Gmarket Tips 1 - Gaccount

Just like how most major shops have loyalty programs/points cards/member privileges etc, Gmarket has mileage, gcash, credit points etc. And basically that's what the components of the Gaccount are for. This post shall try to help explain their differences and how you can use them optimally (: Other than credit/debit cards and Paypal, you can use cash balance to pay for your orders, but how do you get cash in your cash balance? Through exchanging Gstamps, mileage and coupons! ♥

So when you go to "My Gmarket" and preview your Gaccount, it will look something like this. Cash is cash balance, it's like online stored credit. Ultimately, all of the rest (Gstamp, mileage, gift certs, Gcash) can be converted to cash balance for you to use. So, now onto the part to how you actually go about getting mileage and Gstamps ♥

♥ HOW TO GET MILEAGE
Some sellers have products which give you mileage as soon as the order is completed. It's sort of like a reward. Usually, it'll be listed beside the product under "special offer".

Otherwise, the other way to get mileage is to write a review after receiving your items from an order.


After you've received your order, go to My Gmarket>>Shopping List>>Overseas Orders. You should click the "Item Received" button as shown above.


You will be led to a page where you can rate the delivery/price/service for that item and after you hit submit, you get 1% of the price of that item as your mileage. Mileage can be converted to Gcash, which can then be converted to cash balance. (See "Converting to Cash Balance" section below)

♥ HOW TO GET GSTAMPS
Like mileage, you can get these through products which give you Gstamps, or get them through writing reviews.


After you click the "Item Received" button and rated the service etc, there will be a pop-up asking you whether you want to write a review.


Write one and you will get 1 or 2 Gstamps (depending on price of item) for completing and submitting it. Do note that you can only get the Gstamp reward for writing reviews up to a maximum of 10/day.

And if you order alot from the same item page, sadly you can only write one review even if you get like 10 different hair accessories. (Eg picking different options but all from this page) Saaad right? Actually a pop-up will appear saying you can only write 1/week for the same item, but after clicking any "Item Received" button, the status of "On Overseas Delivery" will change to "Completed" for all items in the order after 5~6days so you can't get any mileage/gstamps after that. After the status becomes Completed the Item Received buttons will disappear.


Gstamps can be exchanged for coupons, which you can use to offset amounts in orders. You can also use them to participate in draws for coupons, however the chances of winning don't seem very high! And when you participate in draws you use up your Gstamps, even if you don't win. So though you need more for exchanging than drawing, at least you're sure you get the coupon! ♥

♥ GCASH
You convert this to cash balance to top up overseas shipping fees if the actual weight of your package is greater than the estimated weight. You can use GCash converted from Cash Balance or from mileage (can only be done in denominations of 10,000won), or if you don't have any, use credit card/Paypal to pay for the extra shipping costs. Gmarket will not ship your package until you have done so. (unless the top-up amount is less than 3,000won) If you don't have much use for the GCash, or if you find that your package's actual weight is never over the estimated, you can always exchange GCash for Cash Balance. Note that 5% is deducted as a processing fee when you convert GCash to Cash Balance.

**Right now, May 2011, you're no longer able to purchase Gcash. You can still convert mileage to Gcash then to Cash Balance though. If you need to pay extra shipping, you can do so by paying directly from Cash Balance, or by CC/PayPal, whichever you used to pay for the original order**

♥ CONVERTING TO CASH BALANCE
When you log on to your GAccount (My Gmarket>>Gaccount), it will look something like the above. You can change mileage to Gcash only in denominations of 10,000 mileage. You can then change Gcash to Cash Balance, though they deduct 5% as a processing fee. You want to end up accumulating them and changing everything to cash balance as only then can you use that to pay for your orders.

**I don't know if it's even possible to do for overseas users, but note that you are not allowed to buy Gcash with credit card to convert to cash balance to withdraw to your bank or something like that! Also, they charge a USD35 processing fee to transfer cash balance to your bank account. So don't try to do illegal money laundering!**

♥ COUPONS
Sometimes, there are coupons being offered so to check what's available go to My Gmarket>>Preview of Gaccount>>Coupons. You will see a pop-up like above listing all the coupons available to you.


To see what it's applicable for click "Details" A pop-up like above will appear. Click go to go to the seller's page (: The one shown above is a 20% off for Amore Pacific (Laneige amongst other stuff). To use it, when you're on the item page, click the coupong box shown beside the price. If there are applicable coupons they will be selectable on the pop-up. click "Apply Discount". (See picture below, click to enlarge)

For this one, see the checked box? It means that it is only available for domestic shipping within Korea and can't be used for overseas shipping so remember to check when you're shopping! I'm just using this item for an example of how to apply coupons ^^.

♥ CREDIT POINTS
You can't exchange this for anything, it's more of a reputation/credibility system. When you first sign up for an account you get 5 credit points. With each item you order you get 1 point. When you cancel an item/order points get deducted. If you get below a certain number of points (negative 20 as of Jan 2011) you're not allowed to shop on Gmarket anymore. You lose credit points if you cancel orders without real reason or return items which aren't defective. However, if sellers can't produce the item and they cancel the order you also lose credit points. Depending on which "reason" the seller picks. This has happened over 5 times already :(


If you get above 50 and earned at least 5 points in the 3 months you become a VIP. They announce on the first day of each month. To know if you are one, you will see a crown logo when you first go to the My Gmarket, on the top bar it'll say "Welcome username" *crown logo* "VIP customer". As a VIP customer you get special discount coupons sometimes and can return items for free? *Haven't experience returning items yet*

So in January 2011, Gmarket updated their VIP system. There are now 5 ranks of membership: New, Silver, Gold, VIP and SVIP. The requirements to become VIP are still the same.

The SVIP welcome banner looks like this:

♥ NEW ♥

Just joined, no purchase record within the last 3 months.
Benefit: One time 10% off coupon (max discount of 10,000won)

♥ SILVER ♥

Credit points obtained over the last 3 months: 1
Benefits (per month): 3% off coupon (max discount of 10,000won), 1 free return coupon

♥ GOLD ♥

Credit points obtained over the last 3 months: over 2
Benefits (per month): 5% off coupon (max discount of 10,000won), 2 free return coupons

♥ VIP ♥

Total credit points: over 50
Credit points obtained over the last 3 months: over 5
Benefits (per month): 1,000won off 10,000won coupon, 7% off coupon (max discount of 10,000won), 3 free return coupons

♥ SVIP ♥

Total credit points: over 50
Credit points obtained over the last 3 months: over 30
Benefits (per month): 2,000won off 10,000won coupon, 10% off coupon (max discount of 10,000won), 4 free return coupons

♥ NOTE THAT:

-♥ Membership levels for the current month are based on the credit point data of the previous month. (eg If you're currently VIP and buy 50 items in Jan, you won't get SVIP status till Feb.)
-♥ The issuing of Gstamps is only available for the first upgrade to the level. They must be used within 1 month from the date of issue. (ie you can only claim the Gstamps once per upgrade.)
-♥ Discount coupons expire 2 weeks after they are issued.

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So that's it for the first of the tips series. Hope it helped! Yes it does seem long and complicated at first but it's really not! I hope this encourages you to write reviews after getting products because 1) it lets future buyers know more about the product (whether it's good/bad and lets them see comments from other buyers like YOU who actually bought the item before!) so that they can have more information before they go about buying it and 2) you can get Gstamps and mileage to accumulate and exchange! ♥ ♥ Do feel free to ask if you've any questions and I'll try to help if I can! ♥