playcentric.com not .co.uk (playcentric.co.uk)

Member Name: Wolfboy

Product:	playcentric.co.uk
Date:	07/04/05 (280 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free International Shipping on DVDs and CD, Currency Converter, Well laid Out

Disadvantages: No Free Shipping on Videos, No Multi region/region 2 DVDs (america/canada region 1 only), Prices higher than competition

It really is sites like this these days that make me glad that places like Amazon exist. There really just seems no need for stuff to be sold so dear anymore when you can get it cheaper in other shops. Of course perhaps I’m just too spoilt by cheap prices, but you know when it’s cheaper somewhere else, why buy in an expensive shop?

Now if you where to walk into any high street shop looking for a DVD chances are they might be dearer than here after all they have a few dollars less than the RRP, however it’s still not the 25% or so that you would get at Amazon.

Now in case your wondering before I go any further, typing in playcentric.co.uk will only redirect you to the American playcentric.com or the Canadian version (which is just part of the same site. So I will be using USA dollars in this review and comparing prices to Amazon.com

Aside from that though the sight is well laid out. They sell DVDs, CDs and Videos, with each getting a dedicated section on the front page for some of the latest releases. There are 3 handy drop-down menus for ease of browsing each individual category on the top left and the top right contains a deal of the week box. DVDs and CDs even have chart listings further down the right hand side.

They do sell quite a good number of DVDs, Videos and CDs. Just about what you would want, though some older titles do seem to be missing though. DVDs and Videos are region 1 since it is an American / Canadian site and not multi-region or region 2, so unless you have a compatible Video or DVD player they wont work on a UK player.

Tabs along the top allow easy access to each section of the site and even have tabs leading to new releases, Bestsellers, Bargain Basement and Special Offers. The special offers tab flashes away to attract your attention to it, which seems handy in case you prefer to quickly skim the pages.

The specials page though is pointless as all it really is, is a page dedicated to giving various links to part of the bargain basement. Sure it may save some time, but what is really the point? There is sometimes competition links here though, but at time of writing just has the winner of the last one mentioned. The bargain basement though does have to good priced stuff in it, so it’s probably worth a look.

The site is an American site (and I’ve been trying to compare prices with amazon.com for most comparisons) but you can view the sites prices in Australian Dollars, Canadian Dollars, Danish Krone, Euros, UK GBS, Japanese Yen, Norwegian Krone, and Swedish Krona. Compared to Uks amazon.co.uk the prices still seem a bit dearer to me but cant say about the rest of the mentioned places.

The site has free international shipping by 1st class on all DVD and CD orders though. Videos are excluded from this for whatever reason and cost $5 (£3 or something) for 1 video and $1.30 for each extra item. Shame, but hey, who really buys videos anymore?

You never have to look far for help either. There is a handy section on the main page with some of the help sections. But for the more detailed FAQ there is a help link beside the ‘sign in’ and ‘my account’ options.

Overall it’s quite a good site. Free international shipping isn’t easy to come by these days. The only problem is as I’ve said really is its not quite as good as its competitors price wise, but some of the bargain basement stuff is good. I just don’t see why I should pay $28.40 for a DVD I could get at Amazon.com for $18. The site’s no good for me anyway as it is intended for US and Canada only, selling mainly region 1 DVDs and Videos.

Summary: