Hardware Importing from Japan and the US

[Shackled]

I'm from Australia, and I'm interested in importing a 3DS XL (LL in Japan), as well as Bravely Default and Theatrhythm from Japan, as I can read Japanese, and I heard that the make of the handheld is of slightly better quality. Does anyone know of some good sites that don't have credit card restrictions, and sell Japanese 3DS consoles and games that are decently priced, and are shipped internationally?

I'm comparing the above with US prices, because I have a friend who is going back to the US for a bit soon, so she could potentially help me buy directly from the US. Also, if I do import from the US, and would like to buy a future game, what are some sites that are cheap, accept cards like MasterCard and ship globally?

I've looked at Amazon.com briefly, but not all of the games that I've looked up could be shipped to Australia. Ebay is also a hit-or-miss, with some games being listed only once or twice at abominable prices for a 3DS game.

Thanks in advance for the help, and I'm sorry if I made a duplicate thread - I did browse through previous threads!

 

[Chary]

I think Play-Asia is a good import site.

 

[Maxternal]

Well, I don't know much about shipping sites and such so I won't be of too much help there. Just wanted to make sure you took into account the fact that the 3DS is region locked so if you import from the U.S. you would no longer be able to play games you import from Japan (and visa versa) since the 3DS will only play games from the same region you bought it from.

 

[Shackled]

I think Play-Asia is a good import site.

I had a look, but the prices seem a bit too expensive for my liking, since it's asking for more AUD than what my local providers are asking for, even on US products, which is defeating the purpose of me importing.

Well, I don't know much about shipping sites and such so I won't be of too much help there. Just wanted to make sure you took into account the fact that the 3DS is region locked so if you import from the U.S. you would no longer be able to play games you import from Japan (and visa versa) since the 3DS will only play games from the same region you bought it from.

That I already know. It's either NTSC-US or NTSC-J. Thanks anyways for the warning.

Update: I did some extra research online, and found that many Japanese sellers don't export directly, but there are forwarding services available that can receive your purchases in Japan and ship that off to your address in your country, such as Tenso, for a fee. While it is most likely that importing from the US is cheaper, I opted to import through Amazon JP, because for a number of reasons, which include not having to wait for localisations, more variety of 3DS skins (e.g US doesn't have black 3DS XLs), potentially better handheld makes, and many more. Assuming that exchange rates remain fairly similar throughout the period that I have to wait for my goods, I'm expecting to make a saving of around $60 in AUD compared to buying from local retail stores like EB Games and JB Hifi.

I'll provide an update of how it went, once I get my stuff.

Yay! I got my stuff today! So happy!

 

[BORTZ]

I just used amazon, worked fine for me. My copy of Terry's no wonderland took about 6 weeks to get here though.

 

[Shackled]

I just used amazon, worked fine for me. My copy of Terry's no wonderland took about 6 weeks to get here though.

6 weeks is an awfully long time. I ordered from Japan, got my goods forwarded to Australia, and the turn around was a week. I had to use EMS though.

 

[digipokemaster]

http://www.nippon-yasan.com/lang-en/ seem to be a good site, the site owners are located in Japan