Sunday, February 21, 2010

Untruthful Sellers on the Internet

Quick plug, be sure to check out my preorder for etudehouseusa.com.

Ok so this topic has actually been bothering me for an incredibly long time, but recently I've had an experience that was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. I just can't take it anymore, I have to write about it!

A lot of these sellers that sell online, they totally take their customers for fools! It shows that there is absolutely no respect from the seller for the customer. An absolute disgrace and abomination to sellers everywhere. I can't even express how utterly disgusted I am.

Now I'm not talking about hiking prices up or anything like that. You know, they sell at the price they want to sell, and if people buy from them then that's their business. What I'm talking about is doing things that are so underhanded. Literally cheating their customers.

One seller that I saw claimed that the conversion rate for Taiwan Dollars to US dollars was 25 NT/ $1 US. YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT DO THIS KIND OF THING TO PEOPLE. Now you may just think, well that's just the customer's fault for not checking, but that's not it! These customers trust that the seller knows best. In addition, If you don't pay the rate according to their conversion rate, then of course they won't give you the items. The true NT rate is actually about 30-35 NT/ $1 US, So you can see how it would make a difference! Instead, sellers should be up front and say that they're charging a service fee. Actually this person does have another service fee. They should properly list and say that they charge an exhorbant service fee. Sure the customers might think worse of you, but at least you'd be an honest seller.

And then there are sellers who charge a lot claiming that it's shipping fee. Although I know that shipping can cost a lot, being a seller myself, I don't think packaging with bubble wrap, envelopes and everything should cost more than $1. Oh right, and for people's information, delivery confirmation only costs about $.19 when people pay via paypal! Although, when people pay at the post office, it's more, about $1.40 or so, yea pretty expensive. So when people claim that delivery confirmation is $1, then you should carefully see how they are paying for the package. In my opinion, people should clearly say what each fee and payment is for. If you want to cheat people out of their money, you should make the price of the item higher or say straight up front that you charge a higher service fee.

There are a couple more instances of this kind of trickery, but at the moment none of them makes me too heated. I'm sure I'll come up with more later though.

Stay safe and watch out for tricky sellers. My opinion, get the seller to state exactly what their fees are. Even if you are willing to pay the amount, I think a proper division of fees is appropriate. Make sure random service fees are clearly stated, and not brushed off as some currency conversion or delivery confirmation.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Etude House USA Pre-Order/ Spree [CLOSED]


Hi readers, I wanted to order some things from etudehouseusa.com and thought that while I was at it I might as well as set up a preorder as well for anyone else who is interested. The site has flat rate shipping of $6 but for those of us who just want to buy one or two items I thought this might be a better idea since we can pay a lesser amount for shipping. If we can get at least 6 people into the order then that will only be $1 shipping from the company to me (If we get 12 people then $.50 and so on). As long as you don't need too many heavy things, even with the shipping from me to you, you would still be paying less. If you're thinking of a big order or need your items fast then it might be cheaper/ better for you to just order yourself directly =D.

I have to make this a preorder instead of a survey because I have no money, lol. If you've been following my GMarket Update post then you know that I've quite a haul going from there, but there are issues with getting it actually shipped to me -___-. Meanwhile I thought I'd try ordering a couple items locally. I'm pretty confident that ordering from the US site won't be a problem from past users who have had experience with this site. Also we won't have to deal with customs and etc.

Because I benefit too from lesser shipping from Etude House already, I'm not charging any service fee or whatever, just the amount that it will cost to ship to you, which I estimate to be $2-3 depending on what you order (how much it weighs).

To see my seller buyer feedback, you can look up "kiwichibi" on Soompi (~10+ seller) or ebay. I'm not trying to scam anyone, but if you don't feel confident then please don't order.

I plan to have this go for 1 month or so depending on how fast/ how many people want to order (so pull all your friends in too!!- you can say for instance that you're ordering for 3 people and I'll give you 3 ppl's worth of shipping so you can divide it among yourselves. Or you can just do it for one person and have it cheaper overall, but we'll have to wait for more people). Goal is at least 6 people in the order, or if we can, make it to 12.

