Price of goods in Gibraltar - not as cheap as you think

[mogpie]

Hi,

On our visit to Gibraltar this week, I was unpleasantly surprised at the prices. Yes, if you are looking for alcohol this is very very cheap, and cigarettes are cheap (even though we could get them cheaper on board with the Ventura's duty free trial), but beware of elecrical goods.

I took with me a list of a few things which I may have bought had they been at "special price" in port. I trawled the internet for the cheapest prices before we went and this is what we found:

 

Amazon Kindle 3G and WiFi - £152 on amazon, £172 in Gibraltar

 

Apple iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G 32GB £575 in carphone warehouse, £579 in Gibraltar

 

New Apple iPod Touch 32GB / 4th Gen is £199 on amazon, £249 in Gib

 

Nikon Coolpix s3100 (red) is currently on sale on amazon for £69, but the cheapest in Gibraltar was £99

 

Now, in fairness, I didnt try to haggle the prices down in Gibraltar, these were either displayed or were the first prices that the shopkeepers mentioned when I asked the prices. I tried a few shops, but only on the main st. People will no doubt post that the prices are cheaper off the main st, or they found one of the above items for cheaper, but these are the prices I found and I'm just glad I did my research before we went. i'm just advising you guys to research the prices here before you get sucked into the "everything is cheaper in Gibraltar" mode

 

regards

 

Mogpie

[LibraLass41]

I agree,watches were cheaper in the ships shop and ofcourse portunus discount to come off as well. than in Gib.

 

Disgusted. Most watches had no prices on in the shop windows, I think they made up the price if they thought you were off the ships, rather than a local, I haggled a watch down by £30 but it was stll cheaper onboard so I walked out. Cigarettesand booze cheaper, but the rest - cheaper at home, even some booze cheaper at home.

[BrianI]

If your buying electrical stuff and anything goes wrong, its a long way to take it back to the shop and the warranties may not be the same as UK anyway.

Cigs and booze are the only cheap things in Gibraltar.

Brian

[cruisecampo]

I agree, it is not the tax haven it would like you to believe. We were in Spain and had a day trip to Gib on Weds of this week. I had been looking for new binoculars and found what I had identified as a decent pair. On enquiring the price I was quoted 109 pounds. I showed him the Amazon price of 45 pounds. The best he could do was 70 pounds so Amazon will get my money.

We also had lunch at the Angry Friar which is opposite the Convent and is popular with cruisers. Terrible service, first two meals came and were almost eaten before the other two came. Then they tried to over charge us by 7 pounds. When I complained and said I wouldn't be coming back to eat there again (we have been before) he replied 'we have no trouble filling our tables with people from the ships so we will not miss you.

As has been said if you drink or smoke then you will get good deals.

[Denarius]

I agree with the general sentiments. Alcohol and tobacco are cheap, other goods not necessarily so. I bought a pair of RayBans on Ventura in August. For curiosity, looked what they would have cost on Gibraltar. They would have been more expensive.

Also, on P&O you can be reasonably sure of getting genuine goods. I do not have the same confidence on Gibraltar.

[cruiseanywhere2]

We went to Gib on a day trip from Spain many years ago and manged to barter the price of a Swarovski monkey down to a third of the price it was in the UK. I think this may have been a one off because when we went to Gib later I noticed that apart from booze everything else had gone up in price. Last time we went we didn't bother getting off the ship!

[southwinds]

Its the same with the Channel Islands.. they have the cost of IMPORT to add to goods brought in...

[southwinds]

Booze and fags are cheaper as they dont have the duty and vat or what ever we have at home

A litre of Bombay Saphire £6.95

 

Lalique and Swasoskie crystal , ladro etc is cheaper as there as there is no middle man so if you collect these items they are cheaper than say John Lewis

[LibraLass41]

Gib will suffer now with the iphone becoming so popular, people will just look at something in their shop window and check price at Amazon or some such website and will now see instantly if cheaper at home.

 

Anyway, you can't even bring back lots of booze these days, just a litre each of spirits, so hardly worth bothering. Baileys for example is now sold cheaply at christmas as a 'loss leader' in our UK Supermarkets ,just to get people into the stores, at £9.99/£10 a litre, it was about that in Gib, and you would have to carry it back to ship, and get it safely home without getting broken. Not worth it for a few pence difference. :rolleyes:

[hooked cruiser]

I can only assume that you don't like bartering. I spent 10 minutes in one store in the main street in Gibralter (Aurora) in August this year and walked out with an Apple Ipad 32Gb and leather case for £426.00. Now that is what I call cheap. When I returned home the registration process was just as if I had purchased it in the UK.

Maybe because I lived in Hong Kong for 2 years I am used to the bartering system of purchasing while on holiday. My theory is "How much do I want to pay?" If they won't reduce then walk away and nothing is lost, 9 times out of 10 they will follow you out and start the bartering again. Don't give up and do stick to your guns.