Lik-Sang closing!?

[Richter Belmount]

Damn whats so wrong about selling imported games? Its like sony is so worried about their sales , but they already have enough money , its not like the import community hurts sony that much.

[jajaja]

Why doesn't sony want lik-sang to export PSPs? How do they lose out? Do they charge more in Europe than they do in Asia so they are losing profit margin? I don't understand what the issue is herE?

It can also be that the importers have put pressure on Sony to stop the export. If it say in the contract that <company A> is the only company thats allowed to import PSP into <country A>, they get pissed that <company B> (in this case Lik-Sang) also delivers PSP to <country A>.

I wonder what Lik Sang means btw. In my language it means "same song" hehe.

[business]

I'm sure PlayAsia is laughing right now.

The 'evil empire' strikes again.

Hail Kutaragi.


Sad to see them go. Anyone else want to go get some liquor and pour it on the sidewalk with me?

[Sylentwulf]

Ouch, that means no more smartjoy products either if I'm not mistaken.

That's a really CHEAP way of attacking them too, essentially suing for selling imports. What next, ebay shuts down ALL international videogame sales?

[jajaja]

Ouch, that means no more smartjoy products either if I'm not mistaken.

That's a really CHEAP way of attacking them too, essentially suing for selling imports. What next, ebay shuts down ALL international videogame sales?

Its only PSP stuff.

[Synergy]

Ugh! This infuriates me. I never held anything against Sony until now. If I ever decide to buy a PS3, it's going to be used, because it'll be a cold day in hell before they ever garner profit from me.

Well, since they're reporting a loss on each console sold at launch, you could always buy one and then, you know, not buy any games or accessories for it. That'll show 'em.

Won't the PS3 have used games and accessories? Actually, that's not because of Sony, but I hardly buy anything new anymore except the occasional PC game.

<Sigh>. It really doesn't matter. I have so many classic games I need to play through plus I'm trying to keep up with my PC games. Buying any console this generation anytime soon is pretty much null and void right now. :P

[googlefest1]

Thats Bull about the saftey standards- i would find it hard to belive a company would manufacture different versions of a product to meet the varying standards from all the regions they plan to sell in

all companies that sell around the world design their products to meet the strictest standard (which would qualify them to sell almost anywhere ) -- the company i work for does that -- the companies my friends work at also do that --and im sure sony does that-- just as liksang said here

"Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony's opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations."

[Icarus Moonsight]

no before I was just pissed at sony for building crappy machines. Now I like some games that come on sony only platforms, but I think I've decided how to deal with this.

I WILL NEVER AGAIN BUY A NEW SONY PRODUCT AT RETAIL.

anything related to sony that I must have, will be bought used. by doing this I will not support the company at retail. someone else will have to do that, I will support the gamestops and EB's of the world before I directly give another dollar to sony.I may not get that game I want right away, but I'll be willing to wait to see that sony gets nothing from me again.

Here here, I concur. I disliked Sony, that is no secret. You listening Sony? Good! Kaz... Ken... It's on bitches! The string that has connected my wallet to your company for the last 10 years is official cut. No matter what happens, from now on, Sony is dead to me. Sony fanboys, you just got your christmas present yearly... I'm forever off the clock, so to speak.

Well Sony is denying the closure of Lik Sang:

This is an interesting read and DOES have some funny arguements about buying the PSP from Lik Sang for investigation purposes.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=20564

Who is denying? I have no idea whom you speak of.

C'mon, had to get one last one in there. :P

[jajaja]

I wonder if we will know the real reason. Guess not :\

[16-bit]

From Insertcredit.com:

In spite of pay rates being incredibly similar in the UK and u.s., the PSP retails for 150 pounds, about 281, $81 more than in the U.S. Rather than find a way to lower costs, Sony saw fit to penalize those who wanted a fair price on hardware.

I have no experience ordering from Lik-sang, but IC implies that they falsified export documents to avoid customers paying the VAT (Value added tax) which is what that $81 difference in price is. If this is indeed the case, I think it is very possible that SONY is not penalizing Lik-sang, but rather UK/EU customs.

[DonMarco]

This makes me want to take donations to buy a PS3 then make a video of me killing it with a freaking chainsaw.

Fixed. MAKE a video, Not HAVE a video.

www.smashmyps3.com

Dude probably won't use a chainsaw. More likely a sledgehammer.

[p_b]

From Insertcredit.com:

In spite of pay rates being incredibly similar in the UK and u.s., the PSP retails for 150 pounds, about 281, $81 more than in the U.S. Rather than find a way to lower costs, Sony saw fit to penalize those who wanted a fair price on hardware.