I'm NOT going to charge you money up front, what will happen is:
1. You email me at juicedmang0s@gmail.com with what you want to order and I'll give you shipping estimate.
2.when we've collected enough people, I'll email everyone to make sure that you still want the orders. I will confirm payments and addresses. IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU GIVE ME AN EMAIL ADDRESS WHERE I CAN EASILY REACH YOU. If I can't contact you within a week or by the time everyone else pays I will assume you no longer want to order.
3. When all the payments are in, I will order. According to another customer it takes about 1 week to arrive. Then within the next week I will mail everything out to everyone and you will receive the item in about a week.

All in all I estimate ~1.5- 2 months for the whole process depending on how many people we can get/ how fast. So pass the word along >.<. Get a bunch of your school friends who may be just want to try the brand out.

Be sure to check out my shop to read my Terms & Conditions first though (not responsible for PO damage, etc)


Stuff I'm considering getting: Just to give you some ideas

Peach water gloss
O2 oxygen mask
Stamp Blush
maybe one of the AC clinic acne products: i've seen some pictures and it seems like it works some.

Email me at juicedmang0s@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

New Cellcharm

Got mini haul from AkimotoMitsuki, unfortunately i thought i already posted and threw away my orig haul pic =(. oh well, still the cute cell charm left to show.

Too Faced Retractable Kabuki

Yay! Finally, my Too Faced kabuki has arrived. I got it off of ebay for $23 with shipping which is a lot cheaper than it's usual $30. The seller claimed that she was going to ship it via priority shipping and charged $5, but instead she shipped it First Class. That really got my panties in a bunch. Overcharging for shipping is one thing, but claiming priority shipping when you send it first class is another. I was expecting that package for so long and it didn't arrive til 8 days after she shipped (with weekends).

I think...this brush may not have been new as claimed, but I'm not sure. When I cleaned it all this stuff came out and it doesn't look like coloring that would've come off this white and black brush. See people, that's why we always clean our brushes before we use them. I also used 90% alcohol. Would've used 70%- better for killing stuff- but I didn't have any.

Someone had give this brush 3 stars claiming that it's hard to dry. I will admit that it is. but how often do you clean your brush? As long as it's not everyday it'll be fine. I used a hairdryer to help speed up the drying because I wanted to test it so I could post about it.

The brush is SOOOOO soft. It's almost a "sticky" hair quality, so you can bet it'll pick up product. I've used pics to compare it to my Ecotools kabuki which I also really like. The too faced bristles are a bit stiffer- but softer!, and the poof of the brush is smaller. It's good for giving a heavier coverage. I would use the Ecotools as overall power to set since it has a bit of a poofy quality, and the Too Faced for powder foundation and the like.

As you can see, I've applied the Coastal Scents "sunkissed" blush on with it. This blush really does give a sunkissed effect. When I first saw it I thought it would be better as a bronzer, but once I applied it, the red tones came out.

The diameters of the Too Faced and Eco Tools are about the same. but the casing for the Too Faced feels of better quality , it's much sturdier, and look at the beautiful packaging. they both work in the same way with the piece that pulls over the brush.

My bare cheek.
Blush w/ Too faced.
Done with Ecotools.




If you can see, the too faced brush has hairs sticking
out and it looks uneven- not rounded, like the quality of the cut was bad =/

otherwise I really like this brush.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Inglot Follow Up

So I've tested out the Inglot products some more and deem them to be ok.
I've compared the Inglot gel liner to L'oreal HiP's. The top is Inglot, it has a bit of a shinier finish. Neither one of them rubs off too easily, but if I rub hard with water, the HiP smudges more.

One thing though, just like my other eyeliners my eye has somehow gotten used to this liner and secreted more oil or something. I easily rubbed this off at the end of the day in one swipe of the finger. Such a shame. everytime i find a liner that works, my eye mutates to make it not work @.@



This is the palette I got, I've done swatches of the colors. I think the #s are Blue (428), Green (414), Gold/copper (25), Pink (46).


