WHAT'S THE STORY WITH SHOPPING ON THE INTERNET?
In an era of rising prices and tightening purse strings, there are still ways savvy shoppers can avoid paying silly money for pretty much everything from furniture and electronics to make-up, clothes, kitchen equipment, baby kit and even comics from the 1970s.
While some shoppers like to cross the Border in search of bargains, an increasing number of people are taking their business online. Looming large in all conversations about online shopping is the monster auction house eBay.
The Irish arm of the site claims to have 500,000 registered users and is always anxious to highlight the dramatic savings it offers. Earlier this summer, ebay.ie released a press release in which it boasted of selling products for as much as 70 per cent less than on the Irish high street. It backed up its assertion with a range of price comparisons.
A Karen Millen black-and-white stripe ribbon dress sold on ebay.ie for €114.31 compared with €205 in high street stores. A Canon Ixus 12-megapixel camera which cost around €300 on the site had a price tag of €470 in traditional retail outlets while a Baby Björn baby carrier which costs €60 on eBay costs €107 in Irish shops.
In a stroke of bad luck, however, no sooner had the eBay press release arrived than it was followed - totally coincidentally - by one from the European Consumer Centre (ECC)warning of ongoing problems with shopping online. Because bad news makes for a better news story, the eBay price comparisons struggled to get noticed.
The ECC report said that while online shopping did offer choice, value and convenience, there were persistent problems surrounding delivery. Analysis carried out by consumer centres across the EU on more than 10,000 complaints shows that 50 per cent of problems last year were connected with delivery, while a further 25 per cent were concerned directly with products or services.
IT ALSO SHOWEDthat bad customer service and a tendency among traders to blame delivery problems on postal and courier service were rife. Unfortunate timing aside, eBay remains a must-visit site for anyone with their eye on the price. Not long ago, Pricewatch went in search of a particular model of digital recorder. It had a price tag of just under €100 in three or four well-known electronic retailers in Dublin - not savagely expensive, admittedly, but pricey enough to warrant a moment's pause. After 30 seconds on eBay, the same digital recorder - brand new and in its heavy plastic casing - was sourced in the UK and bought for just over €30 when delivery charges were factored in.
Aine Gogarty from the small Cavan town of Kingscourt is a fairly recent convert to eBay, but you wouldn't know it from talking to her. A mother of two young boys, she happened upon eBay.ie 18 months ago and has hardly stopped shopping there since. She has bought herself a satellite navigation system, a twin buggy, clothes, at least one whistling kettle, pregnancy tests and dozens of other things at a fraction of the cost they would have been had she bought them here.
"The biggest misconception people have is that it is all second-hand stuff, but most of the things I have bought are brand new," she says. "It really is amazing the things you can buy from all over the world that will be shipped over to Ireland for a lot less than they cost here."
The twin buggy she bought nine months ago to accommodate a newborn and a two-year-old retails for at least €600 in Ireland, but cost her just under €500 even when delivery from New Zealand was factored in. The lined curtains covering the five large windows in her playroom set her back less than €100. When a friend boasted about picking up a satellite decoder giving access to hundreds of free-to-view channels in Lidl for just €90, Gogarty was able to point to the brand new box in the corner of the room which cost her just €30.
And then there are the purchases that would have been impossible even 10 years ago. Being a child of the 1970s, her husband retains a particular fondness for the comics of that era including Tigerand Roy of the Rovers. Gogarty has been able to source job lots of them for half nothing. "You do buy a few things which you don't really need," she accepts, "but you eventually get cute and while there have been months that I've probably spent a lot more than I should have, I have saved a lot of money."
She's also saved herself considerable hassle. "The nearest big town is Navan and it can be a real problem getting to the shops, especially with two young children. It's far better to get stuff delivered to the door. It also cuts down on impulse buys, as long as you're cute.
"People tend to think that it is for whiz-kids rather than ordinary people like me but it really isn't." She has also taken to selling, and recently offloaded her maternity clothes online - something which is better for both her wallet and the environment.
SELLING OFF UNWANTEDstuff is also growing in popularity in Ireland. According to Eamonn Galvin of eBay.ie, the company has seen a growth in people selling so they can fund more online purchases as the economic downturn gathers pace. Commenting on the results of eBay's annual survey of Irish spending habits, Galvin says: "People have realised they can sell things they no longer need in order to upgrade to new items they can find products costing up to 70 per cent less than in a retail store."
It's not all good news, however: as the ECC pointed out, there are undeniable problems associated with the online auction house. The company has been taken through the courts on numerous occasions in connection with sellers using its services to sell counterfeit goods. Sellers can also go bust, leaving consumers with virtually no comeback - and then there are mistakes that can happen.
Late one night, late last year, Pricewatch decided a pair of antique gold cufflinks were the order of the day. A pair were found and paid for, but when the envelope arrived from the US days later it contained nothing but a paper receipt. The cufflinks had been thieved somewhere along the way.
A second attempt to get a pair was made and this time the envelope arrived sealed. When it was opened, however, the pair of cufflinks had, following a mix-up at the seller's end, turned into a single antique fork, an entirely useless item, no matter how cheap it was.
