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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Celestial Gold
Joined: 18 Oct 2006
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 Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:57 am Post subject: |
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Sapporo and Asahi beers, I forget how much exactly but they are a lot.
I can understand European imports costing a fair bit, but they only have to bring them from Japan ffs.... |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:00 am Post subject: |
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| antoniothegreat wrote: |
levi's jeans: here they are 200,000won, back home they are 50,000won
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200,000 for a pair of jeans? That's insane. I'm pretty sure you can get the same pair at Namdaemun market for around 60,000. (It was under 60,000 last time I bought them there, but that was long ago.) Recently I bought "Denim Brand" jeans for under 20,000 in some dept. store.. They seem almost as good as your average pair of Levi's. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: |
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| rothkowitz wrote: |
Colombia running socks.
45.000 won
In 2000.
Yes I asked them to check. |
Oh man that's even worse than the jeans.
I think some pizzas are overpriced. They're not imported but just because it's dominoes or pizza hut does not mean one should pay 20,000 won for one large pizza. I bought a Domino's recently for the students and me: 21,000 won, 1100 won of that was for the pepsi, not even free, the jerks. Papa John's is cheaper, around 15,000 won for a better pizza, but that chain is a bit scarcer. I've seen it only in Seoul and Bundang.
How about a half-decent can of soup like Chunky's, if you can manage to find one... 4500 or 5000 won is not reasonable, 3000 won or less is more like it should be.
On the other hand, some imported stuff can be had cheap, so it isn't all bad. I got a bottle of aspirin, 300 tablets, for 5000 won. I would have paid 10,000 for sure. If you find an "Asia Mart" some good curry can be had for under 1000 won, and Tsingtao beer is better and cheaper than the local Korean stuff. |
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charlieDD
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="mack the knife"]Koreans have no idea what foreign items should cost, so distributors feel free to charge whatever ridiculous price comes to mind. They call this a "luxury" tax. Since when has parmesan cheese been a luxury? Or Starbucks coffee? quote]
Case in point: Estee Lauder cosmetics are about twice the price you can get them for in Hong Kong, Thailand or Singapore - - (in the department stores, not duty free; even cheaper duty free in the airport, of course. BTW, the duty free price of stuff in the Incheon airport is at 50% higher than the duty free price in the above mentioned cities; still a rip even at Korea's "duty free" prices.)
I use a couple of creams from Estee. I used to go to their website and place an order, have it shipped to a friend in the states, who would ship it to me - - and I would still come out saving $70 or $80.
Well, now . . . Estee Lauder's U.S. website will let you see the products if you are in Korea, but it won't show the prices and you can't order from Korea. (Somehow the site can detect you are accessing from a Korean location.) Have to have my friend do it all from the states. Sounds to me that Estee Lauder in Korea asked Estee Lauder to hide the prices so they could continue to rip off the Korean customers here without the smarter ones finding out they are being ripped off that much by going to the website! |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:16 pm Post subject: |
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| mack the knife wrote: |
All of your examples are good, but they're nothing compared to the mark-up on imported vehicles (above and beyond the unreasonable tariff imposed by the government, mind you). Yes, yes. I know. Who's buying import cars...
Shame on you, Korea. |
Actually what is the markup like? I see a lot of imported cars around, even some right hand cars from Japan (which would probably cost even more to bring in). I would think imported cars would be less taxed because there are no conversions involved. |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Korea is a great place to be rich and to own property. The tiny income tax serves these interests perfectly, consumption taxes on wine, cheese, imported goods don't hurt the truly rich. The little guy, though, he suffers hard for this. W36,000 for a pound of coffee ($10 Cdn. here), W3,500 for a can of Guinness ($2.00 Cdn. here), everything. This of course helps to reinforce Korean feelings of foreign persecution and the idea that foreign foods, cars, wine are overpriced and evil. So it goes. The rich man jacks the price up, the average Korean suffers and blames the foreigners while the chaebol bosses laugh and send their kids to Harvard. |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Actually what is the markup like? I see a lot of imported cars around, even some right hand cars from Japan (which would probably cost even more to bring in). I would think imported cars would be less taxed because there are no conversions involved. |
It's a 50% duty right off the boat for imported cars. Lowering this would infuriate Hyundai. That's why the US FTA is crashing. Koreans want access to the American market but are unwilling to make any concessions to anyone else. Hypocrisy dressed up as patriotism and the suckers put on their headbands and demonstrate as usual. Whine that they are being exploited by foreigners when they are truly being exploited by their own masters. |
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rocklee
Joined: 04 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Holy crap that's almost as bad as some SE Asian countries! Their markup is something like 50-150%! |
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mishlert
Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Location: On the 3rd rock from the sun
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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As others have already sad, get your arses to Costco.
