Anyone know a cheaper way to get things from JPY PSN?

[Koji]

When I found out I couldn't simply use my US credit card to get games from the Japanese PSN I was incredibly disappointed. My bank charges a 1% currency change rate for foreign transactions so the increase in price would have been minimal. I can understand though, Sony wouldn't want to make it TOO easy as they still have to protect their licensing companies, etc...

So I looked at various "buy japanese PSN cards online" sites (play-asia, ncsx, japan-codes, etc) and the best of those was a whopping 34% premium over the actual conversion rate. I'd easily pay 10 or even 20%, but a 35% or higher premium is crazy for a purely digital item (code sent online, so no shipping or anything crazy like that). Anyone got or have heard of any better alternative?

[malin]

what about ebay? you will probably still pay over the odds but maybe not to the extent of play-asia or similar.

Alternatively, maybe a prepaid international credit card? I don't know a lot about them bar the fact that they exist.

[hammer_420]

you could try the eur psn store ,i hear the game your looking for is there as well

[Koji]

you could try the eur psn store ,i hear the game your looking for is there as well

Indeed one of them are, unfortunately there are a lot of other games I want that are only on the Japanese store. Curse Japan for it's large amount of rpgs!

[hammer_420]

i hear ya. i'm a big rpg fan myself, cant wait for ffx and warriors lair to release
well warriors lair is more of a hack and slash but i still cant wait for it

[tonyflakes]

cardcodesDOTcom has the 5000yen for $79USD.
Probably the cheapest you can get.

[Koji]

cardcodesDOTcom has the 5000yen for $79USD.
Probably the cheapest you can get.

5000 yen = 60.72 USD (current exchange rate) still puts that at a 30% premium. It is at least a little better

[homesickalien]

I usually buy from www.japan-codes.com
Not exactly cheap but they usually deliver within 30mins by email and they are very nice.
You can check out their facebook page to verify their legitimacy www.facebook.com/japan.codes.store
1000 yen = 16.49
3000 yen = 46.49
5000 yen = 78.99
10000 yen = 155.99

[Kagero]

Relatives and friends is the cheapest. Worked at a Japanese company for a while, every time someone went on a business trip, there were requests for PSN cards.