Richard in Naas got in touch with a money-saving tip which has shaved a fair amount off his annual grooming bill. He saved more than €9 on a pack of eight Gillette Mach 3 Turbo razor blades by buying them on eBay. “Tesco, which appears to be the cheapest retailer for them, sells the razors for €19.49,” he writes. “I got them off eBay for about €10, including postage.”

If you go in to a DVD rental shop this week in search of the newly released Bourne Ultimatum to while away a couple of winter hours, you’ll be asked to shell out as much as €5.25 for a copy.

Quite how charging a third of the full retail price of the DVD - it is currently for sale on CDwow.ie for €16 - for a single night’s rental can be justified is impossible to say, although it’s hard to escape the notion that we’re being ripped off.

However, the days of having to pay such high prices may be numbered. In recent years, we have seen the growth of online movie rental services which can save movie fans a substantial amount both on the cost of actual rental - packages start from €7.99, although that does limit you to just two DVDs a month - and on the late fees imposed if (or in the case of Pricewatch, when) you don’t bring them back on time.
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Last week’s article on difficulties with online shopping prompted a Killiney reader to get in touch. He said we didn’t mention another barrier to internet shopping - An Post.

“On at least three occasions this year, An Post have made no attempt to deliver items I’ve ordered online and merely dropped a card though the letter box asking that the item be collected from the sorting office during their working hours,” AJ Rous writes. He points out that the sellers are of course charged full postage, which they pass on to us. He’s tried to contact the customer service department, but his most recent correspondence remains unacknowledged.
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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.
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