How to Safely Shop on Bunjang or Jungonara/Joongonara with Wonderful
Bunjang and Jungonara are among the most popular platforms for reselling items in Korea, and every avid K-Pop fan’s best friend. If you are looking for signed albums, items from fan meetings you could not attend, K-pop merchandise that are no longer on sale, rare games or even concert tickets, chances are you might just find them on Bunjang or Jungonara. Unfortunately, shopping on these platforms may not be easy if you are a foreigner. Both platforms are only available in Korean and the account registration process requires having a valid Korean mobile phone number. Not to mention the obvious that buying items resold from individuals is always risky.
With more than 7 years of experience securely purchasing all kinds of resold items for our clients, we made a list of pro-tips that might come in handy when making your next purchase on these platforms:
Get to Know Some Popular Korean Reseller Terms
Resellers often use abbreviations/special terms in the item description that are not always properly translated by google or Papago and might be confusing for foreigners. Understanding them is crucial to ensuring a successful purchase or at least avoiding miscommunication with the reseller. Here are some of the most common terms and abbreviations we encounter when helping our clients with reseller purchases:
택포 – the total price is inclusive of the delivery fee
택미포/배송비 별도 – does not include delivery fee
제시 – “auctioning”. It means you are supposed to suggest a price you are willing to pay for the item to the reseller and then they would confirm if they wish to proceed.
미개봉 – sealed
개봉 – opened
하자, 기스 – the item has defects (resellers usually post photos of the defects)
에눌 x – no negotiations (referring to the price of the item),
에눌 기능/o – open to negotiation
인증/인증샷 – this word refers to reseller being willing to send photos of the item, mainly to prove that they actually have it in procession.
적용 – refers to clothes and indicates whether the clothes were worn. If it was never worn, the reseller would usually write 적용x
포카 - photocard
시그 - season greetings
아옮 – account transfer (refers to ticket selling)
일괄 – it means the reseller is selling all items together as one package
If you see words such as 구함, 구합니다, 구매, 삽니다 in the item title/description like below, it means the person is looking to buy the item posted, not sell.
Check the Available Delivery Methods
Resellers use different delivery methods depending on the items, their location and availability. They usually specify the available options in the description:
직거래 – this means the reseller wants to meet in person to do the transaction.
반택 – this indicates delivering from one convenience store to another convenience store. It’s the most affordable delivery method available. When you contact the reseller, you would basically need to give them the name and address of the convenience store (GS or CU) closest to your home address and later pick up your package from there.
준등기 – basically a regular postal envelope delivery often used for small or flat items such as photocards. Delivery people usually leave it in your mail box and the shipping service does not hold responsibility if the parcel is stolen.
편택 - this is also a convenience store delivery but directly to your home address. It is affordable but can be slow (sometimes can take up to 5 business days)
택배 – this would be delivery via common shipping services such as post office, CJ, Lotte etc. The fastest delivery method.
Safe Payment vs Advanced Payment
To reduce the chances of fraud, both Bunjang and Jungonara offer safe payment options as an available payment method. Safe payment is when, instead of paying the re-seller directly, you pay the selling platform itself which holds the funds until the transaction is complete. The re-seller then sends the item to you. Once you receive it and confirm that it is the correct item, you click on 구매확정 (transaction confirmation) and only then is the money transferred to the re-seller. Bunjang resellers would usually indicate 번개페이 가능 /ok when they accept safe payment or 번개페이 x/불가 when they do not. Joongonara resellers would use 안전결제/네이버결제 가능(safe payment is okay) vs 안전결제/네이버결제 x/불가.
In a lot of cases you will see the term 즉입금 in the item description which means that the reseller is only willing to do the transaction with a buyer who can make the payment in advance before receiving the item. Advanced payment means that you would need to wire money directly to the reseller’s bank account, and only then will they send the item to you. For that reason, advanced payment transactions can be very risky.
If you decide to proceed with advanced payment, the following guidelines might help you minimize the risks:
Check if the reseller has good reviews. We would typically not recommend buying anything above 100,000KRW from a reseller with no review. We would usually try to negotiate to pay via the safe payment method. 3rd party platforms do not take any responsibility for fraudulent sellers.
Both Joongonara and Bunjang offer tools to check the reseller’s account number for prior cases of fraud. We would recommend running the account number before making the transfer.
If the reseller’s account holder name is indicated as company, rather than individual it might be risky to proceed with the transaction. Generally if the name on the account is different from the name the seller gives, it would be a good idea to double check.
Ask the reseller for 인증/인증샷 to prove they actually have the item before buying. We typically ask them to write our name, date and time on a piece of paper, place it next to the item and take a photo.
If you need urgent help to purchasing K-pop merchandise or other goods from Bunjang, Joongonara or any other 3rd party platform securely, Wonderful's assistants would be happy to help. To make it more efficient, you may reach us on Kakao talk, Facebook Messenger or Email and send us the following information:
1. Name of the merchandise
2. Photo (if possible) or link to the item
Our assistants will reach out to the reseller and assist you with making the purchase.
We will try our best to ensure the items are legitimate and are delivered safely. In order to minimize the risk of a scam, we always advocate for safe payment for our clients when negotiating with re-sellers.
Should you decide to proceed with the purchase, you may choose to pay for the item using 2 payment options:
a) If you have a Korean bank account you can wire transfer the cost of the ticket directly to our bank account
b) Alternatively, we can charge your bank card.
Most second hand item purchase requests take around 20-30 minutes to get done on average, but times can vary depending on your situation. This does not include shipping the items to your home.
Regarding our pricing, we charge for the time taken working on your request by the minute, for as low as 1250 KRW per minute, depending on your preferred pricing package. There are NO processing fees when you pay us via bank wire transfer. (You will pay only the cost of the item(s)). When we charge your bank card, there is an 8.5% processing fee that goes to the payment processor for their services. We do NOT benefit from this fee. For more information regarding our pricing, please follow this link.
Once your item arrives at our office, we will send you photos to verify. Regarding shipping, we can send the item via any postal service of your preference (EMS, Korean post, Fedex, DHL etc.) for an additional fee. If you live in Korea you can also pick up the items directly from our office in Seoul.
Wonderful acts as your personal assistant, so we'll keep you updated throughout the process. Chat instantly with professional assistants to get anything done quickly and seamlessly.
If interested in our service, you can reach us on Facebook, Kakao Talk or Email.
You might also find these links useful: - Top 10 BTS Collector Items #Edition1
