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It's a Small World After All, or the Joy of Imports
May 16, 2006
When I first heard about the Nintendo DS Lite, I knew that I simply had to have one—after all, I absolutely love the games but I don’t like the way my hands hurt after holding the original DS for anything more than 20 minutes. The improved gaming portable is smaller and lighter than the original, has a brighter screen, and features improved battery life. The only problem is that it was released in Japan two months before an official US release date was even announced, so my only option was to import it myself. While I could have chosen to go the eBay route, I decided to place preorders with two different importers to compare service and give you, dear reader, the opportunity to learn a bit more about how the whole process works.
While there may be many more companies than I’m aware of, the two that I chose were Lik-Sang and Play-Asia. I’ve done business with Play-Asia several times in the past few months and been quite pleased with the service—I ordered a few game soundtracks (Lumines, Katamari Damacy, and Kingdom Hearts). I hadn’t ordered with Lik-Sang before, but I’d heard some good things about the company and decided to try them out. I placed an order for a Nintendo DS Lite console from both companies within two weeks of each other (Lik-Sang first). The ordering processes were remarkably similar, and basically what you would expect from any US online company. I created an account with my email address and password, specified my shipping address, etc.
One difference worth pointing out: both companies offer many more shipping options than you might expect. Amazon any many other vendors offer choices like ground or air shipping, but you don’t generally know exactly how your package will be shipped until it actually goes out (or when you receive it)—USPS? FedEx? UPS? Both Lik-Sang and Play-Asia offer a variety of choices, and their ordering pages give details about the positives and negatives for each choice, along with the cost. If you choose airmail, it will take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month to get your package,and it can’t be tracked along the way. This is the least expensive method, but definitely isn’t suitable for those in a hurry, or for high value shipments. I generally choose EMS Speedpost for imports and for eBay purchases from Asian sellers. EMS is fast, generally taking 3-5 days to arrive, and isn’t much more expensive than airmail. For valuable or urgent shipments, UPS and DHL are both good options, taking about 1-3 days, but with a much higher cost. It’s also worth noting that Play-Asia even goes so far as to give you options on how you want your shipment to be packaged. Depending on the item, you can choose a bubble envelope or a box. The choice of packaging influences weight and therefore shipping cost, but for fragile items you’ll want them boxed. And as a picky customer, I appreciate the extra control offered by having these options.
Both Lik-Sang and Play-Asia also offer several different payment options, including PayPal and credit cards such as MasterCard and Visa. You can also use Western Union, bank transfer, wire, and a couple of other services. One word of warning: if you’re placing a pre-order you should definitely use a credit card instead of the other payment options so that you won’t have to pay for the item until it actually ships. Most credit cards also offer additional purchase protection, so it’s a good idea to use one instead of PayPal if possible.
So how did my Nintendo DS Lite ordering experiences stack up? Here are the highlights:
- Lik-Sang—While the original pre-order price was $169, the demand for the NDS Lite was so insanely high that they raised the price to $199 because they were having so much difficulty getting enough product from their distributors to fill orders. This didn’t set too well with me, but in their defense they handled things as fairly as possible: I got a message asking whether or not I wanted to pay the higher price to get my order faster, or stick with the original preorder price knowing that it would take much longer to get my order. In effect, they split the preorder list in two, and strict priority was still based on when your order was placed though you were now in the “$199 line” and the “$169 line.” I agreed to the price increase and continued to wait anxiously.
My first hint of a problem was when I got an email from Lik-Sang stating that they had some trouble processing my credit card. I called my bank and found out that the charge had raised a fraud alert, because with shipping it ended up being over $200 and originated in Asia. I confirmed that the charge was genuine and contacted Lik-Sang to let them know that everything was OK. I got my order a few days later and was pleasantly surprised by the extras that had been included—instructions on how to change the NDS Lite’s language to English, a cool lanyard and mouse pad (promotional items emblazoned with the Lik-Sang name & logo, but still nice), some stickers, and a $10 off coupon for my next order.
- Play-Asia—I ordered two weeks later, but ironically enough both this order and the Lik-Sang order shipped on the same day. I was generally more pleased with the service and communication from Play-Asia, especially since they honored my preorder price ot $169 and did not increase it as Lik-Sang did. They even included a free gift with every NDS Lite preorder, though you didn’t know what you would get until you received the package—options included GBA games, cases, screen protectors, and other small accessories. I ended up getting a Japanese GBA game instead of the case I was hoping for, but then again I can’t complain about a free gift—and maybe I’ll have some free time one of these days to plug it in and see if I can figure it out enough to have some fun. I should also note that even though the orders were both shipped out of Hong Kong the same day, my Play-Asia order arrived much faster via UPS than the Lik-Sang order did via DHL shipping. I also didn’t have any trouble with the credit card company, though I don’t know if that’s because I’ve placed a couple of smaller orders with Play-Asia before, or if the lower total just wasn’t high enough to trigger a fraud warning.
Would I order again? Definitely, from both companies. Play-Asia generally has a larger selection including everything from games to soundtracks, anime, movies, and character toys/gashapon, but Lik-Sang sometimes has some very cool stuff that I never see at Play-Asia along with generally more informative news postings and reviews with lots of photos and detailed information. They’re already taking preorders for the Nintendo Wii, though for something as big/valuable as a home console purchase, I’m more likely to wait until the product is available here in the US. Lik-Sang also offers free shipping on import games, but since I don’t read Japanese I can’t take advantage of that offer; by the time they get the US version of hot games, I’ve already been able to get it here, and usually for $5-$10 less. Play-Asia also seems to be much faster in processing orders and shipping them out, but that won’t make much difference if you’re not in a big hurry.
Also worth noting is that if you’re interested in general accessories for cell phones, PDAs, gadgets, etc. Brando is definitely THE source for what you need, along with some crazy stuff you’ve never seen before. It’s fun just to browse the site; there’s plenty of pictures and detailed information, the payment and checkout process is quick and easy. The service is simply superb, and I always get my orders very fast, usually within a week, for only a $3 shipping charge. I’ve reviewed many of their products for the site and have also placed several personal orders over the years and I’ve always been completely satisfied. In my personal opinion they have the best screen protectors available today, and they also have a nice selection of cases and accessories for a wide variety of products. I can’t recommend Brando highly enough, and I always look there first for accessories for my new devices.
No matter which way you go, you’ll find that there’s no reason to limit yourself to the companies and products based here in the US, or in your own country if you’re in Europe or any other part of the world. At first I used eBay to import game accessories, and I had pretty good luck with that, but the selection was limited and both the prices and the shipping cost were rather high, since everything is based on an auction format with individual sellers who don’t qualify for discounts on shipping with major carriers, or else saw shipping as a major profit center instead of a sideline cost of doing business. Dealing with established companies such as Brando, Lik-Sang, and Play-Asia has resulted in a bigger selection, lower prices, and a much better experience overall. If you’ve been afraid to try importing accessories, games, anime movies, and soundtracks, and the like, I’d suggest that you start with a small order at first so that you can see how easy it is without much risk. But don’t let artificial barriers get in the way of the enjoyment of your hobby, whatever that may be. After all, our world seems to be “shrinking” every day, thanks to the Internet and fast shipping.
