Why do you import?

[Grubert]

(note: multiple-choice poll)

For me, importing is a natural thing from the years of DVD. I live in Europe, so choice and prices were often better when buying overseas.

But historically, people from North America have been reluctant to importing anything. Going from the posts here, it seems this might be changing. Of course, importing from, say, Canada is less daunting than going to an Italian site and using machine translation to navigate through the registering and ordering pages.

[brewp13]

I import mostly if the title is not released in the US but only from the UK, I worry releases from other countries will be dubbed in a foreign language. However, I will only order Brittish or Japanese movies, etc from UK like Layer Cake or The Death and Life of Bobby Z. If its a hardcore American Movie like Die Hard or something I just wait for US release.

[Blaumann]

I'm from Germany. I import from the UK, France, US and Canada. One of the more daring imports was the BD [REC] from Spain, as i can't read Spanish. Worked out ok though. lol

The reasons are simply price and title selection. I used to import a lot from the US, that has changed mostly to imports from the UK now.

It's only on rare occations, that a title is released outside the five countries mentioned and i really need to have it. A recent title i'm trying to track down is Inside (A l'intérieur) from Scandinavia. After one unsuccessful attempt with a webshop that turned out not to send abroad, this is now on hiatus for the time being. BD's from Japan would also be of interest, but somehow i fail at using my Amazon account there.

[Komakopf]

I am from Germany too.
Usually I import BR´s because many titles are either not available in Germany or they are cut.
Also one main reason is the price. German sellers demand a ridicously high price for BR´s. Mostly between 20-32 Euros (ca. 26 - 41 US-$).
That´s why I import from UK as the prices there are half of the German prices. Sometimes even less.

[md99]

I import pretty much everything. Here in Ireland the average price of Blu Rays discs off the shelf is €30 and I've seen some as high as €50 which is absolutely ridiculous. And they are single disc movies too, not even boxsets.

Importing from Amazon.com however I pay an average of something like €18 per disc. Older movies cost literally nothing, maybe even below €10. I've found plenty of bargains in the UK too.

[uk-guy]

i import mainly due to film titles not being available in great Britain or never seeing a release date at all. if its confirmed region free then i will go ahead and import. it can also work out cheaper however due to the weak pound imports from the USA are more expensive but if its a must have buy and the title hasent had a release date in britain i will import and not wait

[andyparhelia]

The prices in Ireland are mental, I saw The Brothers Grimm in HMV last week for €44!

I usually buy from the UK or America (depending on exchange rates) and don't think I've paid any more than €15 per disc in the past few months.

I also voted for 'Other' in the poll as the slim cases in the US are another reason for importing - I'm running out of shelf space with the thicker euro releases

[laners]

Originally Posted by md99

I import pretty much everything. Here in Ireland the average price of Blu Rays discs off the shelf is €30 and I've seen some as high as €50 which is absolutely ridiculous. And they are single disc movies too, not even boxsets.

i agree, prices in ireland are ridiculous..... HMV are particularly bad i have found...

play.com, axelmusic.com and amazon are really the only places i buy blu-rays.

i bought quite a few in Zavvi when they were going bust but thats different!

[owa]

Mostly because of a title not being available locally.

[koontz1973]

I live in Hungary and Blu has not even started here yet, so for me it is essential to import. Do not care from where as long as the menus and bonuses are in English.

[quexos]

Cause some prices are really good over at Amazon.

[Stephan.klose]

Originally Posted by koontz1973

I live in Hungary and Blu has not even started here yet, so for me it is essential to import. Do not care from where as long as the menus and bonuses are in English.

You said Blu hasn't started in Hungary? I am just wondering because I work at an electronics retailer and we have a lot of "international" customers who get their movies in Austria. Mostly BD's because DVD's are cheaper to get in their own countries.
Are there no BD Releases in Hungary as of yet or just very few?
Because here in Austria it's currently booming.. And the prices are dropping all around.. You can find a lot of great titles for 15€ and a lot of new titles are shot out at 17.99€

[typ44q]

I have imported a few from the UK and Canada (I am in the US) 1 was because it was not available here and all the rest were because of cost.

[Lucy Diamond]

Steelbooks

Latest Acquisition: Pulp Fiction steelbook.

Gotta love amazon.fr


Oddly enough...my debit card's fraud department kept shutting down my foreign order and then later that day, they shut down my ability to shop on PSN with the same debit card I've been using since September.

All of a sudden, they pick NOW to think my habits are fishy.
So it only took a phone call, but they kept asking me crazy secret questions.

Odd....the point...just be careful when you import and let your bank know you do it. If it happens on a holiday, it might not be so easy to fix.

[DetroitSportsFan]

I voted for the first 3 choices.