background: I live in Australia that suffers from high prices for Video games and Retailers have been screwing us for years now, so I have decided to import from overseas and have discovered that lots of nations gamers suffer from the same thing and many don't know there is an alternative out there. I have imported 7 games this year from UK and Hong Kong and found to get 50-60% off the RRP of games here in Australia and pay around the same as US gamers at $60 USD.

GUIDE: HOW TO IMPORT GAMES

by Mchaza

Step 1: Reason for Importing games 

- in your country you may have high prices for games, forcing you to a few a year and missing out on great titles and forced to wait months even years before getting it and with the rise of Online the community by that time could be hard to break into or gone. But if you import you can get 1,2 even 3 games for the price of one. So if you aren't well off this is what you can do.

- If you can afford retail, dont bother reading on as you are the ones that must support retail stores to make them bring down RRP in that country (more sales of games, the less risk, the lower the RRP).

- Also support you local game store, buying one game is an help as its hard for them against big corporations and the internet.

Step 2: Region Locking 

- Region locking was introduced by Nintendo to control pricing, releases and sell exclusivity or selling rights etc. Now most consoles have region locking but its not all bad, find out you region (PAL, NTSC etc) and the countries within them and search in those country only if you have an region locked console. 

- Region locked Consoles of this Generation include: Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, the soon to be released Nintendo 3DS. But there are non region locked games such as Sony Playstation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS (and most handhelds)

(It seems Sony has gotten a Clear message that region locking is a load of ****, but they seem that DVD/Blu Ray should have them still) 

-  Non Region locked consoles you can buy from where ever you want, down side is DLC and Online but can be solved, for DLC create an account of the disk location country (disk has number on it) and download DLC and play on normal account. Pick a country that has your language as major or use a translator (PSN is the same for all in the setup) and for Online you may connect to there severs so i recommend importing Single player games but only EA games have that problem at the moment SCE or other known companies (let me know) doesn't do that. 

Step 3: Locating your Game 

- Internet is you place to go (i dont know another way to source import company??)

- use sites such as Ebay, Amazon etc to find games but dont be afraid to search in alternatives to those sites eg. Ebay.com, Ebay.com.au etc. 

- when using Ebay, search for Power sellers or people who have sold alot and have high rating

- dont be afraid to buy from countries like Hong Kong, Singapore etc You can buy Full English games from those countries and many games have language settings. 

- Research and look at many different sites and locations as well as products, stay away from Bidding unless 100% committed to buying that product if you win

- There are also companies such as gaming retailers that have on-line stores such as Game stop and Game UK where you can snap a bargain and can use a credit card without worries

Step 4: Pricing and Postage Costs

- This is the most Difficult part other than searching, is pricing and postage as this can turn what seems like a graet deal into a not so great deal. 

- Check currency Exchange (watch the news to see if it could go up), if its good exchange then thats a start

- Postage is the great trap and many people fall into it. For example they could find a game for lets say $30 USD but it has $35 USD postage to your location and if your location has 60 RRP you are paying $5 dollars more. So check the postage when doing you comparison and currency exchange ALWAYS INCLUDE POSTAGE

- oh and check if they post to your location

- Unless it a Major Site of a company always Use PAYPAL, paypal is your online shopping best friend. Scams are everywhere and can trick you so easy and Pay pal is a easy insurance company so you are safe and if things so bad you can dispute and usually get your money back.

Step 5: Confirming 

- Make sure you WANT THE GAME because once you buy thats it. While many offer refunds its only the product and not the postage and you will have to pay for postage to send it back costing you more than the RRP. Sp make sure you want it as some stores might not even take it in as a trade in.

Step 6: Be Patient!!

- remember to be patient, you are using the post and international postage can take weeks even months depending on where you live and your local postal service. 

Step 7: Expect the Worst

- things can go wrong but thats the risk of importing so dont come yelling here if you got scammed or sold the wrong, broken game, as its the name of the game.

