Back in the beginning of March, I decided to branch out my buying service knowledge and try out a new buying services in hopes of being able to let you guys know other buying service companies other then Avecko. I’ve heard about shopandbox and the concept seems awesome, being about to order from Canada, USA, Brazil, Sweden, Italy, Korea, pretty much any major country on the map. ย I was like oh cool! ย Alright, let’s try this out. ย Boy did I ever wish I never talked myself into doing it. ย Want to see why? ย Keep on reading!
So you start off by adding items to your “wishlist” onto any country of your desire. ย For mine, I of course added a couple of things into the Korea list. ย Adding items to the wishlist list doesn’t mean you are ordering everything. ย This is just adding things you are eyeing at the moment. ย Later on, you will have to check box the items you want and then submit it for ordering.
When you are adding items into the wishlist, you have to put in information such as quantity, item name, item category, item URL and other fine details such as item size, color, item cost, transaction type (online, in store, etc) and any other comments you would like to add in. ย You can also upload a picture of the product to make sure that the item they are ordering for you is the right one.
Once you have pressed submit, it should look something like this. ย I don’t know why my picture didn’t upload, but you get the point right? ย You can also keep adding items by clicking the + symbol on the bottom right corner. ย Once you are done with adding things to your wishlist and want to order, simply check off the items you want and press “submit order”. ย Your order will be processed and a boxer from the country you are ordering from will be assigned to you and will get in contact with you. ย For me, this process took less then half a day which was ridiculouslyย fast.
Once you have been assigned to a boxer and they have processed the order for you, this is the time when you go ahead and pay for the items you have chosen. ย For me, my total for the items solely was $61.40 USD plus $4.40 shipping chargesย attached to any of the items which I have chosen.
Also there is a chat board on the bottom of the page, just like Facebook chat. ย I didn’t know there was such board and was replying to her messages by email like a fool. ย She messaged me back really quickly, within 1 to 2 hours.
My items arrived within two days after ordering. ย I got in contact with a Korean cosmetic company called Fresh Pong Dang and they were willing to gift me one of their cushions for me to test out and review but sadly they only ship within Korea, so I asked my boxer if there was any way she could receive the package for me and included it into my parcel. ย This is not something they usually do but they were willing to do it for me, which I was super happy about.ย
Also if you look at the right side bar, you can see pictures of the physical items which is great for us buyers to double check if the items are correct before shipping it to your country.
The most nerve racking thing is waiting to see how much shipping was. ย I honestly was estimating shipping to be in the $20 range, but thinking the items aren’t that heavy, I was thinking $15 from experience of buying items from Korea elsewhere. ย When she told me how much shipping was, I thought she was joking honestly. ย I mean I knew from the beginning that they were partnered with DHL, but I didn’t think it would be their primary shipping method. ย Throughout the whole conversation, I kept asking if my parcel could be shipped by Korea post and it felt like they were trying to dodge answering. ย Something felt odd… ย They finally said “well, if you want it to be ship by Korea post, they we’d have to charge an extra $10 for the boxer to have to physically go to the post office.” ย This is $10 on top of the shipping charge, so it wasn’t really worth it for me in the end anyways. ย I just hoped and prayed that when it gets shipped to my house, I won’t get charged for shipping.
When all of my items came, they weighed it and told me the DHL shipping method to Canada would be either $39.80 for express shipping (no insurance) or $52.11 express shipping (with insurance). ย Seriously my jaw dropped, espically when I did a huge haul that came in two boxes of 2 kg each and only costed me $40 each to ship it to Canada through Korea post. ย Your telling me that a parcel that weighed 1.5 kg costs me the same amount as my 2 kg. ย Also there is no way my products weights that much! A set that has a contour kit, two eyeshadows, one jumbo eyeshadow pencil, 2 bb cushions, one small ass concealer and a glossydays set with a lightweight eyeliner, mascara, concealer and a slightly heavier foundation in a PLASTIC container weighs that much? SERIOUSLY?!? ย At that point I just wanted to get this order over and done with, so I said fuck it and just paid the $40 shipping and prayed I don’t get charged with customs. ย Not to mention my package wasn’t even frinkin’ packaged in a cardboard box with at least some protection. ย It was in a frinkin DHL BAG. ย DAFUQ I PAY $40 FOR A FUCKING BAG.
Long and behold when my parcel came, I got a custom charge for $31.13!!! WHAT THE F********. ย WOOOW. ย So essentially I paid $71.02 for shipping and customs which is way more then the total value of the items I ordered. ย Ridiculous. ย This is a shoppers nightmare. ย
I also have to mention another thing I’m not too happy about. ย On the website, it does not clearly state how much their service fees were. ย All it said was 10-15% and it failed to mention how the percentage was determined. ย Other buying services such as Avecko, minimum charge was $5 with 10% service charge. ย So I don’t see how $10 for an order of $69 would really make sense.
Thank god I have found another buying service that I will forever stick to and would recommend whole heartedly for you guys to go support. ย If you want to know who I’m talking about, comment down below and I’ll let you in on the secret keke. ย She is too good to spread at the moment, but I mean if you guys want to know then you’ll just have to wait a bit :P.
Here were the items I bought. I forgot to include the UNPR set I got in this picture, but it is down below. ย They also included a lot of samples which is nice and all but why did they put a heavy ass cleanser into my parcel without me knowing. ย Maybe that is what made it extra heavy for no fucking reason. ย I do not appreciate the lack of communication and sneakiness going on here.
This was the set that I bought which was a UNPR (Unpretty rapstar cosmetics) collboration with Ssinim who is a Korean Youtube beauty creator and one of the most popular Korean cosmetic girls out there at the moment. ย She is really unique with her odd tomboyish looks and she also does male and female make up looks!
I’m super unmotivated to show anything in this post because shopandbox did not give me a good experience with their service. ย If you are looking for a buying service to buy hard to get items in Korea, wait for my next post where I will introduce you to another holy grail buying service :). ย Overall shopandbox service is top notch in terms of speed and getting things done, but the shipping part totally kills it for me as a consumer since I don’t want to always have to end up paying more in shipping and customs then the total amount of my products. ย Pissed… but you live and you learn.
So what are your opinionย on this company? Have you had experiences with them and was it the same as mine? ย What other buying services have you had good luck with? ย Let me know in the comments down below!
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This Post Has 28 Comments
Oh god how bad! I had similar issues but not with a buying service but a shop. its a huge bummer if high shipping and customs come together.
I have been looking for a good shopping service for a while but am not convinced with the ones I know so I would love to find out the one that you love ๐
Ugh I absolutely hate that and definitely a turn off from ever purchasing from them again.
And yes, I do have a place that is my go to now. ๐ I’ll be posting a blog post on it so please stay tuned ๐
Just wondering who you use for your buying service
I used to use Boyahshop but she’s on a long vacation so I found a friend living in Korea to help me get stuff :).
Thanks for that info my friend just messaged me to look at this cool site so I reviewed it first wont be going on thst site thanks again
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Yay so you finally posted about it. I can understand why you’re so pissed.
DHL services is horrible is any shape or form anyway.
I once had an order that passed through them without my knowlegde and they left my package to a neighbour. But they didn’t even take the time to mention that to me. I asked my mom is she could stay that day to wait for the package and what do you know. They never rang the bell and just decided to go to the neighbour. I called them,left them messages and it took them one weeknto reply and say they did deliver the package… bunch of ass****
And customs is anothr of our enemy grrrrr
But I would love to hear about your trusted other service โบ
DHL is shit. Fedex too. One time I had a company send me a package and it was on express shipping. I didn’t know they sent it out already, until they emailed me a week and a half later asking if I received it. I said no and asked them for the tracking number. I checked it and it said that it was already delivered. I was like what the hell! It definitely did not reach my house. Two days later, my neighbour was like “oh hey I think this is yours.” So they didn’t ring the doorbell or anything and just left it in the front porch and walked away. I don’t know, most of the private shipping companies all do that. It’s not the company themselves but more like the employees. They might not be paying them enough to care I guess.
I almost ordered some things from this site last year. I compiled a list of knick-knacks that I wanted from Japan but I never submitted the wishlist for some reason. Thankfully, I found a great little site where I could shop to my heart’s content without the ridiculous price-tag!
I feel sad that you were charged such a ridiculous amount of money, damn. Shipping prices are so, so ridiculous arrrghhh!
