Jump to content

SHOPTO.NET & PLAYASIA


adi19871

Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

 

If you remember I had certain queries regarding buying games from outside India. I asked around a lot in the Playasia thread and got some very good response. Both pranav (Blueelvis_RoXXX) for shopto.net and anurag (Xbx360patron) for playasia helped me with how to order and what are the things that you need to keep in mind while importing games. Now that most of my games have arrived I would like to share my experience with both of them website.

 

For your information I had ordered the following games from the following websistes

 

Shopto.net :

 

1)Fallout 3 GOTY

2)Dark souls

3)Borderlands GOTy

4)Darksiders

 

PlayAsia

 

1) Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Greatest Hits)

2) Bayonetta

3)Asura's Wrath

 

Now I will include the time it took for those games to b e delivered and if there were any customs

 

Shopto.net :

 

1)Fallout 3 GOTY ( 6 days , no customs)

2)Dark souls (6 days, no customs)

3)Borderlands GOTY (5 days , no customs)

4)Darksiders (4 days , no customs)

 

PlayAsia

 

1) Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (Greatest Hits) ( I had ordered it on september 29th and they shipped it only on october 5th. It arrived on october 15th. So 10 days , no customs)

2) Bayonetta (I had ordered it on september 29th and they shipped it only on october 9th. It arrived on october 18th. So 9 days , no customs)

3)Asura's Wrath (I had ordered it on september 29th and they shipped it only on october 9th. It arrived on october 18th. So 9 days , no customs)

 

And here are the reviews

 

Shopto.net :

 

1) Website:

An excellent website easy to maneuver with excellent service.

 

2) Stock :

 

Most of the games are in stock . For the games that you do back order (which means games are not in stock , and they will be bought once they have an order) it hardly takes 3-4 days to get those games in stock.

 

There are a lot of games in shopto.net but the number of games does not compare to PA as PA has effectively very high number of games.

 

3) Customs :

 

I have ordered 4 games from shopto.net and there were no customs on any of them games ( depends on your luck too but I have heard from seniors here that you can relax regarding custom issues on shopto.net as they deliver every item separately) .

 

 

4) Shipping and delivery :

 

You can order with your eyes closed from shopto.net. All the deliveries are extremely fast. I even got a game (Darksiders ) in 4 days which is ridiculously fast from a european region . They also dispatch the order on the same day so your order even reaches you quickly.

 

5)Support :

 

However I did not like the customer support for shopto.net. Its too slow and they are unresponsive (my experience). I had raised an issue and although I am a bronze member (48 hours response time) they reverted back to me in 4 days and with an unsatisfactory response.

 

6) Value for Money :

 

A lot of older games are priced extremely low. Even a lot of new games are the cheapest amongst all the websites I have seen (Game.co.uk , Amazon.co.uk) . There would be the one off case where a game in game.co.uk is cheaper than in shopto.net but that is a one off incident. However the forex (1gbp = 85 rupees) does hurt and also a lot of banks charge higher rates when converting . for example : I was charged 1gbp = 87 rupees when the forex was at 84-85.

 

7)Vouchers and Discounts :

 

Although with shopto.net with every pound you invest you get points that can be converted into pounds for future buys. However this rumuneration is very little. Also its comparatively difficult to get shopto vouchers as they are not provided with the purchases. They are only provided by the website.

 

8) Mode and cost of shipping :

 

With shopto.net shipping is absolutely top class. They use royal mail for all of their shipments. Now basically there are 2 ways you can have your orders shipped

 

First class with tracking : This is the expensive mode of shipping using shopto.net.The charges are 7 pounds per item. The advantage for UK customers is that you will be able to fully track your order using this mode ( but only in UK). The tracking does not work outside UK so in all fairness there are no real advantages as such for people from outside UK that I could notice.

 

First class without tracking : This is the cost effective method of shipping from shopto.net. The charges are 3 pounds per item . Now this uses the same royal mail as the first class with tracking mode so there are no time delays between the two modes . The only option which this doesn't provide is the ability to track your package in UK. So if you are looking to save costs and since the service of delivery is same for both modes you can choose first class without tracking.

