Play Asia Nasty Customs/Vat Charges?

[famitsu1]

Hi,
please excuse me if this question as been asked a thousand times before.Basically I would like to make an order with Play Asia for the 1st time and was wondering how you go about asking them if they could mark the items value down to avoid Vat.Few questions:Are they open to doing this?Do they do this as a matter of course?What shipping method would you recommend?Your experinces would be greatly welcome.I was thinking of getting that new Famicom GBA and obviously I don't want to get stung by customs.
Ta famitsu1

[bowser123]

You have to ask but they will do it.
Just send a quick email with your order number that you want marking down. Their customer service is fantastic BTW. As for postage, any with the exception of UPS.

[memories]

just wondering but whats wrong with using UPS for delivery ?

Ive just placed my 1st order with them as well as they seem to get good write ups from this forum.

[marcus]

I beleive UPS charge an additional ?10 fee now for each shipment, which is why I now use the other shipping option for my Play Asia orders as its more cost effective.

[gossi the dog]

I beleive UPS charge an additional ?10 fee now for each shipment, which is why I now use the other shipping option for my Play Asia orders as its more cost effective.

Is that ?10 fee a handling charge if you get charged import duty? If not what is it?

[Mayhem]

Yep it is. It is their "take" to having to deal with paying the Customs for you and then get it back when they deliver it to your door.

[gossi the dog]

Ah! Thought as much.

Don't you get charged a silimar ridiculous handling charge of around ?10 if you get stung for import duty while using EMS?

[Papercut]

My experience of UPS has been terrible. Once the parcel had arrived at Camden (after only 2 days) it took a further 5 days to actually be delivered to me, in the evening.

Thats for the 3 day global express service that I should have received before 12 pm. My advice - steer clear of UPS.

[JibberX]

Don't get me started on UPS, never ever going to use them again after they STOLE 3 GameCubes from me....ngggghhhh

[sofasurfer]

Don't get me started on UPS, never ever going to use them again after they STOLE 3 GameCubes from me....ngggghhhh

Jesus!

They have never stolen any items from me,but seem to have extracted copious amounts of money in import duty.

What did they do JibberX?

[Rushy]

Never use UPS they are awful.

[Shadow_Zero]

LOL
Here another one with terrible UPS experiences.
I once ordered a guitar case which got damaged in the shipment. UPS blames the retailer for not packing it good enough. I didn't have to pay anything extra, but it was a time consuming and frustrating experience. And it was obvious that UPS didn't handle their shipment carefully.

Also, UPS is standard VAT paying. I heard from someone they just declare it to the Customs and "practically" ask them to add VAT to the package, so they can claim their friggin' 10 pounds "handling".

I bought some Yu-Gi-Oh Collector Tin Cans from Ebay, which was shipped with UPS Expedited (only shipping option). I wonder if that'll get VAT and handling costs...

Also, their administration is horrible. Several times I got bills for VAT from them which I already paid at the door. Dumb asses!

So as some stated already, try to avoid UPS at all cost!


Oh yeah, besides the UPS point. I have had positive experiences with Play-Asia. They mark down packages (which I asked, but I've heard stories saying they do that automatically) and customer support replies pretty fast.
I do must say that the RGB cable for the Nintendo systems they sell isn't very good. But most ppl around here, who care, already knew that I think
The picture is kinda deceiving too, since it shows a SCART with a golden connector, but mine is just silver...

[memories]

think that im going to stop reading this thread

For my first order with Play Asia I ordered Taiko no Tatsujin 3 and an extra drum controller and i put it on UPS.

The goods are shipped so fingers crossed that i hopefully get good service.

I can only hope but at least i will know next time.

[Zed]

It's right off-putting isnt it?

I just ordered my first stuff, it's being shipped "Economy Air R" i think, but i had ordered AC: Nexus with UPS to get it as soon as its released. I think i'll cancel and choose something else though now...

Don't you get charged a silimar ridiculous handling charge of around ?10 if you get stung for import duty while using EMS?

So is EMS better? It states 3-5 days, but avoiding big charges is good too... and do Play-Asia know about this marking down thing, or do we need to specifiy the price it needs to be and so on?

[Papercut]

Don't registered EMS parcels end up going through Parcelforce Worldwide? I've noticed some of my Parcelforce stuff incurring import duty over the last few months.