Author Topic: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds  (Read 19975 times)

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Offline bernietoast

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US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« on: November 12, 2012, 05:50:23 AM »
Hi Everyone,


I was an early adopter of the 3ds I live in Australia but couldn't wait till it came out here so I decided to import from the US and all games I would import too.


This was working great and up until about 3-4 months ago I could even buy games on the eshop with my Australian Credit Card, then it all stopped, I think they introduced some sort of region locking where they did checks on the origin of the Credit Card.


So what was I to do? well I figured the eshop cards were region locked to the system so I needed to get some US 3ds eshop cards, I did from walmart and shipped them to Australia. I figured I wasn't going to order very often so I got $80 worth. They arrived I tried to enter in the first card and I was confronted with error code 005-5838. I tried again then I eventually gave up and tried one of the other cards and the same issue.


Either walmart hasn't activated the cards (in which case im screwed) or there is some sort of IP check that happens when it communicates to add the points to your system.

Has anyone had any similar experience? Any thoughts on what I should do next?

Thanks

Offline Pandareus

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2012, 08:50:46 PM »
eShop cards don't work until activated by the retailer. They have to swipe them in their system, and only then can you use them.

Could Wal-Mart have forgotten that step?

I would contact the retailer before doing anything else. You say you are screwed if that's what happened, but I would think that you could give them the barcodes and they could find out if they scanned them or not.

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2012, 11:14:56 PM »
Thanks for the advice Pandareus, I actually have an update on this. I raised the issue with walmart and they said there was nothing wrong at their end, the cards have been activated and directed me to speak to Nintendo support, which I did and they told me I am getting the error message due to the location I am trying to activate them in.



So now the issue is that the cards simply wont work in Australia due to IP address restriction, I have since tried hooking my 3DS up to a VPN to mask my IP as a US connection and still no success. There must be some other way Nintendo verify's that a user is in the country where the eShop cards were originally purchased. I am kinda out of ideas at this point.

Offline Traveller

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2012, 04:47:20 PM »
Thats terrible.. I am glad I decided against importing an American Wii U for the time being..



Nicholas Bray - Australian Correspondent

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2012, 08:37:59 PM »
Thats terrible.. I am glad I decided against importing an American Wii U for the time being..
Yep this probably effects that too as they use the same eShop. Exactly the reason why I will be waiting for the Aus release of Wii U.

Offline King Bowser Koopa

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2012, 08:44:12 PM »
I'm working on confirming this problem. In the meantime, I googled the error code you got and found a thread on the Nintendo tech support sites. This code has been coming up for people since June last year, even in the states, and is often related to high volumes of traffic. I'll quote one user;

"IF you are going to a screen asking if you would like to add $20 to your  account, your card IS valid. There are traffic issues at the moment,  Nintendo has confirmed this.
If you do not see the $20, your card  is invalid, if you do not believe this, try to change one digit on your  card, you will not see the $20 screen."

Essentially, if you start seeing the next screen mentioning the money amount before you get the error code then it's a server error and it will work. If the code happens before anything loads at all, the card won't work. Keep trying the cards, and please let us know what's happening in the meantime. We would love more details as well, at which step the error happened, etc.
Andrew Brown - NWR Australia Correspondent

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2012, 04:50:19 PM »
Ok ill give you a play by play, I actually read through that forum too and have been trying to get the credit added again and again at different times with no success. Now to the process.


1. Go to eshop select add funds in my account
2. Select eshop prepaid card
3. punch in the card number
4. press next the 3ds does some loading then it brings up the 'Do you want to add $20 to your account?'
5. I press add
6. The 3ds then goes off does some more loading and brings up the error code 005-5838, I can press ok at this stage and it sends me back to step 3 with the code prepopulated.


I have tried the same process but via a US vpn but that hasn't worked either, and then speaking to Nintendo support seemed to confirm it. I might actually try the vpn thing again a couple of times and see how i go.