 

For example you have placed 2 orders and used first class with track for 1 order and first class without track for another both are shipped on the same day and on the same transport (Rail or Air).

 

 

Rating :

Shipping & Delivery : 5 out of 5

Service : 5 out of 5

Support : 2 out of 5

Value for money : 5 out of 5

 

 

PlayAsia

 

1) Website:

 

A very good website with good user interface and nice maneuverability.

 

2) Stock :

 

When you order games from playasia my experience is that there is a delay between you ordering the games (i.e placing the order) and the game being shipped from PA. I had ordered 3 games from PA and only one of them games was in the weekly sale (which means that there is a good chance that this game may go out of stock) and rest were normal orders with information as ships between 24 hours to 48 hours .However my orders were delayed twice, Once by 3 days and next time by another 8 days. In my opinion it takes longer for games to be in stock in PA when compared to shopto.net .

 

But the range of games in PA is immense.

 

 

3) Customs :

 

I haven't been charged custom duty on the games that I ordered I have recieved all of the games now (got 2 of them games today october 18th). Please do choose the mode of shipping choose neutral packing (0.50$ extra) with bubble wrap. If you choose this method the value of the product is declared half on the cover which helps avoid customs (Again its ur luck).

 

For those people who are looking to ask if the shipment gets lost then what is the amount reimbursed I am not entirely clear on that. When I asked crystal (PA support) she first told me that the amount in the invoice (Online and shows the actual order amount) will be reimbursed but later mentioned something that left me in a dilemma. I would definitely advice you guys to take the advice of xbx360patron on this.

 

4) Shipping and delivery :

All of the games that I have ordered from PA have been delivered. It took around 9-10 days for my packages to arrive from PA. Its relatively a little longer than shopto.net but if you are in no hurry you can definitely choose PA.

 

Please do note that I reside at bangalore and the time for the shipment to reach may differ for different regions.

 

5)Support :

 

The support is excellent. Every query that you have is answered in max time of 24 hours. The support represntative (criystl ) in my case was

 

6) Value for Money :

 

PA as such is an expensive website.A lot of the games are sold at a higher price (not all but a lot). However it is extremely good for buying games on the weekly special, Games are available for dirt cheap and these are fairly new games or renowned games as well (not games that dont sell). For example this week ME3 is going for 1.2k for XBOX 360 ( :furious: I have a PS3) . However do keep in mind that any discount coupons that you have donot work on items that are from the weekly special.

 

7)Vouchers and Discounts :

 

They have a very good voucher system. Every time you buy a game and its shipped they provide you with an voucher which is valid till 3 months. Its usually a $5 off on a 60 $ purchase voucher. However these discounts don't apply on weekly special items as mentioned below so do buy carefully. There are certain games that are reasonably priced in PA but I could not find a lot.

 

8) Mode and cost of shipping :

 

Following are the shipping modes for PA. If the cost of your order is greater than 25$ then the economy air bubble shipping mode is free and economy air box mode is available for 0.50 $. I have included the costs of shipping when they have changed for orders above 25$.

 

 

Orders below 25 $ : Order exceeding 25$ :

 

 

Economy Air Bubble

 

Type: Airmail .... shipping becomes free , registered stays same (Order exceeding 25$)

Duration: up to 21 days

Tracking: No

 

US$ 3.90 (INR~208.10) .... (Free)

Registered (add US$4.00) info Registered (add US$4.00) info

 

Economy Air Box

 

Type: Airmail

Duration: up to 21 days .... shipping costs only 0.50$ , registered stays same (Order exceeding 25$)

Tracking: No

 

US$ 4.90 (INR~261.46) .... US$ 0.50 (INR~26.68)

Registered (add US$4.00) info .... Registered (add US$4.00) info

 

 

Fedex

 

Type: Courier

Duration: 1-3 days .... Shipping and registered charges stay same (Order exceeding 25$)

Tracking: Yes

Insured: Yes

 

US$ 24.90 (INR~1,329)

 

