Play-Asia veut doubler le prix de la PS Vita en import

Une question qui se pose à beaucoup de joueurs en cette fin d'année concerne le choix ou non de l'import pour acheter la PS Vita. Comme vous le savez, la dernière console portable de PlayStation sort le 17 décembre au Japon et le 22 février 2012 dans le reste du monde. Sachant que la console est "region free", c'est à dire non zonée, beaucoup de joueurs réfléchissent à l'importer pour pouvoir en bénéficier pendant les fêtes de fin d'année ou pour se l'offrir comme cadeau de Noël.

Play-Asia, une des boutiques d'import de jeux vidéo 🎮 les plus connues sur Internet, propose évidemment la PS Vita à la vente depuis que les précommandes japonaises se sont ouvertes mi-octobre. Pour justifier son tarif prohibitif de 500$ (soit pas loin du double du prix de vente japonais fixé à 24.980¥), voici le mail que j'ai reçu de leur part suite à ma précommande :

Dear Gael,

Thank you for your Sony PlayStation Vita (Japanese Version) reservation!

The first quantities of consoles for our store have been confirmed and we would like to give everyone who placed a reservation a chance to secure a PlayStation Vita unit. Unfortunately, the confirmed quantities are much lower than we hoped and therefore are limited in number and at higher prices than the official retail price. Checking the market, eBay auctions reached as high as over US$ 1,000, as playstationlifestyle.net reports.

Our current offer for the initial batch of Sony PlayStation Vita consoles that ship on or before the 19th of December 2011 is US$ 499 (Wifi 📶 model) and US$ 549 (3G model). This offer is valid until the 24th of October 23:59:59 Hong Kong Time and prices are likely to rise the closer we get to the official release date. Orders are processed according to our first come first serve policy, which is based on reservation date (original order date).

If you wish to accept this offer, please make your selection in your Play-Asia.com Order #xxxxxxxx details page: ####

Once confirmed, we will ship your Sony PlayStation Vita on or before the 20th of December!

Be the first to call a Sony PlayStation Vita your own!

Your Play-Asia.com Team.

Mais attendez une minute, il me dit quelque chose cet e-mail... Une petite recherche dans ma boîte de réception, début 2011, au moment des précommandes pour la 3DS japonaise, me donne ceci de la part du même expéditeur chez Play-Asia :

Dear Gael,

Thank you for your Nintendo 3DS (Japanese Version) reservation!

The first quantities of consoles have been confirmed to us and we would like to give everyone who placed a reservation a chance of securing their Nintendo 3DS. Unfortunately, the confirmed quantities are much lower than we hoped and therefore quite limited at high prices. Checking the Japanese market, allocations are trading at US$ 480-580 and higher (as one can see browsing Yahoo Japan Auctions).

Our current offer for the initial batch of Nintendo 3DS consoles that ship on or before 28th of February 2011 is US$ 479. This offer is valid until 26th of January 23:59:59 Hong Kong Time. Orders are processed according to our first come first serve policy, which is based on reservation date (original order date).

If you wish to accept this offer, please make your selection on your Play-Asia.com Order #xxxxxxxx details page: ####

If you make use of this offer, we ship your Nintendo 3DS on or before Feb 28th, 2011. Be the first one to call a Nintendo 3DS your own!

Your Play-Asia.com Customer Service

Édifiant, n'est-ce pas ?

Et comme si ça ne suffisait pas, voici un nouveau mail reçu de Play-Asia ce matin (puisque je n'ai évidemment pas cédé à l'escroquerie) qui augmente encore le prix demandé pour importer la PS Vita :

Dear Gael,

Thank you for your Sony PlayStation Vita reservation!

If you have not yet received your confirmation that your reservation has been converted, it means that initial quantities have been taken up on first come first serve basis, based on the original order date (not confirmation date). You now have another chance secure your console as more quantities of Sony PlayStation Vita have been confirmed to us. These will ship around on or before 20th of December 2011.

The race now is on and prices are changing by the hour as demand for this console is very high. We can offer the latest batch confirmed to us now at US$ 519.00 (WiFi) and US$ 569.00 (3G). This offer is valid until the 28th of October 16:00:00 Hong Kong Time. We are forwarding the offers as we get confirmation from our suppliers in Japan, so there are likely more rounds of order conversions ahead. However, as trends show right now, these new offers will likely be at higher prices as well.

For those who have not yet received a confirmation that your reservation has been converted, it is your chance to have your Sony PlayStation Vita shipped in time to reach you just before Christmas Eve. If you wish to accept this offer, please make your selection on your Play-Asia.com Order #xxxxxxxx details page.

Again, we will convert orders in their sequence of their order date. If your order can be fulfilled with the stock confirmed to us, you will receive a separate email that your order has been converted and that it is no longer a reservation only, but a firm pre-order.

Apologies if this all is very confusing, but with market prices changing on hourly basis, demand raising worldwide we can only guarantee prices for each batch we get confirmed. Every new batch of consoles is at new rates and results in new pricing.

Your Play-Asia.com Team.

Un conseil : ne vous faites pas avoir par ce genre de pratiques commerciales abusives. Certes, il y a peut-être une forte demande pour la PS Vita japonaise mais pour info, ceux qui ont acheté la 3DS au prix fixé par Play-Asia à la précommande se sont fait avoir en beauté : le prix de vente n'a pas cessé de chuter dans les jours qui ont suivi, jusqu'à baisser quasiment de moitié !

Si vraiment vous ne pouvez pas attendre deux mois pour acheter la PS Vita en version française / européenne, ne passez pas par Play-Asia. Tout du moins, surveillez le prix proposé chez eux quelques jours après la sortie, vous pourriez bien avoir quelques surprises. Et pour cause : à Hong-Kong, territoire peu taxé, la PS Vita est vendue encore moins cher !

La meilleure façon d'importer une console à sa sortie de toute façon, si on en a l'opportunité, est de se faire rapporter la console par un ami qui voyage au Japon à cette période, ou de vous la faire expédier par un expatrié. Mais se faire arnaquer à ce point, ce n'est digne de personne...

Mise à jour du 28 octobre

Nouveau mail reçu de Play-Asia qui renchérit :

Dear Gael,

The prices for the PlayStation Vita seems to have stabilized and we are confident to accept regular pre-orders for both, the Wifi and the 3G model starting on Monday Nov. 1st 12:00 HKT. Until then we extend our offer of US$ 519.00 for the Wifi model and US$ 569.00 for the 3G model until the latest secured batch of consoles has been taken up. You have the chance to accept this offer until the regular per-orders open at slightly higher rates. (US$ 529.00 and US$ 579.00 respectively). All accepted reservations will be sent out on or before the 20th of December. For the following pre-orders, we unfortunately cannot guarantee to keep that shipping date.

If you choose to not accept this extended offer, your reservation will expire on Monday when regular pre-orders open.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask us.
Best regards and best wishes for a nice weekend.

Your Play-Asia.com Team.