Step 8: Play the game

- and Enjoy it as you should and take it easy as you paid less for it

Extra Information:

- Australian/NZ Xbox 360 owners Import from the UK, its cheaper by around 20-40 dollars , same for Wii owners 

- If lucky you can get Limited editions as well, but usually if you want a big limited edition by local retail

- games i have imported:

Heavy Rain (Hong Kong- ebay) $65 AUD, RRP $110 

BFBC2 Limited Edition (Hong Kong-ebay) $60 AUD, RRP $110

Assassins Creed 2 (Hong Kong-ebay) $ 65 AUD, RRP $ 110

MAG (UK- game uk) $75 AUD, RRP $ 100

Orange Box (UK- ebay) $30 AUD, RRP Unkown

Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising (Uk-ebay) $30 USD, RRP Unknown

Well thats all, I will add more when it comes to my head and please contribute if you have some pointers out there. But hoperly i can help alot of people buy the games they wanted because it was too expensive and really enjoy them. I have found that i have enjoyed by Imported games more than the ones i bought at retail for some strange reason (expect Uncharted 2)

I will import 2 more game this year (ACB and MOH) and will get more next year. Message me for More help or post below.

Oh Sticky this if you think its good mods. 

I live is Australia to and I use

www.play-asia.com

www.cdjapan.co.jp

and ebay as a last resort

Lolol!

I don't see the point of imports.

If you honestly believe that you are paying more than is right for your video games, and that you have the right to choose how much you pay, then just pirate a fraction of the games you get such that you are paying what you think fair.

If you believe that a company has the right to choose to price their products as they see fit, and you must choose to buy them or not, then you shouldn't be importing

The end result of what you do is exactly the same as pirating a fraction of your games, but I'm sure doing this helps you sleep at night.

Also, lol at people who pay $110 for games

you just contradicted your self, first you were bragging about me for importing games then you insulted those who paided the full RRP, well i dont have to pay the full RRP but if i go to another reatailer and pay 89-99 and the game is terrible i cant return which the 110 dollar want does. 

Btw its not priacy you fool. I am still buying the game and the Publisher is getting there cut, i am not paying the retailer for adding on the extra prices. And you know what Sony Allows me to do it so i will and untill they stop me i will continue doing it. And those who have read this and want to do it, they can. 

oh you say "we dont have the right to choose how much we pay for video games" LOL, yes we do if we didn't we all would be paying much much more for games. you can choose how much will pay by who is offering the best price. You have to be an Idoit to buy something more expensive when there is a cheap option that offers the same thing. 

honesty you must be a rich smug or a plain idiot, there is very good reasons to import 

never used them before are they good? might check them out 

Import = piracy? That doesn't make sense at all!

Paragraph 1 -No contradiction. I simply know how to buy games without paying too much. The only games I will pay $90 for are those games by Nintendo that I know I can sink more than 100 hours into. I pay a lot to play Wow, but considering how many hours I have played it I don't mind.

Paragraph 2 - Please don't call me a fool, there is no need for that. I did not say it was piracy, I said the end result of it is exactly the same as if you pirate a fraction of your games equal to the fraction of the price saved by importing games. I will also acknowledge that the end result of waiting and buying games for cheaper, as I do, is exactly the same as pirating some games and buying the others for full price.

Paragraph 3 - Indeed, shopping around only makes sense. I just believe that importing games is the worst method of getting games for cheaper, both for the consumer and for the retailer.

I am certainly not a rich smug, so I must be a complete idiot, how sad for me... *continues to pay less than you for games, whilst not having the negative effects of importing, by simply being willing to wait a few months after release*

well thats your opinion and your entitled for it but i got a bit carried away with it as its late and put alot of effort into that thread. But if you read i said dont import if you can buy retail,  and you can buy retail. 

But for those who cant afford it and are missing out and just buying there few games i decieded to make a thread because i am sure there is a few people here who Love video games but cant get all the ones they want right away. 

SInce this is an import thread, let me ask this - if I want to import a Japan game such as Fatal Frame 4 (in order to play it on a US Wii with the patch), what would be a reliable site to import it from?

both awesome sites for Importing Games play-asia.com is awesome for US, asia and JP Games and points for PSN, Wii and XBL they are located HK, cdjapan is awesome for Japanese Anime and Games and are located in Japan. both have better prices then ebay but I still use ebay for some rare collectors Editions if the other two don't have them instock.