I've been out of the scene for a few years now...can't tell you the last time I imported a game. What is the best site to get stuff from? I used to use JapanGameStock a lot but their site appears down right now.
Do the importing yourself and use a YHJ proxy service, or Chief and other members here. Import sites take so much advantage of western customers.
eStarland is OK. Sometimes it is cheaper than Play-Asia, sometimes it has a few extra things in stock, sometimes not. I've had more luck finding low-price imports (new or used) with Ebay than anything else.
I use http://www.nin-nin-game.com/en They sometimes take a bit longer than you'd expect to dispatch stuff, but they eventually do. Prices are fair though.
If/when you can. Someone in japan or jpn middle man service like buyee. else Buygame2 is still one of my more favorite importers (based in hk, been around for years) nippon yasan isn't bad if going for consoles amiami is great if they have stock nin nin games is alright but sometimes can be slow or keep you in the dark if stock is out Play-asia is only good when you want sales or sometimes digital codes ncsx when you don't mind over paying because it's located in usa
It does take some work, but I've been relying on eBay for now, but I don't pick things all willy nilly. Installing this search function into firefox helps alot.
I have a sad story about Nippon-yasan. I've purchased Dark Souls for $65 claimed to be as brand new. (You can see this game even now on their site.) But when the parcel came I've noticed that the game is a coarse repack and haven't the official Playstation seal. I've opened a ticket on theirs online-shop. They wanted me to make a photo. I did. Then absolutely no response from the seller. After a week the ticket's status has been swithced to "Resolved" and my account became blocked. I can see the ticket status but cannot log in. Then I've opened a dispute on PayPal and today I've gotten an email that says that PayPal team decided to close the dispute. "We've completed our review and unfortunately are not able to decide this case in your favor" I've opened the game and found that it is not just used but also have not original box. Be careful.
That sounds odd, not to mention paypal tends to go in buyers favor most of the time. You can even hound them on twitter to reopen a case. Can you post the photos here and the link to the item you bought? I've personally spent tons at N-Y without issue.
"New" Dark Souls https://www.nippon-yasan.com/video-games/800-ps3-dark-souls.html PayPal guys said "The difference is minor between the item you received and the item described in the listing". I guess they think "wrapped in plastic" = "new". When they closed the dispute I opened the game and found that even game case was not original. With Dark Souls I've ordered Dark Souls II and Drag On-Dragoon 3 which was ehhh....OK (Drag On-Dragoon 3 have a dent on the back but I've accepted it). I think those twitter/youtube scandals can be succesfully blowed up only if you have tons of subscibers (which I don't have of course). Actually Nippon-yasan make some scam. People say they've got used "new" figures for $150. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/nippon-yasan.com
I'm not sure I am seeing the issue you have. Is it just that the pull strip does not say playstation on it? I still can make out the strip on the 2 & 3 photo. Not all Jpn games will say "playstation" on that strip. This includes me getting stuff from amazon with out it.
I think I agree with Subbie on this one. Not all JPN games are packaged the same, so it's pretty normal to see variants. Outside of what has already been mentioned, it looks pretty normal to me.
New Dark Souls should look like this: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u99749811 And the case that I've got is not an original Playstation 3 case. It is 100% repack and roughly done repack. I wonder which PS3 JPN games are packed differently? All JPN PS3 games I ever seen were with PlayStation strip. If you've got the game without this strip (even from Amazon) it is high probability that it is a repack.
Sorry for the late reply but I can't remember which games I've seen the non sony branded pull strap on. It's been a long time since I bought a PSP or PS3 game. DS is an old game and has gotten numerous reprints, so not all reprints will come out the exact same way. I'm pretty sure i've even seen that spindle type before. I will have to dig through my stuff in storage to see if I can find which one has it. It's also worth saying, DS is an old and very common game. NY has no reason to waste time trying to reseal a used copy of that game.
The reason is $50. Used copy of DS is $15. "New" is $65. Therewith they delete accounts of people who have any serious complaints. And NY dont want their used games back. New japanese DS is rare game.
NY isn't some basement operation where resealing old games to sell as new makes sense. New copies of DS are not rare. Also you opened a new product and are trying to return it, most import shop are not going to accept that back for a full refund (hell try that with ebgames and they won't take it).
I'd say this topic is out of date really because of Amazon.jp providing it's something they will ship (I think some publishers got pissed off at first). There you pay the same price someone in japan would which tends to be less then the listed retail price which is far cheaper then most import shops. The only downfall is you can only order stuff stocked by amazon.jp and not even stuff they stock for third party sellers. If not that then yeah cdjapan or amiami are good options for at retail cost providing they have stock.
