Anyone run an online shop from ROI or N Ireland?

[movietub]

I'm interested in the price/quality comparison of Irish postal and courier services compared to UK.

Reason is I get a lot of demand for the products I sell from Ireland but the postage costs put most people off. I'm thinking about setting up a satellite packing and storage unit over there to be topped up by van from our warehouse twice a week.

We could probably send about 20 packages a day so the current postage costs would pay for the entire operation and then some.

There are no doubt several hurdles to jump in setting this up but that could well be why no one else is doing it yet! The stuff I sell is available in Ireland but the ranges are extremely limited and the demand is high.

Cheers

[luckyg]

I have an irish website. What are the sizes and weights of your items?

Do you mean, it will be more economical to send a van of stock over twice a week rather than post it all from UK even after factoring in paying someone in Ireland to pack and send?

[movietub]

I have an irish website. What are the sizes and weights of your items?

Do you mean, it will be more economical to send a van of stock over once a week rather than post it all from UK even after factoring in paying someone in Ireland to pack and send?

Yes I believe it would be cheaper! We send items on average (being very approximate here!) from the size of a shampoo bottle upto flat pack furniture. Ranging from 1-2kgs up to 30kgs.

Currently in UK around 65% goes through royal mail and the other 35% through couriers. If we shipped the same to Ireland the average cost per parcel would be around £10. Based on 20 parcels a day (I'm sure we could sell that much in Ireland) that is £1400 per week which is more than enough for me to pay someone to make a ferry crossing Monday and Thursday and wrap and pack the other 3 days of the week. We can handle the ordering and telephone sales from this side.

Also is there a premium to post from NI to ROI and vice versa?

[luckyg]

Posting b/w ni and roi is th esame as between ni and uk.

An post(irish equiv to rm) is quite expensive for small items imo.

Cheapest couriers for small items will be dpd.ie and for large items gls-ireland.com

I think the best thing for you to do is put all your items in as many parcels up to 30kg. So for example, 30 small orders into one parcel.

It costs me £16.50 plus vat to send a parcel up to 30kg to ireland at the moment.

Send these parcels to someone in ireland who will then sort and pack and send to your requirements. that way it many only costs you so may 30kg parcels a week and the costs on the irish side. Perhaps much cheaper than the van twice a week method.

[movietub]

Thats what I love about this forum. I had a brainwave and before even thinking it through myself someone has come along with a more sensible approach!

It makes a lot more sense to simply send parcels within parcels and pay someone to split them.

Thanks!

[Marzipan]

One of our customers in NI kindly forwards on items destined for the RoI using Fastway - apparently they're a much slicker setup over there and the cost is the same for going "down south" as it is within NI and apart from a couple of far flung corners it's a next day service. We use Citylink to send to RoI as they're only £10 extra for crossing the water (under 2kg we use RMSD for a next day to NI).

For good prices amd a good service on shipping direct to RoI we use the brokers www.interparcel.co.uk (http://www.interparcel.co.uk)

Had the following through from Countrywide Freight when I was digging around a bit back in March 08, too expensive for our couple of parcels a week but might be worth a look based on your quantities. Bear in mind though that it's a 2/3 day service (their next day supplement was horrendous) and this is based on collection from Wisbech where I was told they do a daily pickup:

Cartons N. Ireland Dublin Rest of RoI CI & IoW IoMan

Minimum £14.85 £18.75 £29.85 £39.75 £44.75
Up to 5 £4.95 £6.25 £9.95 £7.95 £8.95

Up to 10 £4.65 £5.75 £8.50 £7.15 £8.15

Up to 20 £4.15 £5.25 £7.85 £6.45 £7.45


Pallets
1 £85.00 £95.00 £120.00 £130.00 £140.00

2 – 3 £75.00 £75.00 £105.00 £125.00 £130.00

4 – 6 £65.00 £65.00 £100.00 £120.00 £125.00


Transit time 2 Days 2 Days 2/3 Days 4/5 Days 2/3 Days


Prices are per carton or per pallet, minimums in full, applied per individual shipment
Carton prices are based on typical maximum dimensions of 40 x 40 x 40 cms, max weight 25 kgs
Pallet prices are based on standard UK pallets or euro pallets with maximum height 200 cms
(CI - Jersey & Guernsey only)

[Marzipan]

Oh dear, the table went haywire and I tried to edit it but I think I took too long doing and the edit facility timed out so the save changes wouldn't work. Here it is, revised, with dots in place of blanks as it doesn't seem to like several spaces in succession:

Cartons ...... N. Ireland ...... Dublin ...... Rest of RoI ...... CI & IoW ...... IoMan

Minimum .......... £14.85 ........ £18.75 ........ £29.85 ........... £39.75 ....... £44.75
Up to 5 ............... £4.95 .......... £6.25 ......... £9.95 ............. £7.95 ......... £8.95
Up to 10 ............. £4.65 .......... £5.75 ......... £8.50 ............. £7.15 ......... £8.15
Up to 20 ............. £4.15 .......... £5.25 ......... £7.85 ............. £6.45 ......... £7.45

Pallets
1 ...................... £85.00 ........ £95.00 ...... £120.00 ......... £130.00 ...... £140.00
2 – 3 ................. £75.00 ........ £75.00 ...... £105.00 ......... £125.00 ...... £130.00
4 – 6 ................. £65.00 ........ £65.00 ...... £100.00 ......... £120.00 ...... £125.00

Transit time ....... 2 Days ........ 2 Days .... 2/3 Days ........ 4/5 Days ..... 2/3 Days

Prices are per carton or per pallet, minimums in full, applied per individual shipment
Carton prices are based on typical maximum dimensions of 40 x 40 x 40 cms, max weight 25 kgs
Pallet prices are based on standard UK pallets or euro pallets with maximum height 200 cms
(CI = Jersey & Guernsey only)

[movietub]

Thanks Marzipan!

Thats extremely useful and obviously took a little time to assemble the post which is appreciated.

It looks like operating in Ireland this way is entirely possible, only a little more expensive due to bulk posting a collection of order to Ireland as well as splitting over there.

This is now at the point where we will certainly go ahead and see how it goes. Although we already send a healthy quantity of individual orders to Ireland si I would assume it will go very well indeed if done properly.

Cheers

[Comspec]

I use Citylink in NI and get great rates on parcels up to 5Kg (£5.50) and up to 30Kg (cannot remember the price this time on a sunday).

If you set up an account with them, you may well be able to get a decent deal.

Alternatively, if you are looking for someone to split & resend parcels, then our VA services could easily extend to this. Drop me a line (contact details on website)

[Bruce_Andrews]

Depending on the products, you might like to look at the office supplies market for a partnership.
There are quite a few with UK mainland and NI branches, and they have regular deliveries across the water - you'd also get a partner to pick and pack for you!
And they do next day deliveries for most NI and Dublin customers.
PM / call me if the idea appeals.