This is an expensive sport!

[tstop4me]

I know, it means visiting is VERY expensive at the moment and there's no point shipping skates/dresses etc in as it costs the same as it does over here.

Yeah, the pound has really dropped, right now £1 ~ $1.30.  I'm in the US.  Haven't been to the UK in many years, but at the time the conversion rate was £1 ~ $2.50, so visiting the UK was very pricey for Americans.  I remember seeing prices posted for gas (petrol) at 50 p, and after doing a quick conversion, thinking that's not so bad ... until it hit me that that was the price per liter, not per gal.  I used to work at a large international corp.  When my UK co-workers came over to the States on business, they'd go on shopping sprees like crazy.  We were close by NYC, and one guy would always go to NYC to get glitzy jewelry for his girlfriend, something he couldn't afford to do back home.

[Query]

I know, it means visiting is VERY expensive at the moment and there's no point shipping skates/dresses etc in as it costs the same as it does over here.

Are you talking visiting the UK from the U.S., or visiting the U.S. from the UK?

As near as I can tell, MK and Wilson blades (made in the UK, I think, though it is always possible some are made abroad) are cheaper from the UK than from the U.S.

E.g., look for new Coronation Ace at a couple British discount skate suppliers

  http://www.iceandrollerskates.com/product/jwcapara# £128=$167.68
  https://demonxtreme.com/section.php/898/1/figure-skate-blades £148.99=$193.18
 
vs a few American discount discount suppliers

  https://www.northerniceanddance.com/ice-skates/skate-blades/john-wilson-blades.html $219
  http://www.skate-buys.com/jowifiskbl.html $272
  http://www.cozzisports.com/product-page/john-wilson-coronation-ace $219

I don't fully understand taxes and tariffs, so maybe this is wrong. And it might depend on mail order vs visiting. I also didn't check all possible sources. But at first glance, MK and Wilson blades are cheaper in the UK.

(Of course, eBay sometimes offers better prices, for a specific pair in a specific size - but that may be more likely to get you warped or otherwise defective blades, since that is the obvious place for a store to dump defective blades, that doesn't affect its reputation. And that probably applies to eBay in both countries. For that matter, I have mixed feelings about buying blades sight unseen - you can at least look for warped blades when shopping in person.)

(Based on the instantaneous exchange rate £1=$1.31)

Perhaps I would get a different result for stuff from U.S. and Canadian companies, like Jackson/Ultima, SP Teri, Graf and Riedell.

BTW, I would love to find a cheap Chinese, African, etc. supplier of good quality figure skating blades and boots... Anyone here experimented with that? Chinese manufacturers have more or less sewn up most of the cheap rental skate market, but I'm not sure of stuff a few steps above.