Play.com to cease retail operations

Sierra Oscar · 09-01-2013 6:19pm #1

It seems that Play.com is to cease its retail business from March onwards. The site will remain active as a hub for indie retailers to connect with customers, but the site as we know it will come to an end. I guess this is no surprise considering the controversial tax loophole that they were using has now been closed.

Ill miss them though. I used them quite often in the past when they were often the cheapest retailers when it came to new game releases.

Home delivery games retailer Play.com will close operations in March, the company has confirmed.

The corporation will no longer trade games, DVD, CDs or various other goods directly from March onwards.

Play.com to cease retail business

MitchKoobski · 09-01-2013 6:22pm

Maybe now they'll finally stop feckin' emailing me.

maximoose · 09-01-2013 6:25pm

Well that's a shame. As you said, generally the cheapest when it came to new releases - wonder if it'll have much of an effect on prices elsewhere

Captain Chaos · 09-01-2013 6:30pm

maximoose wrote: »

Well that's a shame. As you said, generally the cheapest when it came to new releases - wonder if it'll have much of an effect on prices elsewhere

No they were not. HMV beat them here most of the time. Amazon UK are the best deal going.

Play.com charged extra on the conversion rate that made them as expensive as Gamestop at times. Play.com were rip offs unless you lived in the UK mainland.

RobertFoster · 09-01-2013 6:40pm

I more or less stopped using them when they forced non-UK residents to use euro pricing instead of Sterling. It wasn't out of spite or anything, it was just cheaper to go elsewhere.

I liked them. They were one of the first online retailers I used, but like CD WOW, they made some changes and fell out of fashion.

Sunny Dayz · 09-01-2013 6:43pm

I found Play.com quite good for DVD's and games and they didn't charge postage.
However, I was messed around last year, I bought something from their website but not from Play.com themselves, but one of the traders/sellers that they host and the seller made such a [EMAIL="b@lls"]b@lls[/EMAIL] of the order!

danthefan · 09-01-2013 6:47pm

Hadn't bought a game from them for years, they used to be cheap but haven't been for a long time imo.

Hogzy · 09-01-2013 6:51pm

Good riddance. Their exchange rates were a disgrace and the fact an Irish person couldnt pay in sterling clearly showed they made a handsome profit from the exchange rates.

They were find for cheap items (because the rate didnt make much difference because of the free shipping) but if spending anything over £25 Amazon was ALWAYS cheaper.

ShadowHearth · 09-01-2013 6:55pm

So will zavii.co.uk be out soon too? I am pretty sure the were making same thing as play.com

I have not used them often. Maybe once or twice. I used zavii instead. Still, the wait time was freaking shocking.

Hogzy · 09-01-2013 7:01pm

ShadowHearth wrote: »

So will zavii.co.uk be out soon too? I am pretty sure the were making same thing as play.com

I have not used them often. Maybe once or twice. I used zavii instead. Still, the wait time was freaking shocking.

I would imagine so as both operated from the Channel Islands. Its a shame because you could get some serious bargains from Zavvi in terms of games that were a few years old.
Zavvi and Play used a VAT loophole so anything being shipped to the UK valued at under £15 was exempt from VAT.

Dozen Wicked Words · 09-01-2013 7:02pm

What am I going to do with my 18 Super Points now (fúck all would be my educated guess), and what are super points and where did I get them. Haven't used Play.com for ages, just too expensive.

maximoose · 09-01-2013 7:21pm

Captain Chaos wrote: »

No they were not. HMV beat them here most of the time. Amazon UK are the best deal going.

Play.com charged extra on the conversion rate that made them as expensive as Gamestop at times. Play.com were rip offs unless you lived in the UK mainland.

Haha, I only just realised this was posted in the Games forum...never mind me

Vyse · 09-01-2013 7:21pm

Play.com were great 6+ years ago. I remember discovering them around 2002/ 2003 and couldn't believe there was a place were you could buy things for cheaper than on eBay.

The whole conversion debacle killed them in my eyes. Haven't used them for years. Switrched to sendit.com but today amazon.co.uk is king.

Not nice to see a shed load of jobs going but they really alienated markets outside the UK.

Clover · 09-01-2013 8:10pm

Bought from them a fair bit back in the day but have not bought from them in years.

ShaneU · 09-01-2013 8:31pm

Have been ripping off euro customers for years, haven't used them in a long time.

09-01-2013 8:33pm

I used to use them until they introduced Euro pricing, which was a fair bit higher. At first you could pay in sterling anyway but when they stopped that, I didn't buy from them again. Plus the fact that any "gadgets" couldn't be shipped outside mainland UK.

Holsten · 09-01-2013 9:14pm

Stopped using Play.com whenever the euro thing came in.

