Majuunun
Wilewarer
Pixel Lady
Posts: 434
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Post by Majuunun on Jul 7, 2008 19:57:52 GMT -5
I used to buy stuff from Shopping Mall Japan when they were known to the world as Anime Chaos. Never heard of Crescent Shop. www.crescent-shop.com/ is their site ya? Well, I'll see if I even want to buy whatever it is I'm after. Of course, being a total nerd I might end up doing it. OH NOES!
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Post by Musa-Revived on Aug 5, 2008 23:11:00 GMT -5
I get my import fix from Amazon Japan. Especially for anime dvds because they always have them on discount. But that's just me because I don't buy R1 anime dvds.
Well you need to know a little Japanese to navigate around but you can view amazon japan pages in english.
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Post by Red Hairdo on Aug 6, 2008 12:56:20 GMT -5
NEVER BUY FROM THERE They are thieves. I speak from my own experience with them. Thieves. They are totally unorganized and f***ing bastards. They stole me around 250 USD in 2006.
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Post by Incog Neato on Aug 7, 2008 11:33:52 GMT -5
My general rule of thumb in on-line purchases for ANYTHING is NEVER to buy from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore or Thailand -- just any East Asian country known for massive amounts of piracy. :P
Play-Asia's the only Hong Kong store I trust.
Of course, there are many other places around the world with stores that have suspicious stock and ethics so everyone should becareful!! :O I always try to find reviews of stores I never purchased from before I use them~
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Post by Red Hairdo on Aug 8, 2008 13:05:43 GMT -5
Be careful even with the reviews, as someone from the store itself or whatever can say good things about them, but making it look like a customer's review.
But of course, reviews might help.
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Grave
Othclos
We are the new FOXHOUND.
Posts: 190
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Post by Grave on Aug 23, 2008 10:30:18 GMT -5
NCS and Play-Asia are total class acts, as many have said. For auctions, I gotta recommend Crescent Shop as well. Expensive, but super-friendly and great to work with. I recently did business with YesAsia again after years (used to buy VCDs from them waaaaay back when), and they made me quite happy. Thanks to their free shipping and good prices, I managed to get Battle Fantasia for PS3 for less than I'd pay for a domestic game! This made me smile.
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Post by Incog Neato on Aug 24, 2008 8:08:47 GMT -5
YesAsia also tends to love to stick barcode stickers onto their books. >_> Thankfully, they're not difficult to remove.
Also of annoyance is that their books ARE NOT shrink-wrapped so although they come in pretty good condition*, it feels more like you're buying used books. =_=;
* Sometimes, the corners might be creased.
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Post by FM-77AV on Aug 24, 2008 8:26:25 GMT -5
Europeans - beware of Play-Asia, their packages seem to end up in customs approximately 90% of the times. I've seen soooo many reports of this happening, that it's scary. I'd never order from them, myself. Use Yes-Asia instead, they label their packages more appropriately (i e they lie about them) and apparently they aren't well-known by the customs offices around the world.
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Post by Kimimi on Aug 24, 2008 11:13:24 GMT -5
I've been using Plsay-Asia for years, had everything from PS2s to packs of sweets sent through, and only had customs very rarely pick them up - certainly no more than anywhere else. I only use Yesasia for PSP games and books because the free shipping often saves a lot of cash on heavier orders. I've found them pretty incompetent in the past though - I had an item on order for six months, until they eventually decided that they couldn't get it in stock and refunded my money. Estimated dispatch time was about two weeks IIRC.
I recommend japangamestock.com and yamato-touch - I use them bith regularly, and found them honest and reliable.
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Post by Justin on Sept 8, 2008 16:00:44 GMT -5
For those of you privy to Ebay stores, Toysonlinehk is great. They have VERY CHEAP shipping, and carry a wide assortment of Japanese titles. I really liked their boxed/complete sections!! stores.ebay.com/toysonlinehk
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Zoelius
Wilewarer
IF you play Blazblue on PS3 add me.
Posts: 441
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Post by Zoelius on Sept 16, 2008 13:51:40 GMT -5
Europeans - beware of Play-Asia, their packages seem to end up in customs approximately 90% of the times. I've seen soooo many reports of this happening, that it's scary. I'd never order from them, myself. Use Yes-Asia instead, they label their packages more appropriately (i e they lie about them) and apparently they aren't well-known by the customs offices around the world. Actually the same thing happen to me as well. Its simply because Play-asia like to label the product as merchandise, instead of gift, so often that you'll end up paying for custom fees. Like i order stuff from Falcom and i never get a custom fee from them, simply because they mark it as Gift and saying the total value of items inside is only 10$, when there is actually 3 games in there.
