It’s so frustrating ordering albums when you’re living in Europe. Because of the outrageously expensive shipping cost and all the customs I had to pay, 3 albums costed me $140
That's why I started just looking for albums on amazon Shipping there is often already included in the price and the prices are not too bad, and on top of that they also arrive quicker than when ordering from kpop stores in my experience (I'm from germany btw, in case that is relevant) Edit: I forgot to add that they also arrive at my house without having to pay customs
@@ncteumaja Since you're from Germany i recommend either j-store Hamburg or daebak shop, they are german stores and in my opinion they both have pretty reasonable prices and the shipping is fast as well
Yeah I feel you. For my last two preorders I used an ebay seller. The price for an album plus shipping was still cheaper than if I would have brought it from some european store and I was lucky to avoid customs both times. So I guess that would be my to go method for now
I live in the Netherlands and the shipping was already expensive but after the prices went up at Ktown4u??? $40 for shipping two albums! Even the prices from fansites links are not worth it now. And yess customs for every package and DHL does it according to the weight of the package when there's no invoice so it the end gold is cheaper than kpop albums in Europe 😂
@@Beccaae im british and buying albums i would recommend joining uk gos through instagram. i get most of my albums for £20 shipped from there, but when i cant do it i try and find sellers on ebay that are willing to cover dhl shipping there is a few nice ones out there. i hate how we cant even go to amazon anymore bc their albums are now all at £30-40 like its not worth it
yeah before they upped the shipping price I bought 13 albums from ktown4u and shipping was like $50 (it was a treat to myself because i don’t buy albums that often😅) so it’s crazy that for one album it’s $30. Definitely don’t buy from there unless you’re getting at least 3 albums in my opinion.
yh the shipping is fucked lmao but I feel happy when I saw the 40% discount for ateez per album lmfao i always cheap the cheapest shipping available but obvs the cheapest shipping itself is v expensive also I live in London which is honestly the furthest fhcking point from korea omfjgdhesdglhbgj
I think its really sad that shipping always makes albums so pricey. The value of the album skyrockets just because of the shipping. Compared to the price in korea itself it's like day and night and i really hate the shipping costs
Tbh Gmarket shipping is so cheap because they frequently do shipping discounts for the US and Asian countries only. Gmarket isn't that good if you're not from those countries. :/
Yup, my experience was the exact opposite - with gmarket being insanely expensive and kt4u being the cheapest (haven't used catchopcd) for Europe. I feel like for us europeans going through a group order is the most fiscally responsible decision 😅
@sincerelyjeon the shipping is really expensive, sometimes from around 20 - 80 euros, which is so so expensive. and sometimes we need to pay customs so 😭
Buying kpop albums and being in Europe is honestly painfully expensive. I’ve actually turned to buying albums second hand. I find with this way I’m able to buy albums at a lower price.
Out of the stores in this video, i frequently use kpoptown. The only downside compared to some stores is that when i only want to buy one version of the album, i can't pick the specific version i want, for example Wonho's album, because they don't give you the option to pick which isn't that big of a deal though.
Kpopstoreusa (I think that's the name?) was really cheap for wonhos album! It was $20 and $5 shipping! So if you do one for stores in the u.s please put that one in there so people know!
I used to buy from kpopmart all the time because shipping was at most 5 or 6 bucks but now shipping has gone way up they were going to charge me $40 for just for 2 albums 😐
Any one from Spain who’s tired of shipping being almost 60€ for 3 albums? Add over 23€ on supposed customs as well? Plus the limited shipping options. Also me being from the Canary Islands makes them even more limited and expensive
before covid amazon was the cheapest option for me living in the uk now they sell their albums for £40 it was ridiculous. and i used to buy sealed albums from ebay for just £15 now u have to pay that and £15 shipping ahhh thank god none of the groups i stan havent been having comebacks bc u need to pay dhl on everything which sucks 😭
Omg Gmarket seems so cheap there 😍 Germany can't relate one bit 🙅🏼♀️😅 They only offer EMS for us and the shipping for one of Wonho's new albums is almost $40 - for the set over $70 and on top of it customs hits us with another fee 🙈😅
i do this all the time. whenever i have albums i want i try to do buy multiple albums in one go because of shipping. I always put all the albums in the cart with shipping and compare the grand totals on all sites. because some websites have cheap products but expensive shipping and some have expensive products but cheap shipping so it always ends up evening out somehow
I'm so afraid of G market. I almost used it to preorder Wonho's latest album but I freaked out and seeing how they packaged your albums didn't help lol Maybe 1 day I will. Recently I fell in love with Withdrama. They have the most BEAUTIFUL preorder benefits. But their shipping is INSANE. Even when I joined a group order it was insane and they sell out so fast. I literally had an anxiety attack almost lol The suffering we do for our biases lol
For me, Gmarket always packages really well. Lots of bubble wrap and tape. It may be because I'm ordering from Synnara's shop and maybe they package it? But I haven't had anything damaged!
a video for us shops would be super helpful, the only store that i shop from is saranghello. their shipping is much more friendlier. their cheapest price for shipping starts from about 5.34 dollars i think but i would love to learn about more stores !!
so random but i love how you put little stars in your video titles because even if I'm not wearing my glasses i can tell you posted by seeing the little stars
I've really considered collecting photocards and I was wondering if you could do an updated crash course. You had one before but I'd love an updated one! Love your videos~~
My advise (basically only applicable to USA residents) but if you're buying multiple albums, I would suggesting buying from a Korean site, but if you're only getting one I would recommend buying from a US site. Although you will pay a little more for the album, the shipping will be much less and even out and odds are you will get your album a bit sooner! :)
i usually use Cokodive, even though their product prices are inflated, their Fedex shipping is top notch and i have never gotten a damaged album or customs cause they always devalue so you do end up saving quite a bit at the end of the day!
