The Gmarket Experience: A Quick Guide On Ordering From Gmarket

I've received many questions regarding Gmarket ever since I posted about my first purchase from them here. This post is intended to answer some of those questions and offer some tips on ordering from the site. For those of you unfamiliar with Gmarket, its a Korean buy/sell shopping site where the prices are low and fixed. I've only purchased cosmetic and beauty related products from it but you can get almost anything on it.

I recently made another order at Gmarket and it arrived from Seoul just five days after submitting the order. Gmarket always ships via EMS, which means that once you see your order processed and shipped you can expect to receive it within 3-5 days depending on your geographical location. Tracking is also provided with all EMS packages. 

How Does Gmarket Work?

Sellers list their items onto Gmarket very much like Ebay and Amazon Marketplace. The main difference is Gmarket has its own handling and processing center, sellers will ship your orders to Gmarket headquarters where everything will be packaged together then shipped to you. If you place orders from multiple sellers Gmarket will wait for all the items to arrive and send it to you as one package.

Searching, Ordering, Listings

This is the tricky part for me. You can type in your search in English but the listings are all in Korean. Its easy if its a single item listing with only one option. If its a multiple item listing you'll need to do some Korean character match-ups between the items on the drop down menu and the product description (usually comes with picture) below. 

Shipping, Fees, Refunds 

As mentioned earlier, Gmarket only ships via EMS which can be costly. You'll have to pay the estimated shipping charges upfront. They will refund you the difference if it ends up being less. The refunded amount goes into your Gaccount and can be used towards your next purchase. Unfortunately its not refunded into your paypal account, you'll have to request for a transfer but there's a hefty fee to transfer that balance.

Payment

They accept credit cards and paypal

Technology

You can browse and add items to you cart on any browser but to place an order you'll need to use internet explorer. I'm not sure when they plan on improving that aspect. I also find that loading speed on the site is on the slow side

Tips

• If you have trouble figuring out what the multi listing items are and don't have anyone to translate for you try using the google language translator
  
• Listings that have the box "Domestic Orders" checked off means that they only ship within Korea. Don't try to un-tick that box, it doesn't work
• There is a points and stamps system where you gain them through certain purchases and can later use it to exchange for goods

Thoughts

So far I haven't experienced any trouble ordering from Gmarket. Everything I've ordered arrived quickly and well packaged. They have a good tracking system with updated status and tracking information. Once you get a hang of it you'll find it addictive, you'll find yourself looking at random things like cute mugs and cheap bags, okay maybe that's just me.

I usually order through the Gmarket English Site

You can register for an account here

*PHEW* Hopefully that was helpful

XOXO, M