Heard of 11street?

Just curious if anybody reading my blog, especially from the U.S.A. have ever bought from 11st.co.kr? They recently opened up their english version, like English Gmarket. I tried looking for some reviews/hauls but the name of the website makes it hard to find any information. So I was wondering if any of you readers have had experience with this site? If so, how would you compare your experience with 11st to Gmarket? So far, from what I seen, it's a bit more expensive shipping wise and exchange rate wise then Gmarket, however they have way more opportunities to get coupons and cheaper goods to begin with. So yeah, if you've had some experience with it, if you don't mind please let me know? Thank you.

New Tip for all the international Gmarket buyers

I haven't bought anything from Gmarket this month. There hasn't really been anything that I absolutely must have. Especially since the winter season is pretty much over where I am (California). But for those of you who are interested in buying right now, it's actually a fairly good time to buy because of the exchange rate.

Tip: Always analyze the exchange rate either a few days to weeks in advance before purchase.

The U.S. Dollar is steadily becoming stronger. During Christmas and the month of January, the exchange rate kept declining, but since February it has slowly increased.

Today's exchange rate is: USD $1.00 / KRW￦1061.94 When I bought my haul in December I believe the exchange rate was around ￦1050. After my purchase the rate almost fell to  ￦1025.

So even though you're only saving overall a few dollars it's always good to check. Especially if you use a payment method that may charge a percentage for fluctuation in currency rates.

You have to use Gmarket's exchange rate though. You can't go using actual exchange rates at market value because Gmarket uses their own exchange rate that they randomly update. 

That's my tip. Thanks for reading. If you're a bit confused or have questions feel free to comment below, and I'll try my best to answer your question. Have a wonderful day shopping!

Oh, on another note, a little update review on my experience with the Happy Bath Facial Yogurt cleanser. I've stopped using it for now. I may use it like once a week, but pretty much not using it daily. I've stopped for now because I think it's too strong for my skin in this cold winter weather, that my skin has just been none stop dry and peeling. It's unpleasant and not pretty. I'll probably pick it back up in the spring or summer, when my oily t-zone becomes a problem. 

Happy New Years Everyone!
Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful night. May the year 2013 bring you great fortune and prosperity.

G-Market Haul #1 Dec 2012

Sorry for taking so long... I just got a bit lazy when it came to uploading and taking pictures. 
Overview:
Ordered: 12/7/12 & 12/8/12
Received: 12/18/12 (Departed warehouse on the 15th, in SF the 16th, Customs until the 17th)
Est. Weight: 5.84 kg
Actual Weight: 5.24kg 
Shipping costs: 55,580 won so about $4 shipping for each item.

As you can see a pretty big package, and when opened not entirely filled up. Everything was well packaged though, however apparently customs opened my package. I suspect it is because Gmarket for some reason only put 1 item down on the customs form. I don't know why, normally I've read that they at least fill in all four lines but for me they didn't. As you can see in the picture below: 

Yes, I had it sent by Jang Dongwoo. Since I combined orders I had Jang Dongwoo on one 

and then on the other I had Infinite, but I guess they took Jang Dongwoo. xD

So yes, I'm pretty sure customs found it very suspicious that that big package was 8 dollars worth of cleansers. So they opened it up, and my two items that were in their own individual boxes were opened, and customs did not have the courtesy to tape the boxes back up. So when I received my package, my Holika Holika egg soaps were scattered all on the bottom of the package. Thankfully they are packaged in their own individual little egg cartons, so there was no damage. However I'm very disappointed with the customs department. One of the egg cartons was actually opened too, because the tape had been torn. I understand that they may have had a lot of packages to go through due to it being the holidays, but they should have at least put everything back the way the found it. At least because it was the holidays, I think they let me go and decided not to charge me taxes or any fees. I think if it had been a normal time of the year they may have. So I'm a little worried about the next time I buy from Gmarket. Here  is a picture of one of the boxes opened and my holika holika egg soaps after I put them back into their opened box. 

                       

                        

So now for the items. Since I've already talked about the Holika Holika Egg soaps I will start with them. 

