What's the story with avoiding Irish sales?

It was depressing to learn that another door into the world of internet bargains seemed to have closed on Irish consumers, with last week's news from a reader that online travel company Expedia.co.uk had stopped taking bookings from customers in the Republic of Ireland.

The Dalkey reader contacted PriceWatch to complain that the hotel and flight booking service which she had been using for several years had developed reservations about accepting Irish reservations. She had always been happy with the service and has routinely found hotel rooms on the site available with as much as 70 per cent off the rack rate.

Unfortunately, when she visited Expedia earlier this month she noticed that the Republic had disappeared from the dropdown menu of countries it lists on its booking page. Puzzled, she declared her country of residence to be Afghanistan - the first to appear on the alphabetic list - and proceeded with her booking.

When she contacted Expedia to alert them to the disappearance of Ireland, she was told her booking had been invalidated because, according to her credit-card details, she did not, in fact, live in Afghanistan.

She was also told that "due to restricting Irish regulations relating to the offering of travel products in and out of the Republic of Ireland, we currently do not accept bookings from customers with a booking address within the Irish Republic". She says Expedia then tried to make her cancel her booking and pay a cancellation fee.

Eventually, sense prevailed and the company agreed to let her booking stand. In a follow-up e-mail, a company employee who identified himself only as "John" gave her the brush off and said that in the future she would be "advised to use an online travel arranger with an 'ie' address". John stopped short of saying "I'm really sorry, it's not you, it's me", but his intentions were clear.

WE CONTACTED THEcompany last week and a spokesman said that the company did sell to Irish consumers through its hotels.com brand - a fully owned subsidiary of Expedia - but confirmed that the parent company would not take bookings from people with addresses in the Republic because of the restrictions it said were in place here.

He added that the company was in discussions with the Commission for Aviation Regulation with a view to overcoming the difficulties.

PriceWatch contacted the commission and a spokesman said that the "restrictions" Expedia alluded to were in fact measures to ensure Irish consumers' protection. The spokesman pointed out that all travel agents doing business in Ireland need a licence and have to post an insurance bond. "Expedia Incorporated does not have a licence to trade in the Republic at present. It has entered into a process but until a licence is issued the company cannot advertise here," he said.

The head of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA), Simon Nugent, said that, while he hoped the company would be able to get a licence without undue difficulty, he believed it was "absolutely correct that if you are operating a travel business out of this country then you should be properly licensed. It is not unnecessarily bureaucratic but an important way of protecting Irish consumers."

Expedia.co.uk is not the only British-based online trader to have limited the business it does here. Last year Amazon.co.uk suddenly stopped shipping certain goods to people with addresses in the Republic.

All electronic goods, computers and cameras were declared off-limits to people here. When PriceWatch queried Amazon's sudden refusal to sell these goods to people in Ireland at the time, a spokesman said the company had no option but to restrict the sale of electronic goods to ensure compliance with Waste Electronic and Electrical (WEE) recycling legislation. The spokesman assured us the restrictions were temporary and said Amazon was trying to find a resolution to the difficulty so it could begin shipping electronics to Ireland again.

Fair enough, we thought, until we noticed that computer software, PC and video games, toys and games and video items which are neither electrical nor electronic were also forbidden to shoppers from the Republic.

We contacted the company again last week for an update on its shipping policy. A different spokesman once more blamed the Government's implementation of EU rules relating to the WEE recycling.

"We are working towards resolving this matter and are hopeful that we will be able to reinstate sales in the near future once the relevant UK regime comes into force with effect from July 1st. Delivery of other items including books, CDs and DVDs is unaffected," he said.

Despite being asked on a number of occasions why Amazon included software and games and other non-electrical equipment in the list of prohibited items, the company declined to answer.

Some companies ship electronic goods to the Republic of Ireland at very competitive prices, including camera retailer www.pixmania.com and electronic retailers www.dabs.com and www.komplett.ie. There are also real bargains to be found on eBay.com, where many new products are sitting alongside the second-hand tat on the site's virtual shelves, going for a song.

It is worth remembering, however, that the prices may be misleading as you still have to pay for shipping and are liable for all taxes and duties in this country if you buy from outside the EU, as one reader found out to her chagrin. She recently bought some expensive skin-care products on a Hong Kong website and was delighted to get them at half the Irish prices. However, her parcel was opened by customs and when all the additional charges were taken into account she only saved a few euro, hardly worth it when you consider the delays and the form-filling that was required.