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Box closing down.
- Thread starter random_matt
- Start date
Soldato
He went to at least both.
Soldato
I have heard of Box but never used them.
I also never used play.com which also got mentioned in this thread.
Man of Honour
Hadn't realised they were gone; bought a fair few bits off them in the last few years including a lot of flight sim gear which was much cheaper than elsewhere!
Play.com was mega. Can't remember what I used to buy from there, but pretty sure I got BF2 special forces and some computer bits. Shame it got turned into dust.
Man of Honour
I miss Play.com, I bought most of my games (PS2 era) from either Play or Gameplay.com
I used them years ago for DVDs; they were good in the 00s as film releases were still slow/staggered relative to the US and you could just buy the region 1 DVD via play.com when a film was still in the cinemas in the UK. I had 5.1 Pro Logic set up and we'd have movie nights with the latest US movies.
There was also a VAT angle IIRC, Jersey doesn't have VAT and I think for low-value items like DVDs there was nothing further to pay so they'd undercut any UK distributors.
Obvs those edges got eroded a bit, people don't buy DVDs or BluRay as much anymore and film distribution is digital & doesn't need to be staggered, no incentive for region 1 stuff and quicker to release to streaming services too.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Jul 2015
- Posts
- 152
Bought my Clevo gaming laptop from them in 2013, I loved that thing 
Bought my 7800X3D from them on black friday, great price
I'll miss them
Bought my 7800X3D from them on black friday, great price
I'll miss them
I thought they were bought over
British Telecom bought DABS.
Another E-tailer not far from me is owned by the same company as Box (Tactus) and for the last year or so it hardly has any stock at all other than cheaper items and low end stuff which lends me to suspect the whole group of companies is going down
Another E-tailer not far from me is owned by the same company as Box (Tactus) and for the last year or so it hardly has any stock at all other than cheaper items and low end stuff which lends me to suspect the whole group of companies is going down
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Soldato
They were almost as big as Amazon at one point weren't they? I remember buying a lot of games/DVDs from them too.
Associate
Box were great for stuff like NAS and peripherals. I got an amazing deal from them via eBay, like 10% off and double Nectar points
Soldato
They were absolutely huge, then they got bought by Rakuten and it was downhill from there
I worked at ******** for a year, great company but is mainly now focused on corporates and government business.
Then worked at Aria, which was less than six months, the owner has since retired and sold it off.
I had success at both, but in the end neither were for me, I still have friends at ******** and I think all the ex Aria guys are now at OcUK and other similar businesses.
I joined OcUK around 2000/2001, left around 2009ish and was back mid 2010 or start of 2011, in short I've worked for OcUK in every location it has been in over the years.
It is sad in some ways to see a competitor go, but at the same time OcUK goes from strength to strength by focusing on its core markets and USP's without trying to battle head on with Amazon, as you will only ever lose that battle if you try to take it on.
Soldato
Yeah, play used to be amazing for region 1 dvds at great prices. A genuine contender against Amazon back in the early 2000’sThey were absolutely huge, then they got bought by Rakuten and it was downhill from there
I seem to recall there was a tax loophole they used to sell DVD's from the channel islands or similar. The loophole was closed down around the time they put themselves up for sale.
Soldato
Ah yeah, that was it! Channel Islands. Cheers