Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) I stopped using Play.com years ago when they started taking ages to dispatch and used slow shipping methods. Pretty much this. They were great back in the day, but when they started taking a week to dispatch my items, I gave up on them. Still sad to see another online retailer bite the dust though. My first ever order off play.com: 26 Feb 2005 Order no: 41848394 Item price: £29.99 Resident Evil 4 (GameCube) Sold by: Play.com Dispatched: 17 Mar 2005 Delivery option: Free Delivery Damn, that was ages ago! Plus I've had around 60 orders with them (well, ones that were dispatched anyway, there's a lot of cancelled ones.) Oh, and one of the best orders I ever made (mainly because it was exclusive to play.com)... 21 May 2008 Order no: 131517991 Item price: £79.99 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots - Limited Edition (Play.com Exclusive) (PlayStation3) Sold by: Play.com Dispatched: 10 Jun 2008 Delivery option: Free Delivery Edited January 10, 2013 by CoolFunkMan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 For the last two years or so I've mainly used Play as a place to sell items, due to the convenience, quick to list and no need to upload pics. They haven't really been as cheap as they were for pre-orders and new releases in that time so the tax benefits don't seem to have been for the customers recently. They will be missed for some of their awesome DOTD and Mega Monday offers, and being the one's to force Amazon to pricematch them on most items. First order :- Order date 29 Mar 2003 Item price £34.99 The Sims (GameCube) Sold by Play.com Dispatched 31 Mar 2003 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 I do remember when I was younger, my parents pre-ordered The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker from Play.com - I was amazed that, not only did it arrive a day early, but it was also the Limited Edition, which wasn't advertised on their site.Ltd Edition Wind Waker was for all pre-orders, it was the whole first press, you couldn't have not got a ltd edition at that point. (Still great, but just sayin') Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 Christ, iused to use this place all the time from about 2002-2007, my old order history runs to about 120 items. The free shipping was the best part, just gave them an edge over Amazon - during my year in France they were an absolute godsend. But yeah, the whole Marketplace thing gave them a much more sleazy edge and pulled the feel of the place down. Also, they have been having trouble processing orders from foreign credit cards in the last 6 months. In June I ordered a book for my dads' birthday and that was convenient: come September their site shut down completely every time I entered my Chinese Visa card details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 Hate to say it but I am not surprised. My last order from them took forever to arrive and as others have said, trying to find a product from the play.com directly was a nightmare. That and prices being lame during sale periods made it clear to me sometime ago that this was inevitable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 Ltd Edition Wind Waker was for all pre-orders, it was the whole first press, you couldn't have not got a ltd edition at that point. (Still great, but just sayin') Yes, but at the time I had no idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 Then bonus! Slightly going off topic but I pre-ordered Perfect Dark from EB, and when I picked it up, they gave me a poster, strategy guide and controller that I wasn't expecting at all. (Shame they didn't give me an expansion pack, that was another surprise that day v_v) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 Then bonus! Slightly going off topic but I pre-ordered Perfect Dark from EB, and when I picked it up, they gave me a poster, strategy guide and controller that I wasn't expecting at all. (Shame they didn't give me an expansion pack, that was another surprise that day v_v) Didn't you get one with it?. I remember going into EB to get Perfect Dark on launch (had a pre-order down). Not only did i get the poster, strategy guide and a EB own brand controller (nice surprise) but they gave expansion packs to everyone who pre-ordered one and picked up in-store on launch day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 10, 2013 (edited) For me, Play went down the shitter ages ago. PlayTrade is still pretty banging so glad to hear it'll keep going, get better service there than I have from Play themselves for a while, so not particularly surprised. Since Play let me down repeatedly, I've mainly moved over to the ShopTo crowd. I think it all went down the shitter when they became part of the Rakuten group. It's a shame, because they used to be so good; brilliant value, fairly fast delivery, good service, everything. They really helped contribute to the evolution of the online marketplace in the UK imo too, I think they really sprung up at some point as good competition for Amazon, especially given their own free delivery on everything. Nail in the coffin for me though was Tales of the Abyss, which didn't arrive within 2 weeks, they wouldn't hear my complaints until 4 weeks had passed - I expressed my concerns that by which time it would be out of stock/hard to get a hold of. By the time time they WOULD listen to me(along with my signing declaration bits and bobs) they guaranteed me a restock within two weeks, but their own site said expected 4-6 weeks by that time! Decided I'd pay the extra £5, go with ShopTo, and I had the game through my door in less than 24 hours. I stopped using Play.com years ago when they started taking ages to dispatch and used slow shipping methods. While their shop closing doesn't surprise me....their marketplace remaining open does. They only accept a very limited range of items. Surely they'll have to massively open op their categories? Probably will. I'd also imagine it's a much smaller overhead, it's essentially just being a sort of broker service really, isn't it? Using their power of name to facilitate custom? Edited January 10, 2013 by Rummy Automerged Doublepost Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted January 11, 2013 I keep getting emails from them even though I've unsubscribed countless times and I've not ordered anything from them in years, so this is great news. They can fuck off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