I had a bad first impression of Gmarket. Purchased and album from them and it legit kept getting the shipment date pushed back several months. I got so frustrated after having it pushed back about 4-5 times I cancelled my order. Not sure what happened there but it left a bad taste in my mouth. It sucked too cause it was an album that was hard to find and I was so happy to finally have found it.
wow that sucks and her saying the shipping isn’t really protective scares me to order because in Canada tax and exchange rate is high so I always look for cheapest option. (So like $40 would be 60dollars Canadian with tax :(
@@helenavasic9989 my friend that lives in Canada prefers Ktown4u. Idk if that helps you but she says the discount links really help her. She’s also used kpopptown in the past as well
yikes im so sorry that happened to you. I also want to mention ive had times where I've ordered from them and they've emailed once preorders end asking for more shipping money.
Victoria Cisneros thanks for that info! I’ve used kpop town before and had a good experience good to know she likes ktown4u I’ve been curious about that site!
It is expensive right now no matter where you buy from. I have defaulted back to Yesasia for multiple albums as they at least still offer free shipping (now on orders over $75 dollars 😭). When ordering individual albums I used to use CatchopCD or kpopmarket01 but both are not an option currently. I also love HMV Japan as you can get albums used from them for about $2 each and then ship them through a forwarding service. Because of Covid one shipment got returned and I had to pay for shipping twice but I still saved well over $100 dollars on what the new price would have been on the albums though. HMV Japan is great for filling out discographies of groups!
I think it would have been good to compare both usa stores and Korean stores in the same video. I'm someone who always buys multiple albums at once and price compares different combinations of the albums at different stores in both countries before making a purchase. You should also consider taxes and fees associated with the stores if you do another video. I think catchopcd mentions a % fee for using PayPal and some US stores have taxes. I've never used gmarket, so I might check them out. A usa store that I recommend trying is kpopusaonline. Thanks for the video.
anyone from the uk, sokollab and KYYO are good places to shop, the prices are pretty high ranging from 20-33 for albums and 65 for most light sticks. yeah they are expensive but at the end of the day they are still cheaper then buying from a sk store since the shipping is only £3-£6
I personally use yesasia to order my albums (based in Germany and I've never had to pay customs ). The albums are a it more pricey than other stores but they have free shipping over 70€ and you dont have customs so it come out cheaper than some other store:)
I honestly gave up buying kpop albums on sites like that, as someone who lives in Brazil, I tried buying through Gmarket, in total, it was around $25, but shipping costs around $110
Many stores sell albums for just above cost and make up the profit in the shipping, like a bait and switch. Definitely compare the total cost at checkout. The cheaper the album, the more the shipping will cost. Llook for stores that offer free shipping over an amount and discounts/promotions.
Im in NZ, too. I just ordered my first album from a site called “kpopalbums”. I havent received it yet but my tracking says its arrived in Auckland and its been around a week so they are pretty fast. Anyways, i ordered 4 albums which cost me $105.98NZD, with shipping to Waikato being $53.99NZD. So $159.97NZD total. I compared the price with ktown4u and they would’ve charged me $100USD just for shipping alone! Stay tuned though.. i wont know if ive been scammed until i receive or dont receive the package haha. The website seemed too good to be true!
A new alternative for us based people is definitely subk! I know their catalog is still small and consists of mainly newer albums/more known groups but the fact they offer media mail shipping for albums starting at 4usd is a lifesaver. They had their black Friday sale last year and I managed to buy 3 albums for less than 40 usd! So definitely check them out if you're doing us based sites
Tbh I was thinking about the other day how the shipping to the US has never really been suspended from Korea or Japan. Sure it got more expensive, but it’s always been available. I’ve heard horror stories from other countries as well.
I just order from amazon because I'm European. It is expensive (about £30-£50 per album, but I guess the shipping is cheaper) (KOREA, PLEASE PAY MORE ATTENTION TO EUROPE 😭)
I once paid 130$ cad dollar for 2 albums “EXO DONT MESS UP MY TEMPO AND GORIBOY AVANTE = DIGIPACK (the shipping and customs rates are so high) hahah so that’s around 92 euros! 😂😂😂😂🥺😩😩😩🥲🥲🥲
I pretty much only buy my albums from Synnara's shop on Gmarket but in my experience they package stuff well haha. I will say that in the like 30+ orders I've placed on Gmarket, twice I had to pay additional shipping because the albums turned out to be heavier than Gmarket thought
Ktown4u used to be my go to because shipping was pretty cheap plus the fanclub discounts so the cost per album was the cheapest from any store. The increased shipping does not make that the case anymore. I currently don’t know where to buy from because the cost was more than ideal to spend on an album (like $30 per album). Besides stores that have pobs, I’ve been buying more from us stores and it’s still not as cheap as Ktown4u but definitely not as bad when shipping costs more than the album itself (looking at withdrama).
you should check out kpopmarket01 on ebay, they're super fast, have amazing packaging and for me (living in europe) shipping isn't too expensive either!