Holika Holika Egg Soap

Blue Ocean: Happy Bath Facial Yogurt

So  I got all 4 kinds because as previously mentioned in my early posts they were only $1 each with free shipping. I wanted to buy more but for some reason the drop down menu on the page would not let me order more than one. I think I was lucky, I believe the page I found these on were from the November $1 special, where each week there were $1 items. I think Holika Holika forgot to delete the page or something, because after I ordered these they changed the price of these eggs to a whooping $2000! Just checked, now it's out of stock. Anyways I haven't tried them yet, so the only thing I can comment on is the smell and they all just smell of a strong generic soap.

I also bought Happy Bath Facial Yogurt in Herb Essence and Fruit Essence. They were having a 2+2 deal for $7. I like the smell of these. The herb one reminds me of fruit loops, and the fruit one smells of oranges. I have tried both. As of now my skin is taking a better liking to the herb essence, which is weird because my skin is really dry right now due to the cold weather so I thought the fruit one, which is supposed to add moisture, would have been better but I see better results with the herb essence for now. Granted I've only used it two times a day for 3 days. But the herb one which is supposed to be for oily skin and cleaning pores, has really worked wonders on my black heads. My blackheads were huge, but I've seen my pores slowly decrease in size since using these. But the fruit one is kind of doing its job. It has whitening properties and my face has definitely lightened up. Overall I like them. I think I'll be set for at least the next year, but I would definitely buy it again in the future. 

[미즈온] [I m]London Holic Long-gel Foundation 30g /BBcream/Base

My last beauty product  of this haul is Mizon London Holic Long-gel Foundation in No. 21. It was $12 and came with a makeup purse and a brush. I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get extra freebies because I've seen other reviews around the same time I bought mine and they all got little samples of stuff. So I don't know much about makeup so this review might not be the best one to base your opinion of the product on. For me, maybe because I have a lot of dry patches on my skin right now, you could see that I was wearing foundation. I'm also not sure if I bought the right shade for me. 21 is lighter than my skin, but at the same time the beige tone blends quite well so that it just makes my face one shade lighter. When looking at no. 23 I felt it had a more orangey tone, which my skin is not really orange, so that is why I chose 21. It doesn't really cover red spots well, or scars. I'm not sure if this was due to being a shade too light. But it did cover my blackheads on my nose and cheeks quite well. 

Now for the clothes!

Ami Dormitory

So they were having a holiday special, buy 3 get 1 random item free. The polka dot cardigan was the freebie, and it actually turned out to be my most favorite item of the bunch. The quality and fit is the best. The sweaters were all way too large for me. I did expect them to be large based on the reviews I had read, but I disregarded them because I thought "oh it's fine, I like oversized sweaters anyways." But these were like 2x plus size sweaters. Also, the placement of the sleeves were in very awkward positions that did not look right on me. I'm not sure what the material is but it felt like cotton, it is really soft. I actually gave the pink one to my sister. My sister is shorter and of a smaller build than me. She is also more toned and has more going on in the bust area than me, so I don't know if that helped her, but it definitely looked better on her than me. The color of the pink one was not what I expected either. It was much darker than in the picture.

As you can see I bought a navy version of the pink sweater. It is actually smaller than the pink one and looks better on me. All the sweaters in the shop are meant to be free size, so I was surprised in the difference of sizes. The striped sweater is made nicely. I originally fell in love with t he cable details on the sleeves. However once again, the placement of sleeves just look awkward on me. And unfortunately it's much more noticeable with the contrasting colors. All of the sweaters ended up having a chemical smell, so I need to wash them probably a few times, and hopefully that will also help with the shrinking them a bit. Overall they're okay. I did buy the items that were on sale, each sweater was $10, so maybe the shops more expensive items are of better sizing and quality. 

