Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace Only.

Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

The Wildcard
A little annoying for anime purchasers...

Yesterday it was reported that Play had delisted a lot of Manga Ent pre-orders. And I later discovered that anime isn't the only niche being culled from their site.

Well it turns out that it's a lot bigger. The ending of Low Value Consignment Relief means that Play.com is being wound down as a retailer. Their Jersey offices are closing, and from March they will be operating as Marketplace only.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-20953357

They'll just be a storefront from then on. So it's buyer beware time.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

Not a huge loss for me. I only really use Sainsbury's, HMV and UP1 for anime dvd's anyway. Though I do have a preorder at Play for the Ni No Kuni game special edition, which is no longer listed on their website. I should probably keep an eye on that... :?

Oh, and I need to remember to keep plenty of cash spare in March for the clearance sales :wink:
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

Not really surprising. Play.com haven't been competitive price-wise for years now, and the new owners, Rakuten, seem to operate something similar in Japan.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

It's a shame really, I quite liked Play.com (even if Amazon have taken them over in recent years). Not sure I'd use them as an entirely Play-Trade company.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

That sucks, it was them and Aazon I used as well, but in recent time Play didn't have the best prices or fastest deleivery...well sometimes they deleivered the item a day early. Well I will only use Amazon now then as HMV online is so expensive.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

BDT87 said:
I will only use Amazon now then as HMV online is so expensive.
Click to expand...
The same ending of the Jersey tax loophole that seems to have done for Play is to blame for that. HMV online used to be consistently cheapest for pre-orders.

Don'tcha just love living under successive governments which are happy to pass legislation guaranteed to send formerly healthy businesses to the wall, while propping up other unprofitable private companies with public money?
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

Hmm, this explains why play.com have been so poor in recent years, even if prices were the same the level of service and speed of postage had declined.

A real shame, I have a considerable order history with them.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

One thing, just to offset this:

Almost ALL the anime I've bought on Play.com has come from marketplace sellers - so unless there's some hitherto unforeseen knock-on effect, things aren't actually likely to change for me personally.

There are a few marketplace sellers who have distinguished themselves with excellent reps. AllYourMusic and MovieMars spring to mind... but you can also find those guys on Amazon and Ebay.

Just means we have to maybe look a little harder to get what we want.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

HdE said:
One thing, just to offset this:

Almost ALL the anime I've bought on Play.com has come from marketplace sellers - so unless there's some hitherto unforeseen knock-on effect, things aren't actually likely to change for me personally.

There are a few marketplace sellers who have distinguished themselves with excellent reps. AllYourMusic and MovieMars spring to mind... but you can also find those guys on Amazon and Ebay.

Just means we have to maybe look a little harder to get what we want.
Click to expand...

I find that amazon are better for market traders (I tried looking for the Mardock Scramble anime on play and it only lists the UK volume 1 - no use for me as I am looking to buy the US blu-ray since I got the region A volume 1). As for Zavvi and The Hut - both are traders that sell on Play.
 
Re: Play.com Closing Down in March... Will Be Marketplace On

fabricatedlunatic said:
Play.com haven't been competitive price-wise for years now, and the new owners, Rakuten, seem to operate something similar in Japan.
Click to expand...
A suspect spot of Rakut-eering, perhaps?
 
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