I use Ktown4u for most things, but I usually order 3-5 albums at a time so it makes sense. The other store I use is ChoiceMusicLA which takes so much longer and honestly Ktown4u is faster but like a few dollars more expensive
as someone who lives in australia ( kpop album prices hell ) yesasia is a great choice !! shipping is kinda slow BUT it's free and although the albums are a little more expensive , it's definitely better than paying 29usd for shipping D:
I would love a US store video and have some non-cali stores included. I only know of Eve Pink in Houston, TX. Just because albums get stuck in preshipment in CA for like, a week. Trying to find stores closer to the east coast 😩
if you ever do another video like this, could you talk about MMT and makestar? I've never ordered from there, but they always have such cute preorder benefits haha
I'd love to see a video comparing US stores! Recently I've gotten back into collecting and I find US stores are cheapest for someone who lives in the US.
I've only used Gmarket twice and so far both experiences have been good, they calculate their shipping in a weird way, like you can add 1 tiny item and suddenly it throws half a kg extra on the shipping even though you KNOW that item doesn't weight that much. Both my orders were actually really well packaged I ordered multiple items from different shops and so they had to sent it to a warehouse in SK where it would be repackaged and then send to me in HK, the first time I paid too much shipping so I got some points? and then with my second order I got a discount. I will say shipping from SK to HK is waaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than shipping to the USA. Normally I buy my kpop merch locally because its easier and cheaper but there are some nugu artists they don't sell here so I have to order online T^T
living in europe (esp. in eastern europe) when u want to buy albums is not the best. I personally dont use any of those sites bc i usually buy at most 2 albums at a time, shipping is gigantic and having to pay customs is awful. i just use a region based kpop shop that gets the albums from korea and just ships with the particular country's shipping methods (takes like 3-4 weeks for the albums to get to me, but at least i dont pay more than 30 euros for a single album).
Because of these shipping prices and customs and stuff (I live in europe) it has sometimes been cheaper for me to buy from amazon but they sadly don't have every album of every group (especially not smaller and more unknown groups)
I only really pre-order Monsta X and Wonho album, just bcause the pricing on shipping is getting expensive. I usually buy from the Starship Square (it used to be with OKVit or whatever before GMarket), because I want their pre-order benefits. For other groups, I try to buy from a US store, online or in LA.
I would love to see a US store version of this video since i use those more then korean stores because of shipping. Plus i usually don't buy in bulk just 2 albums at a time
i live in small country in europe and precovid i used ebay where album came to like 20 euros. and now it 30 euro only fo shipping. i still got few albums around new year trying to combine cheap with expensive, but that wasn't a greatest idea still. so sadly buying albums is not for me from now on((
How often does DHL hit you with Duties & Taxes? Ever since last summer, no matter the size & weight of the box ive been getting hit with 25$cad + duties :(. I ended up switching back to EMS to avoid the duties
I purchase all my albums from kpoptown bc i like that they have an option that lets you see the price in AUD and for me atleast i think its been the cheapest so far. Ive only used catchop before once though
I believe right now, GMARKET is having an event where shipping is cheaper for many countries including the US, so I think thats why shipping was cheaper :)
@@Wonhaed For our Tshirt from BTS online concert, We had no choice but to take DHL wich was almost 40USD for 2 tshirt.... It took 3 month to arrive to me, and almost 100$ of custom fee. Weverse dosent reply to me back about the shipping time :) I swear. lol.
@@Wonhaed BUT LUCKILY. I found a nice canadian shop that ship for free over 45$! No custom, super nice service and sometimes freebies !!! Main store located in SK , but they have a ''store'' located here in Canada. So now I buy all my albums from there :3 Sadly they don't do TSHIRT SO AHHH. Weverse u suck.
Companies make contracts with DHL, FedEx and UPS. You can have all 4 stores on the same street in Korea, depending on the contract they have with these shipping companies is how much they'll charge you. So it seems that ktown4u doesn't have a good contract with DHL
Ktown4u had a contract with DHL last summer (that and preorder cards is why a lot of people started switching to them) but it must’ve ended since the price went up a lot 😂
The problem with some of these store, you cannot pay in euro for exemple... And paying conversion fees (sometimes paypal fees) add even more to the price 🙄🙄 getting a album when you live in Europe is a NIGHTMARE for your wallet 😭😭
okay I know I'm Late to this video but that's so weird, I'm in Canada and ktown4u is usually the cheapest for me by far! When I bought all four versions of 12:00 from there it came to about $20 CAD per album
I either buy my koop albums in one of the local record stores, buy second hand or join gos most of the time, where I live we now a days lamost always need to pay customs if we buy the albums from south korea and costumer are extremely expensive
to throw my personal opinion in lol, i would recommend aladin (kr site). their prices might not be the best ever but they always have a lot of coupons and ship earlier than they say they will. also good packaging to protect the albums. the only draw back is that the site is in korean so you have to use google translate? but yeah i would recommend
For the U.S store vid ( if u do it) u should totally do Kpopmusictownla I love that store (website at least) I never had a problem with them & shipping is not bad
If I were to do a video comparing US stores which stores should I include???