벌키수술터틀 : 딥그린

I bought a scarf in dark green. It has a nice lattice layer, and silver beads on the fringe. I like the detail, however it's a little shorter than I thought. I can wrap it around twice but I can't tie the loose ends up or anything. Also I noticed that there was a hole in it. Nothing majorly noticeable and an easy fix with a needle and string. For $4, I'm happy, and the shipping on this was quite fast. Shipped the next day after I ordered. No really strong chemical smell. It was made in China. Apparently almost all of the clothes items I bought were from China. Disappointing. I even made sure to check that on the page, where it says origin that it was either domestic or Korea, but in the end it really doesn't matter apparently. They lie...

Links: Gray Pants- 814그레이히트스키니

S_하이분또팬츠_베이지M & C_밴드반쪽워싱스키니_블루S

My last items of the haul were pants/jeans! From the top, a gray pair of jeans for $7, size 28. I love the color and quality, sadly only problem is that they don't fit me around the thigh area. The waist is perfect but these jeans have no stretch that I can't pull the jeans up all the way, so the crotch area is too low and when I walk it just feels awkward. So if you have a fairly under toned butt and thighs like me give extra room when it comes to measurements. When looking at these measurement for the thighs they were exactly what I measured, but I didn't take into account that it had no stretch. I think my other jeans from F21 are of a stretchy denim so they fit me just fine, but these jeans don't. Oh well, it just means I need to exercise. 

The next two are from a different seller than the gray one. The middle faded blue jeans is actually a size S, they didn't have any mediums anymore. Price $4. I was afraid it might not fit me, but thankfully it has an elastic band and also the material is stretchy so it is perfect. The front pockets are fake, but it does have back pockets.

The beige leggings are a size M. I probably should have ordered an S for them. They are a bit loose in the thigh area and it has an elastic band. Price $5. I thought they would be more pant like based on the picture, but they just look like beige leggings. The color was a bit darker than on the model. They're still comfortable and nice to wear. Overall, I would buy from both of these sellers. They're all good quality, I just need to be more careful with sizing. 

I just remembered that I had also bought a long sleeved shirt for $3. I thought I had a picture but I guess I accidentally deleted it. But here is the link and the picture of the model wearing it. I got the dark charcoal. I love it! It is made of cotton, and the quality is great for the price. I actually wish I had bought all of the colors. It's really a flattering cut and a very nice basic to have for this winter. 

미건스타일M

So that is all for my first, but not last Gmarket Haul! I don't know when I'll be making my next purchase. I mean there is a different sale going on everyday it is so tempting, but I think I'll limit myself to one haul each season. So probably if I find a job, some time in the next 3 months. Or if Gmarket has another discount on worldwide shipping, which is not often for the United States. :(

If you have any questions about Gmarket or about an item that I did not talk about please leave a comment and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Happy shopping!

Gmarket Haul Update: It has been shipped!

So I got the email yesterday, giving me my EMS confirmation #. I was quite worried I would not receive my package because looking on the Global Gmarket Facebook a lot of fellow buyers said that they had been waiting for days to receive their confirmation numbers and some even complained about their packages being in the warehouse for a very long time. Luckily mine had no issues and according to the tracker, around midnight in Korea, my package was 'on air'. The tracker also provides the flight # your package is on. So I typed in my flight number in to Google and results showed an updated schedule for the flight. (Google is so amazing...) At first I thought my package would just go from Incheon Airport(ICN) to San Francisco Airport(SFO), however apparently it goes from ICN to Anchorage, Alaska to LAX, and lastly to SFO. In total it takes about a whole day to actually reach San Francisco. As of now it will reach SFO at midnight tonight, however I think due to the foggy weather and rain there might be some delays, but I believe pretty much it will arrive sometime within the night to early morning. Luckily it was not shipped out today, because apparently the next flight heading out to Anchorage has been delayed. I guess weather is bad right now in Korea. Unfortunately customs is not open on weekends, so I guess they probably won't check my package until Monday, and if it is not detained then I probably will receive the package by Wednesday to Thursday. Technically that would mean only less than 10 business days for this whole Gmarket process. Not bad, very fast. I guess we shall wait and see later in to the week if I have estimated correctly.

Ordered my first Gmarket Haul. Some Tips.

