Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marlow]

I need some books that aren't available from Whatthebook. I want to order them from Amazon.com to Korea. I browsed their site, and it appears I can order by credit card and pay about 4.99 per book for shipping. Are there any catches?

Will I be strapped with any strange fees? Basically I don't mind paying up to twice the actual cost of the book for shipping, but I don't want any surprises such as some bizarre import duty or super expensive shipping. I really want the books, see?

As well, I don't want to have to go to customs or anything to get the books. I assume it will come to my address, yes?

Anyone have any problems with Amazon?

I guess the last thing is their method. I know next to nothing about Amazon, but they seem to be able to get books from many sources. When the book is gotten from some obscure place, am I doing the financial transaction with Amazon or the third party?

I figure this forum is the best place for this, as I wouldn't have these questions unless I was "living" in Korea. Also, excuse my apparent stupidity about Amazon, however, their site has basically answered my questions, but I would rather hear some confirmation from an unbiased source.

[4 months left]

I've ordered twice and had no problems.

[Boodleheimer]

if it's over a certain amount, you may have to pay duties. unless, of course, it's MARKED AS A GIFT. wink.

[Woland]

If it's only books, it should be duty free, whatever the price. I used to order hundreds of dollars worth of books from Daedalus and have them shipped in an M bag, which I would have to pick up at the post office. A small package of books from Amazon should be delivered to your door.

[jmbran11]

I've ordered at least 10 times with no problems.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I frequently use Amazon and have never had a problem. They deliver directly to the address you provide (home or school).

There are no surprise charges. No customs to worry about. Nothing.

If they need to wait for some of your order, they split it and send what they have immediately and ship the rest of it later, keeping you up-dated by e-mail.

[Yaya]

I buy from Amazon MARKETPLACE, as in stuff new or used sold by individual sellers. It's usually cheaper even with higher shipping costs and oftentimes gets to Korea FASTER than if Amazon sends it.

Case in point, I ordered the out-of-print book Midnight Cowboy from a Amazon Marketplace seller. The seller's price was US$5.59 plus US$9.98 shipping and handling for a final price of US$15.57.

Seriously, check out the Amazon Marketplace sellers. I've saved loads buying from them and have often gotten better service than Amazon. If you don't get your item, they all have to refund your dough.

[willneverteachagain]

if u have electronics shipped, i heard that the duty can be up to 50%

[charlieDD]

There is also amazon.jp, which is closer and therefore faster and sometimes significantly cheaper on shipping. The site has an English version, of sorts, but not everything comes up in English. If you know exactly what you want, you don't need the product description perhaps. I have done my search on amazon.com, got the info, then gone over to amazon.jp and ordered the book or music CD I wanted, if the price was the same or not too much more.

There's also Canadian, British, French and German Amazons. Sometimes searching these can yield you something special in price or shipping charges.

Is there an amazon. au (Australia) ? Don't think there's an official site, but some kind of linking service.

[dogbert]

[stumptown]

[pdx]

I've ordered twice with no problem.

Another suggestion in powells.com I'm from portland and powell's is our mecca. A huge selection on new and used books. I got a fairly large book used, and sent here, and it was about the cost of the book new. you might look into it just to compare what prices would be (compare orders side by side).

[mindmetoo]

Amazon.com is good. They have some warehouse in Germany that they ship from. You get your books pretty fast even by normal post. Amazon.CA, the Canadian branch, is a different matter entirely. Oi. After a few successful times ordering books, Amazon.ca seemed unable to get me a package that wasn't bounced back. Worse, they couldn't even tell me why the package was returned.

[marlow]

Thanks everyone. I took the plunge, and have started the wait for my books.

The process is much easier than I thought. The only thing I don't like about the whole system is that the Amazon site doesn't have an overt logout, but rather they have the "login as blank" process to logout. Not really a problem, but I like logging out even on a home computer.

I used the Marketplace, and am pleased that all the financial stuff is handled by Amazon Payments. I had to use this because 70% of the books I wanted are out of print. Normally I use Whatthebook, and will continue to because of shipping costs and reliability, but when I want a rare book I REALLY WANT IT.

Oh, one other thing that is bugging me is not being able to buy downloadable articles. It says I'm not in a correct geographical area, and wants an American address. Even a Canadian address won't work. Too bad for me.

[Novernae]