Please let me know!! 👇🏻
Choicemusicla
Target
Walmart
Barnes and nobles
KpopstoreinUSA
These are the only places I know where to get kpop albums.
I’d like to see choice music la
Besides the other stores previously stated, I’d be interested in you covering Music Plaza since that’s a popular one too!
K-pop republic is pretty good
Kpopusaonline is a very good and cheap store
It’s so frustrating ordering albums when you’re living in Europe. Because of the outrageously expensive shipping cost and all the customs I had to pay, 3 albums costed me $140
Same + the customs make the experiences awful since it's usually very expensive 😔
That's why I started just looking for albums on amazon
Shipping there is often already included in the price and the prices are not too bad, and on top of that they also arrive quicker than when ordering from kpop stores in my experience (I'm from germany btw, in case that is relevant)
Edit: I forgot to add that they also arrive at my house without having to pay customs
@@ncteumaja yeah amazon is pretty good in terms of prices for albums especially for europeans
@@ncteumaja Since you're from Germany i recommend either j-store Hamburg or daebak shop, they are german stores and in my opinion they both have pretty reasonable prices and the shipping is fast as well
Yeah I feel you. For my last two preorders I used an ebay seller. The price for an album plus shipping was still cheaper than if I would have brought it from some european store and I was lucky to avoid customs both times. So I guess that would be my to go method for now
With covid shipping prices for Europe are just INSANEEE!! so seeing even the different shipping options is a sight that I don't see in so loongg!
I’ve heard prices in Europe have been awful. And I know you guys often pay customs as well. Ugh I’m so sorry 😭
@@Wonhaed Almost always, even for one album 😢
@@Wonhaed its like 20£ for shipping (depending on the store) and its normally £20 customs in the uk so its not fun :(
I live in the Netherlands and the shipping was already expensive but after the prices went up at Ktown4u??? $40 for shipping two albums! Even the prices from fansites links are not worth it now. And yess customs for every package and DHL does it according to the weight of the package when there's no invoice so it the end gold is cheaper than kpop albums in Europe 😂
@@Beccaae im british and buying albums i would recommend joining uk gos through instagram. i get most of my albums for £20 shipped from there, but when i cant do it i try and find sellers on ebay that are willing to cover dhl shipping there is a few nice ones out there. i hate how we cant even go to amazon anymore bc their albums are now all at £30-40 like its not worth it
ktown4u is definitely not a one album shop😖 you have to buy like 3-5 albums for the shipping to be worth it😅
Agreed! In my five years collecting I don't think I've ever made a 1 album purchase lol. Usually 3-5 to justify shipping!
yeah before they upped the shipping price I bought 13 albums from ktown4u and shipping was like $50 (it was a treat to myself because i don’t buy albums that often😅) so it’s crazy that for one album it’s $30. Definitely don’t buy from there unless you’re getting at least 3 albums in my opinion.
yh the shipping is fucked lmao but I feel happy when I saw the 40% discount for ateez per album lmfao
i always cheap the cheapest shipping available
but obvs the cheapest shipping itself is v expensive
also I live in London which is honestly the furthest fhcking point from korea omfjgdhesdglhbgj
ashthetic78 which shop would u say is best for ppl in the uk? i’ve only used catchopcd + it was good but u can only get random versions
@@izzyemj I always use ktown4u when I can otherwise yes24 or gmarket
but as someone who live in the UK our shipping is always expensive asf
I think its really sad that shipping always makes albums so pricey. The value of the album skyrockets just because of the shipping. Compared to the price in korea itself it's like day and night and i really hate the shipping costs
Tbh Gmarket shipping is so cheap because they frequently do shipping discounts for the US and Asian countries only. Gmarket isn't that good if you're not from those countries. :/
That's true, for Europe their shipping prices are more it less the same as ktown4u ones
Ohhh I didn’t realize that. Ugh I’m sorry 😭
Yup, my experience was the exact opposite - with gmarket being insanely expensive and kt4u being the cheapest (haven't used catchopcd) for Europe. I feel like for us europeans going through a group order is the most fiscally responsible decision 😅
We're getting ✨scientific✨ today friends
Haha the fact that I'm a maths student
I would like the see the U.S store video
okay!! I'll definitely work on that video then! Thank you for the feedback!
being in canada is frustrating because we’re so close to the US where they tend to get better shipping deals but then shipping to us is horrible 😫
Custom FEES.... 🥲🥲🥲
struggling again with a set TXT album and shipping is 41$ cad ;( its dhl so its gonna be fast but omgg
Omgg yeah!!!! I once paid 40$ for shipping. 😭😭😭for one album!!!!!!! One album!
