Preordering Merchandise from Woollim Mall and Using Paysable

Woollim has finally opened up their own online shop, Woollim Mall (www.woollimmall.com)! While this is exciting, the downside is that Woollim Mall is run by Everline, who is known for their extremely ridiculous overseas shipping fees. This post will be split into 2 sections: Woollim Mall and Paysable.

Woollim Mall

On November 25th, 2020, the Woollim Mall Twitter page opened up and they announced the opening of the site on November 27th at 2PM KST. On November 26th, they announced 2021 season's greetings packages for Sung Kyu, Rocket Punch, and Drippin, and a news article also stated a Golden Child Cinema Kit in collaboration with CGV.

I checked out Woollim Mall right at 2PM on the 27th, and I was surprised at how much merchandise they already had! First off, the site can be in Korean, English, Chinese, or Japanese. The Korean site has very reasonable shipping fees as this is only for domestic orders (0₩ to 3,000₩ and there is a free shipping coupon right now). For the English site, you can ship within Korea or overseas.

There are also member benefits depending on your tier, which is determined by how much you spend. The highest tier, Platinum, is reached after spending 2,000,000₩, though I'm unsure of the time frame. A key benefit for reaching Platinum is receiving a random signed Polaroid by one of the artists.

There is also a Woollim Mall Open Polaroid Event until December 4th, 2020 KST where 32 purchasers will win a random member's Polaroid from the artist group corresponding to the merchandise purchased.

And now onto the merchandise! As expected there are the artists' most recent albums, Sung Kyu's, Rocket Punch's, and Drippin's 2021 Season's Greetings, and Golden Child's and Rocket Punch's lightsticks. There are also new items such as baseball caps, hoodies, eco bags, tablet pouch sets, photo sets (these are photos from the groups' latest albums), and more. The most interesting non-Golden Child item in my opinion is the Lovelyz Book Lamp, which looks like the limited album version of Once Upon A Time. The most sought-after items in my opinion are the jewelry pieces! There is the Nam Woo Hyun Special Edition 식목일 Ring Ver. 2 which includes his engraved autograph and his birthstone and comes in sizes 51mm to 61mm for $49.13 USD, and the Kim Sung Kyu Special Edition Inspiring Ver. 2 which includes his birthstone and comes in rose gold, gold, or silver, and sizes from 49mm to 59mm, for $63.53 USD. There's also the Golden Child bracelet which I'll discuss along with Golden Child's other goods.

All 3 jewelry pieces sold out on December 1st. The first batch has begun production, and then a second batch of preorders began for all 3 jewelry pieces but sold out within the same day.

At launch, the site included 11 Infinite products, 10 Lovelyz products, 11 Golden Child products, 10 Rocket Punch products, and 7 Drippin products. Since then, there has been listings for Drippin's Shine Package and Sunggyu's 3rd mini album. It concerns me (more like my wallet and sanity) how Woollim randomly dropped that Drippin Shine Package for 72,000₩ with a preorder deadline and then a few days later announced that this also included a video call event.

As a note, many of these items have a preorder deadline, but I checked those items after the deadline and you can still order them.

Golden Child Products

• 2nd Single [Pump It Up] - 12,500₩
• Official Light Stick - 35,000₩: This looks to be the second version
• Cinema Kit - 40,000₩: This is the collaboration with CGV and there's an event that only applies to those ordering within Korea; I think it's a discount to use at CGV. This cinema kit includes a tumbler, review diary, special ticket (random 1 out of 10), and movie card, and the packaging looks like a popcorn bag. What sold me was that this kit includes a new photoshoot exclusively for this merchandise. All other artists' merchandise used photos from their latest album release
• Cap - 35,000₩
• Hoodie - 78,000₩
• Light Stick Pouch - 35,000₩: this is a different design from the one sold during Future And Past
• Ecobag - 42,000₩
• Bracelet - 99,000₩: this is a replica of Golden Child's team bracelet
• Photo Set - 35,000₩: includes 30 postcards (3 cards per member) from the 3 Pump It Up shoots. Other artists also have a photo set that includes 30 pieces from their latest album; those also include group photos
• Lanyard & Photocard Set - 15,000₩: you purchase this set by member
• Bookmark - 21,000₩

My Order

It's weird; I don't feel obligated to collect everything anymore. I think because everything's online, items are more within reach. And at this point because there are so many options, it feels like I can just pick and choose what I truly want. So in the end, I chose the Golden Child Bracelet, Golden Child Cinema Kit, Golden Child Bookmark, Golden Child Lanyard & Photocard Set (Jaehyun and Jibeom versions), and Infinite Ecobag.

I forgot to check the international shipping fee for my order before the bracelet was sold out, but for the other 5 items, the item total was $110.97 USD and shipping alone was $102.32 USD.

To avoid Everline's ridiculous shipping fees, I'm trying out the proxy service Paysable.

Updates

On December 30th via Twitter, Woollim Mall announced that the shipment date for the Golden Child Cinema Kit has been pushed from December 28th to January 5th to improve production quality. On December 31st, Woollim Mall made a similar announcement pushing the shipment date of the Golden Child Bracelet from December 28th to January 13th.

Now as some items have already been shipped out and as I wait for my order to ship, I've seen some previews of the items that have shipped. Taking a look at the Golden Child photo set, Jaehyun's 3 photos aren't included in the Pump It Up albums. And so I figured I had until January 13th to place a second order to Paysable, and have them merge my 2 packages together.

I saw Korean Goldenness receiving their bracelets on January 16th. My order updated from "Pending" to "Preparing Shipment" on January 19th.