The pink is actually more ...seeable? In real life. It wears off fast though. Within a couple hours there will only be a little glitter left.

This is the green, the second picture has the gold in the inner corner. As always you can't see too well, but just imagine the colors being more vivid and less gray.

This is the blue, it has a slight purple tinge.


Remember how i said the 630 nailpolish showed up too gold and i wanted it more pink? Well I figured out how to! If you coat the top with Orly Peroxide Whitening gel, then it'll be more pink (middle one). The rightmost is the old swatch I did the first time. You can see how it's more gold. Apologies for my super dry skin.

Coastal Scents Mini Haul: Finally

So some of you may have read my post about my attempt at a Coastal Scents haul. Well I've finally done one. Overall, I have to say, their shipping is reasonably timed. I've since forgotten how long it took, but it wasn't more than a week i don't think.


I got some 4 oz containers, .10? spoons, African Soap, and some brushes (hearts tissue paper).


Here are all the brushes! Plus they also added in a sample of blush "Sunkissed" or something.




The two lip brushes come with these caps.



The two lip brushes and the two smudger looking ones look the same. I only used the black lip brush and the pink smudger. For me they work pretty well. The pink smudger I use to spot conceal. Since I haven't used the pink lip brush or the black smudger you can buy them from me (I don't really want two of each and they're taking up desk room lol) in my shop. I'll sell them for $2 each or $3 for both.

This is proof of why you should always wash your brushes, again my camera washes it out, but you can still see how I got a bunch of yellow coming off of the eyeliner brush!

I tried the eyeliner brush and as you can see, it works pretty well, it's a pretty thin line in my opinion. The only thing is that this brush they crushed in the middle (so that the hairs won't fall out, it's how they hold them in: see pic of all brushes above). but they pushed it in too much in the middle, so i have a dip in the middle of the brush now, and somehow it doesn't seem like the application is as smooth as it could be. I still like this brush though and use it daily.

The African Black soap I tried. It's supposedly from Ghana. Not the fake stuff they dye black. This stuff is supposed to be fore those with sensitive skin, apparently it works great for clearing up problem areas. My skin isn't the sensitive kind, so to me it really just felt like I was using glycerin soap. You get the really squeaky clean feel. This stuff has a scent that smells like..a lot of medicinal stuff put together. Don't get me wrong, it's not  a bad smell. I found though that i ended up getting a bunch of super surface breakouts, I'm not sure if they're new created by me using the soap, or it's just that they were deep down and this stuff brought them to the surface. I heard that that's one of the things it does.
Anyhow, since it doesn't really seem to have any huge effect on my skin I'm also selling samples of this stuff in my shop because it doesn't seem like I'll ever get through it all lol. When it comes it's this really porous stuff that you squeeze together before you use. I figured for those of you who want to try it out first before you buy the whole big thing, I can help out. I'll sell them in batches of 2 oz for $2. I'm using about 2 oz right now and it's plenty, enough for a couple of weeks- 1 month.

Thursday, February 04, 2010

GMarket Haul Update

A brief update on the status of my order.

I know it's only been like 2 days since I ordered, but I can't help but feel antsy. Out of the 6 sellers, 5 have already shipped my items (and the items have all already reached the warehouse), and it's just only the VOV/ Castledew seller that hasn't. Banila Co seller shipped within 1 hr of me ordering, and tony moly a couple hours after that. Not to mention some sellers actually used Express to mail it. So I can't help but wonder what's taking this one seller so long! 2 days isn't a long time to wait for something to ship, but I just feel like, why do you have to be the only one holding up my shipment to the US?!

Part of me just wants to cancel it, but then lol, the whole reason why I even considered trying out Gmarket was to buy VOV/ Castledew stuffs. Plus I think there might be a cancellation fee. Still I think about how my order could've already been on its way over and I get so frustrated.

Anyhow, I'll keep you posted as to what happens.

