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[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I have bought products and games from Playasia for a long time, but I have seen that the service has declined, I do not understand why they put games on sale that take a long time to restock, so that in the end they tell you that they always did not have the product and they refund your money , that didn't happen before and it's already happened 3 times, did they change wineries or why do they do this?

 

[ValiantTraveler]

That's strange, this never happened to me. Personally I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the recent months, but then again I don't order very frequently (1-2 times a year). Maybe the person you talked to was not properly informed on the items you wanted. Overall availability depends on what game you want. Some games have been out of stock since forever (Hitman 3) even though they can be found on other sites (eBay), others are available but still expensive (Sekiro, God of War Ragnarok), and others are restocked and sold out in a more or less cyclical manner (Tales of Berseria).

What games do you want to buy?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Recent years, but yes - they've gotten worse. I bought a game from them maybe... 1.5 years ago at this point, which was listed as being in-stock. I put the order in, and the availability changed to "ships in 1-2 weeks". I ended up not getting it for like a month and a half. No communication or anything.

It was yeeaaaaarrrs ago, but I also remember when a bunch of accounts got hacked. Mine was one of them, and I notified them that "hey, my account got hacked and I can't log into it, and someone's trying to place an order." And they kind of brushed it off as "we're taking care of it." Naturally, I got a bunch of charges for stuff the next day, and it was a pain in the ass to get that all corrected.

I guess the point is, Play-Asia has always been shit. The way they're shit has changed over the years, but they are definitely shit no matter what their flavor of the week is.

 

[Lambogenie]

Have been meaning to buy some bits. Used them maybe a couple years ago and it was fine.

Hope they keep it up, they may not be the best now but still quite back in the day.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I have bought products and games from Playasia for a long time, but I have seen that the service has declined, I do not understand why they put games on sale that take a long time to restock, so that in the end they tell you that they always did not have the product and they refund your money , that didn't happen before and it's already happened 3 times, did they change wineries or why do they do this?

Probably because they set up their ecom system in such a way they always take orders, but dont update the product page for out of stocks where a customer cant order it.

I buy cases of drinks from some local wholesalers and they do the same thing. It looks like it's in stock even according to their in-store location counter.... "Yes, it's in stock". But you go there and the people say it's out of stock.

 

[Caffeine]

I feel like they declined years ago.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

They were alright back in the day, but I haven't imported since I started going mostly digital.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

That's strange, this never happened to me. Personally I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the recent months, but then again I don't order very frequently (1-2 times a year). Maybe the person you talked to was not properly informed on the items you wanted. Overall availability depends on what game you want. Some games have been out of stock since forever (Hitman 3) even though they can be found on other sites (eBay), others are available but still expensive (Sekiro, God of War Ragnarok), and others are restocked and sold out in a more or less cyclical manner (Tales of Berseria).

What games do you want to buy?

It happened that I bought visual novels 3 weeks ago... But... Imagine that I buy a product something like this...

Freedom Wars Remastered (Multi-Language) for Nintendo Switch

Freedom Wars Remastered (Multi-Language) for Nintendo SwitchIn the distant future, humanity is in a struggle to survive. Pollution has devastated the planet, and the remnants of humanity are divided amongst city-sized prisons called Panopticons. So scarce are resources that living itself is a...

www.play-asia.com

And I see that they don't send it and I see that they don't have it in their warehouse... In the end they say that they don't have it... And I gather the games for free shipping.


I mean, if they really have it in inventory, let them say... No, they don't update their products.

 

[v1oz]

Wait a minute Play-Asia is still around? I remember using Liksang and Play-Asia to buy imports back in the day. I'd you'd ask me I'd say they declined back in the 2010's.

 

[kazuyamishima]

I found out about Play Asia 4 years ago and they were already shit.

Most of my imports come from Amazon Japan, Nin-nin games, Surugaya and others.

Play-Asia usually has a lot of stock issues and the shipping times are a bit of a nightmare.

 

[Thebonehead]

Wait a minute Play-Asia is still around? I remember using Liksang and Play-Asia to buy imports back in the day. I'd you'd ask me I'd say they declined back in the 2010's.