@@jcpark1125 omgggg I know how it feels see the album price (not expensive) but then the shipping omggg! 😭😭😭😤😤😩😩
it sucks to be a european kpop stan
I’m so sorry 😭
I'm european too and I usually buy my kpop merch on cokodive or ebay
It really does 😣
@sincerelyjeon the shipping is really expensive, sometimes from around 20 - 80 euros, which is so so expensive. and sometimes we need to pay customs so 😭
Fr
GIRL the way i was lookin for some other kpop stores to buy from ... ur a savior 💗
I gotchu Brad ❤️
Buying kpop albums and being in Europe is honestly painfully expensive.
I’ve actually turned to buying albums second hand. I find with this way I’m able to buy albums at a lower price.
where do you buy them from?
@@KookiePasta Vinted or Facebook marketplace
oh thank you
Out of the stores in this video, i frequently use kpoptown. The only downside compared to some stores is that when i only want to buy one version of the album, i can't pick the specific version i want, for example Wonho's album, because they don't give you the option to pick which isn't that big of a deal though.
Kpopstoreusa (I think that's the name?) was really cheap for wonhos album! It was $20 and $5 shipping! So if you do one for stores in the u.s please put that one in there so people know!
That’s the store that I used to visit in person! I definitely will check them out for my US video!
@@Wonhaed awesome!! I wish I could go to them in person but we unfortunately don't have one in North texas :/
@@peachxtaehyung there’s a kpop store in Texas called eve pink I think it’s in Houston
Does it being bubble wrap?
@@glitteredunicorns11 yeah but I'm talking about in North texas. I'm near Fort worth. I can't go to get albums 4hrs away lol. But thank you!
I used to buy from kpopmart all the time because shipping was at most 5 or 6 bucks but now shipping has gone way up they were going to charge me $40 for just for 2 albums 😐
Any one from Spain who’s tired of shipping being almost 60€ for 3 albums? Add over 23€ on supposed customs as well? Plus the limited shipping options. Also me being from the Canary Islands makes them even more limited and expensive
Cries in mexican:( shipping is insane for us and we get customs basically for everything😭
before covid amazon was the cheapest option for me living in the uk now they sell their albums for £40 it was ridiculous. and i used to buy sealed albums from ebay for just £15 now u have to pay that and £15 shipping ahhh thank god none of the groups i stan havent been having comebacks bc u need to pay dhl on everything which sucks 😭
Omg Gmarket seems so cheap there 😍 Germany can't relate one bit 🙅🏼♀️😅 They only offer EMS for us and the shipping for one of Wonho's new albums is almost $40 - for the set over $70 and on top of it customs hits us with another fee 🙈😅
*me quietly sitting here thinking about the time I payed $30 for shipping of an album because I just HAD to get the preorder poster and pc* 😅
Felt this tbh
i do this all the time. whenever i have albums i want i try to do buy multiple albums in one go because of shipping. I always put all the albums in the cart with shipping and compare the grand totals on all sites. because some websites have cheap products but expensive shipping and some have expensive products but cheap shipping so it always ends up evening out somehow
if you do a american version of the cheapest kpop websites can you do amazon, target, walmart or any american site you can find?
Yes for sure!! I’ll probably look at stores like that as well as stores like kpopstoreinusa which are stores that exclusively sell kpop albums
I'm so afraid of G market. I almost used it to preorder Wonho's latest album but I freaked out and seeing how they packaged your albums didn't help lol Maybe 1 day I will. Recently I fell in love with Withdrama. They have the most BEAUTIFUL preorder benefits. But their shipping is INSANE. Even when I joined a group order it was insane and they sell out so fast. I literally had an anxiety attack almost lol The suffering we do for our biases lol
I ordered from Withdrama for this past MX comeback and yIKES. Definitely was not a fan of their shipping 😅
For me, Gmarket always packages really well. Lots of bubble wrap and tape. It may be because I'm ordering from Synnara's shop and maybe they package it? But I haven't had anything damaged!
idk if it's possible to do this, but if you could make a video about where to purchase out of print albums, that would be amazing! 💜
This was v informative. Thank you Carolyn
You’re so welcome!! Happy to help!!
a video for us shops would be super helpful, the only store that i shop from is saranghello. their shipping is much more friendlier. their cheapest price for shipping starts from about 5.34 dollars i think but i would love to learn about more stores !!
Yess sure ❤️ pls compare U.S kpop store
Okay!! I definitely will!
@@Wonhaed thank youu ❤️❤️
I absolutely HATE that Ktown4us DHL shipping cost went up 💔 Im sad :( but I’d like to see the US store video
so random but i love how you put little stars in your video titles because even if I'm not wearing my glasses i can tell you posted by seeing the little stars
I've really considered collecting photocards and I was wondering if you could do an updated crash course. You had one before but I'd love an updated one! Love your videos~~
I definitely could!! Thanks for the suggestion!