***EDIT**
Ok so I just got a couple emails from GMarket. One of them said "your cancellation has been confirmed". I was like, whoa! Wait a minute, i didn't cancel anything! I want all of that!

And then I read the next email which explained that the oversetting gloss I wanted was out of stock. Figures. Well hopefully that was all the holdup was about, and my stuff can ship out now ~.~. I did really want to try that gloss out though =/ ah well.

***EDIT EDIT***
Well it's been 3 days now since I've ordered and you have to agree that 3 days is plenty of time to at least SHIP something. I'm not even talking about it arriving at the warehouse, I just mean SHIP it. If it doesn't get shipped by the time I wake up again tomorrow I'll be extremely upset. I saw on the feedback, that there was little bit of dissatisfaction in the delivery bit, but it was such a small amount that I thought it would be ok. Note to self, only order from sellers with perfect feedback. I wonder if GMarket will get on their case or if I have to do it. I don't speak korean so it's kind of like @.@.

***EDIT EDIT EDIT***

So just got the email, it's finally been shipped (day 4)! T^T so hopefully I can get my package in another 1.5 weeks? yes? Well we shall see.

***EDIT x4***
So my order has finally all completely arrived to the warehouse to be shipped over with EMS (2/8/2010). I'll update when it actually gets shipped out. Oh, and thank goodness, they completely overestimated the weight. It was estimated to be 13.69 kg (~30lbs: how would I even carry that @.@) but it turned out to be 2.63 kg (~5.8lbs). Remember, a little part of that was also due to the out of stock item, so it might've been like 2.65 kg instead. So thus, I got a refund of 59,100 won, about $50. Although I'm happy, I'm still a little unsure and think I'll hold onto the money in case I get taxed by customs or something -___-. With my luck that just may happen even though I didn't even buy all that much. cross my fingers that it doesn't.

***EDIT x5***
wooooo, my order has finally shipped! (2/9/2010). It's at the International Post Office now. I hope somehow it's expedited through and I get it at the end of this week. Something tells me though that I'm not gonna get it til mid next week, if that.

***EDIT x6***

I think my package has reached the US. I say think because I'm not entirely sure. On the EMS tracking it says in red, Final Delivery, and on GMarket it says something about Overseas shipping return arrived. So does that mean it's arrived or it was returned? o.O Now i just have to see how much longer until it gets to me. Since my PO is kind of a little sub delivery system, after the mail has arrived at the main PO, they still have to redistribute it to my little PO, then I get it. From main PO to my PO is at least 1 day or more. I wonder if EMS tracking just tells you if it's entered the country or actually reached PO destination. I've poked around on Yahoo Answers and I think it didn't have to go through customs because other ppl got a line on their tracking telling them if it was given to customs.

***EDIT x7***
2/12/2012
Where in the world is my stuff?! It's been days since my tracking showed "Final Delivery". Is it just the main office holding my stuff or something? There was a big storm here a couple of days ago so maybe that's what held it up. I really want it to come today. It's been 10 days since I ordered. I also ordered a brush from ebay. Seller supposedly shipped last saturday but as of today, friday, still no item. It's priority shipping so it should've made it here by now. Maybe it really is my PO being slow. ARG.

UH OH!!! I think it was returned!! Oh no! what do I do?! tch, must be the stupid mail system. augh!

***EDITx8***
2/13/2010

wow, I think i'm just going to go off being sad. I've emailed gmarket's customer service but have yet to receive a reply. Of course my message was in english though, so maybe the person who writes the english ones is busy. I really don't know what to do at this point. there isn't even an area for me to change this shipping address. I thought it may be because they need someone to sign for it and maybe my address looks like no one will do it? because it looks like a PO box address, but in reality it's not a PO box. I sort of feel like canceling it? Paying the exhorbant fee, and ...making another account to order from lol. Seems like it would be faster at this point. I don't know what to do. Ideas?

***EDITx9***
2/14/2010

I really want to curl up in a ball on the ground and cry now. Customer service is still not answering. I still have no products. What to do. It's officially 12 days since I first placed my order on GMarket. Happy Lunar New Year everyone. And Valentine's Day, lol.

