Buying a Playstation as a gift to an american friend

[Hellfury]

How/where would I go about doing this from Europe? Amazons systems doesn't quite grasp the "I want the US edition to ship to an american!" part.

In essence, i want to buy an american PS4 Pro, have it shipped to an american address from an american company with me not being an american paying for it as a gift with my unamerican (well, Mastercard is american I guess) credit card.

Any recommended serious retainers that ship across the country that would accept international CCs?

Are Best Buy / Gamestop reliable `?

Halp!

(edit: I just realised how ridicilously shady that sounds, but it's a very ooold good friends round anniversary coming up!)

[DrClout]

Not really. If you have Amazon, is it possible for you to access the US version and not the EU version of the website. That would probably require you to log in as a guest to complete the transaction but it is an option. Can also try using a VPN to the states and accessing that way.

A good portion of my CD Keys that I buy come from the EU and I get around the blocks via VPN. Give them a shot.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Hellfury]

I hadn't even thought about the VPN part, I logged in from an US IP address now. The image of the power plug still shows the European contacts though (2x plugs, as opposed to the 3x the US uses. Does it to that for US users as well and is just generic stock image or is "amazon" too smart?
I've VPNed in and have a private browsing session and am not logged in and it suggests delivery to blackstock, wherever the hell that is.

This is why I hate "smart simple solutions", when what you want doesn't fit their idea of what you should want, you get stuck xD I miss the old days of tweaking things up and down and sideways. My first smartphone was in 1998 or something, thick brick Nokia communicator, could do anything (for its time), but I digress.

[DrClout]

Not sure if you'll be able to see this Tapatalk linked picture but that's of a Playstation 4 Pro 1TB off my Amazon from New York. 2 prong power cord seems accurate.

For full disclosure, I haven't owned a playstation since 2

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[synistar]

I think a workaround solution is figure out how much the PS4 will cost on Amazon.com, purchase an Amazon.com (Not Amazon.co.uk!) gift card for that amount and send it to your friend's email. They redeem it and buy it themself.

[Sonomaa]

Ive bought things on amazon.co.uk for people there with my standard amazon account, I have to input everything but its the easiest and safest way

[Hellfury]

Not sure if you'll be able to see this Tapatalk linked picture but that's of a Playstation 4 Pro 1TB off my Amazon from New York. 2 prong power cord seems accurate.

For full disclosure, I haven't owned a playstation since 2

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Yeah that's the same image I see, guess they don't differentiate, thanks

I think a workaround solution is figure out how much the PS4 will cost on Amazon.com, purchase an Amazon.com (Not Amazon.co.uk!) gift card for that amount and send it to your friend's email. They redeem it and buy it themself.

This does seem like the most elegant insurance :D

Ive bought things on amazon.co.uk for people there with my standard amazon account, I have to input everything but its the easiest and safest way

Yeah, I'm rather partial to going the amazon route, just wanted to make sure I didn't send them a EU/PAL version with the wrong power set-up. Why do you guys need to be so different!

[Niya]

Well, even if it comes with the "wrong" cord, that's not a big deal since pretty much all PSUs nowadays are wide range and accept anything between 100 and 240v. So the worst that could happen would be that your friend would have to get a cord with the correct plug. But it would be strange for amazon.com to ship an US PS4 with a european plug...

[Hellfury]

Well, even if it comes with the "wrong" cord, that's not a big deal since pretty much all PSUs nowadays are wide range and accept anything between 100 and 240v. So the worst that could happen would be that your friend would have to get a cord with the correct plug. But it would be strange for amazon.com to ship an US PS4 with a european plug...

oh I was unaware that the PS4 PSUs were that tolerant, that's good to know. It would be pretty weird, I was just nervous about that image and not knowiing what "intelligence" Amazon had in the background. In the age of "It just works, don't think about it" (it doesn't), wanting something off script is a bit hazardous!

[synistar]

I think as long as you buy it from the Amazon.com domain it should all be US shipping. I don't even think you can get an PAL PS4 pro from the US or Canada sites. Not like it matters. Games are not region locked. The only issue of having a PAL PS4 pro in NTSC region is Blu-Ray video media would be unreadable.

[Hellfury]

I think as long as you buy it from the Amazon.com domain it should all be US shipping. I don't even think you can get an PAL PS4 pro from the US or Canada sites. Not like it matters. Games are not region locked. The only issue of having a PAL PS4 pro in NTSC region is Blu-Ray video media would be unreadable.

I am ooold, PAL / NTSC, differences in power systems, all that jazz is fresh in memory like yesterday :D

[Hellfury]

Holy mother of !"¤#% this turned into a shitshow. Amazon locked my friends account due to it having a CC from another country, they want a cc statement and information via FAX. who the fuck has a fax machine these days? I haven't seen one in 20+ years. What is this, the dark ages?
We determined definitively that amazon checks for account type when displaying merchandise (my account won't show playstation cash cards etc. even when VPNed in).
Best Buy and Walmart aren't all that big on accounts made by foreigners either, same with NewEgg demanding billing and shipping address being in the same countries. I get antifraud but bloody...

Living so close to the EU in an economy where most everything is solved digitally and you're part of the target market makes you forget what a hassle it is when you don't fit the solution they make for such things. Amazon said they could delete the account and we could make a new one and do the gift card thing, so will try that, but holy fuck what a shitshow, they locked me out as well, so I had to call amazon US from Norway to sort that mess out and had 6+ chat sessions with them by now. Mother f....

/angrynerdrant