Buying from an International Retailer

One great thing that has come from ecommerce, is the ability to shop around for the best prices. Being able to choose from not just a select few retailers but from hundreds or thousands really has it’s advantages. Competition is always a good thing. Every retailer is constantly trying to outdo the other.

I do a good bit of shopping online, mainly for music, dvds and books. And I think that if I hadn’t, I’d be down a lot more Euros than I am right now.

Lately though I’ve been feeling more guilty about my online shopping. All of my purchases in recent months (if not since my first ever online purchase) have been from a retailer in another country. What’s to be feeling guilty about you ask? I’m saving money right? Yes, but the money I spend is not going back into my country’s economy – which it needs.

I’ll admit, I do my fair share of complaining about how this country is run, but when all is said and done, I’m still proud to be Irish and want to help make it a better place.

Some might argue that my online spending habits won’t really make much of a difference, but every penny helps (even though we’re using cents now :)). Others might argue that if the economy can be affected by the small number of Irish people spending there earnings online, then the government should do more to help lower prices.

Maybe they should. Maybe they are. Or maybe I shouldn’t worry about my country’s economy so much, and let those elected do the worrying instead.

2 thoughts on “Buying from an International Retailer”

  1. Keith,

    I’m with you. I buy from America whenever I can.

    One other thing to consider is your Amazon.com shop, for instance. The money goes to America, yes. But, Amazon.com is an international corporation (do they have any offices in Ireland? no idea) and you actually take 5% home or whatever it may be that goes right back to you in Ireland. Money can go ways that are not always immediately clear. :)

  2. Hey Patrick, I never thought of the Amazon money situation you mention. I guess the same could be said for the other companies like Google, eBay, etc as they’re setup in Ireland too.

    Good call :)

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