Shopping in Korea

Korea is one of the easiest places in the world to buy things, with next-day and often same-day delivery as the normal standard. The only real obstacle for a foreign resident is the identity verification the platforms require, which means a Korean phone number in your own name comes before any of this.

Once that works, almost everything arrives tomorrow.

Online, which is where residents end up

The large domestic platforms dominate and compete on delivery speed. Subscription services from the biggest offer next-day or even overnight delivery on an enormous catalogue, including groceries.

What to know:

• Identity verification is the gate. Most platforms want a Korean mobile number registered to you. Phones and internet covers getting one.
• The apps are Korean-language, and a browser translation tool handles them adequately. A few have English interfaces.
• Returns are easy and expected. Collection from your door is normal, and the culture around returns is more generous than in many countries.
• Delivery to a locker or the door is standard, and you do not need to be home.

What you want	Where to get it
Almost anything, by tomorrow	The large online platforms
Fresh produce, fish, side dishes	A traditional market
Household goods, kitchen, storage	The cheap fixed-price chains
Furniture and appliances	Second-hand apps, or a departing resident
Imported food	Large supermarkets and specialist shops, at a premium
Electronics	Online, or the electronics districts
Clothes	Online, wholesale markets, or international chains for sizing

Markets, and what they are good for

Traditional markets remain genuinely useful rather than merely picturesque, and they beat supermarkets on specific things: fresh produce, prepared side dishes, fish, and cooked food eaten on the spot.

Prices are lower than a supermarket for the same produce, quality is often better, and the market is the cheapest place to eat a good lunch. Haggling is not really the convention on food, though buying in quantity gets you a little extra.

Bring cash, even though many stalls take cards, and bring a bag.

The cheap household shops

A category worth knowing by type rather than name: large chains selling household goods, stationery, kitchen items, cosmetics and storage at very low fixed prices. For setting up a flat, they replace an enormous amount of what you would otherwise order.

Alongside them: hardware streets and wholesale districts in the bigger cities, where anything practical is cheaper than retail if you know what you want.

Second-hand, which is better than you expect

Two routes, and the first is the one to use.

Hyperlocal resale apps match buyers and sellers in the same neighbourhood, with pickup in person. They are enormously popular, cover furniture, appliances, bicycles and almost everything else, and are the cheapest way to furnish a flat.

The departing-resident market is the underrated one. Foreign residents leave constantly, usually at contract boundaries, and they sell entire flats of furniture and appliances quickly and cheaply. Community groups are where those sales appear, and timing your own arrival near a departure cycle is genuinely worth money. Finding meet-ups in Korea and nationality groups in Korea cover where to look.

When buying second-hand, meet in a public place, check the item works before paying, and pay on collection rather than in advance.

What is expensive

Worth naming, because it is where budgets break:

• Fruit, which is startlingly expensive and treated as a gift item.
• Imported groceries, cheese, bread, and anything from a Western supermarket range.
• Imported alcohol and wine, which carries heavy duty.
• Western-brand clothing, and anything imported.
• Specialist dietary products, which are also hard to find at all.

Against that, domestic produce, pulses, rice, eggs, dairy, household goods, cosmetics and electronics are all reasonable to cheap. Where to eat in Korea covers the same split in restaurants.

Clothes and sizing

Domestic clothing is cheap and plentiful, concentrated in online shops and in the wholesale markets, and the shopping districts of the larger cities are substantial.

The honest caveat: sizing runs small by international standards, and larger sizes, wide shoe fittings and some body shapes are genuinely hard to find in domestic ranges. International chains carry their home sizing and are the reliable answer. Order from home before you need something formal, if you are outside the common range.

Tax refunds, and who gets them

Short-stay visitors can reclaim some sales tax on qualifying purchases, either immediately in participating shops or at an airport kiosk on departure, with receipts and a passport.

Residents cannot. If you hold a residence card you are not a tourist for this purpose, so do not plan around it. Visiting Korea covers the refund for short stays.

Where this goes wrong

• No Korean phone number, so the platforms stay closed.
• Buying furniture new when a departing resident is selling the same thing.
• Paying in advance for a second-hand item.
• Shopping at an imported supermarket and concluding Korea is expensive.
• Assuming your size is stocked in domestic ranges.
• Expecting a tax refund as a resident.

Where to go next

Convenience facilities covers the corner shop that does far more than sell snacks, and renting in Korea covers furnishing a place.

Returns, warranties and buying big

Worth knowing before a large purchase, because Korean consumer practice is better than most and only if you use it.

Returns are generous and expected, with collection from your door on most platform purchases, and the culture around it is far less grudging than in many countries.

Keep the receipt and the box for anything with a warranty, and register the product where the manufacturer offers it, because service networks are good and want the proof.

For appliances and furniture, compare the online price against the electronics districts, ask about delivery and installation separately, and check whether removal of the old item is included. It usually can be, and it is rarely offered unprompted.