Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gollywog]

Saw the thread about buying off TV on another queue that shall remain nameless. Cute, but not much use in Korea. I've watched some Korean infomercials, but couldn't tell whether they were good deals.

So, anyone buy anything useful off the Internet in Korea?

For those of you in greater Seoul, Seoul of Asia, finding stuff at a good price isn't so hard, I presume. Or is it?

But when you have nothing but EMartuhs and LotteMartuhs and HomePlusuhs, selection can be limited and prices astronomical, at least compared to the States. Now, this is not always the case, sometimes all of these stores have prices that are the same or sometimes even cheaper than back home.

But the key to maintaining your fiscal sanity seems to be knowing how to shop on the Internet. It's a whole different price universe. And it's a much bigger selection universe.

Gmarket used to have a pretty paltry English section, but it seems to have grown significantly in recent months.

There are other sites, but I haven't used many of them much, except to buy cat food and cat litter.

Here's an example of a good deal from the Korean web:

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=117486247&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=kirkland+coffee

Two pounds of good whole bean coffee for 16kwon is a good deal anywhere, but especially in Korea. Of course, it is even cheaper at Costco. However, a friend got some off the Internet, and I got some from Costco, and I discovered the stuff off the Internet was two months fresher. So don't sneer.

They also have Kirkland espresso (Kirkland is the Costco housebrand):

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=114532537&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=kirkland+coffee

Costco (and Starbucks) tend to roast on the dark side. I haven't tried this espresso. I did get some domestic espresso whole beans. Espresso is good for making iced coffee. It also goes good mixed in with the Kirkland House Blend for a little variety.

Costco, and the net, also has some big cans of ground coffee that I presume are good:

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=111249880&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=kirkland+coffee

The problem is it is too much coffee to use before the ground coffee gets stale. I did, however, recently notice that the DP room of my school actually had a real coffee maker. They might have liked a can, or part of a can.

A little tip to any coffee newbies out there: Stay far, far away from flavored coffee beans, especially Korean flavored coffee -- they use junk coffee beans and spray them with flavoring, usually artificial. The result is generally undrinkable.

As I ground up some fresh coffee beans this morning and looked at my ample supply of coffee beans, I felt rich. This after the shock of seeing bags of coffee at the local mart selling at 100 grams for 5,000 won. You don't have to suffer with instant coffee, folks.

Anyone have some other tips to pass on?

[JJJ]

I joined GMarket and it's very reasonable when compared to a department store or appliance shop. Since my school supplied me with jack squat, I bought a rice cooker for about $30, blender for $25 and a coffee maker for $15. Shipping was sometimes free or between $3-5. There seems to be a lot of cheap things there. I'm thinking of getting the Samsung Y2 MP3 player from there. Cheaper than Yongsan (from what I've seen).

[Young FRANKenstein]

[diver]

[thatwhitegirl]

I really like Gmarket. Their English section is quite big now, and I have gotten some good stuff!
We bought our DVD player for 30K, bedside lamps for 5K, and some clothes and bags. Much cheaper than you can find at Homeplus. We're in a rural area, so it's great to be able to find this stuff.
Also use Hello Costco and Ezshop, and toyamall for pet supplies.

[Gollywog]

thatwhitegirl wrote:

[thatwhitegirl]

Here is the link to the page.
http://global.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=119820010&pos_shop_cd=SH&pos_class_cd=111111111&pos_class_kind=T&keyword_order=dvd+player

We've had it for about 8 months now or so. No problems at all. Nice little DVD player with a USB port too.
The model is TDX 318.

[sistersarah]

I second Gmarket. I surf the Korean gmarket because there are more goods. It's not that hard, and learning to surf gmarket really upped my Korean vocabulary. We got our shelves, desk, desk chair, kitchen island, bedding, digital camera, and a bunch of other stuff from there. All really good deals. Look for "events" while you're surfing.

One thing I don't buy from gmarket anymore is clothing. I got burned a couple of times. You just don't know what you're going to get. I guess you have to be careful about that any time you shop online....

[Cymro]

I'm on GMarket quite a bit, but I do find the English section doesn't offer as many options as the Korean section. I've especially come across problems when having to select the color of a product or other options.

This week I did my first ever online grocery shop! I spent over 100k, got various extra discounts and a 10k voucher to knock the total down. Delivery wasn't free, but still cheaper than public transport or a taxi. That was with Homeplus.co.kr. Fill in the foreigner's registration section, though it's all in Korean, and be sure to type your name exactly as it is on your registration card. I got worried when it was time to pay as my Korean's not great and it appeared to be credit card-only, but I put in my KB check card number and it worked fine.