The title of this post alludes to the challenges I’ve experienced so far with online shopping in Ireland while giving a nod to my sister Sharon, who actually lives in Kansas. 😉
As I’m rounding out the first week in my new home, I’ve been adding to a list of household items that I think would make the apartment more pleasant and comfortable. Perhaps this compulsive shopping instinct is because I’m self-quarantined with not much else to do, or that I’m simply an American who can’t help but crave more “stuff.” I am keeping in mind that my living situation will probably not be long term, and that whatever additional material possessions I acquire will need to be moved, shipped, or otherwise dispensed. The exhaustion of emptying out the house in San Francisco has not been forgotten, either. All that said, there are some things that still seem justified in acquiring due to their daily usefulness.
All retail shops are allowed to be open in Ireland under the current Level 3 COVID restrictions, although that could change at any moment. There are a number of local retailers for houseware items —Argos (where I purchased the Air Fryer), Debenhams, Harvey Norman, Guineys, and I’m sure others I haven’t discovered yet. Some are UK stores with a presence in Ireland, otherwise are home grown enterprises. I’m predisposed to stores that offer online shopping given my self-quarantine status plus the convenience of tracking down specific items online rather than having to hunt them down in-person.
A word about Amazon: There is not an Amazon.ie site devoted to shoppers in Ireland, because apparently the market here is not big enough to justify it. Instead, Irish shoppers go to Amazon.co.uk. In many cases it appears items are available with free shipping to Ireland, but I have only begun to dip my toes into these waters, and it’s unclear how Brexit may affect the current status quo (addition taxes, delays, etc.?). I found this article from May 2020 with some insights but circumstances are likely to change:
https://goosed.ie/ultimate-guide-amazon-uk-shopping-ireland/
The three main factors that have made online shopping challenging:
1) Selection and availability — Although there are a number of Irish retailers who have online storefronts, the selection of available products is definitely more limited than what exists in the U.S., and some products may be altogether unavailable in the European market. In addition, it seems as though many high demand options are out of stock, I’m guessing most probably due to COVID (they are sold out, there are delays in re-stocking, etc.).
2) Delivery — Most shops seem to offer both pick-up (“collection”) and delivery options. Given that I don’t have a car, a delivery option for larger items is critical. The fact that I live in an apartment building with no specific address, just “Sprangers Yard,” located on a narrow cobblestone street in Temple Bar that is blocked off to vehicle access most of the time, adds some risk to placing orders for delivery. In short, I’m placing a lot of faith on couriers to call me when they are attempting a delivery. Even the grocery delivery guy from last week had to call asking for directions.
3) Payment — I assume that the most financially advantageous payment option to use for online purchases is my Euro account with TransferWise, so as to avoid any rip-off exchange rates. I’m still waiting for my new debit card from them with the European chip-and-PIN standard, but in the meantime my old U.S.-issued card (that’s linked to my Euro account balance) still works. Some merchants seem to require that the payment method have an Ireland billing address, which is how my TransferWise account is set up now, but I think the U.S.-issued card is still causing problems (it’s been declined on the merchant side for unknown reasons). My regular U.S.-issued USD credit cards are still active, but juggling those balances and remembering which account has which billing address adds another layer of complexity (some are set up using a mailbox address in San Francisco, while others required a physical residence address for which I used a gracious friend’s address). Another work-around is that some merchants accept PayPal, which would debit my U.S. bank USD account with Schwab directly, but again the exchange rate that would be used is somewhat murky.