They usually took way too long to deliver too.

johnny_ultimate · 09-01-2013 9:21pm

Well its very rarely if ever a positive thing to see a business going under. Not only the effect on staff, but also decreasing competition. At the rate media retailers are flailing at the moment, we're going to have fewer and fewer choices.

Still, that said, Play haven't been a player (pardon the pun) for a long time. As Amazon seriously upped their game in Ireland - super fast delivery, smart pricing - Play struggled. We Love Katamari is the last game I remember ordering from them, although did get a few random DVDs over the last half decade. For a while I would still check Play before ordering something elsewhere, but 99% of the time the item was much more expensive, and eventually I just stopped visiting unless there was something specific I couldn't find elsewhere. And, since the selection was so uneven and increasingly limited to the most mainstream titles, it was unlikely they'd have it either. And the kicker was undoubtedly postage - completely unpredictable. Could have been days before you got an item, but just as likely weeks.

So yeah, sad to see yet another major game / media retailer go, but TBH I can't say I'm all that surprised, and I don't think it will be too badly missed.

M cebee · 09-01-2013 9:25pm

does 7dayshop.com use the same vat loophole?
always found them good

degrassinoel · 09-01-2013 9:35pm

they had some awesome gaming t-shirts

will miss them tbh

Headshot · 09-01-2013 10:46pm

Havent used Play.com in years. Always overpriced feckers with slow postage

Amazon UK are the kings tbh

cherryghost · 09-01-2013 11:38pm

About time they died.

noodler · 09-01-2013 11:59pm

Yup about time really.

About 8 years ago I used them alot but as soon as the currency thing changed there was no incentive to use.

I love their site layout, I would often browse on Play and buy elsewhere.

Everything else, price, delivery times, service went to pot.

Sierra Oscar · 10-01-2013 12:37am

cherryghost wrote: »

About time they died.

Oi! Thats mean!

Wouldn't mind doing a survey some time to see what the merchant of choice is for Boards.ie gamers when it comes to buying games. Pointless, but interesting nonetheless!

Retr0gamer · 10-01-2013 1:07am

F*ck 'em.

Every since they introduced their price gouging euro conversion and stopped anyone with an address not in the UK from paying in sterling I haven't used them. They won't be missed.

calex71 · 10-01-2013 1:42am

Really annoyed me when both they an amazon started to allow other retailers like ebay without the bidding to sell stuff and you had to look closely as to where what you wanted to was coming from and their feedback etc.

I've bought a fair bit from play in the past and could live with the delivery times then but in recent years I've not bought a whole lot from them other than tshirts when they were on offer, shame how they went down hilll over the years as when I first got a credit card I bought a tonne of dvds off them that I wasn't able to find in shops and for a fraction of the price

If i recall form earlier there are some 200 jobs going ????

Makaveli · 10-01-2013 11:36am

Bad to see the jobs lost but like pretty much everyone in this thread I moved on from using play a long time ago. Slow delivery, gouging on the exchange rate and not knowing if you'd get hit by customs or not. Forget it. Any time I've checked play in the last couple of years when they have their "mega sales" amazon still work out cheaper the majority of the time. Free delivery when you spend over £25, the option to buy in Sterling, 2 to 3 day turnaround on the delivery and no fear of customs meant Amazon killed Play. Amazon customer service are much better to deal with as well from my experiences.

super_furry · 10-01-2013 11:42am

Haven't ordered anything from them in about five years. Zavvi still can't be beaten on price if you're willing to wait.

witnessmenow · 10-01-2013 12:08pm

This is not a good thing for us (Irish Consumers) even if we didnt buy from them.

Personally I have not bought anything from play.com in years. However I did buy plenty of things from Amazon after they price matched play.

In lots of ways Amazon is a price follower, not leader. A lot of times they were just matching other retailers deals. The less retailers there are , the less they need to price match.

Also pity about the jobs too, cant imagine Jersey has a tonne of them.

ongarite · 10-01-2013 12:10pm

Hogzy wrote: »

I would imagine so as both operated from the Channel Islands. Its a shame because you could get some serious bargains from Zavvi in terms of games that were a few years old.
Zavvi and Play used a VAT loophole so anything being shipped to the UK valued at under £15 was exempt from VAT.

Just a heads up in case anyone was wondering would this effect The Hut Group (Zavvi) aswell.
They moved out of the Channel Islands as soon as the VAT loophole was closed and are now based in Chicago, USA.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/16/hut-avoid-vat-shipping-via-us

Beefy78 · 10-01-2013 12:42pm

I actually placed a couple of orders with Play this week for the first time in a long time. Used to order loads and loads of stuff with them when I was based in the UK. Obviously not so much since I moved here but still two or three times a year.

As someone else said, the failure of any player in the market - especially one were a trend-setter like Play were at least once, is never a good thing and can only lead to prices rising.

Play.com to cease retail operations

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