Adeptus Mechanicus
Expert Member
Many foreign sites are offering prices on console games that are much cheaper than what has been projected that SA gamers will be paying in 2009 (even with shipping charges factored in). This thread serves as a guide for those wanting to avoid the recent increase and import games instead.
Rules:
- No console bashing
- Try to keep to the topic (i.e. suggestions for new sites to buy from/specials available at sites already listed)
- Feel free to contribute and I'll edit the original post with the relevant info.
Sites to buy from:
http://www.play-asia.com/
http://www.shopto.net/
http://www.game.co.uk/ (forwarding from a UK postal address may be required)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (may not ship games listed by Amazon itself, but smaller retailers selling on the site may be willing to send to SA)
http://www.dvdcrave.com/
http://www.ebay.co.uk/
http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/ (mostly NTSC region games)
http://www.cd-wow.com/
http://www.ishop-america.com/ (use this site to buy from any US based online store and have your goods shipped to SA)
http://www.tronixweb.com/
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
- How do I pay for my order?
Most sites will accept major credit cards such as Visa/Mastercard. Some will also accept Paypal transfers and others even direct deposits into their bank accounts (this can be quite costly and time consuming so consult your bank first)
- How long will my order take to arrive in SA?
It depends on the shipping method used. Usually the cheapest option will be Air Economy (or similar) which can take anything from 1-6 weeks (usually somewhere in between) to arrive at your nearest post office. You can of course pay for < 1 week delivery, but the price increases exponentially. In most cases SA's customs department is to blame if your order takes longer than average.
- Can I track my order?
The more expensive shipping options will give you both a tracking number and link to their online tracking service. Not exactly a very useful service as most times you wont see any movement on the tracker after it enters the country as it is being held up at customs for a while.
- Will there be any extra charge when my package arrives at the post office?
Depending on the size or value of your parcel an extra charge may be payable to the post office on collection. When buying multiple games at one time try separating them into their own individual orders as this seems to work in either avoiding or reducing the import tax. At the end of the day it still seems to still come down to the luck of the draw in most cases.
- Will these games work on my console?
PS3 - all games are region free.
360 - games come in multiple flavours: NTSC-J, NTSC-U/C, PAL (SA consoles) or Region Free (any console). Be sure to check you have the correct one before placing your order.
- Are there any services that will receive my package at a UK/USA address and forward it to my SA address? (in order to buy from sites that do not ship to SA)
Yes. A number of services exist that will give you a UK/USA based address to use for your orders and will then forward your package onto SA. Usually these services will either charge you a subscription fee for use of that address over a period of time or will charge you per package (if you don't plan on using the service frequently)
For the above try:
http://www.my-uk-mail.co.uk/
http://www.ukmailforwarders.com/
http://www.myus.com/index.shtml/
General Info/Tips:
- When shopping from eBay (and others) paying via Paypal will give you the option of insuring your package. Credit card payments do not offer the same facility.
- Work out how much the actual game is going to cost is by using the free currency converter www.xe.com/ucc/
- When buying something from a smaller online shop (like these found on Amazon and eBay), don’t forget to rate the seller afterwards. The rating system helps a lot in terms of deciding who to buy from.
- Don’t just limit yourself to games but check out the pricing on the actual hardware, figurines, game guides, game posters and limited edition bundles you can’t find in SA.
- Join mailing lists where possible to take advantage of time/stock limited discounts.
- Some sites offer discount on the games and shipping when buying multiple items. (www.play-asia.com is one example)
Contributions:
DarkWater, Fudzy, doobiwan, feo, Kerrrang
Rules:
- No console bashing
- Try to keep to the topic (i.e. suggestions for new sites to buy from/specials available at sites already listed)
- Feel free to contribute and I'll edit the original post with the relevant info.
Sites to buy from:
http://www.play-asia.com/
http://www.shopto.net/
http://www.game.co.uk/ (forwarding from a UK postal address may be required)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (may not ship games listed by Amazon itself, but smaller retailers selling on the site may be willing to send to SA)
http://www.dvdcrave.com/
http://www.ebay.co.uk/
http://www.dvdboxoffice.com/ (mostly NTSC region games)
http://www.cd-wow.com/
http://www.ishop-america.com/ (use this site to buy from any US based online store and have your goods shipped to SA)
http://www.tronixweb.com/
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
- How do I pay for my order?
Most sites will accept major credit cards such as Visa/Mastercard. Some will also accept Paypal transfers and others even direct deposits into their bank accounts (this can be quite costly and time consuming so consult your bank first)
- How long will my order take to arrive in SA?
It depends on the shipping method used. Usually the cheapest option will be Air Economy (or similar) which can take anything from 1-6 weeks (usually somewhere in between) to arrive at your nearest post office. You can of course pay for < 1 week delivery, but the price increases exponentially. In most cases SA's customs department is to blame if your order takes longer than average.
- Can I track my order?
The more expensive shipping options will give you both a tracking number and link to their online tracking service. Not exactly a very useful service as most times you wont see any movement on the tracker after it enters the country as it is being held up at customs for a while.
- Will there be any extra charge when my package arrives at the post office?
Depending on the size or value of your parcel an extra charge may be payable to the post office on collection. When buying multiple games at one time try separating them into their own individual orders as this seems to work in either avoiding or reducing the import tax. At the end of the day it still seems to still come down to the luck of the draw in most cases.
- Will these games work on my console?
PS3 - all games are region free.
360 - games come in multiple flavours: NTSC-J, NTSC-U/C, PAL (SA consoles) or Region Free (any console). Be sure to check you have the correct one before placing your order.
- Are there any services that will receive my package at a UK/USA address and forward it to my SA address? (in order to buy from sites that do not ship to SA)
Yes. A number of services exist that will give you a UK/USA based address to use for your orders and will then forward your package onto SA. Usually these services will either charge you a subscription fee for use of that address over a period of time or will charge you per package (if you don't plan on using the service frequently)
For the above try:
http://www.my-uk-mail.co.uk/
http://www.ukmailforwarders.com/
http://www.myus.com/index.shtml/
General Info/Tips:
- When shopping from eBay (and others) paying via Paypal will give you the option of insuring your package. Credit card payments do not offer the same facility.
- Work out how much the actual game is going to cost is by using the free currency converter www.xe.com/ucc/
- When buying something from a smaller online shop (like these found on Amazon and eBay), don’t forget to rate the seller afterwards. The rating system helps a lot in terms of deciding who to buy from.
- Don’t just limit yourself to games but check out the pricing on the actual hardware, figurines, game guides, game posters and limited edition bundles you can’t find in SA.
- Join mailing lists where possible to take advantage of time/stock limited discounts.
- Some sites offer discount on the games and shipping when buying multiple items. (www.play-asia.com is one example)
Contributions:
DarkWater, Fudzy, doobiwan, feo, Kerrrang
Last edited:
