Memebox: Korean Beauty Box Service

[Weebs]

I used to purchase from RoseRose shop way before Memebox was ever around.  Shipping is a little expensive and slow but well worth it for the items and prices she has available.  Sometimes she has amazing sales on the best stuff.  The only thing I hate about her site is that when I go to look for something under a specific brand, it shows me all the wholesale stuff first and I have to wade through tons of pages to get to the single items I want from a brand.  Otherwise, RoseRose shop is great.

 

[Lorna ljblog]

I've shopped from BNK and tk and only had one oos from tk and none from bnk. Not a huge fan of beauteque as they messed me around with delivery but they also led me to my hg toner so must be okay after all.

As for us being shut out it was about six weeks of that in March ish. Was ordering again in last week of May so was over then but don't know exact dates.

Closed down on the 31 St March last year reopened staggering countries from 14 th April uk and Australia was 19 th April as ordered 6 boxes ready for my birthday on the 20th and got given points as I was so happy on Facebook and email about ordering in time for my birthday . I was a jammy sod and got the welcome points back too plus the boxes I bought had 5 and 10 points on them for buying lol

 

[Alidolly]

Hmmm..in that case they'll be back in 6 months with a international special...though after everything, I don't think I'd trust them to do it again in a year from then. I really think they'll struggle with the US sales. China should do ok so they may decide to dump the us as well if it doesn't work out...wonder how long the lease is for their Californian offices / warehouse? I'd guess 6 months max..

Thought there would be a mad rush to buy the sets. Wonder if they'll release any boxes / sets on Monday knowing international will snap them up before te deadline. Cynical ploy to screw even more money out of international customers before they pull the plug

 

[catyz]

@@sam356, along side the stores that others have already mentioned, various h marts have Korean beauty items, foody mart has both Japanese & Korean items. Pacific mall might be far but they have the most: missha, tonymoly, face shop, it's skin, holika holika a general k beauty store that has skin food, banila co, and another has some etude house. There's also this independent supermarket called seasons that has purederm ampoule mask packs. Oh and interesting enough, I saw mbd masks at no frills in the pharmacy section!!! So, there are lots to pick from.

The faceshop is pretty much everywhere in TO.

 

[Alex Z.]

I didn't know memebox last year when they stopped shipping internationally, but I think this time is a bit different. Last time they continued shipping in USA from Korea, right? This time they just don't want to send products outside the country of the warehouse. If they decide to ship again internationally, where will they ship from? If it's from Korea, are they going to exclude USA? I hope at least they know what they are doing.

 

[biancardi]

I didn't know memebox last year when they stopped shipping internationally, but I think this time is a bit different. Last time they continued shipping in USA from Korea, right? This time they just don't want to send products outside the country of the warehouse. If they decide to ship again internationally, where will they ship from? If it's from Korea, are they going to exclude USA? I hope at least they know what they are doing.

and they didn't stop full international shipping, I believe.

If they open up internationally, they would be stupid to exclude the USA. That is why it doesn't make sense at all to me. 

 

[Alidolly]

I didn't know memebox last year when they stopped shipping internationally, but I think this time is a bit different. Last time they continued shipping in USA from Korea, right? This time they just don't want to send products outside the country of the warehouse. If they decide to ship again internationally, where will they ship from? If it's from Korea, are they going to exclude USA? I hope at least they know what they are doing.

If they do return, I think it'll be a different website completely - Memeboxinternational with items shipped from Korea. At the moment its too much hassle for them as they already have the two websites. They have the warehouses in Korea so would need a separate staff set to run the International side of things. Logistically it was a nightmare for them running things from the US. Now they have US only (stock stored there). China (stock stored there) and Korea (stock there). For international they'd need staff to run that side of things and until they have bodies to do that, it won't happen. Opening a warehouse somewhere in Europe would be an option but then there is all the taxes etc they'd need to pay and financially it might just be too expensive for them to do that.

I think Australia may see a return first (from Korea) with possibly the UK next...though purely speculation and I think its more likely they will fold in the US and be forced back to Korea....who knows....or cares. They've made decision, can't change it so will go elsewhere. If and when they return, unless they have products that can't be purchased elsewhere (or are cheaper), they may struggle for a while to regain the foothold they had.

 

[catyz]

I presume right now they want to focus on US only and then if sales are not good enough, I think they might just start a new memebox global, whereby US, China and Korea will still have their own sites.

 

[biancardi]

I presume right now they want to focus on US only and then if sales are not good enough, I think they might just start a new memebox global, whereby US, China and Korea will still have their own sites.

I hope not.  The USA shop is awful, the USA boxes so far suck.    Again, international shipping shouldn't matter whether it is the UK, Poland or USA - in fact, USA has less issues with no custom charges.

 

[Alidolly]

Exactly so they can ship into the US in bulk (in containers) which is much cheaper for them than individual boxes. International they have to ship individually which is a hassle as more chance of mistakes being made with orders and breakages etc.

 

[Jane George]

Tbh unlike last time the mad demand isn't there that there used to be... We won't be aching for them to return as much as last time as a lot of the memebloggers and long time customers and better educated in korean beauty. Add to that that there are alternatives now and they are making an odd move.

 

[catyz]

@@biancardi, I agree that the US shop currently is horrid; however, given that memebox is removing global and making a US only site, I really don't see them re-merging with global again, if they ever do decide to move back that way.

i understand shipping is easy to the US, like what @@Alidolly, indicated and I think that is why they don't want to continue with int'l because cost is too high with the current model.

 

[biancardi]

@@biancardi, I agree that the US shop currently is horrid; however, given that memebox is removing global and making a US only site, I really don't see them re-merging with global again, if they ever do decide to move back that way.

i understand shipping is easy to the US, like what @@Alidolly, indicated and I think that is why they don't want to continue with int'l because cost is too high with the current model.

I just hope it doesn't come to that.  I would think that USA should be able to purchase from international - afterall, it is the same shipping cost as everyone else....Whereas USA shipping rates are AWFUL for international items.   Whereas I can understand why the USA shop doesn't want to ship internationally, I cannot imagine, if a Korean store is open again, why it wouldn't ship to the original countries.

Especially if the boxes are really different and then all the whining will be from the USA side - hahaha

I don't like the USA boxes or the shop.  Outside of the pony stuff and Goodall items, the vast majority of my purchases are from the international shop and I doubt that Memebox is going to ship those little and obscure brands to the USA shop - it is not profitable for them to do that.  But those are the items I like.  Not that I have anything against tonymoly or holika holika, it is just I can get those elsewhere and cheaper

I never cared about the shipping time, so long I knew it was being shipped properly.  The faster times in the USA shop - big woop. I could care less because those are not items that I am interested in.

 

[Saffyra]

I think renaming their Instagram is a big sign that they aren't planning on going global again anytime soon.

 

[theori3]

My guess is that if they start shipping globally again, it'll be out of the US with higher shipping costs.

I also hope we begin seeing a lot more variety in the US shop.

 

[Tracy E. Robey]

I think renaming their Instagram is a big sign that they aren't planning on going global again anytime soon.

Oh no...the sad joke in kpop is that you know a band member has left for good when his IG name and description changes. sigh

At this point, it seems that Memebox...USA (gag) thinks this is a permanent change.

 

[biancardi]

gag is right....

well, as I like to say as well...poop de shit

 

[bluefintuna]

I wasn't planning on using my points up any time soon but now I might be because I don't want to pay hugely inflated amounts through the USA shop. Gah.

 

[Lorna ljblog]

i think the renaming of the social media sites was a total brand takeover and proved permanent,

if it went for @ tagging me in posts at 2 am ,i wouldn't of seen the posts about the email so soon,as i woke up late and was rushing to work, jane sent me a copy of the email as of yet i still haven't had one from memebox ,the one and only email i seem to of not ever received ,the irony,came home to 4 memeboxes, more irony,after reading Facebook posts wow ,to be honest i have been desensitising myself to the brand since about october /november slowly, buying boxes but not all like previous months, signed up for new boxes ,lost some other subs i found poor curated, so I'm unhappy but i don't feel angry ,I've had a bloody good year  with them ,found some great products found some loves ,learnt loads ,found more stores online i didn't know about , so no I'm not angry ,it opened my eyes to better brands ,products, it also taught me about dodgy customer service ,looking for korean dates and wording, and it gave me bubble masks and boob masks,will i miss the boxes well yes i will, my recycling bin won't though.but there are other boxes out there and ideas , time will tell, and we have @@MissJexie to blame for it all back last january sucking us in.and if any boxes in america start up with uk and european shipping i hope you post in the korean thread so i can sign up lol.

but at present I'm disappointed but not angry or disgusted ,i was there from the good early boxes and till the end and its been kinda fun.

 

[Alidolly]

Agree @@lorna its been fun while its lasted. I've learned a lot (from all you wonderful ladies) and will continue to do so till I've found my holy grail group of products. As it stands I've a mountain worth to wade my way though which will take about a year (at least!) anyway lol! I can understand why they are making this move. Its unfortunate but people and companies evolve. Time will tell if its a good decision or not for the company. I wish them well (they are going to need all the luck they can get!). Onwards and upwards as they say..