Good import retailers

[Rebel Ninja]

Hey there. Aside from "play-asia" what other online retailers would you all recommend for importing? Is "yes asia" a good site and do they have a reputation or past history in selling bootleg products? Thanks

[Cthulhu]

Yes-Asia is fine; I've ordered from them in the past and my fiance uses them a lot for CDs and DVDs. The only problem I've had with them is they'll occasionally list a hard-to-find product as being available within 7-10 days then it turns out they can't get it. They don't charge for it of course, but it is kind of frustrating because you thought you _finally_ found something.

The one I use the most is NCSX. They're based in NY, so shipping within the US is really fast, plus they'll use USPS instead of UPS (which is a big plus for me, as I've had no end of issues with UPS in the past). They've always been great for me.

[Ganelon]

Yes-Asia sells legit games but it isn't normally the best option:

1. Their prices are now higher than everywhere else (used to be the cheapest).
2. They strip pre-order bonuses away and sell them as separate items.
3. They're really slow at shipping, causing pre-orders to be delayed an additional 2 weeks on average from my experience.

Personally, I really liked Yes-Asia at the beginning since that's where I got a hold of SRW@ Premium Edition shipped for a really low price. But after several orders afterward years ago, I finally got sick of them stealing the pre-order bonuses that I deserved and then taking 2 weeks longer to ship, all for just $5 cheaper, so I stopped shopping there.

I have nobody to recommend at the moment. Recently, I've been looking for some specific games and realized that the vast majority of online import shops have inaccurate stock, which had lead to a frustrating delay of 2 months as I go shop to shop, place an order on an in-stock item, and get told days/weeks later that the item is out of stock and unavailable.

Even Play-Asia is annoying because its customer service has absolutely no clue at all. You ask whether a pre-order bonus is there. They say it's not. You buy the pre-order bonus elsewhere. Months later, you order the game in a Play-Asia sale and it turns out the pre-order bonus is actually included when you receive it. Or in another situation, it's been 3 weeks since you bought an item scheduled to arrive in 1 week. You email them that if they don't have any status on the item yet to please cancel the order. They cancel the next day and you buy elsewhere for more. The day after that, the item you ordered appears in stock (shipped in 24 hours) as the only remaining item. You hastily cancel the other order and get it again from Play-Asia and it arrives in a timely manner. So I'd highly suggest not trusting whatever the customer reps tell you regarding inventory or orders. They're definitely still a reliable importer though and I use them frequently. Although there are some issues, they're normally very good on pre-order bonuses and have plenty on hand for pretty much any pre-order.

NCS is normally very reliable in its inventory and ships very fast with impeccable packaging. Plus, you can ask them to combine multiple items and they'll only charge a very nominal increase in shipping rates.

I hear AmiAmi is good but they run of out pre-orders ASAP. Anyone have info about their shipping costs and whether they include pre-order bonuses (besides the telephone cards they always have)?

[ROBOTRON]

If you live in north america (excluding Alaska because shipping to and from there is a beast) I would suggest you use NCSX. Now having said that, I am a bit of a hypocrite because I use Play Asia 90% opf the time...why? Simply because their website is easier to navigate and is usually updated with the latest information of old and new stock. NCSX's website is cluttered with tons of "fluff"...that is out of stock items and difficult to navigate due to rubbish strewn about...the need a new webmaster. PA has a bit of clutter but thanx to whoever maintains the site, its easy to get around. PA shipping times and overseas check point delays make ordering from them frustrating sometimes.

Yes Asia does not carry enough items to satisfy my gaming and figure collecting/music etc. needs so I almost never use them

[Koa Zo]

I used to try to support ncsx, but their website is so shitty that I just can't be bothered to waste my time finding products between the multiple websites and barely functional search function.

Having one website for preorders and another for older stock is retarded and has cost them hundreds of dollars of my business.

[Ganelon]

Yeah, that's something a lot of game sites could use work on. They're typically slow (e.g. Yes-Asia, NCS), have very strict searching semantics (Play-Asia), have buggy links (NCS, Play-Asia), etc. What's strange about NCS's dual stores is that pre-orders filter into the normal store immediately, but then they disappear from the pre-order store at some later time. I wonder why they can't just use the pre-order store and spruce that up a bit.

[A_Civilian]

I'd recommend Japan Video Games, but since I live close enough to go to the actual store, I've haven't dealt with the shipping process, so I wouldn't know how good it is. Their site says they ship worldwide, though...

[Cthulhu]

It's true that NCS's website(s) are pretty bad and it's even more bizarre that they have two separate shops.

Doesn't really affect the fact that I shop there the most though.

[Dragoforce]

A related question. Does anyone know of a shop that sells asian region (not japan) 360 games=