I registered my small hand crocheted business this year. Back in March I had my first order and mailed out some crocheted hair clips to a customer in the US in a little 11cm x13cm bubble mailer and I even upgraded to EMS because I was told it's the "safer" option. Came out to ₩35,000. Worst part it as soon as it cleared customs and was handed over to USPS it was lost. (I did not know that EMS used USPS state side I thought they would have had their own deliverers like DHL) At first I thought I had filled out the customs form wrong or for the address wrong (it was correct) but the worker at the post office assured me I did everything correctly and that the fault was with USPS.

We launched an investigation but they never could locate the missing package. It's like they chucked it into the void right after customs. Honestly a slap on the face since I decided to pay more shipping to avoid this EXACT problem. USPS got butterfingers for sure. I had to refund the customer and just wasted ₩35,000 and the time put into making the product.

How do small businesses in Korea mail out their orders internationally without breaking the bank? ₩35,000~55,000 seems exorbitant for a small bubble mailer the size of my palm. In America we have services like shipstation or pirate ship. Is there any service like that in Korea for small businesses? I've halted any international shipping til I can figure out how to ship safely without another EMS fiasco but most of my client base are in the US with some on Europe.

The price actually wouldn't be too much of a problem if it was just guaranteed safe delivery and even if I add insurance it comes out the same price as using EMS premium but no one in their right mind would pay $55 bucks on shipping for some $10 hair clips 😮‍💨 Does the Korea post office offer any subscription packages for small businesses similar to what giant corporates use so there shipping is cheaper? Surely there has got to be a better way.