My advise (basically only applicable to USA residents) but if you're buying multiple albums, I would suggesting buying from a Korean site, but if you're only getting one I would recommend buying from a US site. Although you will pay a little more for the album, the shipping will be much less and even out and odds are you will get your album a bit sooner! :)
actually gmarket packaging depends on the seller you buy from ! apple music's packaging is really good~
Ahhh so it’s just starship then 😂 makes sense
i usually use Cokodive, even though their product prices are inflated, their Fedex shipping is top notch and i have never gotten a damaged album or customs cause they always devalue so you do end up saving quite a bit at the end of the day!
I had a bad first impression of Gmarket. Purchased and album from them and it legit kept getting the shipment date pushed back several months. I got so frustrated after having it pushed back about 4-5 times I cancelled my order. Not sure what happened there but it left a bad taste in my mouth. It sucked too cause it was an album that was hard to find and I was so happy to finally have found it.
wow that sucks and her saying the shipping isn’t really protective scares me to order because in Canada tax and exchange rate is high so I always look for cheapest option. (So like $40 would be 60dollars Canadian with tax :(
@@helenavasic9989 my friend that lives in Canada prefers Ktown4u. Idk if that helps you but she says the discount links really help her. She’s also used kpopptown in the past as well
yikes im so sorry that happened to you. I also want to mention ive had times where I've ordered from them and they've emailed once preorders end asking for more shipping money.
Victoria Cisneros thanks for that info! I’ve used kpop town before and had a good experience good to know she likes ktown4u I’ve been curious about that site!
@@helenavasic9989 Yeah I have used Ktown4u and kpoptown as well but being from the states they’re not my first choices.
I’m actually interested for the US store comparing! :)
ok!! I will definitely do one!
@@Wonhaed eek thank you! I’ll look forward to it! :D
It is expensive right now no matter where you buy from. I have defaulted back to Yesasia for multiple albums as they at least still offer free shipping (now on orders over $75 dollars 😭). When ordering individual albums I used to use CatchopCD or kpopmarket01 but both are not an option currently. I also love HMV Japan as you can get albums used from them for about $2 each and then ship them through a forwarding service. Because of Covid one shipment got returned and I had to pay for shipping twice but I still saved well over $100 dollars on what the new price would have been on the albums though. HMV Japan is great for filling out discographies of groups!
I think it would have been good to compare both usa stores and Korean stores in the same video. I'm someone who always buys multiple albums at once and price compares different combinations of the albums at different stores in both countries before making a purchase. You should also consider taxes and fees associated with the stores if you do another video. I think catchopcd mentions a % fee for using PayPal and some US stores have taxes. I've never used gmarket, so I might check them out. A usa store that I recommend trying is kpopusaonline. Thanks for the video.
I'll do this in the next video when i go over us kpop stores! I didnt want to make this video too long!
I’ve ordered from Kpoptown for years ❤️ Definitely a good option for people living in the UK! Xxx
Was looking at ordering from then what's the experience you had any custom?
What are the customs like?
@@Natalie_b2_ my sister has recently done a order from kpoptown and ordered 6 albums and spent just over £100 and didn't get charged customs.
@@Amy-is5zg well yeh it’s going to be over £100 cas it’s 6 albums
Does this site ship to Slovakia? And if yes how much is the shipping?
Omg this is a video I needed! Thank you so much!!
Ahh I’m so happy it was helpful!! Thank you for watching!
anyone from the uk, sokollab and KYYO are good places to shop, the prices are pretty high ranging from 20-33 for albums and 65 for most light sticks. yeah they are expensive but at the end of the day they are still cheaper then buying from a sk store since the shipping is only £3-£6
I personally use yesasia to order my albums (based in Germany and I've never had to pay customs ). The albums are a it more pricey than other stores but they have free shipping over 70€ and you dont have customs so it come out cheaper than some other store:)
I honestly gave up buying kpop albums on sites like that, as someone who lives in Brazil, I tried buying through Gmarket, in total, it was around $25, but shipping costs around $110
Many stores sell albums for just above cost and make up the profit in the shipping, like a bait and switch. Definitely compare the total cost at checkout. The cheaper the album, the more the shipping will cost. Llook for stores that offer free shipping over an amount and discounts/promotions.
Sometimes I hate the fact that I live in New Zealand as a kpop stan. Shipping is always $100-$150 and that's if the store even ships to NZ.
Im in NZ, too. I just ordered my first album from a site called “kpopalbums”. I havent received it yet but my tracking says its arrived in Auckland and its been around a week so they are pretty fast. Anyways, i ordered 4 albums which cost me $105.98NZD, with shipping to Waikato being $53.99NZD. So $159.97NZD total. I compared the price with ktown4u and they would’ve charged me $100USD just for shipping alone!
Stay tuned though.. i wont know if ive been scammed until i receive or dont receive the package haha. The website seemed too good to be true!
Hiiii I almost missed this and I love your vids!!! Keep up the good work!! Ilysm
Thank you so so much!!
❤️ Yes, please compare stores in the US.
