Swimwear much cheaper online

I usually stock up on swimwear for the kids each summer when we visit my home country (Ireland), as I've always found swimwear (and socks!) much cheaper in Ireland. But this year we may not get to go home, so I brought my eldest daughter, Junior High School Year 2, swimwear shopping recently.

We went to several different stores, including a large clothes store with a massive swimwear section. I was delighted when we walked into the store and saw a "big summer sale" sign and "up to 70% off" in the swimwear area. However, my joy quickly wore off when I realized even with the discount most of the swimwear was still working out at to be at least 6000 yen. At least three times what I would pay in Ireland.

Its not that I'm frugal, but there are certain items that I don't like to pay a lot of money for. And swimwear is one of them! Because children, even teenagers, outgrow them in one season. Furthermore, they only use them a handful of times in a season. Moreover, usually swimwear isn't very durable - if you use them in a sea or river its hard to get the sea salt or river stains out. In addition, because I was buying her two different sets of swimwear, I really didn't want to fork out 6000 yen on just one set! For the record, one of the swimwear we saw in the mall, we later saw in an Avail shop. It was the exact same, but 1000 yen cheaper in Avail. 

Thankfully, my daughter had sent me a couple of links to swimwear she liked on Amazon before we went to the mall. One was 3000 yen and the other 2900 yen. They were far cuter than what we saw in the shops. The reason I hesitated buying them online was because I was worried about size. It can be a real nuisance to have to return items on Amazon. But in the end I took a chance and as luck would have it, both sets are a perfect fit. Furthermore, both came with a rash guard at no additional cost. Moreover, combined they were cheaper than just one bikini or swimsuit at the mall!