Be More Careful when Buying Overseas Brand Name Shoes

- Some of adult’s shoes are inexpensive when buying abroad but, careful attention necessary for counterfeits –

    Korea Consumer Agency (www.kca.go.kr) compared and investigated one of top three products that consumers are interested in. It turned out that only two out of nine products were cheaper only when bought abroad than bought at home.

     In case of Kids shoes, all four investigated brands were 20.1% - 65.1% more expensive when bought abroad. Set aside from shipping and handling costs, there was only one product bought abroad were inexpensive than bought at home.

    As a result of purchasing five different adults’ shoes in Korean open market and in foreign online shopping mall, there was one product respectively that was suspected of counterfeits and in the case of domestic logistics; it took 2-6days, and 7-11days for international logistics, which means purchasing products from foreign sites takes more than two times on average than products that are bought in Korea.

    When purchasing overseas brand sneakers through foreign online shopping malls, prices of the same model differs depending on size, and color. Also, there are frequent changes in prices that cautious purchase decision is required.

    Since different countries have different shoes sizes, consumers need to be more careful in purchasing products because changing the purchased product in different size might cost consumers a lot and may be refunding it might not be available at all. Thus, visit oversea brand’s official websites, to check on consumers’ real size.

    In addition, when purchasing overseas products, there are potential risks that consumers might be fooled that a knock-off product is a real. Thus, consumers are recommended to check on sellers’ credibility before buying a product. Also, it is safe to avoid purchasing products that are relatively cheaper than the official price.

    Since Oct. 2015, Korea Consumer Agency is currently running 『Cross border consumer transaction consumer portal site (http://crossborder.kca.go.kr) 』as one of government measures 3.0 to protect consumers who purchase products from overseas websites by providing information on safe purchase. Therefore, in order to avoid following damages caused by overseas direct purchase, refer to ‘Guideline for overseas direct purchase customers’ and 'Check lists of protecting damages from overseas direct purchase’ posted on the corresponding website.