A new alternative for us based people is definitely subk! I know their catalog is still small and consists of mainly newer albums/more known groups but the fact they offer media mail shipping for albums starting at 4usd is a lifesaver. They had their black Friday sale last year and I managed to buy 3 albums for less than 40 usd! So definitely check them out if you're doing us based sites
Ahh I love SubK! They’ll definitely be in my US video!
I am so grateful that we are still even getting albums. I have heard that UK shipping is suspended from Korea so the scramble is real.
Tbh I was thinking about the other day how the shipping to the US has never really been suspended from Korea or Japan. Sure it got more expensive, but it’s always been available. I’ve heard horror stories from other countries as well.
I just order from amazon because I'm European. It is expensive (about £30-£50 per album, but I guess the shipping is cheaper)
(KOREA, PLEASE PAY MORE ATTENTION TO EUROPE 😭)
I once paid 130$ cad dollar for 2 albums “EXO DONT MESS UP MY TEMPO AND GORIBOY AVANTE = DIGIPACK (the shipping and customs rates are so high) hahah so that’s around 92 euros! 😂😂😂😂🥺😩😩😩🥲🥲🥲
I pretty much only buy my albums from Synnara's shop on Gmarket but in my experience they package stuff well haha. I will say that in the like 30+ orders I've placed on Gmarket, twice I had to pay additional shipping because the albums turned out to be heavier than Gmarket thought
for synnara..did u get their preorder benefit?
@@luviluvily Yes, I've received pre-order benefits before
ooohh this is so interesting 👀 i would definitely like to see the US video!! ^^
Okay!! I'll start working on it this week!
I live in Canada I just lost hope in buying Kpop albums I payed 140$ for 3 versions of Enhypen album DHL shipping is insane I'm soo sad.
Ktown4u used to be my go to because shipping was pretty cheap plus the fanclub discounts so the cost per album was the cheapest from any store. The increased shipping does not make that the case anymore. I currently don’t know where to buy from because the cost was more than ideal to spend on an album (like $30 per album). Besides stores that have pobs, I’ve been buying more from us stores and it’s still not as cheap as Ktown4u but definitely not as bad when shipping costs more than the album itself (looking at withdrama).
you should check out kpopmarket01 on ebay, they're super fast, have amazing packaging and for me (living in europe) shipping isn't too expensive either!
@@babieseunie8097 I’ve heard good things about them unfortunately they’re a bit on the more expensive side for me
I use Ktown4u for most things, but I usually order 3-5 albums at a time so it makes sense. The other store I use is ChoiceMusicLA which takes so much longer and honestly Ktown4u is faster but like a few dollars more expensive
as someone who lives in australia ( kpop album prices hell ) yesasia is a great choice !! shipping is kinda slow BUT it's free and although the albums are a little more expensive , it's definitely better than paying 29usd for shipping D:
A great place to shop in the US is Eve Pink Kpop Store. They have great service and ship throughout the US.
I subscribe just because of your album choice 😭
Monstax and wonho yes sir
I haven't seen shipping prices in the twenties in months must be nice 😭
I would love a US store video and have some non-cali stores included. I only know of Eve Pink in Houston, TX. Just because albums get stuck in preshipment in CA for like, a week. Trying to find stores closer to the east coast 😩
I have been purchasing from YesAsia and it's been a good experience. The pricing is comparable to other sites
if you ever do another video like this, could you talk about MMT and makestar? I've never ordered from there, but they always have such cute preorder benefits haha
I'd love to see a video comparing US stores! Recently I've gotten back into collecting and I find US stores are cheapest for someone who lives in the US.
I've only used Gmarket twice and so far both experiences have been good, they calculate their shipping in a weird way, like you can add 1 tiny item and suddenly it throws half a kg extra on the shipping even though you KNOW that item doesn't weight that much. Both my orders were actually really well packaged I ordered multiple items from different shops and so they had to sent it to a warehouse in SK where it would be repackaged and then send to me in HK, the first time I paid too much shipping so I got some points? and then with my second order I got a discount. I will say shipping from SK to HK is waaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than shipping to the USA. Normally I buy my kpop merch locally because its easier and cheaper but there are some nugu artists they don't sell here so I have to order online T^T
1:59 Omg I thought you said ketchup cd I even googled it 😭😭😭
living in europe (esp. in eastern europe) when u want to buy albums is not the best. I personally dont use any of those sites bc i usually buy at most 2 albums at a time, shipping is gigantic and having to pay customs is awful. i just use a region based kpop shop that gets the albums from korea and just ships with the particular country's shipping methods (takes like 3-4 weeks for the albums to get to me, but at least i dont pay more than 30 euros for a single album).
Because of these shipping prices and customs and stuff (I live in europe) it has sometimes been cheaper for me to buy from amazon but they sadly don't have every album of every group (especially not smaller and more unknown groups)
I only really pre-order Monsta X and Wonho album, just bcause the pricing on shipping is getting expensive. I usually buy from the Starship Square (it used to be with OKVit or whatever before GMarket), because I want their pre-order benefits.
For other groups, I try to buy from a US store, online or in LA.
