Do you want try out or stock up on korean products, but you can’t get to Korea because of various reasons? (Darn you – Covid-19!) In this post I will give you the best 6 websites and ways to buy korean products online.
A month ago, I was in need of some products like toners, essences or face masks, but all the brands that were available in Austria were either too expensive or too heavy on my sensitive skin. Since I am an avid fan of korean beauty products I was focused on finding skin care that was made in Korea. In the end I was not satisfied with anything that the drug stores were offering so I decided I’ll stick to brands that I know. But how.on.earth. am I going to get those?
Being lucky enough to be able to travel to Seoul once or twice a year, I never had the problem of being out of skin care products. Being stuck at home for the past 2-3 months and seeing on my calendar how the days, that I was supposed to be on vacation in another country, passed by, I just had to grab my laptop and find out how to get my hands on said products.
Whoever said being stuck at home makes you save up money. They thought wrong. Or they didn’t have access to internet…
After hours of researching about the cheapest and safest way to buy my skincare, I realised that I am a spoiled brat because I just didn’t want to spend around 30USD on a product that I usually would get for 20USD.
In the end, I found another way to buy my skin care (god bless korean friends <3 ) but I did make a list for y’all so you don’t have to spend hours to decide which website you can use!
I hope this will help you find an alternative for your shopping sprees in Myeongdong.
First, check out my video review!
Table of Contents
Yesstyle (yesstyle.com)
Yesstyle.com is a very well known website for K-Beauty. You can find make up, skincare, beauty tools and accessories as well as clothes and even certain food products. They are reliable and offer many different brands. Yesstyle has a point rewards system which enables you to get more percentages off your purchases depending on your rank. Due to the wide range of brands and products that can be found on this website, many people use this website to let out their inner shopperholic.
- Exclusive Brands: Mizon, 3CE, Klairs, Troiareuke, Benton, Papa Recipe, make p:rem, SUM37
- Price: About three times higher than retail price in Korea
- Ships to: Many European countries (incl. United Kingdom & Austria), United States
- Shipping method: EMS, DHL
- Shipping Price: Free shipping for selected countries and a certain purchase amount
- (Austria) No free shipping. At the moment, only EMS available for 27USD / 24EUR
- (US) Free shipping for orders > 59USD, depending on the order amount, the fee ranges between 6.50 USD – 13 USD
- Payment method: VISA, MasterCard, Paypal, American Express, JCB, Google/Apple Pay (Apple Pay not available for Austria)
- Rewards/Membership: Friends Rewards and Elite Club (Point rewards)
- Pros: Good Customer service, reliable delivery, big range of brands and products, professional
- Cons: High price, orders not shipped from South Korea
Beauty Box Korea (beautyboxkorea.com)
Compared to Yesstyle, they offer more shipping possibilities and are a lot cheaper. Unfortunately they don’t offer free shipping for any country but depending on how much you want to buy, you might end up paying less in general. This website also features some brands, that you cannot find on the other websites on this list. If you are looking for more than just skin care, just like on Yesstyle, you can find some other accessories. They offer many shipping possibilities for Austria.
- Exclusive Brands: BELIF, Amore Pacific
- Price: around 20% higher than retail price in Korea
- Ships to: Many European countries (incl. United Kingdom & Austria), United States
- Shipping Price: Free shipping available for selected items, shipping is calculated by weight
- (Austria for 1kg) EMS and DHL for ~33USD / 30EUR, TK Post for ~12USD / 10EUR (max. 2 kg)
- (US for 1kg) EMS for ~31USD, DHL for ~34USD, USPS for ~22USD
- Payment method: Paypal, VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Bank transfer
- Rewards/Membership: Reward Points (get a certain percentage of your purchase credited to your next order)
- Pros: own Forum (eg. for Order Inquiries), also offers Home/Nail/Phone accessories, guest check out available
- Cons: difficult to find information on or navigate website
Testerkorea (testerkorea.com)
Testerkorea is the cheapest on this list when it comes to product prices. They also offer brands that you cannot get everywhere, but the shipping choice for Austria is limited to the ‘K-Packet’, which might be cheap, but also quite slow. For readers from the US, shipping starts at 28USD for 1kg.
The website is easy to navigate and they have their own unboxing cosmetic videos.
