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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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 Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Deja wrote: |
I think it is the sellers figuring it's not worth the hassle to support some countries. Italy is a good example of a developed and G7 country, where many sellers will not ship at all.
I cannot get a notable number of items from US Amazon to Germany even. That one I can't figure other than the shipping being too high or cumbersome, or, as you said, some quiet restrictions being in place. |
Isn't there a German Amazon, Amazon.de? I know there's a UK one |
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Chaparrastique
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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| AsiaESLbound wrote: |
| There are some sort of trade restrictions quietly going into place. Increasingly on Amazon, it says in red, "We're sorry, the items in your basket can't be shipped to that address. Please change the address or delete the item from your cart." . |
That was always the case for electrical items.
But surely not..books? |
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Unposter
Joined: 04 Jun 2006
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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Correct me if I am wrong but if memory serves me right the bill to close down large discount stores had parts of the bill found unconstitutional. Afterward, the Seoul city government met with the heads of the large discount stores and reached a voluntary agreement, which is in operation now, closing the second and fourth Sunday of every month.
As for the current bill, I could see something where overseas online purchases will be assessed tariffs. Probably, online shopping has a comparative advantage in that the same taxes are not being applied and domestic businesses are pointing out the unfairness of it.
Not that I am for that. Personally, I would like to see the Internet as "free" as possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like that occurred. |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| This law isn't designed to stop individual purchasers. Not too many people are spending over 5 grand a month on overseas online purchases. The proposed law is going after re-sellers and drop shippers such as those on the 11th street website. They must use their own credit cards initially to buy the items before being sent to Korea. If this passes this will destroy their business models. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| radcon wrote: |
| This law isn't designed to stop individual purchasers. Not too many people are spending over 5 grand a month on overseas online purchases. The proposed law is going after re-sellers and drop shippers such as those on the 11th street website. They must use their own credit cards initially to buy the items before being sent to Korea. If this passes this will destroy their business models. |
That makes sense. That would shut down those online Ikea stores, for instance. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
Correct me if I am wrong but if memory serves me right the bill to close down large discount stores had parts of the bill found unconstitutional. Afterward, the Seoul city government met with the heads of the large discount stores and reached a voluntary agreement, which is in operation now, closing the second and fourth Sunday of every month.
As for the current bill, I could see something where overseas online purchases will be assessed tariffs. Probably, online shopping has a comparative advantage in that the same taxes are not being applied and domestic businesses are pointing out the unfairness of it.
Not that I am for that. Personally, I would like to see the Internet as "free" as possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if something like that occurred. |
They're already charging tax on anything over 150,000 won so that's not much of an argument. |
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nicwr2002
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:25 am Post subject: |
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| Deja wrote: |
| nicwr2002 wrote: |
| The 2.3L milk is 5,500 when it is not on sale while 3.75L is only around 3,200 in the States. |
That is not even remotely comparable. (the actual milk). It's like comparing an orange in Siberia and Greece - I'll take the Greek one even any time, even if it's 10x more expensive.
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| I have to use a VPN just to pay my Target credit card because the government blocks access to the site. |
Which site do they block??? |
The point is everything in Korea is at least 2x higher than the States. Target is the name of a retail store in the States. Try going target . com and see what happens. |
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wishfullthinkng
Joined: 05 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:14 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| What headphones would you recommend then? |
as previously stated, beats by dre suck. they suck hard.
if you want good headphones look at sennheiser, beyerdynamics, shure, audiotechnica, ultimate ears and akg.
avoid anything made by companies like monster (beats former parent company), beats itself, bose, britz, etc. all utter crap.
as for the person who was complaining about the chaebol trying to screw them over, it's not the chaebol. point your finger at the greedy middle men who's business it is to buy things wholesale and mark it up a few hundred times the cost. |
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radcon
Joined: 23 May 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:48 am Post subject: |
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| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
as for the person who was complaining about the chaebol trying to screw them over, it's not the chaebol. point your finger at the greedy middle men who's business it is to buy things wholesale and mark it up a few hundred times the cost. |
Im in Korea and I want to buy a Ralph Lauren polo shirt. I go to Hyundai Department store (chaebol), Shinsegae Dept store (chaebol) and Lotte Dept store(chaebol). Now I want a tv. I go to the Samsung electronics store and the LG electronics store and Hi Mart (owned by Lotte). Prices are very high at all of these places.