***EDIT x10***

^0^ Gmarket has finally answered my question saying they will look into it -___-. So it took...a few days to respond. Not too bad I guess, but when you're panicking about where your package is it seems like forever. I was literally checking to see what time it was in korea every few hours.

***EDIT x11***
2/18/2010

WOW. I can't believe the dumb reason why my package was returned. It's because the address I said to ship it to is unconfirmed. I don't remember reading anything about having to have it be a confirmed address. While it's completely reasonable, I'm currently at a loss as to what to do. At my confirmed address there is no one to sign/ pick up the package right now. I looked into confirming an alternate address, but well you need proof that you pay bills or something and I don't have any of that. ugh. What to do. If it was just that they couldn't ship here because it's like a PO box, then that wouldn't be so bad, I could ship it to a friend's house or something. Now...yea guess I'll have to wait another 3 days for customer service to respond ...again. 16 days since I first ordered.

***EDITx12***
2/23/2010

Is anyone else tired of this whole shenanigan? I am. It's been 3 business days, 5 total days since I last sent a message to GMarket Customer Service. Still no reply. My biggest fear is that the workers doing their job will just return all my items to the respective sellers, then charge me return shipping and give me bad feedback. I have no idea how I can even get my information across to them if no one will respond. I think I'll just send them another one, what else am I supposed to do? 21 days since I first ordered.

***

oopsies..I just realized the whole not replying may be my fault. I directly pressed reply in my email instead of sending a followup question through gmarket..maybe that's why no one answered...ugh...now i think i really am in danger of having my package returned...

***EDITx13***
2/24/2010

Oh wow, response time was a lot faster this time, maybe it was because they didn't have that many messages to respond to or something. pooy, you can't combine a new order with the old one. Ugh, still had no idea where to send my address and it looks like their english wasn't too great either. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that this address will be acceptable in their eyes *rolls eyes* and that customs won't stare too long at it, and that the address makes it through in time for it to not be returned.

***
ooh wow, fast response, so i emailed the address they said to email to, with the name of the guy handling my case as the subject like I was told to do and he responded. At first I was considering sending another inquiry through the message board system since i wasn't sure if my email actually got through. I'm glad I decided to wait a day though or else I would've spammed him again XD. He said he's asked the warehouse to change my address. Let's hope there are no problems again this time around.

***

AUGH! And now they're charging me overseas shipping again saying that I gave them the wrong address. Well imo, they didn't ask for a paypal confirmed address so it shouldn't all be from my pocket!

***

This is getting beyond ridiculous. They emailed me asking for my zip code. I was like, i put it all there the first time (i even checked my sent messages). So I sent them the zip, then I get another email saying how they need the whole address for overseas  shipping. I was like "THAT IS THE ADDRESS" So I sent it again spelling out each of the parts "this is the street, this is the city, etc etc" seriously! stop annoying me and just send it over already! augh!

***EDITx14***
2/26/2010

Another email, they gave me the wrong info, you have to put the money into GCash before they can directly take it out of your account. They've now changed the address on my overseas shipping area. I asked if they can check to see if this address is deliverable, but apparently it's out of their control and I have to contact usps myself. So I sent an email inquiring why my package was returned. I secretly hope that it's because GMarket somehow screwed up the label. It sounds kind of wrong, but at least that way I can complain and maybe get my shipping refunded back to me. It's snowing here to the point where my po is closed. I hope somewhere someone in usps is working and can answer my question. 24 days since I first ordered.

***EDITx14***
3/4/2010

As you can see it's been quite a few days now. USPS never answered my 3 email inquiries, so I shall call them tomorrow and ask directly. As for GMarket, my status has been on Overseas Shipping confirmed to resend for days now. About a week I would say. Wonder what the hold up is. Still I don't want to email them until I know from usps why my package was sent back. 30 days since I first ordered.

