GMarket [A Review]

Here in Korea... things can be a little expensive. Okay, a lot expensive. They either break the bank or just skim the wallet. It's hard to find the in-between.

When we moved here we decided to put our dining table in storage. It's a large butcher block dark stained table that fits six with a leaf to extend to eight. We knew we weren't going to have enough room in our new space, so we left it.

Fast forward to the present. We moved into our apartment, household goods were delivered, and we have no kitchen table. Here enters two weeks of eating dinner at the coffee table. Sadie loved it, but it grew old.

So here began our search for a kitchen table. We visited furniture stores, but they all seemed to be a minimum $300 plus chairs. There's a furniture alley in Daegu, but most items there were special order to custom made. Also expensive.

There's a store here called EMart(entire post coming soon). It's similar to a Target crossed with a Bed Bath and Beyond. It calls on my organization. However; it had no dining tables in store, and the website is completely in Korean.

Enter GMarket. I read about it on a few different sites and decided to try it out. It's basically the Korean Amazon. Don't get me wrong, I still love you Amazon, but you won't ship large items to me.

There is an option on the GMarket website to translate the page to English. While there is still some Korean since each item is individually sold by sellers, it's enough to understand and search through.

After searching through endless options, we finally found the table that spoke to us. And the eclectic green chairs we saw in a store window... half the price on GMarket. So with a little help from Google Translate to make sure I was ordering the right stuff, I entered my address, my payment and BAM. Done. Easy as that.

Okay, here's where it gets good. They have AMAZING customer service. No joke. I guess I confused them a bit by ordering a table from one seller and chairs from another. An english speaking customer service representative called me to clear things right up. He also translated my address into Korean for me and e-mailed me a copy to have it for future orders. Then he informed me about the delivery charge. With Gmarket, you don't pay for shipping, but for large items you may have to pay the person delivering the item a fee. He checked and sure enough it was 30,000 won for our table. Chairs were free. But this also includes the guy putting it together for you.

All in all, I had a great experience with GMarket. I will definitely be ordering again. I ordered my table and chairs last Thursday and I am currently sitting at them now. If your in Korea, check it out!