So it hasn't actually arrived yet. I ordered it on Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. It is my first purchase from Gmarket, and I must say I'm already addicted. There is so much I want to buy, but I don't have the funds at this point in time. hehe. If you've never heard of Gmarket, it is sort of an online Korean marketplace. People always compare it to Ebay, and technically it has recently been acquired by Ebay, so I guess you can call it the Korean Ebay. (Note, I am from the U.S. so I use the Global Gmarket- "english.gmarket.co.kr". Most international buyers will use this site, if you understand Korean, feel free to use the actual one at "gmarket.co.kr", or if you're from somewhere in Asia, I'm not sure, because I do know there are other names for certain countries. Pretty much sellers have mini shops were they can sell their various items. Most international buyers, usually buy cosmetics and apparels because even after shipping everything is fairly cheap. 

So I guess I can talk about some hopefully helpful tips, if you're like me, and making your first purchase. Now I am not going to give a full on detail, there are plenty of other sites that already help out with that and they've all taken the time to post pictures as well, so just type in the words 'gmarket haul' into Google, and I'm sure you'll find many good blogs. Also another place to look is on Gmarket itself. At the bottom of the homepage, under 'News & Events' Check out any of the articles titled 'Winners for Top Blogger'. There they will list customers who have posted their experiences with Gmarket. Hopefully I'll be one of them next month. (I just need to find my camera charger). Tips I'm giving will just be things I noticed and or were helpful to me to keep my cost down, because shipping is expensive as Gmarket uses EMS, so by weight. 

1. Mini Shops Sellers may have multiple pages, so always check their mini shop page to see what they offer and also if there is an item you like but you don't see it, perhaps one of their other pages will have it.

2. Always check to make sure the estimated item weight is reasonable for the item you are purchasing. Some seller tend to overestimate the items, and if you're buying a lot from them then your estimated weight will be very high, meaning you'll pay more in shipping price. Gmarket will refund you for the excess but it won't go back to whatever you paid with. It'll go into your Gaccount, and you will be charged a large fee to withdraw that money back to your bank account. So it is best to have the item weight similar to your actual purchase. A little bit over will be fine, but say you buy a simple t-shirt and the seller puts the est. weight at 1kg, that is way too much. 0.5kg would be acceptable at most for a simple t-shirt. But if you know that one of your items is underestimated, then it's okay to counterbalance this with items overweight. Essentially what you want to do is be as close as possible to your actual weight to lessen any future complications, because if the estimated weight is under the actual weight by 3000-5000 krw(korean won), they will not ship your items until you pay the additional shipping fee.
Another reason to look at the other pages of the mini shop, is to compare estimated weights, and prices. Sometimes sellers will have the same item at the same price at a more accurate weight for the product. So definitely make sure to look at that. 

3. Always have a translator open. (Unless you know how to read hangul) To be incredibly honest, through my experience no translator was accurate. However, it is better than nothing. You yourself do you have to put the translated pieces together sometimes. Sometimes the translation  is clearer than others, most of the time it is not. Also a site where you can type the hangul is quite helpful for the posts where you can not copy the texts. I used this site: "http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/korean.htm" It's actually quite helpful to teach you how to pronounce the hangul.

4. Worldwide Shipping If you are an international buyer, make sure the item you click is available for Worldwide Shipping. There will be a pink strip under the item image, saying Worldwide shipping. And when you click on the image link to get to the item page if the "Please check, if ship to address in Korea." box is checked then that means that item is only for Domestic shipping, and not Worldwide. So don't waste your time looking, it can't be shipped to you. However once again check the mini shop page of the seller to see if they do have a page for worldwide shipping on that item. 

5.Discounts Look out for discount coupons, but at the same time before you apply, make sure what you purchase will qualify for the coupon. Because coupons have very short expiration dates, so don't go wasting stamps, or whatever on a coupon that you can't even use. Like for me I had 2 coupons, but I couldn't use either of them because mainly none of my items met the limitation amount. I only bought items cheaper than 9,900 won, when the coupon qualified for 10,000+. (Hurray for being frugal, and finding great items for low prices, but boo for being unable to get even cheaper deals.) 