Now on to some of the items on my online shopping list:
Map of Dublin
This is probably something I could find in a bookstore, tourist shop, or other local merchant but again I’m self-quarantined and have a specific item in mind that would probably take a long time to hunt down. What I want is a poster-sized map of Dublin with all the neighborhoods / areas / boroughs labeled, so that I can better familiarize myself with where the different parts of the city are. It’s actually quite confusing to me as to whether an area is just a neighborhood of Dublin proper, an originally separate town/borough that was later swallowed up as the city grew, or a bona fide suburb that still has its own distinct political jurisdiction. There are plenty of “wall art” maps available to purchase online for every major city around the world, but most of these “maps” are little more than abstract lines depicting streets devoid of any labels. Other sites offer some customization options that allow you to zoom in/out on a city, but again the labels for areas/neighborhoods are either missing entirely or very scarce. After some persistent searching, I finally come across Customaps.com that offers exactly what I want! In addition to being able to zoom in/out on any map in the world, I can choose from a variety of styles and a couple of different sizes. The maps are allegedly printed on museum-quality, acid-free, non-denominational paper (just kidding on that last part). I play around with the zoom until I got as much of central Dublin as possible, select the “retro” style, and place an order. The company is based in Montreal, Canada, but when I receive a shipping confirmation email (that was fast!), the tracking link takes me to some 3rd party website that indicates my map is being shipped via Lativan Express Mail?! I don’t care as long as it arrives intact and within a reasonable amount of time. And at any rate, the shipping cost is included in the map’s total price of $59.00 (that’s U.S., not Canadian dollars), which for a 2 foot x 3 foot custom map printed on good paper, sounds reasonable to me. Here’s a screenshot of the map I ordered (the actual printed version is supposed to have more detail):
Mattress “topper” (not to be confused with a mattress protector, which is what “mattress topper” seems to be called here)
Even after swapping out mattresses between bedrooms so that I’m now sleeping on the newer, thicker one, I still feel like I need more support… instead of sinking a lot of money into a new mattress, I figured why not find a mattress topper. There are a number of local mattress retailers – Mattress Mick’s, mattress.ie, mattressshop.ie, beds.ie. There’s also JYSK, a promising Scandinavian-styled store that is an IKEA alternative, although there are no locations in central Dublin. The problem here is that the size of both beds in the apartment is the European double standard of 140cm x 200cm. None of the Ireland mattress stores I searched online seemed to carry a mattress topper in that size. I found one on Amazon.co.uk that seemed well-rated and reasonably priced, and the delivery fee was only £5, so I placed the order (after establishing a new Amazon account separate from my U.S. one). It is supposed to arrive early next week, so we’ll see how this initial experiment with Amazon.co.uk goes. Fingers crossed!
Curtains for the bedrooms
Both bedrooms are fitted with blinds. The ones in the main bedroom are OK, but there’s a light fixture on the outside deck hallway that is constantly on at night that the blinds don’t entirely block out. The 2nd bedroom blinds don’t seem to close, while the bottom window panel has been temporarily covered up with some cardboard taped to the glass for privacy… not a huge deal, since no one is sleeping in that bedroom, but still it’s not ideal. After researching some local retailers, I come across a specialty window finishing shop called Duffy’s that offers lots of options. Ideally, I’d like to try using a spring/tension rod they sell, since that would not require any permanent hardware. However, the spring/tension rod says it can only hold sheer or “net” curtains. Hmmm… not feeling confident enough to purchase anything yet, I click on “contact us” and complete an inquiry form that shoots a message off to Duffy’s with an explanation of what I want. No response yet. Another option would be to raise the issue with the landlord, although I’d rather not bring up minor issues like this so soon after arriving.
Storage shelves for bathroom
The apartment bathroom is remodeled and quite adequate overall, but it has its quirks (some of which I’ve mentioned in previous posts). One of its drawbacks is the lack of storage space. The compact sink pedestal has a small cabinet, but that’s about it. There is, however, a ledge/shelf built into the wall behind the toilet and sink that provides a surface for various bath and beauty products. Thankfully, I had the foresight to include some plastic organizers in one of the boxes I shipped over. These help contain things somewhat, but even with them the counter-space seems crowded and messy:
My idea for a solution: what about a bathroom caddy with shelves on an adjustable pole, the kind that’s often used in showers? I’m envisioning something that would fit nicely into the corner of the bathroom above the shelf/countertop in the space next to right of the mirror. This approach would have the advantage of being easy to install without creating any holes in the walls from drilling, screwing, etc. Again, I search around the websites of local Ireland merchants, which have a few options along the lines of what I was thinking, but nothing spectacular. Then I come across one that really stands out with a seemingly solid constructed metal pole, 4 glass shelves with raised edge rails, good styling, and dimensions that would fit perfectly. This one is offered for sale on Fruugo.com, which was unfamiliar to me… apparently it’s an “eCommerce marketplace” based out of the UK, a sort of cross between Amazon and eBay. The only problem with this shelving system (which was also the same with other options) is that the minimum height of the pole is slightly longer than the space between the bathroom shelf/countertop and the ceiling. I tell myself: this isn’t a dealbreaker, surely I could just saw off one end to make it shorter? (Stay tuned for how that goes!) After some due diligence searches on other sites, I still couldn’t find any other similar products that were short enough to fit without modification, so I ended up ordering the one I liked best – no problems with the checkout process, I’ve received an order confirmation email but am still waiting for a shipment notification.