***EDITx15***
3/8/2010

WOW, so I called usps to ask about the whole unconfirmed address thing, and if there might possibly be some kind of delivery limitation- like they can't deliver to PO boxes or something, but they told me no. What the unconfirmed address thing possibly means is that there were characters in the address that were illegible or part of a label was ripped off. Then that means it's GMarket's fault! so they just charged me for their mistake?! WHAT?! My package still hasn't sent out yet. I emailed the person again. I'm really quite upset at this point.

Hi,

I have two questions.

1) I noticed that my package has been on Overseas Shipping Confirmed to resend for at least a week so I was wondering when it would be shipped.

2) I called our mail carrier to ask why the package was returned to korea, they said an unconfirmed address means that there were characters on the package that could not be read or that part of the label was ripped off.

They also said that there are no delivery limitations as far as address goes for EMS packages so I know there was nothing wrong with the address. I also checked previous shipped item emails from GMarket and am ABSOLUTELY sure that the address is correct. I was assured that even if the zip code is incorrect, as long as the main address is right, there will be no problems because the zip code will automatically come up. So if this is the case, then that means that I was not at fault and that there was nothing wrong on my part in regards to the original address.

If this is the case, then I think GMarket unfairly charged me for something that was their mistake! My address was correct so why am I being charged for a return that wasn't my fault?!

I may have misunderstood something here, so if you have a better explanation for the package return then I am willing to listen.

The address that I first put down is XXXX which is what's shown as the shipping destination on the sent package email I received from GMarket the first time.

Thank you,

***EDITx16***
3/10/2010

Oh get this, the usps finally decides to respond to emails..after like a week. Yea don't email them, just call them instead, it's a lot faster and more useful because they can explain things to you instead of just looking up what's in the system when they punch in the tracking number.

I decided to send another email, more threatening this time. There was no response to my other email yet. Could be on vacation, or sick, regardless, that's not my problem. I hate sending these emails because it's totally a lose lose situation, but as I last resort I'm not beyond using them.

"Hi,

I'm sorry to have to say this, but I thought I'd at least give fair warning first. In my previous email I emailed to ask as to when my package would ship, and question why exactly the package was returned (since my postal carrier says that it might be due to an error in the label- for which I have made sure that there was no error on my part in regards to the address).

It's been 36 days since I first ordered, and I still have no items. The only way I can view this is as if I've been cheated out of my money. According to paypal's policy, I must file for resolution within 45 days, so I'm sending this email to say that if I see no evidence of package shipment in the next 8-9 days I will be opening a claim.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter."

***EDIT x16***
3/15/2010

Oops, so it turns out the package arrived quite a few days ago, but no one bothered to tell me =X. I'll have to apologize to them about that -___-;;. But still, I want to know about why I was charged for shipping if it might not have even been my fault in the first place! So until I get to the bottom of that, this post won't truly be finished. Meanwhile, enjoy as I start the long posting marathon about the items.

***EDIT x17***
4/12/2010

So I think this will be my last edit for this post- sad, i know! Haven't had time to update so far, but what happened was that I ended up with a broken blush. Emailed GMarket, who said they would get in touch with the seller, and for me to email them again in 3 business days if no email. I forgot, and didn't email them again until a couple days ago. They replied and said the seller would refund the money which would be put back into my Gaccount. Basically, I still can't touch it.

I'm not sure if the money's been refunded, don't really want to look right now since I'd rather sleep. GMarket basically took no responsibility for the shipping fiasco, so beware.

 I still have some money in the GMarket account so I have no idea what to do with that since they won't let you withdraw anything under some huge amount of money without taking $35? + a percentage I think. Something crazy. Maybe I'll just order one thing- it'd be a waste of money, but better than letting GMarket hoard it all. Gmarket always overestimates shipping on purpose, so they make you pay almost double the shipping at first, but then you can't get it back out of your account. Even if I order up to what I have in my account, it still won't take GMarket that much money to ship, so they still get to keep some of my money. The sellers need to start guestimating the weights better. >.>.

Good Luck if you decide to order from GMarket.