Samsung Galaxy S accessories on Gmarket

Before I start my blog entry, I wanna say a big thanks to Gmarket for awarding me as 1 of the top bloggers for Jan 2011!! 정말감사합니다! It was a nice belated xmas present! =D

Here's a screenshot from Gmarket's top bloggers page:

I'm so delighted that I decided to share my shopping experience on Gmarket for accessories for my Samsung Galaxy S!

I guess most of my friends know that I own a Samsung Galaxy S (from here on, it's abbreviated as "SGS"), cos I've been telling commenting everytime that Android rox. I've to say out-of-the-box wise, iphone is still better, but I chose SGS cos I wanted to be different, and as a lot of people know, I am quite a geek for a female, and Android is more customisable than iphone.

One of the reasons that deterred me from buying the SGS was because of the accessories - I knew iphone was more popular, and there will definitely be more choices to choose from. During my 1st month owning the SGS, I really felt very miserable cos my phone had no case nor screen protector to protect it.

I'm sure if the phone is alive, this will be what it's thinking:

Jokes aside, I've tried to look out at a few shops, they don't carry it; searched on ebay, none... cos Singapore was the only country that carried the phone (yes, it wasn't even launched in Korea!!). I only had a miserable generic carrying pouch, and the thin screen protector that came with the phone.

I was very glad when I knew that Gmarket started having sellers carrying all these cases, and they were either cheaper than those in Singapore, or can't be found in Singapore! I then held mass orders for fellow SGS users, and the response was very good. And in the end I held 5 of them.

Here is my ranking for the top sellers for SGS cases with pictures from the sellers themselves:

1) SGP Accessories: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=189143413
What I like about this seller is that he gives 107 miles and 3 stamps for each item, not to mention there's a 2% discount if you order 3 items or more, and local delivery within Korea is free if your purchase exceeds KRW50,000:
 

This seller sells a wide range of SGP Accessories, and here are my picks:
1a) The very popular Slider cases @ KRW21,300 ~ SG$26.30 - The slider cases are hard cases, slides into your phone, and has a small cover at the bottom to cover up the phone



1b) Silke Pleiades Cases @ KRW18,700 ~ SG$23.10. This matte case was very popular before the slider cases came out. And I also own one! The down side is that the paint comes off after a while.


The one I own is Atlas Colour (the right-most colour on top which writes 아들라스):

1c) Screen protectors, 2 in a pack @ KRW10,700 - KRW12,100 ~ SG$13.20 - SG$14.90. 3 types of screen protectors for people with different preference - Oleophobic, Crystal, Anti-fingerprint. The 1st 2 are glossy ones while the last one is matte.

I personally prefer matte screen protectors because they don't attract fingerprints. But matte screen protectors will decrease the brightness of your screen, and makes it grainy-looking. Click on the picture below to look at the enlarged photo, notice how grainy the blue portion of the screen is?:

1d) Phone cover protector + screen protector (also known as film package) @ KRW13,700 - KRW16,700 ~ SG$16.90 - SG$20.60. A mix and match between glossy phone cover protector, matte phone cover protector, glosst screen protector & matte screen protector.


I've a matte film package set, it makes my phone looks smooth but the coverage on the back cover of the phones isn't 100%:

2) Samsung Battery and battery charging cradle: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=190334950
Charging cradle only: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=190335117

If you own more than 1 battery, having the charging cradle is always convenient - you can bring your phone with you while you charge your extra battery seperately.

Battery only @ KRW22,500 ~ SG$27.80
Battery with cradle @ KRW30,000 ~ SG$37.00
Cradle only @ KRW7,700 ~ SG$9.50

I've bought the cradle:

Take note that the purchase do not include the adapter, you'll have to use your own adapter that comes with the phone. When the cradle is charging the battery, there is a red light, and after charging is completed, a green/yellow light is shown

3) Samsung Mesh Cases @KRW3,300 ~ SG$4.10: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=194127385
These cases are very popular as they are cheap, durable, and is licensed by Samsung themselves.

I ordered a transparent one and here's how it looks like:

4) Samsung backcovers @ KRW9,500 ~ SG$11.70: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=197299474
Comes in 3 colours, according to the Korean versions.

If you're wondering why my phone is in white, this is the answer to your question! ;) I was always jealous of the people in Korea because they've 3 colours to choose from for their SGS while those in Singapore only had the boring black, so I was delighted when the backcovers came onto Gmarket.

The only drawback is there is a big hole exposing the part of the phone behind the cover, because Korean version of SGS has an in-built TV, and there is a hole to accomodate the anttenna of the TV.

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For the moment, you can already get very generic cases in Singapore for the SGS as it's one of the more popular android phones around, so I've only introduced those that can't be found easily in Singapore.

