There is a slew of HK DVDs that I'd like to get, but I'm extremely leery of ordering from overseas. Their prices are very tempting though: Universe discs are usually $5.50US, and many other titles are in the $8 or $9 range. In most cases, that's 1/2 the cost of Hivi's cheapest (that I know of) domestic competitor, Poker Industries. Is there a comparably inexpensive North American merchant?

At Hivizone's insanely cheap prices, I'm worried about possible shoddy shipping & handling, as well as the condition and legitimacy of the DVDs. The distance and language barrier also makes me wonder about customer service and difficulty dealing with defective discs.

Can those of you who have dealt with them give me some feedback? I think I remember reading somewhere that their packaging is inadequate (paper instead of boxes), and that things arrive torn and/or dented. Has anyone had this happen?

Thanks for any help.

I have had nothing but excellent experiences using them. Nice prices, fast shipping and good service.

Yup! Like he said!

. . . . . .

I'm happy with them. Not perfect, but no worse than any US company I've dealt with.

I think my first order was 12 or 13 discs. Though not shrinkwrapped, each case has a silver sticker tab on the side & comes in a sealed bag. They all came in a small cardboard box with a sealed bag of styrofoam pieces to keep everything in place. 1 disc was loose with minor scratches. It played fine.

My 2nd order was 20 DVDs - all packed into a box. Unfortunately, 1 case (a blue Mei Ah) had a broken hub with a loose, scratched disc & 2 Universe cases had weird chips broken along an edge. I think a couple other discs were loose too. No other scratches. 2 of the Universe discs would not play in my machine at all & 1 would only play about half way then pixelate & freeze or shut off (not Hivezone's fault). I e-mailed Hivizone & asked for replacements. I sent back the 3 that wouldn't play plus the scratched Mei Ah (I had to pay shipping to send them back, but I've read of at least 1 person who got reimbursed) & received replacement discs very quickly. The replacements arrived in perfect condition. However, it was a real bummer to find that the new disc of the movie that played half way would not start up at all. I sent Hivizone a disappointed e-mail & asked if I could just throw out the bad disc since it was already a replacement & they could send me another copy. They agreed & the third copy finally worked. The movie, by the way, was Anna Magdalena & it was sent in a green envelope.

I thought all communication was fine. The only weird thing is that they call defective discs defeated. I've read of people sending just the defective discs back to other stores & not the cases. I was not smart enough to think of that, but I bet they would accept that if you happened to get a dud disc. It would save on shipping.

I've received no weird credit card charges or spam, just the occasional e-mail with new releases or price reductions.

Oh- & I've always had to sign for them. & my first package was delivered on a Sunday - which surprised me.

they're an excellent place. Not the all-around cheapest place for online HK DVDs anymore (DDDHouse took away that title from them a year ago), but they were the first HK Internet shop around. The main shopping drawback on them is their 20 DVD limit on credit card orders, which probably doesn't affect most people.

Thanks for the replies.

I've ordered from Hivizone more than any other seller and usually go there. They pack good and tight, and every order (I use the cheaper shipping option) has arrived a day shy of a week. They communicate well, easily returned a damaged DVD and even replaced one that wasnt damaged/defeated (gave me credit on a DVD I accidentally bought twice). Oh yeah, and I didnt pay a dime in return shipping on either one. I think they are great. They were the first HK seller I bought from, and remain the first seller I go to when thinking of making an order.

One other series of queries...If I order from them, I'll be using a money order as payment. Are there any reliability issues with the mail service in that part of the world? Do they take payment in US Dollars?