I've been way too click-happy lately. When I don't have anything to do at work --and after reading pretty much every piece of interesting news made available online-- I tend to browse in online shopping malls. Most of the time I just add a bunch of items to my wish list, but every once in a while... my desire trumphs my reason. Which is just another way of saying it happens pretty much all the time.
So far my experience has been very pleasant. A popular search engine/community website Naver has a system called "Checkout," which allows you to shop without having to make new accounts for individual websites. Of course not all shopping malls do this and you can only use the Checkout option for participating ones. Convenience only adds more to the ease with which I blithely buy things. Naver Checkout, in that sense, is pure evil. You barely feel anything when you click "Complete Purchase." It is as though you're just clicking any other button.
The process of paying is much more complicated than the North American counterpart. South Korea has seen numerous cases of identity and credit card number thefts, and people take extra caution in buying things.
First, you must have a valid credit card or a bank account. South Korean malls don't accept Paypal. If you choose to pay with your credit card, you have to open up a mini-account with your card detail (expiry date, security number, etc). Then you register your cellphone number with which you'll receive "Confirmation Number". For each transaction you receive a confirmation number via SMS, and you have to punch in the numbers you were given to confirm that it is indeed you that's making the purchase.
I have never paid through my bank account, but the mechanism is quite simple. You send money to the seller's bank account directly. A small drawback of this method is that you will not get a receipt right away, and that if the person who's paying the money isn't the person registered online, there may be confusion and there will be further delay.
Those who know me well will know that I have extensive experience in shopping online. Luckily the sizes I pick fit me well, and especially in Korea where most girls are stick-figure skinny and salespeople are pushy and nosy, online shopping malls are a viable alternative.
Being a small country South Korea prides itself in fast delivery. (And if you ever get to see how delivery people drive in Korea, you'll understand why it is so fast, and why so many people get hurt in car accidents in this country.) In contrast to the one to two week(s) wait in Canada, most of the time I get my parcels within the same week.
These days it seems to be the peak season in delivery because there was a holiday and people are just getting back to work. But it's taking longer than usual to receive my items. I don't exactly care as long as the wait is reasonable (I once had to wait for over a month so I don't think anything can top that).
Last week I received a phone call from an unknown number. It turned out to be one of the websites I shopped at, and the person in charge apologized for the delay and updated me in regards to the order process. I wasn't getting antsy at all (until he called...) but regardless it was good to know that they cared enough to call. Last night I got another call from another shopping mall but I had missed it, and they left a text message with an apology.
The first seller contacted me twice, and when he called for the second time he confessed that one of the clothes I ordered was revealed to be a faulty product. I was more impressed than mad; they could've given me the crappy one and just shrug it off.
This is something that I never experienced in Canada. I guess a lot of people just brush over it since the country is just too darn big and it takes so much time to deliver things. In particular the West Coast is infamous for its lax attitude (though I have some objections to this stereotype).
I was often upset upon seeing how people were so impolite and inconsiderate, but after receiving these calls my faith in salespeople has been somewhat restored. Respect should be given mutually; customers should treat sellers with due courtesy and vice versa. I'm getting a bit more anxious about the clothes I ordered, but knowing that the sellers are inspecting their merchandise closely and trying to abide by some standard is good enough for me.
Or am I being too lenient? I can never tell.
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