I've only purchased two games so far from Play-Asia. I've read some other reviews and it seems that people usually have the problem with Play-Asia's shipping and sometimes even allocating the games. However, in my experience, Play-Asia has been very efficient at processing the orders and shipping them out withing 24-hours. They have varieties of games and it is by far the first place I look for games that is not available within the U.S.

This site never lets me down, postage is always on time and the goods have never been faulty. Prices are way cheaper than going to retail, and in general cheaper than other sites. The close proximity to Australia makes it a good choice for importing for me.  
 
Customer service is top notch, always quick and easy to understand (most of the time within 2 hours!). Very good!

I switched from YesAsia to Play-Asia early in the year because they are cheaper in price and can use coupons.  
From January to the end of April I've placed 5 orders, all involved pre-orders.  
For all pre-orders, I placed the order and paid via PayPal at least 2 weeks before the release date.  
However, out of these 5 pre-orders, they delayed the shipment of 2 of them.  
 
The first time was in March, they told me on the release date that they had to split my shipment because my pre-order item is not in stock. I emailed them to ask why, thinking that they might not have received the item on their side. However, their answer shocked me:  
"I am sorry that this item is not in a high demand and thus rather difficult to find the source. You would probably need to wait for 1-2 weeks more for us to get the item and we kindly ask for your patience."  
I think this is unacceptable because the CD I pre-ordered actually ranked 3rd place in ORICON for the release date so there's no reason for not being in high demand. Most of all, Play-Asia's duty, after receiving my payment, should be to "place" a pre-order rather than to "source" it after its release. But this was the first time theny delayed my order then, so I bore with them at that time.  
The item was subsequently shipped one week later.  
 
For the second time they delayed my pre-order, I placed the order and paid via PayPal on April 30 for an album to be released on May 13.  
On May 13, they splitted my order and once again told me that my pre-order item was not yet in stock. So once again I wrote to them asking for a reason, again thinking that they either has not received the item on their side, or they had difficulty sourcing it.  
Play-Asia's answer, 5 days after the release, once again shocked me:  
"We have just informed by our supplier that the item is no longer available. We have tried to source the item from other means, however, we could not get sufficient stock to allocate to all the pre-order customer. Thus, we have cancelled your order. Would you like to change to other item or have the payment refund to your paypal account?"  
Now this time they don't have enough copies for all customers. Why didn't they place an order of "sufficient copies" in the first place?  
They didn't even offer me a reason on the release date, but only replied and cancelled my order after I wrote them.  
I have paid for the pre-order so that Play-Asia couls pre-order for me, and for the second time they said they didn't or couldn't pre-order for me.  
I wonder why YesAsia and CDJapan can even have extra copies in stock, while Play-Asia failed to even have enough copies for all pre-order customers.  
In the end, they refunded via PayPal upon my reply. And I ordered from YesAsia nearly one week after the release date and they shipped it right after my payment.  
 
So this is my 5-month Play-Asia trial. And in the end, sadly, I had to switch back to YesAsia.  
Play-Asia is very attractive in price, but in terms of customer service and meeting with shipment date, they failed tremendously.  
Maybe some other customers may not agree with me, but I usually pre-order with these sites.  
I have read a few reviews here, some customers also have problems with Play-Asia such as the speed they ship and pre-ordering.  
So to conclude, I will never recommend Play-Asia for anyone who would like to place pre-orders.

This review was modified by its author, akatsukikyou, on 5/31/09 12:06 AM.

Item arrived in good condition. Delivery was not as fast as expected but all in all good service provided.

I've been using Play-Asia for around 5 years now for all my game importing needs. They've always been very prompt, informative, and overall enjoyable to do business with. I often recommend them to friends and family alike, and would just as soon recommend them highly to anyone looking into these reviews.

I have made 5 purchases from this site already, with most over $100. Play-asia is a great service that is fast and user-friendly. I don't know how many times I've asked the help desk questions, yet they are always answering within the next 12 hours and they are extremely polite with me with a solution or reasonable answer. I'll always buy my games from them since their shipping is fast, great tracking, and even buying a cheap economy air bubble from them didn't take longer than 3 weeks. Most things I bought with Fedex or UPS arrived at my house within 48 hours, even when it says it would take up to 5 days. Just remember to look at the shipping period to prepare items (1wk, 24 hours, etc.) because that might affect whether you'll receive your item on a later day or not. They take great care of their customers, packages, and their costs aren't way overpriced like a few other companies I tried to buy from.  
 
Overall, can I give them a 6 out of 5?(120%) :D

This review was modified by its author, Kiri_No_Haku, on 5/19/09 5:56 AM.

Great prices and quick shipping! If i ever want to import a game, play-asia will be at the top of my list! Customer service has nice, friendly people to answer your questions.  
 

I had pre-ordered the Blu-Ray version of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete (With the FFXIII Trial) just over a month ago.  
 
I had then received an email saying the item was shipped on April 17th, and I also had my credit card charged for it. I was told that it would take up to 14 days to arrive, and on very rare circumstances up to 4-5 weeks.  
 
It is now May 13th, almost at the end of the 4th week...and still nothing. I'm writing this review just to let people know that it can take longer than expected to arrive, and I will be updating it next week if I receive my item by the end of week 5 or not.  
 
