Play.com to close retail operations

[Samuel_Scott]

Play are ceasing retail operations and will become a marketplace ONLY from March.

Ever since Rakuten took over they have become increasingly poor, almost as bad as Zavvi IMO. Whilst Amazon have taken the hit on the VAT from Jersey in the new laws, Play haven't and say they can no longer compete.

Good riddance I say. From one of the best companies, to one of the worst, just like CD-Wow.

[Jim_Mcdonaugh]

It never shipped anything to my country, so it doesn't really matter to me...

[Nigel_Badnell]

Play are ceasing retail operations and will become a marketplace ONLY from March.

And why would I go to their marketplace? The rot set it long before they had to include
VAT in the cost (like high street shops). I stopped buying well before then.
Whether it's too late for HMV though - the Blue Cross sale starts on Friday, maybe the last time
I purchase in the flesh...

[Jyri_Lehtinen]

I used to buy lots of stuff from Play but it's been a long long time since my latest purchase.
For me the downhill of that place started when they removed the possibility of paying in £ for outside UK purchases and after that the € -> £ currency conversion went to crap; prior to the change of payment options the prices were pretty much identical no matter the selected currency but afterwards the alternative currencies suddenly got much higher than the actual value was in £. Compensation for international postage?

Since then I've only ever shopped there during mega sales or such. I've hardly ever used Play's marketplace because most of the same sellers are also on amazon or ebay and I can usually get the same items cheaper from the latter places, shipping costs included.

I was a regular at both CD-WOW and HMV.com (and other HMV sites) at one time but I have since gone to using mainly other sites. Besides the occasional bargains, I still like HMV's sturdy cardboard dvd mailing boxes tho, really handy instead of envelopes to be re-used when mailing out dvds or blu-rays.

For a seasonal collector of adidas Superstar sneakers, I'm familiar with Rakuten and their infamous rep.. I have ordered several pairs from their Asian site over the years and it was always a pain in the a** to go through with because their customer service was terrible and prices high. What can you do - they were selling lots of exclusives not available elsewhere - except much later on ebay for 5x the retail prices.

I did cringe when I saw Rakuten's logo appeared on Play site.. "damn it!" and finally now it seems to have become properly cringe-worthy.. sort of.

[Samuel_Scott]

Earlier this week HMV went into administration, and now Blockbuster...

Dear Samuel,

As you may be aware, Lee Antony Manning, Matthew David Smith and Neville Barry Kahn of Deloitte LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators of Blockbuster Entertainment Limited and Blockbuster GB Limited ("the Companies") on 16 January 2013.

Whilst we appreciate that this will be unwelcome news, it is the Joint Administrators' intention to continue to trade the business as usual, whilst they assess the options for the business.

As a valued "Blockbuster By Post" subscriber, please be assured that the Blockbuster By Post service will continue to operate as normal.

As a Blockbuster By Post subscriber you can continue to order online and use Blockbuster Top Ticket as part of your subscription service. Blockbuster By Post will continue to dispatch rental discs and add new movies to rent to the Blockbuster By Post service.

In short there should be no impact on your Blockbuster By Post service as a result of the appointment of the Joint Administrators to the Companies.

If you have any questions about the administration process, please do not hesitate to contact the Blockbuster Customer Query Line - 0207 303 0862. Email Address: bbcustomers@deloitte.co.uk

Kind regards

Malachi Simons
Head of Online Commercial
blockbuster.co.uk