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Cheap Arse Gaffer |Europe| We Need To Go Cheaper

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I've made tons of orders from Play-Asia and never once have I been charged import fees unless I used FedEx shipping. Located in Ireland here.
 
NateDog said:
I've made tons of orders from Play-Asia and never once have I been charged import fees unless I used FedEx shipping. Located in Ireland here.
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Cheaper shipping options they're less likely to check. I think I was hit once but outside that I've been fine.

They don't mark down is the difference between PlayAsia and VG+. So there's always a chance you could get hit from PA, but it's really unlikely from VG+ unless they opened the box and re-evaluated the price citing is as wrong.
 
Zafir said:
Cheaper shipping options they're less likely to check. I think I was hit once but outside that I've been fine.

They don't mark down is the difference between PlayAsia and VG+. So there's always a chance you could get hit from PA, but it's really unlikely from VG+ unless they opened the box and re-evaluated the price citing is as wrong.
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I've used probably all of their shipping options over time though, Air Economy I think is the one I normally go with since everything arrives in about 2 weeks with that and I never get charged, it's only a few Euros more than the free or nearly free postage anyway.
 
NateDog said:
I've used probably all of their shipping options over time though, Air Economy I think is the one I normally go with since everything arrives in about 2 weeks with that and I never get charged, it's only a few Euros more than the free or nearly free postage anyway.
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Well, Ireland may be less rigorous. Air Economy usually slips through, yeah. It's the dearer options with tracking, like EMS/DHL/FedEx etc that get caught a lot more often(if not always).
 
Zafir said:
Cheaper shipping options they're less likely to check. I think I was hit once but outside that I've been fine.

They don't mark down is the difference between PlayAsia and VG+. So there's always a chance you could get hit from PA, but it's really unlikely from VG+ unless they opened the box and re-evaluated the price citing is as wrong.
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dude, back then 2003-2008 nearly 50% of my parcels got fucked by the german tax controlling fucktards.

i dont buy much these days from HK or JP so i dont know if these problems have cooled down.

on the other hand, i got away asking PA and LIK-SANG to write down gift and that the parcel isnt worth more than $20. i know this isnt right, but the german taxing bureau was fucking me way over the place. the charged me even for the shipping fee. back then when i ordered a japanese ps2, the shipping fee was around 80euros and they even said, thats money which was sent to a foreign country to get goods to germany.

as a kid being 15 years old i didnt know it better so i simply paid it...
 
Sakujou said:
dude, back then 2003-2008 nearly 50% of my parcels got fucked by the german tax controlling fucktards.

i dont buy much these days from HK or JP so i dont know if these problems have cooled down.

on the other hand, i got away asking PA and LIK-SANG to write down gift and that the parcel isnt worth more than $20. i know this isnt right, but the german taxing bureau was fucking me way over the place. the charged me even for the shipping fee. back then when i ordered a japanese ps2, the shipping fee was around 80euros and they even said, thats money which was sent to a foreign country to get goods to germany.

as a kid being 15 years old i didnt know it better so i simply paid it...
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Then Germany must be really really strict, or you bought shipping methods which were more likely to get caught. :P The PS2 was always going to be checked, either due to the size of the parcel, or the fact it would have most likely been sent through a courier(And couriers pretty much always charge you).

All customs add shipping onto the value of the parcel to calculate the tax you need to pay, though. That's not just your government screwing you over.
 
^ Indeed. Hardware will always be suspect when importing.

In such cases it's better to use Nippon-Yassan or Nin-Nin-Game and select the Amazon France shipping method where you pay a single import tax fee, they ship your package to their depot in France and from there ship it to other countries inside the EU, so you don't get hit with even more ridiculous tax scams.

Works like a charm and is completely legal to boot.
Did it for my Vita and a bunch of PSP3000 systems as well as my last big Japanese games bundle. :)
 
Zafir said:
Cheaper shipping options they're less likely to check. I think I was hit once but outside that I've been fine.

They don't mark down is the difference between PlayAsia and VG+. So there's always a chance you could get hit from PA, but it's really unlikely from VG+ unless they opened the box and re-evaluated the price citing is as wrong.
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Play-Asia always mark my stuff down. I emailed them and asked them to and now everything gets marked at half the value.
 
toythatkills said:
Play-Asia always mark my stuff down. I emailed them and asked them to and now everything gets marked at half the value.
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But you'll have to explicitly ask them to do so. If not, they don't.

And I paid around €21 on taxes and fees once for a €24 game coming from them (which took 8 weeks to arrive no less), so I'm a little hesitant to use them on games over €22.
 
foobarry81 said:
But you'll have to explicitly ask them to do so. If not, they don't.

And I paid around €21 on taxes and fees once for a €24 game coming from them (which took 8 weeks to arrive no less), so I'm a little hesitant to use them on games over €22.
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I only had to ask them once, and they've marked down everything since then.
 
BelgiumGAF: some Media Markt deals

Game & Wario (Wii U) for €10.
Inazuma Eleven 3: Lightning Bolt (3DS) for €15.
New Art Academy (3DS) for €7, comes recommended by GAFer JennyTablina
Inazuma Eleven Strikers (Wii) for €22

The latter doesn't seem all that cheap for a Wii game, but this particular game's never really been sub-25 to my knowledge.

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toythatkills said:
I only had to ask them once, and they've marked down everything since then.
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So you're officially on their black list of shady tax evading customers now. ;-)
 
Haha, just a note that the H5000 is the 2014 version of the F5000. All 3 of the H5000 links list Freeview HD so I don't know if there's still some weird model number split.

I own the F5000 (with Freeview HD) and it's amazing value for money. It's worth reading the reviews if there's anything specific that you're looking for but in general I'd recommend it above anything in the price range.
 
Azuardo said:
A mate wants to pre-order US version of Senran Kagura Shinovi to Austria from Play-Asia. Anyone know what their service is like? Any import tax to Austria? Thanks for any help.
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officially there's a 20% tax on anything worth more than 22€. But in reality they don't seem to care... I've imported countless times from all over the world, mostly from Japan or the US and never had to pay anything extra.
If your purchase is around 30€ you should be fine. My most expensive purchase (~50€) went through without any problems and without tax.
 
Zafir said:
Well, Ireland may be less rigorous. Air Economy usually slips through, yeah. It's the dearer options with tracking, like EMS/DHL/FedEx etc that get caught a lot more often(if not always).
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I used to think that too but then I got charged €15 for a package from CDJapan recently which was only worth €40 (was only music too) and it took ages, I think the people at customs here don't know what they're doing half the time.
 
NateDog said:
I used to think that too but then I got charged €15 for a package from CDJapan recently which was only worth €40 (was only music too) and it took ages, I think the people at customs here don't know what they're doing half the time.
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In fairness, they usually charge a crazy "admin" fee, here it's like €7 or something.

EDIT: Just saw you're in Ireland too, so that's probably why it was €15 :P
 
Think all mail services do that. £8 charge here in the UK by royal mail. More from couriers. It's what annoys me about it. I'm fine with paying VAT if I get hit but the fees often end up costing more than the tax itself. DHL is the best in that respect for low value items. Under a certain amount they charge a percentage instead of a flat fee making it cheaper.

Edit: Scratch that this year DHL changed their system to reflect everyone else's. Bah.
 
shorty_symd said:
I'm no expert on UK customs cost but - from your reasoning - if an online bought item priced over £18 is charged customs tax when it's mailed to this country do you honestly believe an Xbox One purchased overseas would not be subjected to customs tax if it was imported into the country via hand/checked luggage at an airport?
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Yes, I do, since it works exactly the same way in Germany. If you order an item online and have it ship to your home, you will pay tax on everything over the price of 23€ (which is pretty much equivalent of £18), and additional customs if the price exceeds 150€. If you however bring the item into your country yourself as part of your luggage, the maxium tax free value is 430€. I don't know why, but that's the way it is.

shorty_symd said:
As far as I'm aware the power supply is rated 100-240v and I haven't had problems with my one.
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That's really cool. Will be useful when I want to get a limited edition console in the future since those stay in Japan for 99% of the time.
 
Zafir said:
Think all mail services do that. £8 charge here in the UK by royal mail. More from couriers. It's what annoys me about it. I'm fine with paying VAT if I get hit but the fees often end up costing more than the tax itself. DHL is the best in that respect for low value items. Under a certain amount they charge a percentage instead of a flat fee making it cheaper.

Edit: Scratch that this year DHL changed their system to reflect everyone else's. Bah.
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In the past with couriers people have paid the tax part then refused to pay the handling because under UK contract law you did not consent to this bill. The tax is a legal part though.

Bit harder to do with Royal Mail when they are standing there with your package in their hands.
 
Remember we were talking about Wii Fit U last week. Well people in the UK.
Argos Wii Fit U with meter £24.99
I just got the eShop version, talk about bad timing...on the other hand it is more convenient then using the disc, I don't need the fitness meter and it was mostly paid for with NNP points.

Try submitting the price to Amazon. They have eventually matched Argos prices in the past.
Edit: It seems Amazon UK have already done that...
 
Starwolf_UK said:
In the past with couriers people have paid the tax part then refused to pay the handling because under UK contract law you did not consent to this bill. The tax is a legal part though.