6. Good times to make your purchase, for faster delivery. So I made my purchase on actually Thursday night, but then I made a second purchase on Friday, and did a combine shipping. What I noticed was that 4 of my items from my Thursday purchase were able to get packed by the seller and sent to Gmarket the next day (Friday). So they were really fast, but I also got a notice from 2 sellers saying to expect shipping delays. It is the holiday season, and there are lots of sales going on, so shipping delays are probably going to be the norm. So do keep that in mind if you are going to be making a purchase around the holiday time. And not really holidays for you, but Korean holidays. So it has been 4 days since I made my initial order, and as I said some items were shipped out on Friday, but then I believe that it was due to the post office/carriers not working on Sat/Sun. Definitely Gmarket does not make any shipment out on  Sat/Sun. So keep that in mind for how long you'll have to wait, as well as what day you might want to make your purchase. If you're patient enough, and you don't mind seeing your status not change for a few days then ignore this, but if you're like me checking everyday and not seeing any changes, and just getting antsy, then I recommend making your purchase on a Sunday. That way hopefully everyday something will be happening. Monday: hopefully seller gets your item shipped out to Gmarket, possibly Tuesday or Wed. the postman delivers it to Gmarket, and then by Thursday to Friday Gmarket will have finished packaging and weighing your items and if nothing is wrong will ship it out, and then you should be seeing  your packaging within the next week. This is all assuming nothing goes wrong, and there are no delays. 

7. Don't take too long to decide on what to order. (Especially if items are really good deals) It took me 4 days to make my final decisions, and within that time frame I had like 5 items go either out of stock, or the prices changed. I've read other blogs and some people have made their decisions in only 3 hours, but if you're like me and always looking for a bargain don't take too long. Be a little compulsive. If you find more stuff within the next few days, then you can always combine shipping. But know you can only combine 2 orders once. So if you are still waiting for your first 2 deliveries to be combined and  you find something else and make a 3rd purchase, you CANNOT combine it with the first combined order. If you make a 4th purchase though you MAY combine it with the 3rd purchase. But you may not combine a 5th purchase with the 1st or 2nd combinations. Sorry if I worded that in a confusing manner, but hopefully you get what I mean. 

Yeah, that is about it on tips, if there are any more that I feel aren't really mentioned out there on other blogs I'll let you know in future posts. But otherwise happy shopping! 

Order status update: Currently Sunday night/Monday morning. Originally I said there were 4 packages with the status 'On Delivery'. 1 of them has arrived at Gmarket. 3 are still outstanding, and surprisingly 3 items from 1 seller, that were 'On Request' status throughout the weekend, are suddenly 'Delivered' at Gmarket. o_0 I guess it's because Gmarket doesn't update on weekends. So as of this moment out of 14 items, from 8 different sellers, 4 items from 2 sellers has been delivered. 3 items from 2 sellers is 'On Delivery', and the rest are all still on request. Not bad, for the holiday season, some sellers are very fast. 2 did give notice that there would be a delay, which is fine unless they make me wait over the estimated date posted by Gmarket which is 12-15-2012. Also 4 items I'm not sure if they'll be cancelled by the seller, because I bought 4 Holika Holika Egg Soap sets. They were only $1 each, which was super cheap. I wasn't sure if the page happened to be an old event page and if the offer was still available but I figured I might as well take the chance to get them. Worst case scenario would be they cancel and refund my money to my bank account.  Scratch that, just checked and they are 'On Delivery'. Holika Holika is very fast! I was expecting them to be busy because they're one of the more popular sellers on Gmarket. 

Officially opening my blog! Hurray!

What I'll actually be writing here I'm unsure about. Perhaps about my Gmarket haul(s), Infinite, anything random I can think of. Probably play around with the site and spruce it up a bit. I used to enjoy making layouts for my Xanga (I know so old...). So yeah, thanks for stopping by, hopefully if you come here for the gmarket haul, my posts will be helpful to you, and if you come here for Infinite shoot me a reply/post I'm not sure what they call it here on blogger, but yeah I'd love to talk with fellow Inspirits. Bye, Bye!