[The Chosun Ilbo, December 21 2007] Online Shopping Services Make Christmas Shopping Global

With Christmas around the corner department stores in the U.S. and Europe are holding massive sales, and the discounts grow bigger with the approach of Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.

Sales at overseas stores meant nothing to Koreans just a few years ago, but things have changed. Now Koreans can shop at those stores from home thanks to Internet shopping malls, which have staff overseas that buy from stores and ship the goods to customers in Korea. That means these online malls can hold sales that coincide with sales at overseas stores.

Meanwhile, more and more Koreans are shopping directly with overseas online retailers. Baby products and cosmetics are the most popular items. But Koreans who want to shop with overseas Internet malls should first make sure that they will ship to Korea and can accept credit cards from foreigners. Another problem is that if the product has a defect it's not easy to get a refund or an exchange. It's usually smarter to use sites that are reliable -- those with more traffic -- rather than those that offer cheap prices.