Price Comparison – Online Bookshops
Books are usually a common choice for gifts at Christmas – but where is the cheapest place to buy books online for people living in Ireland?
Easons recently announced free delivery on orders over €25 after Amazon started offering free delivery to Ireland on orders over £25 GBP.
Prompted by these free delivery offers – we did a quick price comparison on 7 books at Amazon , Easons and The Book Depository. The prices were checked in the first week of November 2009 – so may have changed since then. The books were randomly chosen – although there were a couple of Irish interest books thrown in to possibly give Easons a better chance – it still didn’t help them….
All prices are based on getting free delivery.
Amazon offer free delivery to Ireland on orders over £25.
Easons offer free delivery in Ireland on orders over €25 just until Christmas
The Book Depository offer free delivery to Ireland on all orders.
| Book | Amazon | Easons | Book Depository |
| Picture Perfect | £7.48 | €9.99 | 12.71 |
| Bertie Aherne | £11.99 | €16.99 | 16.39 |
| Lost Symbol | £9.00 | €12.99 | 16.47 |
| Superfreakonomics Hardback |
£9.99 | €24.70 | 16.96 |
| Tickling The English | £8.54 | €15.24 | 23.45 |
| The Other Hand | £3.98 | €10.55 | 7.61 |
| Twilight | £3.47 | € 7.99 | 6.76 |
| Totals Euro | €64.30 | €90.46 | €100.35 |
The Total Amazon price includes the extra Irish VAT and a conversion rate of €1.12 to the Pound
Easons had a 3 for 2 offer – so Twilight was free
As you can see from the list above – Amazon came out as the cheapest online bookshop of the 3 we compared.
It was €26.16 cheaper than Easons ( over 25% cheaper) and €36.05 cheaper than The Book Depository.
If anything – the selection was probably biased towards Easons – because we selected two books on purpose that Easons had on special offer - but they still came out more expensive than Amazon.
Obviously – a selection of 7 books cannot be treated as a full and proper comparison – but it is a good guide to where you are likely to make big savings on books this Christmas.
(Figures amended on Nov 24th to take account of Easons 3 for 2 offer that was missed)
Okay, just a few comments – the Dara O’Briain book is only available in Hardback in the UK , not the €13.99 version which is for sale in Ireland ( and is part of a 3 for 2 promotion at easons), so it’s not €15.24.
November 24th, 2009 at 13:27Also, Twilight and The other hand and Tickling the englsih are part of a 3 for 2 promotion, and were also when the survey was conducted. So, the total is actually €80.05, not €98.45. Still higher, but not as much of a difference.
Similarly Superfreakonomics is available at €15.99 at Easons ( and every other Irish bookshop as well), not €24.70. Remember that UK publishers often issue a trade paperback edition of books that are only released in hardback in the UK, and are consequently sold on Amazon.co.uk. Personally I find the Book Depository site better than Amazon – it’s far easier to find less obvious books than on the ( occasionally cluttered looking ) Amazon site.
Thomas – thanks for the comment.
November 24th, 2009 at 23:08I checked the Easons and Amazon sites again today . Superfreakonomics Hardback was the original comparison – and it is still €24.70 on Easons whilst it is now only £8.00 on Amazon.
Tickling the English is now €13.99 on Easons (it wasn’t when the check was carried out) – and yes there is now a 3 for 2 promotion – if that offer was on in early November it was missed. I will adjust the prices to knock of the lowest priced book (7.99 euro for Twilight) – but I am not going to keep adjusting prices for this one off small price check.
Regards
Having read your post this evening (which stated that Amazon offers free postage to Republic of Ireland on offers over £25) I decided to visit their site.
I have three items in my basket (2 books and one dvd) and the total is GBP 26.57. When I came to the checkout it added £7.72 for postage. This brings my order from GBP 26.57 to GBP 34.29
I can’t find ANY reference on the site for free delivery to Ireland.
November 25th, 2009 at 22:22to M McGlynn : – On Amazon – Just before you pay – you have the option to choose “Free Super Saver Delivery” – you need to select this option to get free delivery. It is not automatic.
November 25th, 2009 at 22:46