Starbucks Espresso coffee beans: 13,000 for 1 kg.
2 bags of granola: 15,000
Most imported beers cost from 2,200 to 2,500.
Etc. |
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three-legged dog
Joined: 28 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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Ah, Dev...scratch...scratch...scratch.
Why are you starting from the position that these goods should be cheap? Cham-i-seul in NYC is $12-16 a bottle at dinner. In what country are goods from far away lands offered at cost? 
Schmuckaliscious.
Now do get your schtick tuned up, hey? |
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Cerebroden
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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| this thread makes me look at my military I.d. and smile Gotta love the comissary |
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markhan
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Pyongshin Sangja wrote: |
| Korea is a great place to be rich and to own property. The tiny income tax serves these interests perfectly, consumption taxes on wine, cheese, imported goods don't hurt the truly rich. The little guy, though, he suffers hard for this. W36,000 for a pound of coffee ($10 Cdn. here), W3,500 for a can of Guinness ($2.00 Cdn. here), everything. This of course helps to reinforce Korean feelings of foreign persecution and the idea that foreign foods, cars, wine are overpriced and evil. So it goes. The rich man jacks the price up, the average Korean suffers and blames the foreigners while the chaebol bosses laugh and send their kids to Harvard. |
Your argument, I will be blunt here, is truly laughable. Just ask yourself. What average Koreans care for the "wine, cheese, imported goods"?
Do typical Americans care for "soju, kimchi, imported good"?
Its an argument so typical of foreigners who are blinded by their own preferences and prejudices. They assume that because they have to pay premium money for the imported goods (their home brands) in Korea and suffer for it, they automatically assume that average Koreans also suffer from these high-priced goods.
It would be like Korean who is traveling in the State and is shocked by the $15 Tofu soup that only costs $5 in Korea and feeling sorry for Americans who have to pay such ripped off amount.
Are you somewhat related to that person who made that "Loose Change"? |
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europe2seoul
Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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I heard car import tax is about 178% with all stuff you gotta pay but I may be wrong.
However, dealerships are also inflating prices to increase their profits obviously but also to create a large gap between imported car and korean car prices. In that way, an import car can be and is considered a status symbol because only rich people can buy it which shows something to their neighbours, colleagues or girls their Jr is trying to impress to get in their panties.
Idea is not to make it possible for a recent college graduate to buy a BMW, MB, Lexus while sharing an apartment with roomates which is what often happens in USA. Because then richer people will loose status symbol only they can have.
Thus prices are inflated and dealerships love it as well. Win-win. |
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hepcat
Joined: 07 Mar 2005
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| jajdude wrote: |
| antoniothegreat wrote: |
levi's jeans: here they are 200,000won, back home they are 50,000won
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200,000 for a pair of jeans? That's insane. I'm pretty sure you can get the same pair at Namdaemun market for around 60,000. (It was under 60,000 last time I bought them there, but that was long ago.) Recently I bought "Denim Brand" jeans for under 20,000 in some dept. store.. They seem almost as good as your average pair of Levi's. |
Actually, 42,000 won for levis at Namdaemun (on that lane where the army clothes are sold.) I bought 2 pairs a month ago, and on the 2nd pair I got a deal (well, 2,000 less).
They appear to be genuine, as far as I can tell. |
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europe2seoul
Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Location: Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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| hepcat wrote: |
Actually, 42,000 won for levis at Namdaemun (on that lane where the army clothes are sold.) I bought 2 pairs a month ago, and on the 2nd pair I got a deal (well, 2,000 less).
They appear to be genuine, as far as I can tell. |
Do they have foreign sizes?
I am in desperate need of new clothes (men's) and wherever I go - it looks good but there is not my size....I ain't fat just larger than Korean man, by height, frame and even weight.
In Itaewon its all hip-hop or some freaky style.
Where do you guys shop for clothes to be like Banana Republic, Kenneth Cole, DKNY ? Something you can wear for work and later for a date?
Any info is appreciated! |
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