Inquiry on pre-ordering import games...

[Siroh32]

No surprise that the game I want to pre-order online is Gundam Extreme Versus (Japanese version to be on the safe side regarding DLC and online multiplayer). So far, only a few stores online offer GEV available for pre-order, most notably on YesAsia and Play-Asia. As I'm having second thoughts on pre-ordering, I have a couple of questions:

• Of the two stores, which do you recommend I go to for pre-ordering GEV and why?
• What would additional shipping and (especially) custom costs be for having this game ordered and sent to the mid-western U.S.?

If anyone can answer these questions, it would be helpful on deciding what I should do, and I'd appreciate it.

[AmuroNT1]

I've only ever used Play Asia, and so far they haven't done me wrong. I've gotten about a half-dozen games from them (Alliance vs ZAFT II Plus, Gundam vs Gundam Next Plus, and ACE 1-3 and R), and I have no complaints other than the delivery time, though that may have been because I chose the cheapest shipping method.

As for additional costs, it all depends on what method you want to use. Play Asia offers Airmail, EMS, and Courier services (like FedEx), with the price depending on the speed at which your package arrives. I used Courier, which added about $16 to the final price tag, but should arrive within a week.

As for customs costs, it's never come up with any of the things I've bought from P-A.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Both Play-Asia and Yes-Asia are good, reliable sites (though I use Play-Asia more often because it just turns out that way). Shipping (which will be shown to you beforehand) aside, I've never had to pay customs charges on anything ordered from Japan. I've only had to pay customs for stuff from the States.