PriceWatch: You spot the prices, we ask the questions.

A number of readers have been in touch to query the price of products in fashion accessories shop Claire's in the Republic when compared with the price of the same products in British outlets. One reader recently purchased a number of items in a Claire's store in Dublin airport which had - as is common practice - sterling prices shown as well as euro prices. However, when he converted the sterling into euros he realised the item was selling in British stores for less than in the Irish stores.

One item, for instance, was priced at €6 and £3.50 (based on this week's exchange rates the euro price should have been closer to €5.10). Another product had a sterling price of £6 and a euro price of €10 (when converted, however, £6 is actually €8.73).

Ciara O'Brien from Dublin discovered an even larger discrepancy when she bought a necklace in Claire's for €9.50 and was shocked to see it had a sterling price of £4.50. A quick calculation showed that £4.50 was approximately €6.55, which meant Claire's outlets in the Republic were charging just under three euro more.

Elizabeth Catterall also got in touch in connection with Claire's conversion rates. "I purchased some stickers at Claire's on Westmoreland Street," she says. "The advertised price was £1. At the check-out I was charged €2. I know this amount is small, but the mark-up is huge. How can shops get away with this?" she asks.

While VAT rates in the Republic are higher than the UK, they not so high as to make such a significant difference to the prices.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for the shop said that the euro prices applied in six countries across Europe where Claire's has stores and were set "periodically" using pre-determined currency conversion tables. She said the company "does try to have a fair exchange rate policy" but added that it was "simply not possible" to update the exchange rates for pricing purposes on a daily basis.

She said that O'Brien's necklace with the euro price of €9.50 and the sterling "equivalent" of £4.50 must have been "marked incorrectly". The price was "absolutely a mistake and efforts will be made to change it," she said.

"We have the same prices across the eurozone. This is not an intentional effort to rip people off." She said the pricing system would be examined before the next currency conversion tables are set. "People are going to have to take a look at this to make sure mistakes are not made," the spokeswoman concluded.

What's more . . .

John Devlin, a Brazil-based reader, has been in touch again, this time to highlight the cost of contact lens cleaning fluid in Ireland. He says that the lowest price he found in Dublin for the fluid was €14.95 for 350ml. "In Brazil, contact lens cleaner is €0.61 for 500ml available in chemists everywhere. Yes, you read that right, €0.61 versus €14.95," he says.