Yeah they went downhill around the PS2 generation

 

[ULTROS!]

Play Asia is okay with me, but then again I’m from the Philippines so it’s not much issue of logistics.

 

[near]

I ordered from them 3 times last year, all bulk orders, the last one was in October and in all the years I've been using them I've never had a problem. Although my Unicorn Overlord order in March got delayed, I blame Sega/Atlus for the stock shortage.

 

[Impotaku]

It’s nothing new it’s been like that for yeeeeeeeears, I used them all through the gba,gc & ds/3ds era before I had enough. They frequently keep stuff listed as in stock to tempt you to order then when you place an order it magically changes to ships within 1-2 weeks as they then try to source it once they have your money trapped in an order they don’t care.

I gave up using them over a decade ago but recently had to use them to get the Asian version of momoden on switch as it was only place I could find that had it thankfully that preorder shipped but I have had many problems with them in past shipping damaged goods and lying about it saying it was damaged in shipping when the outer shipping box is pristine and the inner game looks like it’s been stamped on and I know they sent it like that. Saying they wouldn’t replace it or let me send it back for a full refund they said they would only refund as a store credit. Pretty much pushed me to look at better options like amazon japan with a middleman shipper like tenso which allows me to grab stuff at Japanese retail price and not playasias markups. I can also declare my own customs so I never pay import duty hehe.

Opens up a world of fun stuff to buy, minus the usual restricted shipping goods like weapons, fireworks, fresh food ect.

 

[Labadal]

Their prices sure have.

I had one order with two games, which was very expensive.

Sales is the only time worth buying anthing ftom them.

 

[Wolfpact1983]

I remember getting Garou MotW jp Ver. for the DC from play-Asia in 2001. I’m getting old

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Protip: never use free shipping at PlayAsia. I ordered something in mid November last year and it arrived after Christmas. Also, tracking from Singapore Post or whatever just showed "in transit to next carrier" for 3 weeks. If you like keeping an eye on your shipments and receiving your package in a timely manner, never do free shipping. I've had packages shipped by boat from Japan arrive faster.

 

[cireza]

Still use it, no issue on my side.

 

[Doom_master1122]

I order from them often. Used them heavily to get Japanese eShop cards to play Dragon Quest X. Haven't done that in a while since I've taken a break from the game, but otherwise they're my primary source of Switch games as the Japanese versions are nearly $20 cheaper, and (a good chunk) will change their region and language based on what the switch is. Payed $47 with shipping for Echoes of Wisdom at launch. Just took a couple weeks to get it.
The only issue I have is when you preorder 2 games with different dates, none of them will ship until the final game is released. So if you do that you will need to order them independently to get them around their release date.

 

[Celcius]

I've never had issues with them and would order again.
The last game I imported was DOAX3 for Switch and everything went smoothly.

 

[PeterBazooka]

I haven't had any issues with them.

Lik Sang was the best tho. Fuck Sony for shutting them down.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

And now which online stores are good options?

I haven't had any issues with them.

Lik Sang was the best tho. Fuck Sony for shutting them down.

I never used that store, what was it like?

 

[StereoVsn]

I have placed couple decent sized orders last year with no issues. I always choose the more expensive shipping as that’s fully tracked and pretty quick.

Probably best bet for strictly Japanese stuff is to use one of the cross shipping services. I have been eyeing them for auctions and used stuff.

But if you want Asia edition games, that won’t work. Are there better stores similar to Play Asia in scope?

Edit: I also shop Amazon.co.jp directly, but man, their shipping prices kind of gotten crazy lately. I buy Japanese books, games and some other stuff there and cost just blew up last few months.

Shipping is now basically at almost 50% if package cost. Say I buy $200 (converted from ¥) worth of items. Shipping will be anywhere between $70 and $90.

 

[PeterBazooka]

And now which online stores are good options?

I never used that store, what was it like?

At the time, they carried more product, including console hardware mods. Not a huge difference from playasia as far as software goes but you could get mod-chips to allow region-free gaming in an era where console region-locking was a thing.

 

[genesisblock]

I know a guy who used to work there and they just laid him off a few months back.