Fedex Economy

Basically the same as regular Fedex, but slower. Transit time will be roughly 3-5 days in total. .... Shipping and registered charges stay same (Order exceeding 25$)

Tracking: Yes

Insured: Yes

 

US$ 26.90 (INR~1,435)

 

 

EMS Speedpost

 

Type: Courier

Duration: 3-5 days .... Shipping and registered charges stay same (Order exceeding 25$)

Tracking: Limited

Insured: Yes

 

US$ 30.90 (INR~1,649)

 

UPS

 

Type: Courier

Duration: 1-4 days .... Shipping and registered charges stay same (Order exceeding 25$)

Tracking: Yes

Insured: Yes

 

US$ 41.90 (INR~2,236)

 

 

Rating :

 

Shipping & Delivery : 3 out of 5

Service : 4 out of 5

Support : 5 out of 5

Value for money : 5 out of 5 (If you use weekly offers like I did :thumbsup: )

 

 

In conclusion both the websites are very good but shopto offers very prompt delivery with very good prices and PA offers a huge range of games with dirt cheap prices (Weekly special again :gunsmilie: ) . Which website you want to use ? The choice is yours.

 

 

If you got any queries or any suggestions feel free to pm me or post on it .

 

 

Cheers,

Adi

 

 

 

 

P.S : Would like to thank both pranav (Blueelvis_RoXXX) and anurag (Xbx360patron) for their help when I had a lot of questions . Just thought that this post would be helpful for newbies

looking at information on importing games.

 

Mods : I have posted this information on the shopto.net vs Game thread as well as Playasia thread as well. If you think that the information available in this post is already in the PA and shopto.net threads then do let me know and I will delete the topic. thanks a lot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice review. I was caught by Customs with a Play-Asia order last year, when I was in Bangalore. The Customs people sent me a letter asking to come to their office. There, I had to produce my invoice, after which I collected the parcel from my local Post Office after 3 days, along with a Customs bill of around 350 rupees. That particular order took more than 1 month.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice review. I was caught by Customs with a Play-Asia order last year, when I was in Bangalore. The Customs people sent me a letter asking to come to their office. There, I had to produce my invoice, after which I collected the parcel from my local Post Office after 3 days, along with a Customs bill of around 350 rupees. That particular order took more than 1 month.

 

 

There have been quite a few issues regarding customs being charged on PA orders which is why inorder to avoid it I have suggested to go ahead with the neutral package bubble wrap order of shipping. Again this only reduces the risk and does not eliminate it. However if in future you are looking to import games do try shopto.net as with them there is a very very low risk of customs being charged. this has been mentioned by Sam in the shopto vs game thread as well. This is mainly because they ship per item and the value of the item is not declared on the shipment so customs don't know what its worth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There have been quite a few issues regarding customs being charged on PA orders which is why inorder to avoid it I have suggested to go ahead with the neutral package bubble wrap order of shipping. Again this only reduces the risk and does not eliminate it. However if in future you are looking to import games do try shopto.net as with them there is a very very low risk of customs being charged. this has been mentioned by Sam in the shopto vs game thread as well. This is mainly because they ship per item and the value of the item is not declared on the shipment so customs don't know what its worth.

 

The neutral packing wasn't available at that time. I've ordered thrice from PA after that, all with neutral packing. The third one is my most recent order, from this week's weekly special, which has not yet been shipped(ordered yesterday morning).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Do indian debit cards work on these sites or only credit cards?

 

I dont think that they accept debit cards however I did not try it . I used an HDFC credit card to shop from both the websites and although I did read in the shopto.net website they do accept debit cards (check the following link under payment) the debit cards from India generally are not accepted.

 

http://www.shopto.net/site/whyShopTo

 

I say this from the information noticed in other IVG threads which are around a year old (posted below). however I am not entirely certain on whether its a yes or no in case of shopto.net.

 

http://www.indianvideogamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2741&st=740

 

As far as PA goes their link clearly states that they accept credit cards and paypal as well as other modes.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-helppayment-49-en.html

 

so my first answer would be no they don't accept debit cards but have no issues with credit cards. However I havent tried using debit cards on these websites to give you a complete answer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...