Topic: Importing games

Should I be scared? Been reading different thing's online & I used to import games but it's been a while. Was going to get the nintendo switch games from ebay. Was reading info on certain games it said might have to pay a import / duties fee... 🤔 When I imported games on ebay from before from japan. I just paid the cost of the game, shipping, tax, etc. Am I missing something on this~ Just really curious~ ✌ I manage to find 2 games defently want to import next month~ 🤷‍♀️✌

Happy Gaming! (^~^)

@Barbiegurl777
You can order games from playasia too.
Well, if you order from Ebay there is always a tax on it.
But sometimes there is no tax from Japanese seller on Ebay.
Japanese Switch games on Ebay and playasia are expensive by mostly, even they are quite old games.

@Barbiegurl777, if you're in the US you shouldn't have to pay any import duties (the value of an item has to be really high, like over $800, before duties apply). Remember, users online come from many places, so the people talking about having to pay duties may be from Canada or Europe, where having to pay duties is more common.

I import things from Japan a few times a year (though it's been a couple years since I imported a game), and have never had to pay any duty.

What you should be more worried about is shipping costs. Due to the pandemic certain shipping methods are unavailable, and the ones that are (DHL, EMS, FedEx) are more expensive than usual due to the extra workload.

I can not stress this enough but stay away from Play Asia. They are nothing but a shady crooked bunch of thieves. They take your money but never send your item. Then when you ask for a refund they say you have to through the shipping company for a refund. I am still waiting for a controller I ordered from them 5 years ago.

So unless you want to get ripped off stay away from Play Asia.

@Tasuki That's pretty different from my experiences. I've bought a lot of games from them over the last few years and while the shipping can be pretty slow, everything I order eventually arrives safe and sound. I had one time there was issues with the shipping (thanks to COVID) and they offered to resend my own or refund me.

I just use Play Asia for digital stuff, and so far they have been fine for me...

@BenAV Well, I can tell you this, you didn't deal with Play Asia cause they don't do refunds. When I asked for a refund or another of the item that they "lost" they refused. They said they shipped it and that they couldn't do anything to help me and would need to contact the shipping company.

So yeah you are mistaking or lieing. Play Asia are crooks nothing more.

In my humble opinion don't ever get anything from EBAY. People can scam you. Its better to get games directly from the source or the eshop. I get most of my games from the eshop during covid and a few from places like walmart and gamestop ect.

@Tasuki I'm not mistaken or lying. I still have the email from 'Play-Asia Customer Service' from July last year saying that they "still have no beneficial update from Singapore Post" and asking if I'd prefer a replacement or refund.

@Atomic77, she wants to import Japanese copies (likely games that don't have a local release, or at least only got a physical run in Japan), so GameStop, Walmart, or her local eShop won't have what she's looking for.

Never tried EBAY, but have had no issues buying from Amazon Japan. You can change the language to English & they accept American Debit/Credit cards. They only offer DHL for international shipping, IIRC, though, so that can be expensive.

@Atomic77 I think it all depends on the shop. Personally, I sell comics on Ebay as a business and I don’t skrew anyone over.

@BenAV As I said, then it wasn't Play Asia that you dealt with. I have several emails from them refusing to refund me the money, or sending me a replacement. Other then that not sure what else to say.

Not sure why you are defending a bunch of crooks but ok.

@Tasuki Just sharing my personal experiences like you are, it's not like you're the only person who's ever tried buying from them. I've bought 27 physical Switch games from them so far with no major issues besides slow shipping.

@BenAV I understand. I mean if you like dealing with a bunch of thieves and con artists who take people's money that's your business, but don't act like they aren't when they clearly are.

@Tasuki They take my money and send me the games I paid for in exchange so yep it's cool with me.

Can we just drop it, please...

If you pay with PayPal (especially on eBay) you're guaranteed a refund in the event of non-delivery or in someone sending you a fake.

It's pretty safe these days; the worst that's likely to happen is that someone wastes your time.

@Barbiegurl777

I can relate to this.

I Usually buy stuff on Ebay from people i have previous Transactions with (i always test the Water with a cheap purchase to make sure everything is A Okay) but often they don't have what your exactly looking for.

So i tried to get one from an EU seller and that's where i ran into problems.

And turned out they send me a fake (actually something completely different) and Paypal did help me after bringing enough Proof that i didn't receive what i paid for. ( However that took almost 6 Months )

What id recommend is, if a seller is stingy, don't bother, they might try to fake you out or even threaten you (as with me lol) so just make sure to always be nice since you might have to send these Conversations to PP too.

And if they send you something and the Delivery Service is different then what was Promised, try to stay away from them next time if everything was fine with your first Purchase, they are trying to be cheapskates.

Alternatively, I have been using them for nearly a decade and have never had a single problem.

@RR529

Uhh ok. Thank's~

@Tasuki

Your right. I have heard from several people to avoid play Asia as well.

@Matt-Barber

I only use ebay gift cards. They work fine. About 10 year's ago when I did use my debit card online. It got hacked from somewhere in the UK someone ordered $400 worth of baby stuff. We ended up having to go to the bank & deal with that whole Fiasco & several years after that. I heard that from my parents to the point the wouldn't let the subject drop already. Anymore so easier just to use a gift card & move on.

@Lightgazer

Ironically I've had the opposite problem. Never had a problem with UK sellers buying from the UK. Most of the Japanese sellers are top notch as well. I think it was from a Chinese seller I bought: My Little Baby DS & it played fine on my ds lite. I figured out later it was a fake after I tried playing it in my DSi & it wouldn't play. Other than that had pretty positive experiences~

@Faint

Your one of the nice sellers then. I've defently been skewed when it comes to buying mechanical doll's on there & lesson learned will NEVER buy anything that say's untested ever again. The one seller sent me to Little Tikes Talking T Pete doll's. When they got to my house both were left turned ON inside the box then when I opened there battery compartment's both had massive corrosion. The one I got to work after having to do CPR on him. I had to put him in a bag with baking soda, shake it, then vacuum him out. The seller absolutely refused to make thing's right & I ended up having to go straight to ebay to fix the problem & get a refund. The battery corrosion was never listed in the description & the seller claimed she didn't know because supposedly she didn't have a screwdriver to open the battery compartment. I didn't buy into it for a minute most people have a flat head or star head screwdriver. She just didn't want to deal with the doll's in general...

I do have other question since it was brought up in the thread. How do you tell a fake Nintendo switch game from the real Nintendo switch game? Would it be super obvious? Or hurt the Nintendo switch itself? Just curious~ ✌

Happy Gaming! (^~^)