I have emailed Play-Asia asking why it was taking soo long, but have yet to get a reply from them. I'm not sure why it is taking so long, as I have ordered a few other games from various other distributors around Hong Kong AFTER I got the confirmation email saying my item from them was shipped...all of the other items I ordered from other people have already arrived.  
 
Hopefully this is an isolated incident, and I will still continue to shop from Play-Asia.  
 
I will update once I get a reply from them, and once my item finally arrives.  
 
EDIT: I have recieved an email back from them. They have switched my status from shipped April 17th to Lost Parcel Inquiry. They are currently offering me an in store credit for the amount paid, or to resend the item out to me.  
 
UPDATE:  
I'm very impressed with the way Play-Asia has handled this situation. They have sent out a replacement for my Blu-Ray already (within 3 hours of me emailing them) and have upgraded the shipping for free so that it gets here faster. I will definitely recommend them to friends and family, and I will continue to purchase from them in the future.

This review was modified by its author, Legend of Myth, on 5/14/09 10:37 AM.

This place takes god damned ages to ship. I ordered a standard game, nothing special, it took them 8 days to even get the item out the door, and now 8 days since then I still haven't gotten it. Completely unacceptable. Their competitors (such as ncsxshop) have had orders to me within 2 days of placement.

What can i say, i absolutely LOVE play-asia. I live in the middle-east, and to say that it is hard to get anything electronic shipped over here is an understatement. I have bought stuff like t-shirts over the years but when it comes to anything videogames related i always go back to play-asia (My first order was in december of 2004!) . Seriously,worldwide shipping for around 4$..who can beat that! I have ordered my very first DS from there, the gameboy micro, around two dozens of DS games and random stuff like sour candy :) EACH ONE of those packages have arrived quickly, in perfect condition. And if you have any question, the customer service is friendly and quick to answer any query.

This review was modified by its author, theastronaut, on 5/10/09 11:00 AM.

This is my first purchase from Playasia citing reviews from good friends who've had good experiences with them.. However this was by far the worst company I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I ordered a XCM 1080p plus VGA box in april (now as of writing its May). Today i finally got my order in the mail, To find i had to pay a 20$ customs fee before the delivery man would give it to me, So I did. I took it in and opened it only to find a Nintendo DS carry case... a rather cheap crappy one at that (PA lists them as selling for 15$). So now instead of my 118$ VGA box i had hoped to get today, i have a 35$ (added the customs fee!) paper weight and so far Zero response from Play Asia to my emails. The amusing fact is, If in fact they do request i mail it back, it would cost even more to send it back then it would to receive it in the first damn place!  
 
I should add the customs invoice as well as the box sticker lists the package as a XCM VGA plus 1080p box as the contents, even tho the completely incorrect item is inside, As well as looking at the incorrect item, It appears to be slightly damaged in addition to the packaging. I cannot safetly recommend this retailer to anyone outside of Asia, as You are severely risking having your money taken from you.  
 
For reference my order number is 14995956  
 
For a XCM 1080p plus VGA box: Valued at 83$ Canadian (118$ alltogether)  
 
I recieved a Nintendo DS carry case: Valued at 15$  
(35$ including customs fee i was forced to pay)  
 
So when you add it up, I paid around $135 for a Nintendo DS carry pouch, Which as your reading i can imagine you would also find ludacris.  
 
Hopefully playasia trys to resolve this, This just makes me fume at the mouth as the gaul of this enormous mistake  
 
Update: 2 and a half days later i got an email back from Play asia requesting pictures of everything, and a promise to send what i originally ordered, in addition to a customs store credit refund. If this indeed pans out i'll gladdly upgrade my review, for now i'm reserving judgement  
 
 
Update 2: Got another email back, Customer service saw fit to immediately send me my correct order as well as a 20$ voucher for the customs fee and as well as keeping the DS Carry pack. From my experience, altho not the correct order the customer server is a solid 10

This review was modified by its author, yido12, on 5/12/09 12:54 AM.

Excellent Service as always

I've bought several items from Play-Asia before, 2 of which cost nearly $200 with shipping. I've been impressed all times. Shipping rates are great, and speed is reasonable. I would definitely buy again for imports.

This is one-stop-shopping online site that I've used since 2006.  
So far, Play-Asia never let me down for every order that I've placed (hopefully).  
The variety is so many that I can spend a lot of time to browse from each of category.  
Thank you, for being another source of gaming related materials that very reliable nowadays.  
 
Keep it up, keep the price competitive, keep your customer (like me) loyal.

This review was modified by its author, guzh, on 4/29/09 8:44 AM.

I have purchased from Play-Asia on numerous occasions, but this will be the first time I review them.  
 
This most recent order was for a couple of Japan-only "Tales of" series games.  
 
I ordered on April 4th. The items were not in stock (they were of the status "normally ships within 1 week" more or less indicating it's a special order item). I was pleased to see they had shipped by the 9th. This particular order took a little longer than some of my previous orders to arrive, however, I would have to assume it was held at customs longer than expected.  
 
Either way, the package arrived by the 25th, both of my items in perfect condition as expected.  
 
Price-wise, Play-Asia can go between a great deal and a bit pricey. My most recent purchases were a bit on the expensive side (Tales of Destiny 2 is $54, and it's a PSP game) however, I can't really complain about that. My previous order, however, was a wonderful deal, so it really all balances out.  
 
Service has always been great. I've never had to contact customer service directly, however, the fact that they inform you each step of the preparation process and once the package has shipped is always a plus.