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Post by Nalacakes on Sept 16, 2008 21:34:50 GMT -5
Play-Asia have usually done quite good by me when it comes to shipping, really. ^_^ Although I've never ordered more than a game at a time from them. And bigger packages tend to be more prone to getting stuck at customs, I think? Myaa, maybe the British customs office is just rather lax on such things~
One complaint I did have, though, is that my new copy of Tales of DestinyR that I bought from there had come away from the spindle inside the box, and had rattled around and gotten itself a little scratched. =( I guess it's my own fault for not paying for more expensive shipping... I could've tried to kick up a fuss about it, I suppose, but it didn't seem worth bothering them about. The game still worked. It's just a little bit annoying because I like to keep my things in perfectly pretty condition. ^_^;
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Post by Kimimi on Sept 16, 2008 21:50:08 GMT -5
Actually the same thing happen to me as well. Its simply because Play-asia like to label the product as merchandise, instead of gift, so often that you'll end up paying for custom fees. Like i order stuff from Falcom and i never get a custom fee from them, simply because they mark it as Gift and saying the total value of items inside is only 10$, when there is actually 3 games in there. To be fair, anyone sending a package that requires a customs form is obliged to label them honestly, as anything else is fraud. I don't think Play-Asia is going to risk going out of business for the sake of a few people dodging fees they're legally meant to pay.
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Post by Kimimi on Sept 16, 2008 22:01:02 GMT -5
I think if it ever got to court any judge would take one look at Play-Asias website, one look at the "gift" option ticked on the box covered in P-A branding, and fine their asses to hell and back.
The other thing is that if an item gets lost/damaged you can only claim the value on the customs form, so if $200 worth of games were put down as $10 that's all you can claim.
I'm not denying that it isn't nice when people do it, but there's no reason to expect people to lie on customs forms for your benefit.
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Post by Nalacakes on Sept 16, 2008 22:11:16 GMT -5
That can happen pretty much anywhere, though. It was probably the postal service's fault, rather than Play-Asia's. To combat that, I usually get the more expensive shipping, as that pretty much NEVER happens when my stuff is shipped to me IN STYLE. Heheheheh... -Tom *nods* That's the same conclusion I consoled myself with. ^_^ There's really no use blaming the company. They did their part just fine. Although naturally the stroppy kid in me still wanted to throw a tantrum. ^_~ You've probably got the best idea there, though. ^_^ To be fair, I never go for the cheapest-of-the-cheap shipping. ^_^; But I can never bring myself to pay for the most extravagant, red carpet one either. I came from a relatively poor family, so I guess I've gotten used to trying to cut any corners I can financially. I'm the sort of sad little person who still saves up all the pennies she finds around the house and takes them to the bank to get them changed. ^_~ Between my reluctance to get involved in relationships and my penchant for collecting loose change, I get the feeling I'm destined to be the neighbourhood's crazy cat lady. *sighs* I'd better learn to darn stockings while my eyesight is still good. It'll give me a nice headstart~ ^_~
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Post by Justin on Sept 19, 2008 22:03:15 GMT -5
I have always found better deals on auction sites compared to big places like Play-asia. Plus users bundle shipping and its very afforable.
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Post by Kimimi on Sept 20, 2008 0:12:03 GMT -5
For used games then I'll just go wherever's cheapest - usually eBay but I will check a few online stores first. For new games though I tend to get faster delivery and a better price if I buy from Play-Asia or somewhere similar. I applaud your ideals Wyrdwad but for me it's all about price
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Post by Incog Neato on Sept 20, 2008 10:12:40 GMT -5
You know, a while back every damn store was declaring "gift" on items heading to other countries and with some eBay/private sellers, you can even ask them to mark down the declared cost.
I think it was only a few years ago where I noticed that certain stores had a note saying that they can no longer mark "gift" on their packages as they had to legally give the actual value of the items inside.
Thems were the days where I could order all the stuff from Japan and not pay a damn penny to the bloody customs. How I miss that time. :(
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Post by FM-77AV on Sept 21, 2008 8:18:02 GMT -5
By using Shopping mall japan, you can tell them to declare a very low value.
My friend bought a PS3 from Japan using SMJ, and they declared the value 20 dollars. But the sticker on the box CLEARLY said that shipping alone was 100 dollars, and they STILL only charged him 5 dollars for customs, even though they're supposed to include the shipping price in those charges! We already knew that the customs were idiots, but not THIS stupid!
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Post by Strife on Nov 21, 2008 6:26:59 GMT -5
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