PlayUSA having issues?

Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

The Wildcard
A post I read on another forum got be a little concerned.

It states that PlayUSA is closing down.

I don't know about that, but I have noticed that the site hasn't been updated in ages, there aren't any preorders and the front page looks bare.

After waiting three months for something to happen on my Escaflowne order, I threw in the towel and cancelled it today, especially as it's actually a tad cheaper at DVDPacific.

Anyone else having issues or hearing ominous rumours about PlayUSA?
 
Not had any problems myself. I recently received The Slayers Revolution blu-ray. They gave me a £1 refund because the case was damaged.

Still got FMP Fumoffu bluray on preorder though.
 
The removal of all forthcoming releases bodes ill, though I've not heard any official conformation that they're shutting up shop. My guess is that they'll either fulfill or cancel existing orders and pre-orders before bidding the interweb farewell in the near future.
 
I cancelled all of my open orders with them a while ago. TRSI are sometimes more expensive but at least I don't feel as though all of my orders might disappear into a black hole at any moment.

Shame, PlayUSA were handy for one-off buys.

R
 
Massively sucks, some of the stuff they would price up at £17.99 even as the exchange rate moved further and further into the shitter was ace.

/doesn't... want... to... start... using... TRSI...
 
So I ordered Escaflowne from PlayUSA on the 21st August and waited...

and waited...

Till today, after seeing the site dead for weeks, and hearing that rumour, I decided enough was enough, and cancelled the order just over two months gone by.

Placed the order with DVD Pacific at 1pm today...
Got the dispatch e-mail at 8:45 pm...

cost me 70p less.

There's a moral to that story, but I'm buggered if I can find it.
 
ilmaestro said:
/doesn't... want... to... start... using... TRSI...
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Axel Music are a good alternative, at least for stuff not in TSRI's bargain bin. Items are a bit more expensive but the shipping is cheaper and it works out more or less the same.
 
ilmaestro said:
Massively sucks, some of the stuff they would price up at £17.99 even as the exchange rate moved further and further into the shitter was ace.
Click to expand...
I used PlayUSA once, purely in virtue of this single penny of grace. Few of the items I desired (and indeed still desire) sold at this price however, and I hear they're quite precise with their Customs declarations.
/doesn't... want... to... start... using... TRSI...
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If I obtain a dollar-friendly credit card, to use in lieu of my unsuitable Visa Debit, I may consider TRSI. One would, of course, have to be confident in their willingness to beat the Customs officers.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
ilmaestro said:
/doesn't... want... to... start... using... TRSI...
Click to expand...
Axel Music are a good alternative, at least for stuff not in TSRI's bargain bin. Items are a bit more expensive but the shipping is cheaper and it works out more or less the same.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I use axel a bit, and DVDPacific for stuff under £18, but I really like having a third option since axel will be randomly expensive on the odd thing, in my experience.
 
Noticed the removal of pre-orders/probable upcoming site death a few weeks back. They still sent my Eden of the East pre-order, so I'm hopeful my Blade of the Immortal, Blassreiter(sp?) and Gunslinger Girl 2 orders will be honoured. If not, oh well.

With SecondSpin/Wherehouse having stopped their ridiculous policy of offering international free shipping with no minimum/next to no minimum spend and PlayUSA's random £17.99 pricing system seemingly being no more, my R1 spending should soon be grinding to a halt. Axel are extremely fast and as informative as can be, but they're also more expensive than PlayUSA ever were - mainly due to them not having one person list DVDs for whatever price he/she feels like at the time.

Not as if I don't have a huge backlog, though. Right now, thanks to Axel, I'm going through Special A, and soon the Kenichi S1 set they sent should be with me.
 
I have noticed for ages they playusa's anime selection was dwindling but thought nothing of it as I usually check them and some of the traders on play before sticking my order in with axelmusic as the £17.99 bargains could still be had from time to time.

I wonder what has happened for playusa to be on the verge of quitting maybe less people are importing from them now as the exchange rate has not got better and their US/Canada sales are not making up the shortfall.

They were only set up because play had to have a company registered and shipping from outside the UK to get around it being illegal to sell discs that had not been rated by the BBFC directly in the UK. Maybe play have found someway around this now and a new trader will turn up on play that turns out to be something to do with playusa.
 
They must have been losing money for some time with their prices. I have received blu-rays which were priced the same as the dvd (FMA Brotherhood, DBZ Kai for instance).

The recent Slayers blu-ray releases may be an indicator - series 4 was priced £17.99 (same as the dvd) while series 5 was around £24. Perhaps, with the exchange rate as it is currently, they needed to raise their prices but the problem then is the possible risk of customs.

For the record, this morning I ordered Sgt Frog Series 2 Parts 1 & 2. Just had an email saying they have been shipped. When I ordered them this morning Part 1 changed status to sold out after I ordered it - guess that will be removed from the site soon.
 
I think they were probably hurt by the moving exchange rates, sure, but things have got to get hella cheap before retailers are losing money on DVDs. They make most of the profit on them in the first place, surely?
 
Remember that they have free postage as well which will cut into any money they do make.

Compare the prices with Axel Music and United Publications and Play are usually the cheapest. Axel (and to a lesser degree United Publications) change their prices to reflect movements in currency which Play don't seem to do.
 
Could Play's problem be to do with their suppliers (like with Zavvi)?

I queried the status of my preorder of FMP Fummoffu Blu-ray (which I preordered back in July) and got this reply,

Thank you for your email regarding your order: Full Metal Panic!: FUMOFFU (Remastered) (Blu-ray) (Region 1 DVD).

We are extremely sorry to hear that you are not entirely satisfied with your recent experience of using Play.com. Our intention is for every customer to enjoy helpful and efficient service and we sincerely apologize if this has not been achieved on this occasion

Unfortunately, your orders were already unavailable. Your orders will not push through if the system cannot allocate an item for you. This will only show as "Order Taken" on your account.

As much as we want to send the items you ordered, we are unable to do this because we only rely on the stocks provided by our suppliers. In this case, they can no longer supply us with the items you ordered.

Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you and thank you for your patience and valued custom.

Kind regards,

Customer Support Team
PLAY.com
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As it looks like Play cannot fulfill the order I have cancelled it and ordered it from Axel Music. It will cost slightly more (about £2.40 plus currency conversion costs) but at least I should get it (saying that it is currently not in stock there either).
 
Zin5ki said:
I may consider TRSI. One would, of course, have to be confident in their willingness to beat the Customs officers.
Click to expand...

Just got some DVDs from TRSI, customs declaration marked with the correct value, 'merchandise' box ticked and the 'commercial invoice' stuck to the front of the box showing the value as well.

So that'll be a big no for you :)
 
Ah, nice, now I have absolutely no reason to use them.

Everyone else tells me they mark stuff @ $5 though, would anyone like to speak up in their defence? Do you have to drop them a polite e-mail requesting that they mark it down?

edit: btw 2501, whatever you ordered was over £18, yeah?
 
7 DVDs, with todays exchange rate a total of about £20.

However of the last 5 orders I've had from the US (totaling about £200) only one ended up with customs charges.
 
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