iherb

Sorry I suck at keeping up with my posts :(

So I want to tell you about this fantastic site 

First, they ship super cheap to Korea.  Shipping to South Korea starts at $4 and goes up $1 for each pound over 4, this will go up to 15 pounds.  So I ordered one of those big tubs of protein powder and some vitamins and it cost $8 to ship.  It only took about 4 days to get here.  I say "about" because it's currently Wednesday and it arrived first thing this morning, and I placed the order over the weekend so I don't know exactly when it was packaged and shipped. (Check out all their international shipping options.)

Here's what was the clincher for me, I was having problems putting in my address (part was my own stupidity, part was the system) and I got an actual response.  I hate when I ask companies a question and they pick out one key word and they copy and paste the FAQ from their website.  Thanks for absolutely nothing jerks.

But no, I got a real  answer from a real person.

So what did I screw up?
1. the "-dong" and "-gu" should go on the same line and I didn't realize this, I was originally told to put them on separate lines...I think this may be solely for sites like this but I really don't know.

2. Their website is originally built for the US so I had to put "Busan" in the "state" box.

So that's it and I got my package a few days later.  Sweet.

Oh, and if you're in the US they ship for free if your order is over $40.  Here's all the US shipping info.

Now if you are actually interested in checking the site out, you could be SUPER awesome and use my referral code. This gets you $10 off your first purchase over $40 or $5 off your first purchase under $40.  If you don't use my code I'll only hate you for a little while :P Really though, you should check them out with or without the code  WGB768 

International Shipping

OK, so you want to get stuff from home?

Well, here's what I've noticed.

1. Priority flat rate from the USPS is the cheapest way I've seen for someone to ship to you from the US.  It's worth looking into to see if there are other options but so far that's it.

2. There are sites here (like gmarket.co.kr) or you can order from sites back home (like iherb.com)
As for the giant sites like Amazon...well I don't suggest Amazon unless you have it shipped to family or friends and have them forward it.

Now instead of Amazon I'm going to suggest Overstock.  Overstock will give you the price in US or local amounts AND they will provide you with the EXACT cost of shipping, importing, etc.  And you pay all this upfront so you don't have to worry about a surprise fee later on.  I have not had a chance to use their services yet but I wanted to let you know. AmazonGlobal claims to have a unique service that estimates these...

Amazon...I'm a little upset about this service they have.  It's like the Super Saver Shipping back home, but global.  If you buy more than $125 worth of stuff they'll ship it for free....to INDIA.  They call the service "Global Saver Shipping"  That's like North Korea calling themselves the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...it's just a total freakin lie.  Hurray for India Saver Shipping!


3. DON'T use a forwarding service for packages.  You will have to pay a huge amount to ship it and you won't know how much until the service receives the package.  Not so bad for regular mail though...at least from what I've heard.

Now really your cheapest option is to find someone in the military to get your packages at their APO address, long live free shipping!