If you're interested in looking for other cases/accessories, just go to Gmarket...
1) type in "galaxy s" under search, and click on Search

2) when the search results are loaded, then click on "Cell Phones"

The search results will be filtered and only items related to handphones will be shown.

Hope this blog entry will help you get the accessory you've been wanting to buy!

On a side note, has anyone noticed my VIP crown has been changed to a SVIP crown? =D

My Gmarket Korea story

As some of you may know, I've been shopping from Gmarket Korea for the past year.

Before you continue, be forewarned that men may get bored reading a shopping post, lol.

It all started out when I watched You're Beautiful, and then I fell in love with Jang Keun Suk, and that made me really feel like 吃嫩草 (a Chinese slang that literally means "to eat tender grass", and the nearest English idiom would be "to rob the cradle").

Anyway I digressed. But I wanted to get the pig-rabbit that Minam got from Taekyung in the show cos it's just so adorable looking:

Doesn't it look so huggable?!

I found Gmarket from some banner link I think, and thought of trying my luck on getting a pig-rabbit. So I used Google translate, for the words in Korean

I copied the words and did a search on Gmarket Korea. I managed to find a lot of sellers selling it and decided to order from 1 of them.

And then I saw from Gmarket's home page that Etude House is available on Gmarket too!! At that time, Singapore did not have any Etude House shops but I stumbled upon their newly-opened shop with my cousin when we were in Taipei in May 2009, and I really love their products. I was so happy that I found it on Gmarket, and decided to order their Mineral BB Cream:

Now there's Etude House shops in Singapore, but it's retailed in Singapore at SG$39.90! On Gmarket, it's approximately SG$17 before shipping. Even if you only order this BB Cream itself via Gmarket, the cost including shipping is still cheaper than SG$39.90. So if you are already using Etude House products and can afford to wait for the items to arrive, you might wanna get it from Gmarket, usually takes less than 1 week for the items to arrive as Etude House ships them real fast!

Anyway so in the end I ordered the pig-rabbit, some Etude House cosmetics & some winter clothings, as I was going to some winter countries. The winter clothings from Korea just looks so much nicer than those in Singapore, not to mention much cheaper too! I was really spoiled for choices.

Back to the dwaeji tokki, I tried to look for it on Ebay, which was my favourite online shopping venue before I found Gmarket, just for curiousity sake. And to my horror, there were sooo many non-authentic dolls like this:

They are OBVIOUSLY fakes! Comparing side by side:

Just look at the fake big nose! The body looks weird too - it's larger than its head when it's supposed to be smaller. The shape of the ribbon looks very different too.

I started to worry whether ordering the pig-rabbit online is a good idea or not. But to my relief, the real authentic toy came! With the DreamToy box too! (Pictures here are water-marked as I was selling the items and was afraid that other netizens steal my photos for their own blogshop.)

Together with other You're Beautiful goodies:

That was my 1st shipment, and the rest was history. =X


Spot my VIP Customer crown icon! =D

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S back in June, and was glad that I can easily purchase Galaxy S cases in Gmarket when there were none in Singapore. A small flaw would be that Korean Galaxy S comes with built-in TV, and there's an additional hole in the case for the antenna.


Recently I was contemplating about buying a Fujifilm Instax which seems very popular in Korea and has appeared in a lot of shows, which of cos includes You're Beautiful!

I was holding some sprees for Samsung Galaxy S accessories, so I decided to buy an Instax 25 cos Gmarket was having a discount coupon event.

It was quite a chore to look for the right priced item, with the limited help of Google Translate to translate the pages. Different sellers are offering the cameras and accessories at different prices, and some items are already discounted by sellers, and I can't apply further discount coupons on them, while you can for some others. In the end, I had to use Microsoft Excel to consolidate the costs and URL and compare the costs.

If you're interested, the seller who offers the cheapest price for the camera only is here at KRW129,500.

Anyway the package arrived yesterday! I waited for it for nearly 3 weeks (because some of the Galaxy S cases were out of stock and the seller waited for a long time before he cancelled my orders), and was so excited about it that I immediately used it!

That's my Christmas present for myself, hehe.

And I bought a few accessories too:

I bought 20 coloured-frame films + 20 normal-frame films here, and at KRW29,500, which converts to approximately SG$36, I personally think it's a very good deal if you order from Gmarket in bulk, since the market rate in Singapore for the normal-frame films is SG$11 for 10 films.

If you want 40 coloured-frame films, there's also a cheap deal here! Cost only KRW27,400 + KRW2,500 local Korean delivery.

I'm already shopping for more films and maybe a photo album on my next shipment =D