If you want a one stop shop for luxury and exclusive beauty brands then Harrods is the place. They carry brands like Burberry, Laura Mercier, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, La Prairie, and many, many more. Being an online shopping fanatic I am not unfamiliar with browsing the Harrods website being tempted by the many beautiful high end products they offer.
Being in Canada means that high end department store online shopping is not an option. Why Holt Renfrew doesn’t offer online shopping is beyond me. I usually find myself luxury online shopping, (my favourite past time by the way), from US department stores, but unfortunately many brands are Canada restricted from the US. This means that they will not ship those brands to Canada from a US store. Harrods however, has no such restrictions. While I have been tempted more times than I can count, I have not yet ordered from there myself therefore I can’t speak first hand to the shipping experience. From the research I have done online, (luxury handbag shopping from overseas is quite popular), it appears packages will arrive via regular post rather than a courier service. If you are at all experienced online shopping internationally then you will know why this information is of importance to me. Canada Post is very reasonable in their brokerage charges. If you get charged duty and taxes when it comes through the border, (and I say if because they frequently allow packages through without incurring duty and taxes), then at least you know you are paying the reasonable amount owed and not some crazy inflated customs brokerage charges that most couriers charge. That will be my little international online shopping tip for you. If you are ever given the option of selecting which method you want something shipped, then select the regular postal shipping rather than a courier. I know you may be excited to receive your package faster but it is not worth the risk of the crazy extra fees you are pretty much guaranteed to incur.
As with all online shopping from the UK is it important to remember that the prices you see on the website are NOT what you pay. The VAT (value added tax) will be deducted from the purchase price upon checkout. Unlike what we are used to in North America their tax is included in the price. Since we are located outside of the UK we do not need to pay it. Shipping from Harrods varies in cost from £5.95 to £25 depending on whether you are in the UK, Europe, or other parts of the world. From my experimentation with some products I found with the VAT deducted the UK pricing was often better than the Canadian retail price. $20 cheaper in the case of one face palette I looked at.
Do you shop online? If so do you shop online internationally? Have you ever ordered from Harrods?
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