 play.com (a trading name of rakuten ichiba uk ltd.) is a cambridge-based online retailer of dvds, music, musical instruments, video games, books, clothing, sports & outdoors, technology & office, home & garden, health & beauty, toys & gifts and baby products. in april 2014 play.com introduced four new categories - hobbies & craft, motoring, pets and groceries, as well as multiple sub-categories including vinyl, luggage, jewellery, watches and footwear. it is a wholly owned subsidiary of rakuten. founded in 1998, play.com was one of the first online retailers to target the uk. today play.com has over 17 million registered customer accounts. in 2012 it was voted the uk's best entertainment retailer in verdict's customer satisfaction awards. after changes to the rules of low-value consignment relief in april 2012, which had previously exempted the company's sales from certain taxes, it was announced that play.com would be closing its direct retail business in march 2013. since then, the website has operated as part of the global rakuten family as a marketplace for third party sellers to sell through. the play.com website is due to be replaced by rakuten.co.uk in march 2015. ==history== play.com was founded in 1998 under the name play247.com, but rebranded as play.com in 2000. play.com originally sold region 1 and 2 dvds only, but has since expanded its range to include cds and video games and other electronic items. since 2004 it has sold books and electronics, in 2006 it started selling [[personal co
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