Yesterday a lot of you were surprised and dismayed to receive this email from StrawberryNet.
"Dear StrawberryNet Customer,
"Starting on 29 March, 2010 our payment systems will be updated so that all payments from Ireland can only be made in Euro.
"We regret that we have to make this change, but unfortunately it is necessary as a combination of exchange rate complications, VAT issues andshipping charges means that we're only able to support purchases to Ireland in Euro.
"We hope that you understand and would like to emphasise that we are as committed as ever to bringing you the best prices on a the widest range of products anywhere on the web."
Now as far as I know the following can be said:
- This is total crap. It should make no difference to StrawberryNet (or indeed any online retailer) which currency you, the purchaser uses. The exchange rate is calculated by the credit card company. I am happy to be corrected here if I am wrong
- It's cheaper to order in dollars. We get more bang for our buck that way (exchange rate and so on). This is why we have always recommended that you select dollars as your currency when ordering.
- StrawberryNet price their Irish cosmetics more expensively than US ones. They're the exact same products - the only difference is that we pay more. Sound fair?
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Here are some examples
| 1. Dollars | 2. Euro | 3. Conversion | 4. % Increase | |
| Benefit Throbb | $20 | €24 | $27.60 | 38% |
| Mac Studio Fix powder & foundation | $32 | €27 | $36.35 | 13.6% |
| Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick | $43.50 | €36.5 | $49.17 | 13% |
| Nars Multiple | $33 | €39 | $44.45 | 34.7% |
| Clinique Superdefense | $53.50 | €45.00 | $60.62 | 13.3% |
Okay to make sense of this table this is what you need to know. Different prices are charged for both currencies - same product, two prices depending on the market. We could buy in dollars before and that was the cheapest (1). The credit card company would do the currency conversion. Now we have to select the Euro price (2). But when this Euro price is changed back into dollars (3) to see what's been added on it is a much higher price than US customers are charged. How much more? (4)
Theres another way to work this out- which looks even worse. Look at the Benefit example: $24 works out at €15.
Now I didn't pick the products with the biggest increases or anything - as you can see from the table I simply picked a basket of products that I know are popular with you guys.
The results speak for themselves. Once again Irish customers are being charged more.
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- It's time for StrawberryNet to take the free shipping claim from their site.
- It's time for StrawberryNet to explain exactly why they have chosen to charge Irish customers so much more
- In the meantime as many of you as possible should email ([email protected]), linking to this post and ask the reason for this policy change.
- Do more comparisons yourselves and post them up in the comments - we'd love to see them.
