Breaking News: Restriction des achats en ligne à l'international

Petite news rapide!

En Corée du Sud, la vie est chère, voire très chère! Je n'en reviens toujours pas des prix des meubles, d'objets aussi simples qu'une bouilloire ou un grille-pain ou même de la nourriture! Mais ce qui est vraiment hors de prix, c'est surtout la technologie! Les téléphones, appareils photos, ordinateurs ou télévisions coûtent plus du double qu'en France, surtout si c'est de marque Samsung (ce qui est quand même un comble!)! La seule explication que nous avons trouvé est que les coréens sont hyper fans de high-tech et sont prêts à payer très cher pour avoir le dernier né de Samsung ou LG. 

Oui mais voilà: les jeunes coréens ont internet! Et ils ont découvert que les produits qu'il payent les yeux de la tête chez eux sont vendus bien moins chers en Europe ou aux Etats-Unis ET que le prix de l'objet plus le prix de la livraison internationale reste moins chère que les prix du marché coréen!

Sauf que le gouvernement coréen n'est pas content du tout et prépare un projet de loi pour ramener au patriotisme ses jeunes brebis égarées en les taxant.

Voici l'article complet.

South Korea Moves to Restrict Young People's Online Overseas Shopping

Buying online from foreign sellers is one of hottest trends among young South Koreans at the moment, with last year's total purchase reaching one trillion Korean won [ko] (about 0.9 billion US dollars). Making web purchases allows shoppers to get their hands on products not available in the country or products from Korean brands but at much cheaper prices. 

But the trend has now drawn ire from the Korean government, which recently proposed a bill that would blacklist [ko] Koreans whose quarterly international purchases made via credit card exceeds 5,000 US dollars as an effort to protect the local economy.  

There are three major ways [ko] that young Koreans are buying from abroad online. First, small agencies or brokers take care of the purchasing process normally for a 10 percent service fee on transactions. Second, small businesses and individuals let customers use their US address and they only handle shipping.

Third, customers buy products through the international sellers’ websites using their Korean address. It is this third type of purchase, known in Korean as “Haeoi-jikgu” (translation: “direct oversees purchase”) is what is rapidly gaining traction in the country. This means they have to pay the expensive shipping prices of sites like Amazon, eBay and Drugstore.com, yet the total usually comes out cheaper than buying the product from domestic vendors.

Korean online communities have even opened up new sub-categories dedicated to this type of purchase, where online users can share tips about how to buy, what things to be aware of and how to avoid making mistakes.

Economic Review blog explains this new phenomena [ko] in an in-depth post entitled “What is the reason behind direct oversees purchases? Is it merely over-consumption OR a customer riot?”

"When reading Korean news reports, many merely make statements such as “making oversees purchases is bad”. But these sort of oversees purchases will only increase, naturally, as globalization and technology progress. Companies are breaking economic barriers via WTO (World Trade Organization) and FTA (Free Trade Agreement), and laborers are too moving around for work, crossing borders, looking for places where there is a need for labor, although these are done much more passively. Customers, just like anyone else, should be allowed to make reasonable economic decisions for themselves. If the local producers and importers are selling the same product at a higher price in the local Korean market, [Korean] customers in response should be able to try to pay lowest price available by making oversees purchase. [...] Banning oversees sales in order to boost local sales is equivalent to “not hiring female interns in order to solve sexual harassment issues involving government officials”. It is especially true in the current situation of Korean brands selling their TVs at half price on Amazon, thus making Korean customers their doormats."

Voici le lien de l'article: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2014/03/22/south-korea-moves-to-restrict-young-peoples-online-overseas-shopping/

PS: Breaking news bonus

La Corée du Nord a tiré deux nouveaux missiles ce matin!

PS 2: nous savons que beaucoup d'entre vous se sont abonnés au blog mais ne reçoivent pas tous les messages!Le blog va bientôt migrer chez un autre hébergeur et nous espérons que le problème sera ainsi réglé.. En attendant, faites tourner :)