Amazing Online Shopping in South Korea: My Top 3 Websites

In life before Korea, online shopping meant Amazon.ca. If I couldn't find the used book I wanted elsewhere, I went to Amazon. However, here on the peninsula, online shopping is part of everyday life: Food, clothes, home décor, and kitchenware. Anything and everything can be ordered --very efficiently-- online!

The first time I tried to order online from a Korean website I was entirely unsuccessful because I didn't use Korea's preferred search engine: Internet Explorer, navigate the convoluted security features, or know my address. Thankfully, my co-teacher let me use her account to make my order. The speed and efficiency with which my purchases arrived sparked my interest in learning how to order on my own. 

Now that I am a seasoned expat/online shopper, I feel able to confidently suggest 3 websites that will allow you to get your hands on any garment, food, or unwearable/inedible object your heart could desire:

Gmarket: “Korea’s No. 1 Shopping Site” 

The tagline is accurate. Gmarket has everything you can imagine: furniture, food, clothes, and everything in between. For example, I have ordered candles with lead-free wicks, craisins, clothing, and possibly one of the most specialized items: live kefir seeds. It really has everything.

If you want to use this site you will need 2 things:

1. A Korean Bank card along with a digital certificate, and

2. Your own, or your school's Address (assuming you are a teacher).

Iherb

Earlier this spring one of my fellow health guru friends introduced me to iherb.com. This site is a dream come true if you are a health food junkie. It is not exclusive to Korea – but it delivers here and in good time: We made an order on Friday night and it was here by Tuesday afternoon.

If you enjoy a nice cup of fair trade organic tea but find it hard to pay 18 dollars for 20 tea bags, iherb is the answer to your problem. You will also be able to find specialty products like coconut oil, bentonite clay for detox, chia seeds, arrowroot starch, and paraben-free shampoo.

If you wanna use this site all you need is a credit card.

EZshop Korea

This website is almost exclusively for food, and not the healthy kind. I have used this website to order items like cranberry juice and sour cream. However, it has bacon, Doritos, taco mix, Macaroni & Cheese, and a variety of other treats that will take your taste-buds on a processed food high. There are also a decent amount of English Books available on this website.

If you wanna use this site you will need a Korean Bank card (so you can directly transfer money to ezshop's account from your own) or a credit card (from Korea or your home country).