Kfriday is not only a Korean proxy. We also love helping out our customers abroad with their special requests.
Earlier this month, we had a special request from a USA group order manager, Lucy (alias). This was the situation.
Want to buy (WTB): The GOM wanted to find and buy an out of print book written by Jonghyun, called 산하엽 Skeleton Flower or Diphylleia Grayi. She wanted a sealed book (though no longer printed after 2015).
Send to: Lucy already had a local Korean address where she could store items and forward to her US address when ready.
Item availability: She had come across a Bungjang post that happened to be selling the book, at a negotiable price.
Budget: She was willing to spend up to 100,000 korean won (roughly $100).
In summary, we did manage to get a brand new, sealed Skeleton Flower for our client Lucy, at a price within her budget. It took a bit of searching and scouring, but here is how we found it!
About Jonghyun's book, Skeleton Flower
Published in November 2015, Skeleton Flower: Things That Have Been Released and Set Free is a collection of fictional stories based on the songs Jonghyun wrote. Characters in the book are supposed to be different aspects of his personality. The pictures were taken by Jonghyun himself, which allows us to literally see the world from his perspective.
Here is an excerpt.
'What is music to me?' This question might seem a bit tiring, but it was once a big issue for me.
The first time I held a bass guitar was in middle school.
Back then, music was a fun thing to play with for me, but since I started my career as a singer, the two syllables of ‘music’ have weighed on me heavier than anything in the world. For a long time I worried about it, a surge of shame coming over me as I thought 'while I don’t understand the real meaning of music, I’m not really making it'.
'The three basic elements of music: melody, harmony, and rhythm···'
I wanted to know what music was to me beyond this dictionary definition. I spent a long time with this question hovering over my head, and carefully I arrived to the answer: ‘music is a story’.An Excerpt and Translation from Archive of Our Own
Talking to the Bunjang Seller
Our client Lucy did her share of searching and managed to find a Bunjang WTS post about the book. There were strange things about it, however. For one, the post did not have a price. Where price should be, it said, "연락요망 please contact me." Plus despite many views, likes, and replies, it had not sold, a red flag.
We talked to the seller, only to find the experience very frustrating. The seller would reply back to our messages days later. Thinking the seller acted so because of the low price we presented, we bade up our price up to 100,000 won (~$100). She complied with the price, saying it is good. But she still wouldn't sell it right away, saying "I am busy with work" and "I would rather re-post and wait further." Clearly, she was not interested in selling, at least at the price of 100,000 won.
Frustrating conversation with a whimsical, unwilling Bungjang seller
We did not give up!
Instead of buying from a reluctant seller, we did a WTB (want to buy) post on Korean trading sites like Bunjang and Joonggonara.
WTB Sealed Skeleton Flower
Since Jonghyun's book was published more than 5 years ago, we were afraid we wouldn't hear from any sellers. After all we were looking for a SEALED book, complete with plastic wrapping. We explicitly mentioned we were willing to pay 90,000 won for it, within our client Lucy's budget (and slightly lower than the price the above Bunjang seller deemed okay).
To our relief, within two days we heard from at least four sellers. We talked to one who reached earliest, but it fell through as the seller kept replying late and delaying the shipping date.
We went to the next seller in line. She was very well-mannered, quickly sharing a video and photos of the sealed book to verify. We exchanged payment and address information, we paid, and she shipped the very next day. She promptly shared the package's photo and tracking code.
Lucy was happy to hear the news!
It is always our pleasure to help our clients with their special requests!
What did we charge for this service? We did not charge anything extra! We provided this assistance as part of our international forwarding service.
Are you a seasoned group order manager like Lucy with custom shopping requests? Or just a first-time Korea shopper who has little experience? Regardless, we are here to help! To get your Korean address as well as shopping assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Kfriday through KakaoTalk today!
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