I have no experience ordering from Lik-sang, but IC implies that they falsified export documents to avoid customers paying the VAT (Value added tax) which is what that $81 difference in price is. If this is indeed the case, I think it is very possible that SONY is not penalizing Lik-sang, but rather UK/EU customs.

I don't know whether they falsify the documents nowadays, but whenever I ordered from them they didn't. I had to pay my VAT...On the other hand, it was still cheaper, hehe

[rbudrick]

Eh, they'll probably just rename themselves and move a town over.

-Rob

[Oobgarm]

From Insertcredit.com:

In spite of pay rates being incredibly similar in the UK and u.s., the PSP retails for 150 pounds, about 281, $81 more than in the U.S. Rather than find a way to lower costs, Sony saw fit to penalize those who wanted a fair price on hardware.

I have no experience ordering from Lik-sang, but IC implies that they falsified export documents to avoid customers paying the VAT (Value added tax) which is what that $81 difference in price is. If this is indeed the case, I think it is very possible that SONY is not penalizing Lik-sang, but rather UK/EU customs.

I agree with this.

I mean, think about it for a minute.

Sony is getting their money from the sysyem one way or the other. Maybe not Sony Europe specifically, but Sony in general. it wouldn't make sense to kill off a place that sells their product over something like this. Regardless of what you sell, you have to take things like this into considersation when creating your business model.

[jajaja]

But the reason why its more expencive somewhere else is because prices are ajusted by income and taxes. It doesnt nessessaly means that Sony makes $81 more for each unit the sell it in the UK.

Where i live its 25% taxes of the value. If you import a PSP for $200 you must pay $50 in taxes. The $50 goes straight to the goverment. So if i buy a PSP for $200 in Japan or $250 where i live it might be that Sony makes the same amount of money.

[staxx]

I trully wonder if Lik Sang IS going out of business. A similar situation of this happened before when Microsoft tried to sue them and they took down their website for about a week. Lik Sang's website still shows their product and not much has changed until you click on buy and it links you to the Out of Business page. Sure it is very possible that they are going out of business, but another part of me is open to the idea that they are not and they are doing this to create a huge backlash at Sony. If Sony wanted to close all the exporters then they would have to attack AI Trading, Playasia, Yesasia and NCS to name a few. Let's hope that my idea is correct and within a week Lik Sang will be in business, but won't be selling any Sony systems to Europe.

[16-bit]

But the reason why its more expencive somewhere else is because prices are ajusted by income and taxes. It doesnt nessessaly means that Sony makes $81 more for each unit the sell it in the UK.

It doesn't at all. Basically it means than the goverment is losing $81 on each PSP imported into the country if the customs documents are successfully falsified and the item enters tax-free. For countries that rely heavily on VAT as a source of state revenue (according to wiki 45% of Tax revenue in France is from the VAT), I would expect them to pursue any foreign firm that is preventing them an incredible amount of revenue. From what I have read on the eBay message boards, eBay is already facing the heat from several EU countries and the UK over this issue of lost revenue, so it wouldn't suprise me if they are aggressively going after companies as well regardless if Lik-Sang is doing this or not.

[Richter Belmount]

sony probably shut down lik sang cause they decided to sue lik sang around the globe , lik sang cant afford all the lawyers to they are going out of business.

[Push Upstairs]

I trully wonder if Lik Sang IS going out of business. A similar situation of this happened before when Microsoft tried to sue them and they took down their website for about a week. Lik Sang's website still shows their product and not much has changed until you click on buy and it links you to the Out of Business page. Sure it is very possible that they are going out of business, but another part of me is open to the idea that they are not and they are doing this to create a huge backlash at Sony. If Sony wanted to close all the exporters then they would have to attack AI Trading, Playasia, Yesasia and NCS to name a few. Let's hope that my idea is correct and within a week Lik Sang will be in business, but won't be selling any Sony systems to Europe.

Ignoring the whole VAT tangent for the time being, I don't think it's totally an issue of if Lik-Sang is gone for good or not.

It has alot more to do with the taking away a well respected and liked source of gaming imports and items. And, at least from how things seem right now, it looks like Sony has no qualms about ruining gaming fun for everyone (even non-Sony fans). It also presents a fear that Sony will do this again.

[jajaja]

But if its the VAT issue its not Sony's action alone. Another compay (not game relate) was busted here not long ago because they wrote fake value on the invoices. Dont know if L.S did this tho.

There is one thing that i dont get to add up. If this was something Sony did on their own why do they only ban export/import of PSP and not PSX/PS2? Another thing is why L.S ignored the warning(s) from Sony about selling PSP worldwide.