Bit harder to do with Royal Mail when they are standing there with your package in their hands.
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Oh yeah. I've refused to pay the fee with Fedex before. But indeed, as you say, it's hard to do with Royal Mail(or Parcel Force) because they physically hold the item until they get the money.
 
GAF, any suggestions for what to buy with £20 of Microsoft money/points/whatever?

Apparently I've had some promotional credit at some point and MS are very kindly going to take it away if I don't use it in the next month -_-
 
RavenholmDX said:
In fairness, they usually charge a crazy "admin" fee, here it's like €7 or something.

EDIT: Just saw you're in Ireland too, so that's probably why it was €15 :P
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Zafir said:
Think all mail services do that. £8 charge here in the UK by royal mail. More from couriers. It's what annoys me about it. I'm fine with paying VAT if I get hit but the fees often end up costing more than the tax itself. DHL is the best in that respect for low value items. Under a certain amount they charge a percentage instead of a flat fee making it cheaper.

Edit: Scratch that this year DHL changed their system to reflect everyone else's. Bah.
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Yeah essentially, but I've found that if I'm getting a postal option that costs say €10 and it takes 4-5 weeks to arrive and then I need to pay customs too to An Post (Irish postal service) I might as well probably just pay the extra €5 or €10 to a courier service to get me the package earlier and since they bill me so I don't need to have exact change ready for whatever day this parcel that has been in transit for endless weeks arrives on. That's if I expect I'll draw customs charges, I mean.
 
Hasney said:
PS Vita Slim with 8GB Card, Injustice Ultimate Edition, PS All Stars, GoW; Chains of Olympus, Killzone Liberation and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate - £134.86

If it doesn't link straight to the pack, it's the Action Mega Back bundle. It's hilariously £4 cheaper than the slim on its own.
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dude, 8gb and all those games packed in there?

2-3 games and the 8gb is done for.

sony should get charged for doing the worst shit done in history with their memory cards.

no one sane in the head is giving out this insane amount of cash for 64gb.

i already have cancer of that deleting/downloading files to my vita. sucks so much, especially these days, when you can have cheap storage.
 
GAME now have the limited edition white PS4 with Destiny on sale for £349. So the same price as the basic console, and I presume if it is a digital code for destiny you could sell that.

They also have an offer where you can get it for £229 if you trade in a PS3 slim (not superslim, apparantly the slims are more popular) and any 5 games.

Shame, as I have a superslim (they only offer £75 for trade in on that..)
 
I ordered a 64 GB Vita card from Play Asia. I choose the cheapest shipping option (21 days). I have now been waiting for 46 days. I have written to them twice. I think I'm going to have to moan to PayPal about it :(
 
Fattony12000 said:
I ordered a 64 GB Vita card from Play Asia. I choose the cheapest shipping option (21 days). I have now been waiting for 46 days. I have written to them twice. I think I'm going to have to moan to PayPal about it :(
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Could be stuck in customs. Have you contacted those?

I've had to wait 41 working days once for a package of theirs to arrive. Had also been stuck in customs for I assume roughly a month.
 
foobarry81 said:
Could be stuck in customs. Have you contacted those?

I've had to wait 41 working days once for a package of theirs to arrive. Had also been stuck in customs for I assume roughly a month.
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I have been to my local sorting office twice. They had nothing for me. I have not received any note or letter regarding the whereabouts of the item through my letterbox.

:(
 
Fattony12000 said:
I ordered a 64 GB Vita card from Play Asia. I choose the cheapest shipping option (21 days). I have now been waiting for 46 days. I have written to them twice. I think I'm going to have to moan to PayPal about it :(
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My last order from PA took 9 weeks to Austria! I already thought it was lost. So there's still hope for you. (For comparison my order from Yesasia took "only" 3 weeks)
 
Fattony12000 said:
I have been to my local sorting office twice. They had nothing for me. I have not received any note or letter regarding the whereabouts of the item through my letterbox.

:(
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You mean your local post office? They are unlikely to know anything at all. You should try to contact an office wherever the international mail enters your country. If you're in the UK, I assume it's somewhere near Heathrow. Royal Mail should have a large facility dedicated to customs matters there.

But since I'm not in the UK, that's really all I can say about it. In my country I know the ropes pretty well now.

Edit: maybe send Parcelforce an email, since that seems to be the service that delivers international packages to you in the UK?
 
Azuardo said:
FFX/X-2 HD on Vita £15 from 1pm at ShopTo.
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Saw this on my Facebook page, i also had £1 in points so i managed to get if for £13.70!

Been wanting to buy it for a while but i couldnt say no at this price, cant wait to go back and play them both. FFX to me is one of the best in the series and i also really enjoyed X-2 so playing them on the Vita is going to be godly :)
 
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