My Second Order

As time went on while I was waiting for my order to arrive, I'd been itching to order more from Woollim Mall. I was really close to doing so but my credit card was compromised which really paid off, because then Golden Child announced their January 25th comeback. I had actually placed an order with Woollim Mall for the YES. bookcase set version, but in the end requested for a refund, which I blogged about here. Therefore, my second order is non-existent. And to ramble on, I've ordered Woollim Mall merchandise from Kpoptown multiple times now, which you can read about my first order here.

Paysable

Paysable is a Korean proxy site that offers multiple services: they can help you personally buy from Korean sites and they can provide you a Korean address for you to ship goods to, then they can consolidate packages and send to you.

Instructions on how to use Paysable as a delivery service:

1. Create an account
2. Submit a photocopy of your valid passport
3. Check back in a few days to see if your passport has been verified (this can be done by seeing that your Korean address has been given to you)
4. Go to the website you're buying from and enter your Korean address; make sure you include your unique Paysable ID (in the format of #nnnnn-A)
5. Paysable will send you an email when your package arrives at their warehouse
6. Use the Paysable site and fill out the form for your package to either merge packages or request a shipping fee
7. Paysable will send an email when the shipping fee has been calculated based on the carrier you selected
8. Pay for the shipping fee; Paysable directed me to Paypal to pay
9. Paysable will send an email with the tracking number

On January 22nd, I received an email from Paysable that a package had arrived in my name. I checked the details on their website, and it showed that the package is from Everline but the item detail only showed "INFINITE ECOBAG". Woollim Mall still showed that the entire order was "PREPARING SHIPMENT", so I emailed both Woollim Mall and Paysable to confirm if it is 1 shipment or multiple shipments for this 1 order.

I received several auto-generated emails from Woollim Mall on the 25th, verifying that my second order (Golden Child YES. set and photo set) has been cancelled, and that my first order has been shipped and is out for delivery. I checked my order online and the status updated to "IN TRANSIT" but doesn't offer a tracking number.

As of January 29th, I still haven't received a response from Paysable whereas Woollim Mall has been replying back saying that they will ship the goods "today" (the 28th) and will include a tracking number to my order. All I wanted to know was if my goods were shipped in one package or not...

I checked my order on Woollim Mall on February 1st, and all items have been updated to "DELIVERED" but still without a tracking number. I still hadn't received a response from Paysable. I'm assuming that Woollim Mall's tracking just updated very slowly and that my original package that arrived on the 22nd was ready to go. I requested shipping fee on Paysable's website; I filled out the form:

• Product Order ID: I used my order number from Woollim Mall
• Product Amount: in KRW
• Shop URL
• My name, phone number, address, zip code, and country
• Memo: this is where you put your selected carrier. Unfortunately Paysable can't give a an estimated shipping fee for all shipping options. Furthermore, if left blank, DHL is the default. I chose DHL anyways

On February 15th, I received another Paysable email saying that a package has arrived at my Paysable address. I was a bit confused if Woollim Mall really did send me a second shipment, but looking into my Delivery Forwarding page on Paysable, I see that it's the original package that now has a status of "Merged" and another line item with a Shop Name of "Waiting for Customer's Confirmation" and instructions for me to update the package information. I literally filled out the same exact form as previously in order to request the shipping fee again.

On February 23rd I received an email from Paysable stating that my delivery fee has been set. I logged into Paysable and the fee for DHL was 39,300₩ which included the 1,500₩ processing fee. I went on to pay, and PayPal was the only option where it automatically converted the price to $43.20 USD (I don't know why there is an $8 upcharge...). I paid and immediately Paysable noted on both my account and via email that the payment is under review. It states that the PayPal payment is under inspection and is now delayed until I receive an announcement email. Within 40 minutes Paysable sent an email confirming payment has been accepted and that they are now preparing for shipment.

On February 24th, Paysable sent an email confirming shipment along with the DHL tracking number. However they still never replied to my inquiry from January, so I'll have to wait for my package to see what's inside...

I received my package on February 26th! I was really worried if only the eco bag was delivered because the box was quite small, but to my relief, all 6 items are here.

All 6 items were bundled up inside this clear wrap. The eco bag was at the bottom of the clear wrap while the 5 other items were in a bubblewrap bag.

Here is a closer look at the bubblewrap bag, with the cinema kit at the bottom and smaller items above.

I'll blog about all my Woollim Mall items in an upcoming post!

And now, to reflect on whenever Woollim Mall / Everline drops exclusive merch: I've tried ordering from Everline directly, ordering from Woollim Mall and then using Paysable, and ordering from Kpoptown. They all have their pros and cons. I'll list them out below:

Woollim Mall / Everline:

• Pros: As this is the direct source of the goods, I believe if you secure your order on their site, you should be guaranteed your items. Also if there is an issue with your order, you can work with them directly.
• Cons: Shipping is ridiculously overpriced.

Woollim Mall / Everline + Paysable:

• Pros: Securing your order should mean being guaranteed your items. Shipping via Paysable should be much more reasonable.
• Cons: It may be hard to refute your order if Everline sent a wrong item. Paysable takes weeks to ship out and there is a lack of customer service. It's not clear what the line items received are within Paysable because they only listed 1 of my items.

Kpoptown / Ktown4u:

• Pros: DHL shipping is most reasonable.
• Cons: There may be a markup on items compared to Woollim Mall, but of course it balances out with shipping costs. The biggest downside is even if you place an order, there's no guarantee if Kpoptown / Ktown4u can secure their orders with Woollim Mall.

With all of these in mind, I think I'll determine future orders on a case by case basis. I ended up preordering Golden Child's YES. merch via Kpoptown, and will have another post on that experience.