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Importing games, sites you use and customs charges?


Lava_Yuki

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Hi guys, just wondering if anyone here imports games from abroad like Japan/ other parts of Asia, outside the EU for EU players etc. and what sites you use?

 

I live i the UK and like playing Japanese games, but usually buy the DL versions as its quicker and no customs. However, my mum bought me a game from Play Asia which shipped from Japan for Christmas and they charged my £16 customs. I usually order lots of stuff from Japan from ebay and amazon (usually food and cosmetics though), but the sellers are independent so they use generic packing and label it as a gift, so had avoided customs charges, plus what I ordered was cheap and below the customs price threshold.

Play Asia had their logo all over the packaging, saying it was a commercial item instead of gift so I'm guessing that's a reason it got caught for custom chargers.... they also wrote the value as £46. 

 

I looked at Solaris Japan and they seem to have this custom friendly invoice thing to apparently "reduce the risk" of paying customs. Has anyone especially in the EU or UK used Solaris Japan and how was it? How did they package it and did you get customs charges?

 

I also see sellers of the game i want on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com like AmazingVillage Japan, Japan-Asahi on eBay etc. among many others that ship games from Japan, but I'm unsure what the risk of customs charges are on those and how the packaging is. Anyone with any experience importing games from Amazon or Ebay sellers?

 

Also, if there are any other sites I haven't mentioned that you found good, please share! I've excluded CD Japan as its too expensive and Nin nin games as they don't have the game I want. 

Thanks as always?

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I bought many times in Solaris. Yes, you have the option to "modify" the price which will be shown on the invoice as well as remove the shipping price from it, which is also taxable if will get caught by customs. Boxes were without logos I think... Do not remember such detail ;).

Never had any problems. Customs seems to check the packages randomly - once or twice they stuck at customs and due to the lowered invoice I had to pay less thankfully. Solid company.

 

 

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I've used Buyee.jp quite a lot in the UK.

 

It tends to be a bit cheaper than other sites because you can buy the games used from Japan's equivalent of Ebay. There's virtually no risk of the games not working even if you buy them used, but the boxes themselves may not be in the best of quality. But like Ebay, you can get an idea of what you're getting before you buy.

 

They used to let you manually choose the value for whatever you bought, or mark it as a gift. I can't remember if they still offer that, though.

 

With customs, everything marked over £15 will get caught for a 20% import fee. If it's marked as a gift, then it's everything over £40.

 

I almost never used to get customs charges from Play-Asia packages. Maybe they've changed things or you were just unlucky.

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vgp.ca or playasia.com, have never had to pay customs with vgp,be careful with play asia if paying extra for the courier, you will get charged customs duty, where as with vgp anytime I payed for courier I never had to pay, I tend to use vgp a lot more than play asia for that reason but I think play asia have the better selection but are more expensive I find.

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2 hours ago, Shadiochao said:

I've used Buyee.jp quite a lot in the UK.

 

It tends to be a bit cheaper than other sites because you can buy the games used from Japan's equivalent of Ebay. There's virtually no risk of the games not working even if you buy them used, but the boxes themselves may not be in the best of quality. But like Ebay, you can get an idea of what you're getting before you buy.

 

They used to let you manually choose the value for whatever you bought, or mark it as a gift. I can't remember if they still offer that, though.

 

With customs, everything marked over £15 will get caught for a 20% import fee. If it's marked as a gift, then it's everything over £40.

 

I almost never used to get customs charges from Play-Asia packages. Maybe they've changed things or you were just unlucky.

I've used buyee once to buy a bunch of FF Ultimania and Omega books used on Amazon JP, i do remember them charging a couple of extras for their service but they sure were useful for used stuff on amazon jp. I think I was unlucky... I never used Play Asia in the UK, but when I used to live in Ireland I had ordered FFXV and a few of the Pokemon games from them and didn't get charged. I kind of wondered if it's the UK that's generally more strict with imports but can't say for sure. 

 

19 minutes ago, sephirothdude said:

vgp.ca or playasia.com, have never had to pay customs with vgp,be careful with play asia if paying extra for the courier, you will get charged customs duty, where as with vgp anytime I payed for courier I never had to pay, I tend to use vgp a lot more than play asia for that reason but I think play asia have the better selection but are more expensive I find.

I used to live in Ireland and never paid customs, it always seemed to slip under their checks. It was the first time I bought from Play Asia in the UK though so I'm not sure if they scrutinise imports more closely here or not. i haven't used VGP before, will check them out!

 

3 hours ago, Smashero said:

I bought many times in Solaris. Yes, you have the option to "modify" the price which will be shown on the invoice as well as remove the shipping price from it, which is also taxable if will get caught by customs. Boxes were without logos I think... Do not remember such detail ;).

Never had any problems. Customs seems to check the packages randomly - once or twice they stuck at customs and due to the lowered invoice I had to pay less thankfully. Solid company.

 

 

Thanks for the info! I think the UK seems to be strict with customs, I remember when i used to live in ireland I almost always got away with it lol. Just wondering do you remember if they mark the product as a gift or not? Because if it's a gift the limit is £40 compared to a commercial product where its only £15.

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4 minutes ago, Lava_Yuki said:

Thanks for the info! I think the UK seems to be strict with customs, I remember when i used to live in ireland I almost always got away with it lol. Just wondering do you remember if they mark the product as a gift or not? Because if it's a gift the limit is £40 compared to a commercial product where its only £15.

 

Do not remember TBH, but for sure there was no option to choose it on their website unfortunately...

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  • 1 year later...

Just found this thread, as I want to order the new Kamen rider: memory of hero’s multi language game from play Asia. As I live in the uk, which delivery option is better, would like to avoid customs and get the game quick. I got a choice between economy or express - delivery duty paid or would it be easier to make a japan or Hong Kong account and get it digital. Looking at getting the English release and not sure what the difference is between the economy and delivery duty paid option. 

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