In this post: Korean shopping malls, KoreanBuddy required info, searching with Naver
Let me show you how Koreans find products online. Buying products online from Korean sites is not easy if you don’t know the language, that’s why you have me. If you don’t live in Korea, don’t worry, I can order products off of multiple sites, bundle them, and send them in one package to save you money on shipping. Since I live in Korea, buddies living outside of Korea can order products that say they can only be shipped domestically 🙂
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- Use the glossary and Google translator for help with Korean.
- Translate the product name if possible and search in Korean for best results.
- Search for popular items on English sites first to get product details (see below)
When you find the items you want, 1. copy and paste the URL into order forms on Koreanbuddy.com. 2. Copy and paste the product name and 3 let me know the options you want. If you can’t understand the options then just send me a message over chat. I will get back to you quickly!
Korean Shopping Malls (general) click to go directly to these sites
- Naver Shopping (good place to search for products)
- 11st (11번가) – English link – search results are often different for English and Korean sites
- Auction (옥션)
- Gmarket (G마켓) – English link
- CJmall (CJ오쇼핑)
- Wemakeprice (위메프)
I have created a glossary divided into product categories which will help you with the Korea on the shopping mall sites, check it out. Let’s start with the basics, here are a few shopping site menu’s translated. Most sites use the same or similar categories.
Searching in Korean vs English gives different results
Tip#1 Use google translator to translate the product you’re looking for and then search in Korean. Results can be different with very different prices, see below. Even searches on the Korean and English Gmarket sites turn up different prices for the same products! If you need help just let me know and I can find the best price for the product(s) you want.
Below is a search for selfie sticks. Korean search results on the left, English results on the right.
They are very different.
Required Info to Place your Order
I need a description of the product, the URL if you have it, and the quantity you want. The description should include things like color, size, model etc.
I’m going to search for my own coffee maker from Nescafe 🙂
My coffee maker is 87,900 won on Auction.co.kr, but 124,000 won on Amazon, score!
Tip#2 for popular products, searching on English sites can sometimes provide you with the product details you can use to let me know specifically what you want. Get the information in English first and then I’ll order it off the Korean site to save you money. For example I found my coffee maker on an English site first and then used that info to help me in my search on the Korean site, in this case Auction.co.kr
When you find the item, A. copy and paste the URL into the order forms on Koreanbuddy.com B. copy and paste the product name, and C. Let me know the options you want like color, size, etc. If you need help understanding the options just send me a message over chat and I will get back to you quickly.
Searching Using Naver:
If you don’t read Korean, the easiest place to start searching will be on the Korean search engine Naver
Click “쇼핑” shopping, highlighted in the red box, to move to the shopping search and get more detailed results. You can search in English here, don’t worry.
Here are the search results for “BB cream” from the shopping search bar. The lowest prices are shown on the right with the shopping site name, in Korean (see the glossary for help). The red stars and green numbers next to the pics are the product review rating and the number of users who gave the product 5 stars. You can also view the results based on price, age, and customer reviews.
Clicking a specific product will bring up the price range, product rating out of 5 stars, the sites offering the cheapest prices, and the customer review breakdown. Very useful information 🙂 Click the price you want from the site you want and then collect the information to pass on to me for ordering. Let’s click the 11st link to get the best price.
From the 11st product page – If you are satisfied with the product, 1. copy and paste the link into the form on Koreanbuddy.com, 2. copy and paste the product name and option choice, 3. enter the quantity you want me to order for you. I’ll take care of the rest. If you have questions about the product options, just hit me up on the chat and ask.
The order form on KoreanBuddy where you enter the info looks like this: