Back from Europe!

Hi Hi

Not sure if much people have been following this blog but I have just returned from my Europe trip. Its very fun meeting people from different countries around the world.

My tour mates are from Australia, Canada, USA, South Africa etc. We are the only 2 Asians in the group.

I like it that they have seat rotation on the coach bus and everyone will have chance to be in the front n back (which is cramp).

Tour director and driver are great. The trip is like 'merry go round' in Europe and its always eat, on bus, visit site, take pics, on bus, eat, sleep etc. Thus, I have gained 3kg on my trip.TSKTSK

I always like to try different and local cuisines while abroad. I must say that there will be NO pizza n pasta for me for the next 1yr and 6mths respectively.

ok......... i just saw part of my phone bill and its freaking me out

Just 6days and i only have 6 calls made = charged = 70+!!!

RIDICULOUS! There's a lot of calls being charged. I called Singtel, NOW they tell me that if someone called me and i didnt pick up the call, I may or may not be charged. WTF They never tell me this.

So its like someone called me hear the ringing tone and I might or might not be charged!?! (according to overseas provider). ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzz might as well dont bring my phone overseas or keep it off. Damn it

Check Overseas Shipping Fees

This is what I do to check my International Fee Order (After Domestic Delivery has completed).



You will see "International Shipping Fee Completed"
Click any of the url (things you have bought)...





As I ordered plenty of things, this page is rather long. It will have the individual orders (split into 2 links if i have 2 orders combined together)... just scroll down the page until you see this


"Overseas Shipping Fee Infor"


In this case, Estimated shipping weight is 20.40kg, Actual is 2.54kg and I was charged 31,000Won for the shipping

Right now, Pending status. If u plan to use the balance for yr 2nd combine order, my suggestion is to buy more things from different sellers for the 1st order. So by the time the $ has been transfer to Cash Balance, u are still able to place 2nd order with the Cash Balance and combine shipping for both orders.

My Gmarket Loots! Love Gmarket!

EMS BOX

Whats inside the Grey Bag...

Excluding the one with stickers "Fragile" etc. Thats from another seller.

I thought this book looks big from the pic but well IRL, its rather small. Guess thats what Cash Book supposed to be! Walk around with it and jot down the expenditure hehehe

The quality is good and wordings in English

Cash Book II - Money Matters

Of course money matters! Thats why I didnt spend more than 8,000Won on a cash book hahahaha

Anyway, this is really cute! The wordings are in English and they have pics too. This is purchased from another seller as the one selling the 'Her Table" seller does not have this. I will say this is the better one and at lower price!

I bought so much things that I cannot really remember where I buy them from! But i still have to refer back to my Gmarket order so that I can give a proper, decent reviews on the items purchased......

OHHHHHHHH I remember now! The lipsticks and the mini handphone strap (anna sui inspired) are free gifts from the seller that take the LONGEST time to ship my items out. #$^%&@!%#!@)!

:P

While the rest of the items are already "Delivered", this seller still didnt send out my items until the 5th day of the order. Initially I am worried that the order didnt really go through because I have no money? hahaha

NEHHHHHH...... this is never the issue. Opps... Not that rich but no need to worry about this.

The reason is because I have placed 2 seperate order of 1 pc each for the luggage version2. I am worried that the seller might give me 1 instead of 2 if i ordered under the item. So i seperate them. Its safer.

Once bitten twice shy...... so ever since the earrings nightmare, I am worried about ordering same item for > 1 Qty

Oh yes, items from this seller is not in a box but come individually packed in the EMS box. I think they have shipped in a big box and Gmarket or the Korea PO guys helped me unpacked the box and just put the items into my EMS box. All of them are individually sealed by bubble wrap.

I have ordered 2x Version pack2 luggage organiser , 1 shoe plastic organiser and the 'Her Table' cash book. I think total is about 30,000Won because the version pack2 costed 9800Won *each*

Oh yes I also have one Luggage tag from this seller if I didnt rem wrongly. Its right at the end of this post. Lazy to bring up the pics.

Freebies: Handphone strap is a mirror! Lipstick is a pen! 귀여운!

Overall, I wont mind ordering from the seller again (although shipped out 5days later) if I dont find the items I want elsewhere... and also they have decent freebies too!!! :P

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Freebies II

I LOVEEEEEEEE freebies. hehe

This is another set from another seller. I think I spend >50,000Won from this seller?

Ibought a lot of things from this seller. I bought few polaroid albums, Camera Bag (20,000 or 21,000Won) etc from this seller.

These are the freebies............

a sticker, 3x5" "album" , a pen and a cookies!

The cookies is a mirror! 귀여운! 귀여운!........

Thanks to the order of pics I have taken in my camera, otherwise I cannot remember which freebies come with which items. There's so many things to check and I have to print out my order, translate them in English and tick the items as I go through them. Luckily I learnt basic korean. PHEW

Fav Seller!

This is one of my fav seller. I have spend about 20,000Won or so and the seller gave me 2 free gifts!

WHats more... the seller dont charge shipping at all! Ship the items promptly. A*** Seller. I have bought Bernice stickers, Travel Book and the Jewellery DIY stamp from this seller.

Polaroid Accessories!

Yippeeeeeee my items are here! These are the ones I'm most looking forward to. and also scare if the color isnt the same as shown on the site. Luckily, they look almost the same as on screen. PHEW!!!

I have ordered 3 different sets of Polaroid items from this seller. With different add on items.

Each order has 1 strap, 1 Disney Character Film, 1 normal Pack Film and 2 batteries... Another order has additional 10rolls of stickers added to it. The seller also packed 2 additional stickers for me. I think he missed out 1 more. Coz he packed one sticker with each seperate order.

The red strap is rather dull in real life. Wish its brighter red and Not this red.....

The hot pink strap is really HOT PINK!!! (Sheesh....blogspot dont have a decent pink font) Very pretty! Going to match that with my Polaroid camera. I will use the blue with my Lumix camera. The strap is pretty expensive at 7800Won or so. Handmade and made in Korea

Like I have mentioned, the exchange rate of Korean Won to USD and BACK to SGD is not that good compared to us paying Korean Won. We end up paying *more* SGD and the polaroid stuffs are not that value for $$$. HOWEVER, We dont have such pretty straps in SG (or because I didnt do my homework).

The expiry dates of the Disney character is 2010 or 2011. Cannot rem. I only remember the normal mini films is 2011 03 Expiry date.

2nd Polaroid Accessories Seller

The free gifts! But plsssss the hamburger case is NOT the free gift. I wish it is. Boohoo. The Instax coupon I have no idea what thats for.

I bought a 50Films pack from this seller at 32,000Won or so. Add another few dollars for 10 Pens, 3 Popcorn pens and 2 Instax Bags.

The expiry date of the Films is 2011 04

Original Instax Hardcover Bag, Pola Bag.

The bag is about this color (above pic) but just slighter darker... but still not as dark as the pic below. I wish its more glossy and like the color below. Workmanship of this Pola Bag is SO SO. Looks dry, as if going to break any time soon and the sewing at the corner.... the threads came out. Zzzz no wonder it gets pretty lousy rating at the 'standalone' selling post. However, this is already OOS so well, still ok lah dont be fussy. Still pretty bag.

The blue instax bag is really good and at 10,000 or 11,000Won only! SG i didnt see them selling this. Too small market for instax.

Polaroid Albums

These are from the seller I received the cookies freebies. Nice right. The 'Good morning' album is 4x6" whereas the others are polaroid mini albums. Cute cuteeeeeee!!! And u know, the girl is 'red riding hood'. and i HATE wolf so I didnt choose the albums that have wolf inside. hehehhe black wolf. Nehhhhhhhhh

cant imagine buying Japanese stuffs off Korea's site.

This album is good but the top left hand corner is like stained with glue. Dark color. Looks dirty. Wasted.

Luggage Tag

This is the writing pad. Free gift from the Fav seller I mentioned earlier.

Oh yea, no more 100,000Won from Gmarket. Its 50,000Won. think must say some mushy words right.......

I love Gmarket!!!

but Gmarket is bad for wallets. opps..........."blacklisted"

Gmarket Box arrived!!! So happy

Waaahhhaa my Gmarket box has just arrived! Nowadays take another 1 day to clear custom. Zzzz last time when its landed in SG in early AM, i will get it in late noon or before 5pm. Now, I received it on 12pm on the next day

Anyway I just opened one box and I love the straps and so shoik to see all my polaroid stuffs inside. Battery, tiny albums, stickers, straps etc! The strap colors are exactly as on the site! Phew! I am worried if I'm given light pink strap but yea, its a bright pink strap. So Happy! Yipee!

Ok enough of eat snake @ office, I shall get back to work and open the rest of the items later after 7pm when boss goes home. muahahhahahaa

Lalalallaalaa *cant stop smiling*

Parcel that will be arriving soon...