Thank god you didn’t! It is only private shipping companies that have ridiculous shipping prices. Usually I don’t have any problems with korea post
Does this mean that besides invoice 1 and invoice 2 there are more charges after that?
Depending on which country you live, custom charges with DHL will vary. It was pretty much a red flag to me when shipping was $40 and the service charge was $10. They don’t specify exactly what percentage they will charge for the service which I think is shady on their end. On top of that, I have had many experiences with buying services and I could have got my items shipped out to me $15 with Korea post EASILY. So pretty much I paid $40 shipping + $10 service charge + $60 in customs. Ridiculous.
I am looking for a shopping service… may you let me know which one is your secret one? :p
Was tossing between shopandbox and avecko. Honestly, I only like shopandbox for the website design and the chat box where you can chat. I’ve bought before and it was damn pricy.
It’s no secret, I just use Boyahshop now exclusively but she is on the busy side so replies might be slow. From what I heard, she is getting staff in 2017 so look out for that. As for shopandbox vs Avecko, Avecko for sure. Shopandbox uses DHL and shipping for something I can get shipped to me normally for only $15, they charge $35 for shipping along with customs when it comes to me. I’d definitely vote against shopandbox for sure. Just get your list solid when you do send it into Avecko
Thank you for the great review! I’m in Canada too so it’s good to relate. Now I can avoid ShopandBox. ^^
Try Avecko or Korean buddy ๐
Wow that was bad. Actually I’m going to buy shoes at shopandbox and it already in process (not finish the payment yet) but after i read your post, I’m not feeling to buy it from shopandbox because the shipping is already expensive and if there are more charges after that, OMG it such a waste. Do you know how to cancel it?
I’m not too sure how you can cancel it but you can always just ask them?
Just had a poor experience with shopandbox as well. The Boxer (i.e., buyer was fine), but it took the item almost 2 months to get to me in the USA, from when it was shipped from Germany. That’s ridiculous! It was for a birthday present and a trip, and it missed both. In the meantime, I made a trip to Europe, and could have gotten the item myself. Stay away from shopandbox and DHL!
hi there, can i know which site provides the best service charge regards to items from Japan to Singapore?
Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with buying anything from Japan, so I can’t really give you advice in that department. So sorry :'(
Hi! Super late but I just happen to submit an order for korean beauty products on shopandbox which is unconfirmed since Iโm waiting for the boxer to get back to me on availability of products, I just want to ask if you can pay in korean won or is it USD?
Also I want to ask if they do accept the request to ship by Korea post, is that fee combined with shipping fee or separate?
They don’t accept Korea post as a shipping method unfortunately, hence why i got stuck with DHL and then got slapped with a nice custom charge. I’d recommend using Avecko or Koreanbuddy next time you want to do some Korean shopping. I think you pay in USD.
replying to this blogpost a few years late, but yikes. this same thing just happened to me. order a few tshirts and the shipping and fees came out to be over 150usd and they refuse to ship it to a domestic address so i can arrange my own delivery. seriously bs company overcharging customers and forces them to pay for it. my shipping cost more than my products itself. i work in ecommerce and i know for a fact that shipping lines does not cost that much for a delivery from korea to singapore! major turn off. disgusted.
Oh man, I’m so sorry you had a bad experience too. I wonder if the service is still up and running after all these years. I’ve used a couple buying services from Korea and none of them were this bad. Just yikes…
This post is quite old now. Just wanted to put some of my own experience here. I used ShopandBox between 2017-2019 when I didn’t know any other services I could use (especially for stuff on Bunjang, Joongohara). I was able to convince my boxer to use Korea Post (EMS) for the 4-5 times I used the site. Recently, I used the service again after trying to buy an item which required an in person transaction (my other proxy lived too far) so I didn’t really have a choice…. this time the boxer would only allow Fedex and wouldn’t allow me to use Korea Post EMS….
What was your experience with customs? I personally would never use shopandbox again. Just yikes…
From the US here. I think you’re located in Canada based on some of your other posts. I’ve never been hit with a customs fee on any incoming international package regardless of the shipping carrier or type. Post office (EMS, Airmail, SAL, Surface mail), Fedex, DHL (only one time). Packages vary in declared value from like $20 USD to couple hundred USD. I’ve had people undeclare packages though so…..