Rubbish / Recycling Bin (aka Trash Can)
The apartment came with an adequate, fairly well-sized plastic rubbish bin with a lid that opens and closes with a light tap. But with an additional bag for recycling and a separate one for sorting glass, the kitchen has become rather cluttered:
This morning I was determined to find a solution for this jumble. I searched several local Ireland merchants for “rubbish recycle bins,” but the selection, again, was limited… some places offered models with dual rubbish/recycling bins like I wanted, but it was a challenge to find domestic brands much taller than 2 feet. Other sites that listed larger styles/models seemed to be sold out or the products were unavailable for delivery. Then I came across a familiar brand on Argos – SimpleHuman! Argos actually carried the same model of trash can / bin I had in SF, but it was out of stock with no option to backorder it. This tease prompted me to go directly to the SimpleHuman site for Ireland (which is run out of the UK?). They, too, were out of stock of my previously-owned and beloved dual rubbish/recyclable bin model, but they did have a super-duper fancy no-touch voice activated (?) model that was available. If you thought SimpleHuman products were expensive in the U.S., you should check out their prices in Euros! Out of desperation, frustration and/or hubris, I decided that price was no object when it comes to having an orderly kitchen and convinced myself the fancy model was destined to be mine since it was the only model available that met my requirements.
Bathroom Vanity Mirror
While on the SimpleHuman Ireland website, my eye was drawn to another line of products – bathroom vanity mirrors, which was another item on my shopping/vanquish list. The problem is that the wall-mounted mirror in the apartment bathroom cuts me off at the neck, and the room in general is not very well lit, with only a single overhead light fixture. The other conundrum is the lack of any electrical outlets in the bathroom. Well, turns out that SimpleHuman offers a lighted vanity mirror that is cordless, powered by a battery that is rechargeable via USB. Shut up and take my money already! Of course, like the fancy rubbish bin, there is quite a hefty price to pay for such clever engineering… but I was sold. And hey, at least there is no extra charge for shipping.
You’d think once someone gets hooked into purchasing a high-end item (or two such items, in my case) that the transaction would be easy to complete, but alas no. First off, the SimpleHuman website did not seem to function very well on my iPad… the “add to trolley” (add to basket / cart) button did not work no matter how many times I clicked on it. OK then, time to get serious – I get my laptop out and start over. The website seemed much more compliant then. With both the fancy rubbish/recycling bin and miracle-of-technology vanity mirror successfully placed in my “trolley,” I proceed to checkout. The next hurdles ahead are the payment method and shipping address. I enter an email address I usually use for online shopping, and SimpleHuman recognizes me from something I had purchased in 2012 in the U.S. This creates further interference because the website defaults using my old SF address for billing and shipping. I try entering new addresses, using my Dublin apartment building’s address for both billing and shipping, with my TransferWise MasterCard as the payment method. Click on submit order… card is declined. No notification in the TransferWise app, so I suspect that the issue is on merchant end… they must not like my U.S.-issued card? (I had similar struggles at Argos when purchasing the air fryer in person.) OK then, I’ll use one of my U.S. cards… oh, wait, the space for “country” in the billing address webform is immutably set to Ireland. Er, um, ok… oh but there’s still hope – they accept PayPal as a payment method! So click on that… then I am redirected to the PayPal site, but the transition page never disappears and the PayPal site never loads. Close window, go back to the SimpleHuman site (thankfully it remembers the items in my trolley), click checkout using PayPal again. The PayPal site is successfully reached, but then it requires me to change my password (too much online activity in a new country?). Password is changed, but then I have to go back to SimpleHuman and re-start the checkout process. This time, I get a little further along… now I’m in PayPal’s site faced with the options of which account to use for the payment. Fine, I select direct debit from my U.S. Schwab checking account. Return to SimpleHuman site, shipping address is still set to my Dublin apartment building, but now the billing address as imported from PayPal appears as my old SF house address. Grrr… cancel transaction, login to PayPal in separate window to update the address in my account profile (which I thought I had already done when I moved out?!), go back to SimpleHuman site, repeat checkout steps, repeat payment authorisation on PayPal site, return to SimpleHuman site only to see that my billing address on the final order confirmation page still appears as the old SF house address (!!!). At that point I decide what the hell, maybe it will work anyway, and after clicking submit I finally proceed to the holy-of-holies… a page that tersely states “thanks! your order number is X, you will receive an email with a copy of your order shortly.” And indeed, an order confirmation email soon appeared in my inbox. Whew… that was exhausting. At some point I think I also tried one of my U.S. credit cards but to no avail. I’m holding my breath until I receive a shipping notification.
If you’ve made it all the way through these shopping sagas, congratulations! I realise these are First World problems and, in the end, I try not to put much emotional stake on these material things. Life will continue regardless, and there are other more fulfilling ways to find happiness. As soon as my self-quarantine is over, and barring any stricter COVID restrictions, I intend to spend my energies on more worthwhile pursuits.
