Basically that’s what GMarket and Interpark Ticket are.
If you are someone who likes to shop online or wants to order tickets to see a musical or concert than these two things are your new best friends.
GMARKET-basically Amazon
Gmarket has an English website so it makes it really easy to shop. Occasionally there might be something that the Korean website has that the English one doesn’t but it’s rare I find.
So first you need to make an account. Just follow the directions. simple.
Now there are a few different ways to pay. A lot of foreingers here, myself included keep our native cards with us because for ….whatever reason. You can pay using that card if you want. But what I find easiest is the bank transfer-I think it’s called wire transfer under the payment options.
You select whichever bank you belong to, or if you don’t belong to one of the options EPOST (the post office ) is your best bet. Now the EPOST does charge a surcharge fee but it’s really cheap. What will happen next is you receive your amount and an account number. You take both of those to the bank and “transfer” the money over. Now I use Nonghyup Bank, and it’s really simple. Just press in the code for the NH bank, enter the account number, enter the amount number…boom you’re done. The “payee’s” name actually comes up as my Gmarket name ID so you know you are transferring to the right account.
If you want to do it via the Korean website, it’s best to either have a korean speaking friend with you, or to do it in google chrome .
Things tend to be cheaper on this website and they have a ton. You can buy food, electronics, clothes …just go on their website and look.
I can’t remember if you have to make a separate account for Korean Gmarket or not because I have everything automatic log in.
Now the shipping address is something you might want to talk to your school about. Because I’m not home during delivery hours and I don’t really have a place for the mail to go to, I have everything shipped to the school at my co teacher’s urging. So The administration takes care of everything.
Now I’ve had a friend whose school apparently said she was ordering too many packages and tried to have them delivered to her house, but then it became lost. Turns out because there was no where to put it the building attendant stuck it in a random storage area.
I’ve had my own stuff lost before and through email managed to have them resend the package out. Unless something is a pre order or it’s a holiday, things will come within a week. I’ve even had it happen where I’ve gotten something the next day. So post is fast there. You can also always track the package on the website. Do not be afraid to email them and ask if you have questions about where your thing is.
Interpark Ticket Global
So if you are a person who likes to go see concerts and musicals than you definetly need to make an Interpark account. Not only do you need it to see dates and seats, but it also makes it faster for paying so when there is a concert you are trying to get tickets to and a bunch of other people are too, you have a faster process.
Now the only catch with this is that I’ve noticed it won’t work on my MAC. Much of Korea uses PC’s and Internet explorer. I have no idea why a tech advanced country like this still thinks I.E. is the best browser to use. Now I did buy my BTOB Busan Hello Melody concert ticket on my Macbook -so I’m starting to wonder if it’s just the Safari browser that won’t work-I will try and see what it says and let you know.
Another catch sadly is that if you don’t have a foreign card, or enough money on it you have to go through this unreal process of having your bank card approved.
It took me two hours and while I would love to walk you through it, I actually don’t remember the exact steps and now I just have it on automatic. It takes a lot of google translate and a lot of patience. But in the end it’s worth it.
NOW!!!!
Another issue with this….Interpark ticket Korea has many more things available. For instance, I want to go see VIXX’s Leo’s musical. But only on the Korean sit does it have the dates. Or I wanted to go see another show, but it wasn’t being sold on global ticket. So you need to be aware of this as well. And you also need to make a separate account.
Basically interpark as a whole is annoying for a foreigner to use because it gives you just enough to function and but then nothing to progress forward. Like giving yourself enough rope to hang but not die. Like that analogy?
Granted it’s better than using yes24 which sucks. And if you are trying to buy EXO tickets….good luck. Not only is yes24 all in Korean, but for some reason EXO tickets are only sold on yes24 and when they are selling them, it always crashes. I’ve seen this twice. It’s basically a nightmare.
After you buy your tickets, it’s best if you pick them up at the venue. There will be signs that say “interpark tickets” and all you need is your ID card. If you forget or want to check, you can always do so on your interpark account-like the time I was trying to buy VIXX’s fan club package and when it didn’t show up on my account page…I realized I messed up the payment (actually my student Edward did ….)
There are several other websites that you might want to join.
I have to keep mine straight in a book which sometimes really sucks because certain websites will ask you to change your password like once a month.
I’m kind of slacking today because I had to take care of renewing my phone bill, adding TV on to that, setting up a date for the electrician to come to my house and set the box up, getting my hair done, putting together paperwork for my American hospital bill etc….
Unlike my other page this one doesn’t have a set schedule so I can just post whenever I feel like it.
I don’t know if this will be helpful to anyone but there it is.
Next time: buying your principal gifts, problems in the classroom, and concert fan events/free stuff -sounds like a mashed up version of everything but the kitchen sink and it basically will be. But due the fact I will be recovering from my EXO concert, I want to fit that in somewhere.
House of Lilacs 