Korean Job Discussion Forums

[James Duffy]

Hi all,

For the past few months I've been working for a Korean startup that offers a "buy it for me" service for Koreans to order directly from US merchants without paying the markup charged by Korean importers. After working here a while and seeing how cheap the shipping rates we get are, I thought the foreigner community in Korea might be interested in using the service as well.

Basically we order the product to a package forwarding company in the US, who then reships the package to Korea. Since they ship in bulk, shipping ends up being much cheaper ($10 - $15 for most products) and faster (usually 1-2 weeks) than if you had shipped directly from the merchant. It also allows you to order from stores who don't offer international shipping, since the product is simply being ordered to a domestic US address.

Personally I never knew these shipping companies existed before working here. You can use the shipping companies directly yourself (the one we're currently using is called ohmyzip), our service would just save you the effort of needing to place a separate order with the shipping company and fill out extra forms. Basically just tell us the product you want, we'll put together a final quote that includes shipping & customs charges, place the order for you, and set up all the arrangements to have the product delivered to your door. (We don't charge commission to customers – we earn our commissions on the merchant side).

Anyway just trying to get a rough idea if there's enough interest from the foreigner community to see if it's worthwhile to build an English version of our service. Do you all order products from the US? Is this something you would be interested in? Happy to answer any questions as well. Thanks!

[SeoulNate]

Never thought ordering online was the problem as Amazon has practically everything, and ships internationally for dirt cheap.

The REAL problem is customs. Order anything over 150,000 won (which includes shipping) gets you tagged with a 18-26% (on most stuff) import tax which KILLS the value of ordering online anyway since most everything is available here, but at a higher price.

I highly doubt many people would be interested in this kind of service unless you are trying to find some way to get around the import tax (illegal).

[Savant]

My girlfriend and I use a New Jersey based shipping company to ship purchases from the US to Korea.

How do you make commission on Amazon sellers or Amazon for that matter? Do you have agreements in place with some/all of them that you would get commission based on how many customers you bring to them?

Surely, you would only make money by marking up prices just like that Costco website does? You pay them more than standard, they fulfil your order and deliver it to you directly.

[James Duffy]

@Savant Most merchants have what's called an affiliate program. If you, as an affiliate, refer someone to their site who makes a purchase, they'll pay you a percentage of the order. So we don't mark up the product price; our only commission comes from the merchant end.

@SeoulNate Yep, no way around customs fees. It actually depends on the product category – shoes and apparel for example I believe the cap is W200,000. Most of the orders we've seen fall under the customs limit, but in some cases for larger orders, even with the customs duties it still comes out to be cheaper than what you'd pay in Korea.

Anyway if shipping isn't an issue for you guys, then you don't really have a use for our service. That's why I figured I'd test the waters before taking the time to set up an English version.

However, I posted this same message on Waygook, and there seems to be quite a bit of interest there, so we probably will go ahead and develop this. So if anyone here is interested, you can contact me at [email protected] and I'll let you know when it rolls out, or just leave a comment here and I'll check in periodically.

[optik404]

If I have anything expensive sent to me, I ship it to my parents first and they take it to a shipper in Korea town and they fudge the paperwork so it looks like it's been used and they write everything in Korean on the shipping label. Never got hit with a customs fee. Around 30 packages probably so far.

[AsiaESLbound]

The thing is when you try to buy new clothing and electronics and other items on Amazon or another retailer, a web page says in red writing that these items can't be shipped to the address. I was trying to buy new clothes off of Amazon last night in the US and the UK to find it's impossible. None of the other major retailers such as Macy's, Wal-mart, or anything also won't export to another country making a need for a middle man be it your parents, a friend, or a service like the OP is advertising. This is why I was asking iherb.com to offer, "request an item," service because they are in LA where it's all for sale, but they didn't respond. I didn't know such services like this existed.

What's the name of the company?

[James Duffy]

@AsiaESLbound Right, I also find that Amazon.com won't ship most products to Korea. In the past I always ordered things to my parents house and had them forward it, but even then the shipping is cheaper using these Korean package forwarding companies than any of the major carriers.

Our company is incorporated in both the US and in Korea (LUUV.IT Inc and Casual Steps Inc, respectively). Our site is www.luuv.it if you want to check it out, but not much to see as it's only in Korean at the moment. Will post an update when we get an English version live.

[alongway]

There are tons of reshipping companies out there. Most of them offer huge savings over the normal amazon shipping prices and no worries about items that "can't" be shipped to korea.

[Weigookin74]

My how times have been changed. Use to be nothing would get shipped here and local products were either crap or non existent. This was 2008ish. I remembered wanting to find a product and couldn't find anything. So frustrating. An ex Korean girlfirend turned me on to G Market. It was better than other things, but not what it is now.

I remembered how excited I felt when LL Bean agreed to ship me some warm winter boots. Then 2 or 3 years later Amazon finally got into the game. A reship service also helps. I have US relatives so I use that option occasionally or go without.

But, it's cool to know the service exists. Thanks for giving folks here a heads up.

[Weigookin74]

[James Duffy]

Quick update here. We're in the process of building an automated purchase robot that will complete the product purchase and set up the shipping forwarding service for you in one click, pay once, no headaches.

We've set up a quick site to explain more about the service for those interested. You can also opt in here to get on our beta list for when the service rolls out:

http://en.luuv.it/

[Savant]

Two further questions:

1) Can orders be placed with non-Korean cards? I don't have a Korean credit card and my Korean debit card requires me to go through several tedious hoops when using it on Korean websites.

2) Are credit/debit card details automatically stored on your company's servers? I noticed on the demo that after choosing an Amazon product to order the next box seems to have the card details already stored and ready to click confirm purchase? Is there an option to manually input all card details before placing an order?

[hubbahubba]

Just a question. But, how is Korea getting away with this "significant" 18 to whatever percent import tax if we have an FTA thingy going on. Never mind, i think i just answered my own question....only for companies (which allows the "massive' add on charge companies insert here for the consumer) never mind. As long as Koreans put up with this fallacy/ego boost that foreign goods are "expensive"...it will continue

[alongway]

[James Duffy]