Last Christmas season the amount of tvs bought in the US and shipped to Korea was crazy. Now Samsung says they will cancel their world wide warranty to punish those Koreans who bought their tvs in the US. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| radcon wrote: |
| wishfullthinkng wrote: |
as for the person who was complaining about the chaebol trying to screw them over, it's not the chaebol. point your finger at the greedy middle men who's business it is to buy things wholesale and mark it up a few hundred times the cost. |
Im in Korea and I want to buy a Ralph Lauren polo shirt. I go to Hyundai Department store (chaebol), Shinsegae Dept store (chaebol) and Lotte Dept store(chaebol). Now I want a tv. I go to the Samsung electronics store and the LG electronics store and Hi Mart (owned by Lotte). Prices are very high at all of these places.
Last Christmas season the amount of tvs bought in the US and shipped to Korea was crazy. Now Samsung says they will cancel their world wide warranty to punish those Koreans who bought their tvs in the US. |
What's worse is that that Ralph Lauren shirt is manufactured by a Korean company in a Chinese factory under license. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:15 am Post subject: |
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| radcon wrote: |
| Now Samsung says they will cancel their world wide warranty to punish those Koreans who bought their tvs in the US. |
That's funny. I wonder what their average failure rate for a TV is... But I guess Koreans would call in for service for a slight scratch on their TV.
I've never had to use the warranty for any TV I've bought, since TV's generally are pretty stable products and do last their advertise times. Unfortunately it isn't the 20+years of those CRT's (still have one going at my folks place). But 10 years is good enough for me. |
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Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:13 am Post subject: |
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| Unposter wrote: |
| As for the current bill, I could see something where overseas online purchases will be assessed tariffs. Probably, online shopping has a comparative advantage in that the same taxes are not being applied and domestic businesses are pointing out the unfairness of it. |
Quite untrue. The businesses pay a low FTA-negotiated customs. They pay VAT, but everyone pays VAT, unless they order reeealy small things (or are foreigners, who are just ignored by the customs, so as to avoid using English  ). When I import via online orders, I am hit with a full customs fee, not FTA one.
| nicwr2002 wrote: |
| [quote=Deja]Which site do they block??? |
The point is everything in Korea is at least 2x higher than the States. Target is the name of a retail store in the States. Try going target . com and see what happens.[/quote]
I did, and as I said, I can reach the checkout part. I did not try to go further, as I don't have anywhere to ship it to the US 
You cannot reach target.com from KO? |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| radcon wrote: |
| Now Samsung says they will cancel their world wide warranty to punish those Koreans who bought their tvs in the US. |
That's funny. I wonder what their average failure rate for a TV is... But I guess Koreans would call in for service for a slight scratch on their TV.
I've never had to use the warranty for any TV I've bought, since TV's generally are pretty stable products and do last their advertise times. Unfortunately it isn't the 20+years of those CRT's (still have one going at my folks place). But 10 years is good enough for me. |
I've got a Samsung and twice have had to have it serviced. Both time they replaced a board in it.
One way Samsung gets away with high prices in Korea is its vaunted after-service. But what consumers don't realize is Samsung doesn't have to pay strict attention to QC because they've already built the repairs into the price of the TV or computer. |
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liveinkorea316
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:01 am Post subject: |
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| Actually this law would not be against the FTA or any international agreements on trade. By importing products directly online Koreans can avoid significant taxes such as customs and tariffs and sales taxes which are all legal and in accordance with international norms. Many other countries such as the USA are struggling with how to deal with overseas purchases because of tge same reason that they are not taxed. |
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Deja
Joined: 18 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 9:48 am Post subject: |
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| atwood wrote: |
| Isn't there a German Amazon, Amazon.de? I know there's a UK one |
There is, but I was trying to make a point. If you can't get something shipped from US to Germany, what chances do less organized and wealthy countries have?
| liveinkorea316 wrote: |
| By importing products directly online Koreans can avoid significant taxes such as customs and tariffs and sales taxes which are all legal and in accordance with international norms. |
How are you avoiding customs ans sales taxes as an individual? Whenever I ordered something bigger, I was usually slapped with 10% customs, and VAT. From the US, for US goods. As a company, I can import those items with 0-1% customs.
I don't get it. |
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