Offline King Bowser Koopa

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2012, 04:38:30 AM »
I can now confirm that it's simply a server issue.
I was able to instantly add $20 from a brand new eShop card bought in USA today. I tried downloading a game and it got halfway until an error occurred. I'd say the US server is still swamped with traffic as people update their wii U consoles, and the fact that we're in Australia doesn't help the lag.
Andrew Brown - NWR Australia Correspondent

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2012, 02:56:13 AM »
I can now confirm that it's simply a server issue.
I was able to instantly add $20 from a brand new eShop card bought in USA today. I tried downloading a game and it got halfway until an error occurred. I'd say the US server is still swamped with traffic as people update their wii U consoles, and the fact that we're in Australia doesn't help the lag.
Whoah! ok thanks for the info, did you have to connect via a vpn or anything like that? or did you just connect to the internet as per normal and add the eShop card to your funds?

Offline King Bowser Koopa

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2012, 03:56:17 AM »
Nope, just used the same old connection I always do.
I managed to download Pokédex 3D Pro in the second attempt, and I had it set to "download later" while the 3DS was sleeping in the charger for 20 minutes.

Where in Australia do you live? It could be an IP slowdown in your area, or you may need to reset the router if the wifi signal is messing up for you.
Andrew Brown - NWR Australia Correspondent

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2012, 04:53:42 AM »
Thanks for the quick reply, Ok that's strange I just tried connection to my normal telstra cable internet connection (ie no vpn) and tried to use one of the codes tried about 20 times in succession and it gets to the add funds bit then after about 5 seconds it gives me the error.

Just checking you have a US 3ds, what region settings do you have your 3ds set to?

I have mine set to United States without a state specified.


I'm in Sydney, I don't know of any other internet services that are effected.

Offline King Bowser Koopa

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2012, 06:36:35 AM »
Yeah, my 3DS is US region - otherwise the card wouldn't work at all.

I have my system set to New York, cause it's a cool state/city I guess? Did you try resetting your router (disconnecting the cable, waiting around 30 seconds, plugging it back in)? You might need to specify a state now, since it uses the location to determine how much GST is charged per purchase.
Andrew Brown - NWR Australia Correspondent

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2012, 10:25:43 PM »
Yes I just tried resetting the modem and I also changed my state/city to new york/new york so exactly the same as your set up. Tried a couple of different times and cards and same issue.

I called Nintendo of Australia just to get some information and based on what the rep told me.


* There is no IP blocking on eShop cards or anything like that, as long as the Card, the System and the Region is all the same then it should work regardless of where in the world you are accessing the internet.
* The main issue they see most often is when they are not activated at a store level.


She suggested I try calling the US support line and they can tell me whether they have been activated or not. I may try tomorrow if I am not too busy playing Wii U.

Thanks for your help King Bowser Koopa!

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #13 on: December 20, 2012, 01:34:58 AM »
Just an update on this, I ended up calling Nintendo USA and explained the situation and one of the reps was really helpful, on the phone via skype for about 40mins, and he found that each of the cards had not been activated. Yay Walmart, so because I am in Australia he understood I couldn't simply return the cards.


Basically they have escalated the issue to the admin team who have now emailed me with a reference number to call back to sort the issue. Will call back tomorrow and hopefully will have an idea of what I am to do next.

I am hoping they just need some sort of proof I made the purchase, ie receipt or invoice number and then they can add the credit to my account or they can manually activate the cards from their end. Will let you know what happens.

Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2012, 05:29:11 PM »
Resolution!!! Finally and I couldn't be happier  ;D


So the admin team contacted me via email and asked for scans of the cards, proof of purchase and serial number of my 3ds. After 2 business days I received an email stating that the $80 has been added to my eShop account and sure enough it had been. Merry Christmas to me, I can finally start purchasing items off the eShop again. Yay!


Offline King Bowser Koopa

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #15 on: December 24, 2012, 04:03:43 AM »
Great to know it's working again. Next time Walmart directly lies to you about the cards being activated, question them about it and ask them to be doubly sure and possibly supply proof of the fact.

Now you can get Shantae, the best reason anyone could have access to the US eShop!
Andrew Brown - NWR Australia Correspondent

Offline MegaByte

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #16 on: December 24, 2012, 05:42:33 PM »
That's awesome that they resolved that despite the fact that the cards specifically say "Valid for use in the United States only."
Aaron Kaluszka
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Offline bernietoast

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Re: US eShop Card in Australia on US 3ds
« Reply #17 on: December 29, 2012, 06:15:51 PM »
That's awesome that they resolved that despite the fact that the cards specifically say "Valid for use in the United States only."
Definitely I was kinda surprised they didn't just point that out and send me on my way, but glad they did in the end.