CHEAPER IMPORT games....I would like to see more...

[allinfong]

I was looking around for games today and thinking "why are the games so cheap and shipping from Japan SO EXPENSIVE"...Then I was wondering if anyone was thinking the same thing. Maybe some US on-line retailer can import a large amount of games and sell them to us for slightly more expensive than ebay, but we can all get reduced prices in shipping.

I want to start asking around. Maybe some on-line retailer believes the same thing I do and they can help us out.


Before I ask anyone anything I want to check out which platforms are the most popular so I sound a more knowledgable when they want to ask me questions.

[LiquidX01]

Personally for me, When I think "import" the first console that pops into my head is the Sega Saturn. I have enjoyed far more imports on that system than any other.

I find ebay to be a great place to buy imports the majority of the time. The shipping sucks time wise but thats understandable considering how far it's coming from and the prices I pay are usually nothing more than what it would cost to ship a game here in the U.S. using Priority Mail. I just don't mind buying straight from Japan.

[allinfong]

LiquidX01


Thanks for the info. I just get pissed off when shipping on a CD game is $15 airmail. Anything within the US is only shipped for $5...maybe $6 with S/H. For $15 I can have over 50 CDs shipped local US. If I tried to ship 50 games from japan to the US it would cost $100 or more just on shipping alone. Thats the cost for another few games IMO.



In any case if I can get more comments from other people I would be greatful. Any extra info I can use is more info I can help the US game community with.

[Crush Crawfish]

:screams "SUPER FAMICOM!!!!!!" at the top of his lungs, before curling into the fetal position and crying because the games are too damn expensive:

[Muscelli]

defiently sega saturn, there are like, 600+ import games for it in japan, and you cant get buy without 15 dollar shipping....

[LiquidX01]

you cant get buy without 15 dollar shipping....

Man, I don't know were you shop but I would suggest checking out the ebay seller Yamatoku if your having trouble with high shipping rates. I know his Airmail rates are very decent (From $2.40).

[Dire 51]

I would like to see ALL imports sold cheaper, personally.

[Steven]

you cant get buy without 15 dollar shipping....

Man, I don't know were you shop but I would suggest checking out the ebay seller Yamatoku if your having trouble with high shipping rates. I know his Airmail rates are very decent (From $2.40).

Ditto.

Plus most other JP sellers also give you the option of airmail which is 6 or 7 bucks for most of them (Yamatoku being the cheapest around 2.40 as mentioned), much better than $12 or $15 EMS. I always go airmail and it never has failed me yet. Plus they come within 5 or 6 days... not bad at all!

[Muscelli]

you cant get buy without 15 dollar shipping....

Man, I don't know were you shop but I would suggest checking out the ebay seller Yamatoku if your having trouble with high shipping rates. I know his Airmail rates are very decent (From $2.40).

ill do that, i usually import from palet, or hit_japan

maybe its because most of the import games i order are 4 discs, or come w/ a ram cart... maybe thats why

[soniko_karuto]

when i hear import, i always think famicom. It must be my age :P

[djbeatmongrel]

i have to go for misc/obscure since i am collecting wonderswan. pretty much now i am just buying wonderswan until i get most of its library :roll:

[Dimitri]

No love for the Megadrive? :( Guess I'm on my own for now, then...even Yamatoku can't help me out here. :/

[Vroomfunkel]

Megadrive roolz! :D

And Yamatoku doesn't seem to do much of it .. although he does have some. You'll be wanting superb_articles_from_japan or interfm for that.

But I'm sure you already know that.

hit_japan does some too, as does antiquarian_2cv. And, when he was around, loose_logic used to do them too. Whatever happened to him?

Vroomfunkel

[allinfong]

Steven

I havent bought anything yet, but I saw Hit-Japan's shipping chart. Anyway the $2.40 post is letter post. I dont trust letter post. In any case I am still looking for a cheap importer within the US.


I always get this newsletter from www.japangamesnow.com. They claim that they are going to import different titles, but I never see any yet. Maybe I should e-mail them and ask if they will start importing other systems.


BUMP for visibility

[Dimitri]

Hm, I wonder if AnimeChaos or RinkYa could ship over one of those gigantic (hundred-something) game lots I frequently see on Yahoo Japan. I swear I saw one with over 30 shmups in it a couple weeks ago...yeargh, would've killed for that. :/

Vroomfunkel: Hadn't come across interfm yet, though he doesn't seem to be selling at the moment. 16-bit always has a lot of nice stuff, as well, but since he's located in the US and has very good shipping rates, more people tend to bid on his stuff. ^^;

[LiquidX01]

$2.40 post is letter post. I dont trust letter post.

Well, I can't change how you feel about that. I haven't ran into any problems considering I have had countless transactions with Yamatoku within the past year alone. As for the letter post, I don't ever recall him sending my items in a flat envelope (which I would imagine is what letter post is). He could use them but the times I have ordered from him have always arrived in a box... probably due to the fact I normally don't order just a single game and therfor he couldn't fit it all in an envelope...

[allinfong]

Anyone else have any info?

Bump...

[allinfong]

Would anyone else like to share some comments or cast a vote?

Bump.

[allinfong]

last bump.

[fergojisan]

I voted for Famicom, as those are the only ones I've played. Once the Generation NEX comes out, I think Famicom games will go through the roof, based on the generally positive feedback it has been getting <A HREF=http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61589>here.</A>

[Lord Contaminous]

Since I like imports of any kind, I'm not voting.

But at least get some Famicom, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, PC Engine on the roll.

[Ed Oscuro]

PC-Engine is not obscure.

PV-1000/2000 is.

[Arthur-Otaku]

95% of japanese ebay seller offers jp over priced games on ebay, principally popular sellers like rabitds, yamatoku, palet_th and others, this is the problem of import stuff, the wrong way to get them, some japanese sellers offers good prices but they are all "little feedback", no problem for me but a great problem for many ebay users. Do a little comparison of any title on ebay and later on yahoo jp and you will believe, you can pay 20 bucks for one pc engine game on ebay or 20 bucks for an pcengine lot of 10 games on yahoo (with 20 bucks game inside)

An small number of games have only a little difference between ebay and yahoo, normally the price difference is
really high but buying on yahoo you must add the bank tranfer fee, shippin to jap house and cost of "middleman service", it can increase badly the cost of game, in many cases you will not feel it becuase the difference between ebay and yahoo is high

The "middleman service" is very common in these days, you will not have many problems to found one jp guy to do this and buy for you in yahoo japan

The discount list of play-asia.com is an good way too, sometimes they sell some import stuff really cheap there

[Arthur-Otaku]

PC-Engine is not obscure.

PV-1000/2000 is.

I agree, pc engine is so common in Japan like master system here in Brazil and Genesis in USA