I'm going on a trip! Thus I have bought most of these for my new cameras (instax and also the Panasonic Lumix)...... Actually I dont want to buy the Lumix because I can borrow from my bro.... but one fellow (who believe that I have a $$$ printer at home) insist in having a 'wide zoom' camera AND I must pay for it. Zzzzz


Travel Planner 4500Won

Stickers Rome and Japan (I'm going to Europe! :P Good to paste the stickers on my Travel Planner)

Plastic and stickers for Luggage usage 9800Won++!!! (Very expensive but no choice)

This particular seller has free shipping above 25000Won or something. So instead of paying another 2500Won for shipping, I might as well top up a few more Won (think 1500Won) and save on shipping + get one item. So i choose this DIY Rubber Stamps

Travel Stickers Theme (comes in pax of 6)

These are camera!!! Film camera! When everyone elsewhere are going 'film-less', we have the koreans coming up with films camera! They make the design real cute! But well, I'm not buying this. Just to show what kind of things we can get at Gmarket.

Guess which bag I have purchased for my Panasonic Lumix? I have another 2 more for my instax (not in pics)!

Optional purchases under Instax camera accessories.

I bought these straps. Hope seller didnt get the colors wrong. After the conversion from Korean Won to USD and then to my home currency, there isnt much savings at all when it comes to Instax accessories. However, the problem is that, I can hardly find those pretty bags or pouches in SG. Maybe I havent been shopping for a long time that I dont know where to get these stuffs. I went to Funan but they dont have those pretty Instax camera pouch and straps.

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The plane already landed on my country. However, it hasnt yet go through the custom even though the plane arrived at 4plus in the morning!!! Argk

Anyway, these are some of the items i'm expecting soon...... not much stuffs but they costed me abt SGD400 or so. OMG. and I just placed another order.... Online ordering is addictive. And unlike others that join sprees etc, I just buy these stuffs for myself. So that means, SGD400+ of items are for myself!!! Thats why I bought one Cash Book to start writing down my expenses.... hehehhee

My latest order, 2 sellers already shipped out the items whereas the other 2 must be celebrating their Thanksgiving Day. As Korea is so much bigger than our tiny red dot, they have to travel to and fro the rural and urban area for the Thanksgiving Day. Heavy Traffic etc. So yea, i'm not in a hurry to get those goods. Just let them enjoy their holidays.

Anyway hope I can win 100,000Won for my entries. hehehe I spend so much on Gmarket so need to 'earn' some extra vouchers back. But well, means I have to keep on spending!!! *hide*

Koreans celebrating Thanksgiving Day! Expect Shipping Delays!

Thanks Giving is a Public Holiday in Korea. After some goggle search, seem to me that a day before and after Thanksgiving day are also public holidays. I only know its a 3days Public Holidays.

Its similar to our Mooncake Festival hehehe whereby its on 15th of August of Lunar Month!

Anyway if u have open yr eyes wide enough LOL, u will realise that some sellers will put dates x.09.09 to x.10.09 .... something like this. This means that orders received after x.09.09 will be send out on x.10.09 or these period of time, they are not shipping anything.

I think Thanksgiving is a big event in Korea, just like Lunar New Year. Thanksgiving Day is where they pay respect to ancestors and have that kind of bond with family members too. So yea, its good if u have things to buy and to combine after yr first order and no good if u are in a rush to get yr items.

I just ordered something but i think not fast enough to 'catch' the last batch of domestic delivery before the sellers go to celebrate their Thanksgiving Day. I am not sure if we can wish someone Happy Thanks Giving day but hmmm , hope they enjoy their holidays and bonding with family.

So ok, u know now that sellers are most probably going to be 'not that prompt' during this period of time (seem to be anytime now to 05.10.09) so pls be patience and dont kar jiao (means disturb) customer service asking Where ARE my items?!?!

Even PO should be enjoying their holidays since its a PH. Our local PO also never work during holidays. So dont expect Koreans to be working on PH too

........ OK, I'm going to buy durian mooncakes to celebrate mooncakes festival too hooohoooo

Payment Mode with Gmarket, Combined Shipping Information

There's always a lot of issues going on when I joined Gmarket... I tried to find the information by myself first before seeking help from others.

My Suggestion is

READ the Information on "Customer Service" @ Gmarket. Help yourself first by doing the reading. Compared to other buyers who have problem with English, I think we have no excuse not to read the FAQ.

Sometimes I see those lazy people going around posting elsewhere that 'its tough' to order from Gmarket. The problem is, they dont like to do their homework. They like people to spoonfeed them from the basic onwards! If they dont want to help themselves, dont expect others to help them.

