They cannot force people to spend in Ireland only – it is a form of protectionism. The EU is an open market with free trade across 27 member states. Try being more competitive.

Some goods can be purchased from the UK in euro and have them delivered free to your door at 1/2 to 3/4 of the price charged here. The Book Depository is but one example. Prices dictate where we buy our goods. Stop investing in waffle and trying to con us – just reduce online prices and exclude the hidden charges.

I priced a key board & battery for my daughters laptop here. Total price ?160. From the the UK delivered to my door ?51. Maybe its a different quality I dont know but including the post thats the price. Solve this problem for me & I will buy in Ireland.

cheaper prices in Ireland might help, no need for some overpaid fat cat to figure it out, the people of thejournal.ie have just done that for you……

the reason product here are so dear is because of the high rent and rates costs to companies who have to price their products high in order to cover the costs of running their companies, bring down their costs and that will bring down the cost of products and make us more competitive

There is something really really wrong when I can go online and purchase two 12 litre (Steel) Scuba Cylinders from a Scuba store in Newcastle England and have the posted to Ireland cheaper than I can buy them in Ireland

As many have already said, price is the main concern. But also the fact the majority of what people are buying online are goods that are not produced in Ireland, and Ireland is too small a market for many Irish-based online retailers to compete. Same reason why very few bookshops are Irish owned. The chains buy in bulk from the publishers, mostly based in Britain and the US, and so can negotiate a better price, which they can then pass on to the customer. Amazon.ie is just Amazon.co.uk with Euro pries for this very reason. The government could force the prices up via import taxes, but it would be difficult to implement and such artificial price controls tend to be counter-productive; think of tobacco, alcohol and cars. They could do the opposite, and offer tax reductions for Irish-based online retailers, but reducing tax revenue is a difficult sell these days.

I’ve had great success on-line shopping in Ireland with bulky items from small specialist shops (Don’t want to seem like I’m plugging. Ask if you want details.).

I think the mix of low p&p for bulky items, with a lack of big players for specialist items helps.

If the price comes close (very close) and its a choice between an Irish and overseas seller il choose Irish everytime. much easier to deal with Irish people just for the local support etc.
I buy a lot online but as it stands I’d say I buy 90% from abroad..

Economies of scale. We’re a small population on a small island. So we pay more, for less.

If you have the solution to the problem, please inform Enterprise Ireland, as I’m sure they’d be delighted to hear from you.

A weaker euro will keep business here… You cant blame this ‘rip off Ireland’ facade for the fact that our currency is stronger than the Brits