- Exclusive Brands: Mizon, Klairs, Benton, BELIF, SUM37, The History of Whoo
- Price (in percent compared to buying in Korea): almost same as retail price, sometimes even cheaper
- Ships to: Many European countries (incl. United Kingdom & Austria), United States
- Shipping method: EMS, DHL, K Packet, Air Mail, Rincos (SG, AU, PH, JP, HK, TW), eParcel (SG only)
- Shipping Price (free shipping?): shipping is calculated by weight
- (Austria for 1kg) No free shipping, K-Packet for ~17USD / 15EUR
- (US for 1kg) No free shipping, DHL for ~37USD, Rincos for ~28USD
- Payment method: Paypal, Adyen, VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Unionpay, Alipay, American Express, Yandex Money, MOL Pay, Bank Transfer (Orders >500,000KRW)
- Rewards/Membership: TK Membership (get up to 20% more discount if you sign up on the website)
- Pros: very cheap, Smaller versions of products can be bought, Bundles available for selected Brands, Samples included in order, detailed product description (eg. How to Use) on each product
- Cons: higher package weight, no guest check out, too much personal information needed (age, phonenumber, sex)
Style Korean (stylekorean.com)
This website is really easy to navigate. They feature many popular brands and the price range is cheaper than Yesstyle but a bit higher than TesterKoroea or BeautyBoxKorea. The shipping is calculated by weight like the other websites and you can choose between K-Packet, EMS or DHL. StyleKorean also has their own blog where they review different products.
- Exclusive Brands: Heimish,
- Price (in percent compared to buying in Korea): ~40% higher than retail price
- Ships to: Many European countries (incl. United Kingdom & Austria), United States
- Shipping method: K-Packet, DHL, EMS, Pantos (US only)
- Shipping Price (free shipping?): free shipping for selected countries and certain purchase amount, shipping cost is calculated by weight
- (Austria for 1kg) No free shipping, DHL for ~35USD / 31EUR
- (US for 1kg) Free shipping for orders > 80USD, DHL for ~20USD
- Payment method: VISA, MasterCard, JCB, American Express, Paypal. Doku (ID), Molpay (MY), Paysbuy (TH)
- Rewards/Membership: StyleKorean points (store credit that can be used as “money” for the next order
- Pros: website is easy to navigate, mini sized products available, have their own review blog and videos
- Cons: a bit more expensive than other websites on the list
Beauty Net Korea (beautynetkorea.com)
It is very similar to Beauty Box Korea, but they have different brands to offer. Price-wise they are also on the cheaper side.
For each product you can find a detailed description on how to use it as well as the ingredients of the product. They offer special membership ranks a certain percentage will be deducted on the next order if you reach a certain purchase amount. (Eg buy goods for more than 500USD and you’ll get 3% off your next purchases etc..) In my opinion the amount is quite high, but if you spend a lot of money on beauty products, it might save you a bit of money for the next time.
For people who want to sell beauty products in their country, BeautyNetKorea accepts large orders for wholesale prices which I think is a great idea.
- Exclusive Brands: GOODAL
- Price (in percent compared to buying in Korea): ~20% higher than retail price
- Ships to: Many European countries (incl. United Kingdom & Austria), United States
- Shipping method: EMS, DHL, K Packet, Air Mail, LBC (PH only), WINGO (UA only)
- Shipping Price (free shipping?): shipping is calculated by weight
- (Austria for 1kg) No free shipping, only DHL available for ~34USD / 30EUR
- (US for 1kg) No free shipping, EMS for ~28USD or DHL for ~24USD
- Payment method:VISA, Mastercard, Paypal, American Express, JCB
- Rewards/Membership: Membership rank
- Pros: cheap, detailed product description (eg. How to Use) on each product, Product shipped from South Korea, guest check out available
- Cons: Website is a bit overwhelming, due to ‘private’ email address and typo’s, professionalism questionable
Korean Proxy Provider Service Agents
These websites will take your orders on korean products that are available in Korea. Once you have placed your order, they will send you the price for your purchase. If you agree on the prices, they purchase your goods on korean online or offline stores and send the package to your place. It is a good alternative to get your hands on products that are usually not available on foreign online stores.
I hope you found something on this list, and if you did, please share your experience in the comment section for the other readers to read!