I am not going to cover Credit card issues. Its clearly stated under the Customer Service section. No Spoonfeeding.

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G Account aka Cash Balance

There's this Qn going on my mind abt Cash Balance... how do I get my $ out of Cash Balance.

Cash Balance is there when I have excess shipping charges (charged but refunded) to the account.


We can use the $ in the Cash Balance for paying for our orders. However, you have to take note that it works only when....

1- Order amount Including Local and Overeas shipping charges is *less* than Cash Balance.
**You cannot pay with Cash Balances & Credit Card or Paypal

So in this case, all you can do is

1-Buy Gift Vr for yrself and deposit into Cash Balance (G account) <== Update : It seem to me that this can only be purchased by locals. I cannot buy 1 for myself. The Paypal, Credit card option is not available. Only Cash Balance. So the only way is to ask friend to buy and send u VR etc. from their Cash Balance

OR

2-Slowly accumulate yr $$$ to a big amt and then place an order

3-Find sellers that give a realistic weight of the items. ie I have purchased stickers from seller stating that 1 sticker pack (6pieces) = 1kg.... 1kg a bit impossible right

However this is good if u want to quickly accumulate yr Cash Balance

4-Split yr Order. For my case, I will split into 2 orders like what I have done earlier. ie, Placed one order using 106000Won for 1st Order in Cash Balance, place another order using Credit card. Then combine this 2 orders.

Besides this, I think we have no way to refund the $ out from Gaccount unless we have Bank Account in Korea. If this is wrong, pls let me know.

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Gift Certificate....

I have deposited my 50,000Won Gift Certificate to my Cash Balance & the amt of 50,000Won has been deposited after the transaction. No delays etc.

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Payment with G Account (Cash Balance)

For the 1st Order, I pay with my Gaccount (Cash Balance) $$$ > 100000Won. I select "G Account Cash Balance"




Payment Bank is Gaccount (Cash Balance)

The next msg said "Please pay the follow amount within 5days" >100000Won


I just clicked "Confirm"

Next, I go to see my Cash Balance and I see that the amount has been deducted directly from my Cash Balance




Then I placed another Order #2 with my Credit Card. In this case, select Foreign Card: CreditCard issued outside of Korea and select MASTER or VISA and click Pay


ps I am using CC instead of Paypal. I have Paypal account but I prefer to just stick to CC.



Note that its stated that : Payment will be made by USD.

There's USD amt and Korean Won amount. Do your maths and you will be able to find out how much $ you actually paid. For my case, I realised that if they charged by Korean Won, I will pay lesser than paying with USD. Right now Korean Won is going strong to USD but still rather weak to my home currency. THis simply sucks. A different of abt Local currency SGD$7


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Combine Shipping


Go to Shopping List... click "Overseas Order" and you will see this...





Ensure that


1-You have items thats under the status of On Request, Partial in Delivery, On Delivery. As long as *not* all the items are "Delivered", you will be able to combine them successfully.

However pls note that you shouldnt combine order when all yr order are "Delivered" or some under the status of "On Delivery" for a few days and might reach the HQ anytime.


Give some allowance in case the update are not done promptly and you end up with 2 boxes of shipment.

In my case, I have 2 Order No#1 and #2. Noticed that there's a box under the "Shipment". Click the corresponding boxes






Scroll down and Click "Request Combined Shipment"




Then you get this information..........

You should know what to click.

And this is the msg u should see....



I have noticed that in my case, for eg, Shipment no 123 and Shipment 125 has been combined for Order no#1 and #2 respectively. The combined shipping no. will be Shipment no 123.

If you do yr homework, you will read that we can only combine 2 shipments together. but that leave me wondering if I can place another order#3 and combine with my *new* Shipment no 123 (already combined with Order no#1 and #2).

So I went to kar jiao the Customer service.. and i get some replies that I dont understand. Nonetheless, I decided to check around and realised that, I SHOULDNT have even bother them! Wapiang............. booohoooo

Why?

Under the Shopping List, combine shipping,

I realised that *ALL* of those that I have combined order before (i combined a lot of orders prior to this too), do not have any boxes next to the Shipment no#!!!

So there is NO WAY you can add another order#3 and combine with the 1st Combined Order.

So now, I have no choice but to place my 3rd Order under new SHipment no. after this current amout shopping charges are transferred back to my account.

Why do I missed that then..... well I am in a hurry to place my 2nd order as my 1st order sellers ship the items VERY FAST out! One of them reached the next day! So i must quickly submit to 'catch' them on the same shipment back.