KOREA CUSTOMS INFO

Quick question for anyone who has items shipped from home.  I've heard that the USPS has a bad habit of losing packages headed for overseas destinations. 

What carriers seem to work the best?  Has anyone had a negative experience with the USPS?

I've ordered stuff online where they were the carrier and have had no problems.

A friend of mine had her mum send over a suitcase of her clothes from home, and customs withheld it until she'd pay tax on it! They were her used personal items... Can't work that one out.

Would it be a good idea to have the address written in both Korean and English?  I was thinking of typing out my address in Korean and emailing that to my folks so that they could print that out and tape it to the box along with the English romanization of it.  Would that be a good idea or would it confuse matters even more?

Good evening fellow waygookers,

I recently purchased the new iPad, and had it shipped to my parents house in the United States.  Before I have them ship it to me in Korea, I'm trying to determine the best way to have them send it so that it doesn't get held up in customs.  Should I declare it as a gift, or as personal belongings?  I read a post on Daves ESL that the new iPad would be held up in customs until Korea began selling it.  Any veracity to this claim?  What if I had my mom wrap the box in wrapping paper?  Please advise.

you'll need to pay a 20% import duty. 

I had to pay it when I flew to LA to get the 1st generation iPad.  Was a pain, but what the hell.

MC

Good evening fellow waygookers,

I recently purchased the new iPad, and had it shipped to my parents house in the United States.  Before I have them ship it to me in Korea, I'm trying to determine the best way to have them send it so that it doesn't get held up in customs.  Should I declare it as a gift, or as personal belongings?  I read a post on Daves ESL that the new iPad would be held up in customs until Korea began selling it.  Any veracity to this claim?  What if I had my mom wrap the box in wrapping paper?  Please advise.

Definitely send it without the original box.

Good evening fellow waygookers,

I recently purchased the new iPad, and had it shipped to my parents house in the United States.  Before I have them ship it to me in Korea, I'm trying to determine the best way to have them send it so that it doesn't get held up in customs.  Should I declare it as a gift, or as personal belongings?  I read a post on Daves ESL that the new iPad would be held up in customs until Korea began selling it.  Any veracity to this claim?  What if I had my mom wrap the box in wrapping paper?  Please advise.

Definitely have her put it in a case (the one you want) and label it as used, personal item worth 50 bucks.  Shipping it along with other items you want would help.  Untangle the cords and such to make it look worn.       

wait what?  you get a 100,000 won discount at apple if you're a teacher? after school english teacher included? :D
thanks~

For those who've paid a customs duty fee before, is it possible to do this online without an online banking license? It seems like the link cardrotax.or.kr requires an alien registration number and an online banking license.

I know you can pay at the post office or a bank, but paying online would be much easier than taking time off of work to visit these places. Please advise if you have experience!

For those who've paid a customs duty fee before, is it possible to do this online without an online banking license? It seems like the link cardrotax.or.kr requires an alien registration number and an online banking license.

I know you can pay at the post office or a bank, but paying online would be much easier than taking time off of work to visit these places. Please advise if you have experience!

I've paid the delivery guy. Make sure you have the exact amount in cash.

Interesting. The delivery man from UPS said he had no idea about the fee and refused to take the money.

I guess it's off to the post office then!

When I dealt with Fedex I've also transferred money to a Korean bank account.

For those who've paid a customs duty fee before, is it possible to do this online without an online banking license? It seems like the link cardrotax.or.kr requires an alien registration number and an online banking license.

I know you can pay at the post office or a bank, but paying online would be much easier than taking time off of work to visit these places. Please advise if you have experience!

I've paid online before; someone from the customs office phoned me and then sent me an email with their banking details. Pretty simple stuff.

Korea Customs

First, Kimchi is culture all around country.
Second, People shoud take Shoes off
Last, if you make friends, drink Soju.

Korea Customs

First, Kimchi is culture all around country.
Second, People shoud take Shoes off
Last, if you make friends, drink Soju.

excellent advice! but in this case, customs refers to the customs agency, i.e. the agency that is in charge of import tariffs and duties, and not cultural customs.

:)

Has anyone ever had

-boxed mac and cheese
-seasoned salt (http://mojosavings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/170.jpg)

sent to them? Someone told me that you couldn't mail salt but I wasn't able to find any concrete info about this anywhere.

I've had boxed mac and cheese sent, no one stopped it.

I've also had spices sent to me from home, not seasoned salt, but I would think that it would be similar.  Just have the person sending it write it on the customs declaration and I can't see why they would stop it.

Sweet, thanks. Been craving mac and cheese like crazy!

Quick question for anyone who has items shipped from home.  I've heard that the USPS has a bad habit of losing packages headed for overseas destinations. 

What carriers seem to work the best?  Has anyone had a negative experience with the USPS?

I've ordered stuff online where they were the carrier and have had no problems.

Never had problems with USPS!

What's the deal with e-cigarettes these days? I've stopped smoking but rely on these things I bought in the UK. They look like normal cigarettes and you just suck and you get the nicotine. I remeber last tim I was here in 2012, you used to see them in the 7-Eleven and now it seems that the government is hell-bent on preventing them from being used, making it basically cheaper to smoke the real thing? This seems ludicrous to me. After much trawling, it seems like there's loads online but no actual shops to go and check the product out before purchase. And the ones I've seen online look more like bongs than cigarettes!!!

So to get to the point, where can I go to get e-cigs? Is there an actual shop anywhere and is it ridiculously expensive? Can I get them imported? From what I've read, the answer is no, you'll be slapped with an import fee.

Thanks for your input folks!