Jason Northrup

I've never purchased a DVD from another Region, but I'm thinking of placing an order in Australia (shipped to US of corse). Will I just have to order the DVD from that place and it will show up at my door or will there be other hassles?

What might be easiest is if somebody from the US can tell me thier expirience from a Region 4 retailer (preferably ezydvd.com.au) from order time to receiving of the order (and any other hassles thereafter).

Also, has there been a change in such orders since Sept. 11?

PacMan2006

Well, never ordered from R4. But, I ordered from the UK, (R2). Amazon.com also has a UK website, so I just used my existing account and I received the DVD a week after I ordered it online. I even got four dollars off the total price simply for living in the USA.

benedict

• International orders info
• Krug spotted these specials
• From AutumnNights' "sticky"
• A couple of recommendations

I suspect that this monster is now out of date - and was largely relating to USA-bound packages from Europe - so you'll have to wait for some authoritative personal feedback apropos of (post-September 11) shipping experiences!

Giles

I've ordered from the UK (Amazon, Bensonworld, Blackstar), Japan (CD Japan) I have to have DVD's shipped to my office address since they require a signature on delivery, and since my hours of work are never consistent. And "The Blade" from Proxis (never, never again)

codefree

EzyDVD in Australia has the best customer service of any etailer I've dealt with. I've no complaints with them whatsoever. Shipping times seem to be about the same as they were before 9/11 now, although for awhile they were about twice as long. A typical order arrives at my home in Wisconsin in as little as 4-8 days after receiving an email confirmation from EzyDVD that they've shipped my DVDs. I've also had excellent service from Bensons World in the UK. I've had just one problem with them, a floater disc which I simply notified them of via email and then returned it to them. They sent out a replacement disc right away rather than waiting for the return to be received. They also said they'd credit my return shipping charge on my next order. CDJapan is a nice etailer too although they tend to take a couple weeks to ship the order out rather than a couple days like the previous etailers I mentioned. Once they do ship though, packages arrive less than a week later via their express option. DVDZone2 in Belgium is quite slow to ship from the time the order is placed and their packages can take anywhere from 1-4 weeks to arrive. There site has a lot of incorrect technical info (16:9, audio, subtitles) so make sure you check www.dvdfr.com for those specs prior to ordering from DVDZone2. The only foreign etailer I've had problems with is Proxis in Belgium. They sent me the wrong item (and apparently a few other DVDtalkers as well - "Blade" p&s instead of 16:9). I returned it to them but have not heard back from them nor have they responded to any of my emails where I notified them of their mistake and requested a credit back to my account. I will not be ordering from Proxis again. All in all, the service I've received from foreign etailers has been outstanding. This makes having a codefree DVD player all the more enjoyable.

shill66

I've ordered from ezydvd.com.au and have had no problems at all. And they're pretty fast too, like codefree says above. I certainly recommend them without reservation.

However, my own personal "best customer service" goes to Blackstar in the UK. I use them all the time and they *always* make things right if they're not perfect. I had a title arrive with a keepcase that had a shattered corner. I emailed them and pointed out I had another disc on order that they could use if they wanted to do a replacement. They sent a new keepcase on its own, right away without waiting to combine with my other order. They have also re-shipped lost orders without hassle. Perfect marks from me.

I've also ordered from amazon.co.uk, amazon.de and just today received a package from amazon.fr (including the original Cat People).

Jason Northrup

Thanks for all the information. I won't be ordering for probably a week or so, so more input is welcome.

Another question. Some of the posts linked to in this thread mention GST. What is that?

codefree

GST is a tax that Americans don't have to pay, except when ordering from Bensons World as they have free international shipping and while they don't deduct GST, it covers their shipping fees. The Australians also have a tax that we don't have to pay. In fact, EzyDVD deducts it at the time of your order if you are logged in.

Hemulen

Australians (eg, Ezydvd.com au) have "goods and services tax" aka GST

(New Zealand has GST as well - 12.5% - but as there are few good nz dvd e-tailers thats somewhat of a moot point)

the UK (and Europe) (eg, Bensonsworld) have "value added tax" aka VAT

when alls said and done they're pretty much the same - a sales tax.. but they're called different things



Hemulen

livewiretoo

EZYDVD is great. I ordered a disc from them and another one from someone else at the same time. The EZYDVD disc is here, the other one I'm still waiting on.

Giles

Bensonsworld were also very helpful when they noted I had placed an order for two copies of a movie, when I originally only wanted one, I replied and told them I was glad they caught this.

Jason Northrup

Thanks for all the feedback. Sounds like Ezydvd is the place to order from based on everything here (and in linked articles). It's a pre-order so I'm not in a big rush to order. I'll probably do it sometime next week.

movielib

I've settled into my favorites, EzyDVD in R4, Bensonsworld in R2 UK and DVDZone2 in R2 France, Benelux etc. I've never had a problem with any of them and they all deliver in a very reasonable amount of time.

El-Kabong

I've not ordered from EZDVD yet - although I do have the Battlestar Galactica set on pre-order.


I have ordered from all over the globe, however - mostly from the UK (from blackstar and bensonsworld) and Japan (amotokyo.com) - I've never had a hassle with shipping or customs.

Of everywhere I've picked up discs from, Blackstar gets the best service award. Fast, friendly, and great CSR's. They might be a touch more expensive than bensonworld, but the care they put into the order is a much better return on my dollar.

Tho - I do have to give mad props to AMO Tokyo. The shop is run by a bunch of fanboys who are into anime just like me. They're real good folks too, very highly reccomended.

ElectricTsunami

Amazon.fr and blackstar.co.uk both got my orders to me in a week.

I don't recall the time frame for CDJapan.

I've ordered from an Italian retailer that I cannot recall at this time.

My longest receipt time is from Amazon.de. It takes about a month (several orders pre 9/11).

I'm waiting for my first package from Ezydvd.au now!

cine

I just noticed from my recent orders of R2 DVDs that European DVDs are becoming more expensive to import to the US -- about 10% more in the last month or two -- due to the recent falls in value of the US Dollar. I'm wondering if the same is happening with R3 and R4 imports.

Hemulen

Myself I've noticed that my recent orders of R1 DVDs from America are becoming cheaper to import to New Zealand... due to the recent falls in the value of the US dollar

(and about bloody time too imho)

Hemulen

Animezine

Too true, the US dollar is getting hammered everywhere. It's almost at parity with the Euro and the Yen has strengthened from Y125 from a few weeks ago to ~Y119 right now. That might not seem like much, but when you're a R2 addict like me , it's a huge hit on the ol' wallet. You can blame the greedy bastards in major US corporate firms (cough Enron, cough Worldcom, and now perhaps GM).