I would love to see a US store version of this video since i use those more then korean stores because of shipping. Plus i usually don't buy in bulk just 2 albums at a time
definitely interested in a comparison of us stores!!
i live in small country in europe and precovid i used ebay where album came to like 20 euros. and now it 30 euro only fo shipping. i still got few albums around new year trying to combine cheap with expensive, but that wasn't a greatest idea still. so sadly buying albums is not for me from now on((
InterAsia has pretty decent shipping prices.
How often does DHL hit you with Duties & Taxes? Ever since last summer, no matter the size & weight of the box ive been getting hit with 25$cad + duties :(. I ended up switching back to EMS to avoid the duties
watching this as a european who buys albums from a store in my city ✨
so sorry to see yall struggle so much 😭
I purchase all my albums from kpoptown bc i like that they have an option that lets you see the price in AUD and for me atleast i think its been the cheapest so far. Ive only used catchop before once though
I pay over 50 dollars for shipping in all of these stores for A SINGLE ALBUM :(
Why don't you buy through G.O, i bought my Exo albums through G.Os and the shipping price was just $3 per album
Is kpoptown good and their items are not fake ?
Jennie was starting at me like 👁💋👁 for the first minute
I believe right now, GMARKET is having an event where shipping is cheaper for many countries including the US, so I think thats why shipping was cheaper :)
That makes a lot of sense!! Thank you for the info!!
Tbf as a Canadian, Shipping and custom are INSANE RN. :(
I’ve heard horror stories 😭 I’m so sorry I don’t know why it’s so much worse for you guys
@@Wonhaed For our Tshirt from BTS online concert, We had no choice but to take DHL wich was almost 40USD for 2 tshirt.... It took 3 month to arrive to me, and almost 100$ of custom fee. Weverse dosent reply to me back about the shipping time :) I swear. lol.
@@Wonhaed BUT LUCKILY. I found a nice canadian shop that ship for free over 45$! No custom, super nice service and sometimes freebies !!! Main store located in SK , but they have a ''store'' located here in Canada. So now I buy all my albums from there :3 Sadly they don't do TSHIRT SO AHHH. Weverse u suck.
Companies make contracts with DHL, FedEx and UPS. You can have all 4 stores on the same street in Korea, depending on the contract they have with these shipping companies is how much they'll charge you.
So it seems that ktown4u doesn't have a good contract with DHL
Ktown4u had a contract with DHL last summer (that and preorder cards is why a lot of people started switching to them) but it must’ve ended since the price went up a lot 😂
@@Wonhaed or didn't want to renew, who knows but it seems that is not affecting their business that much
after watching this i realized how many times ive overpaid for albums when i didnt know better😔😔
Yes please! do one for US stores that’d be really helpful
This is exactly the video I need 🙌🏾🙌🏾
yay!! I hope it was helpful!
idk if there is WHSmith in other countries but i found a blackpink album for £5 or something!! (it’s only on the website idk if it’s in the real shop)
crying in broke
same 😭
It is muuuuuch more cheaper to buy multiple albums. Shipping 1 or 2 albums really isn’t worth it.
The problem with some of these store, you cannot pay in euro for exemple... And paying conversion fees (sometimes paypal fees) add even more to the price 🙄🙄 getting a album when you live in Europe is a NIGHTMARE for your wallet 😭😭
Do the stores listed deliver worldwide?
okay I know I'm Late to this video but that's so weird, I'm in Canada and ktown4u is usually the cheapest for me by far! When I bought all four versions of 12:00 from there it came to about $20 CAD per album
Pls try cokodive and bts mania
I either buy my koop albums in one of the local record stores, buy second hand or join gos most of the time, where I live we now a days lamost always need to pay customs if we buy the albums from south korea and costumer are extremely expensive
the dhl price going up for ktown4u is just- 🥲💔 pain
my heart breaks everytime I choose the DHL option from them
Ktown4u usually has good prices if you get 5 albums, but just recently shipping almost doubled. (Same for a lot of stores)
ktown4u is definitely much better if you bulk buy albums!
to throw my personal opinion in lol, i would recommend aladin (kr site). their prices might not be the best ever but they always have a lot of coupons and ship earlier than they say they will. also good packaging to protect the albums. the only draw back is that the site is in korean so you have to use google translate? but yeah i would recommend
I’ve never heard of them so that’s really interesting! I’ll definitely need to check them out!!! Thank you for your opinion!
yay thanks for letting people know! I might try next time
Ktown4u and choicemusicla is the highest quality...i've gotten damaged album's from all those other places😭
For the U.S store vid ( if u do it) u should totally do Kpopmusictownla I love that store (website at least) I never had a problem with them & shipping is not bad
YES pls compare usa shops! i don’t usually buy from usa shops even tho i live in the usa lol
i dont usually buy from US shops either (besides Target) so same haha. It would definitely be interesting to see how theses prices compare!
@@Wonhaed oh i forgot about target😂 i buy from there frequently! especially when they have their buy 2 get one free deal!😁
Someone plz find me a cheap kpop store in Scandinavia & Sweden ㅠㅠ
ktown4u shipping use to be $10-11 but now is $20 😑
GMARKET ISNT CHEAP. I put two albums, it said that the ITZY one is $10.80 and the BP one is $15.50 and the total was $54.85🤨👆🏼