How to buy from KREAM as a foreigner, online or in a KREAM store

KREAM sits between sellers and buyers. A seller sends the item to KREAM, KREAM inspects it, and only then is it sent on to the buyer. Both ends of that process are built around Korean accounts.

Account, payment, and address

• Browsing works without an account. Buying needs an account verified with a Korean phone number registered in your name, which a travel eSIM or roaming number cannot pass.
• Checkout uses Korean payment methods, and foreign cards are often refused.
• Orders are delivered to an address in Korea. To get an item abroad, someone in Korea has to receive it and send it on.

Every size has its own price

A KREAM page is really a separate market for each size and version. "Buy now" takes the lowest price a seller is asking at that moment. A bid states the price you are willing to pay and waits, for a period you choose, until a seller accepts it. If nobody is selling your size, there is nothing to buy now, and a bid may never be filled.

Some pages also hold several versions of one product, such as a sealed pack and a single card, or an item graded for condition and one that is not. The prices differ, and it is easy to pick the wrong one.

Treat it as final

Once an item has passed inspection and been sent, a change of mind is not a reason to return it. Check the size, the version, and the condition before you pay, because there is rarely a second chance.

If you are in Seoul: go to a KREAM store

KREAM runs physical stores in Seoul, including a flagship on Dosan-daero in Gangnam and spaces inside large shopping malls. What is in a store is not the same as what is in the app, so check what they carry before you go, and confirm opening hours on the day, as some locations have been renovating. In a store you can see the item and pay at the counter.

If you are buying online

1. Find the exact item and size. Shoe sizes are listed in millimetres, so compare the size chart rather than US or EU labels.
2. Check the version. If a page lists more than one option, read each one and make sure you know which you are choosing.
3. Look at recent sale prices for your size, not only the current asking price. With few sellers, prices swing.
4. Decide between buying now and bidding. If you bid, choose a duration that ends before you need the item, or before you leave Korea.

If you live in Korea and have a phone line in your own name, you can usually sign up and buy yourself. If you are visiting, the account step is normally where it ends. Our ID verification guide explains why.

Other places to look

The same item may be listed on a secondhand app such as Bunjang, sometimes for less. There is no inspection there, so ask the seller for photos of the item, the box, and the size label, and look at their trading history. Our Bunjang guide covers that route.

Send us the KREAM link, your size, and the version you want. We check the current price, recent sales, and whether your size is available, then send one quote. We buy on our own account with a Korean card, and the item goes to your hotel, or to us to be packed and shipped abroad.

If you would rather bid, tell us the most you will pay and the last day the item is useful to you. We place the bid and tell you whether it fills. If the item is only in a KREAM store, we can go in and buy it at the counter.

Because a KREAM purchase is hard to undo, we confirm the size and version with you in the chat before we pay. We reply within 30 minutes during service hours. The service fee is from ₩8,000 per item. Delivery and card fees are shown in your quote before you pay.

A visitor sent us a KREAM link for a sealed trading card product and told us which version they wanted. The same page also listed a single-card version at a different price, so before buying we showed them the exact option we were about to choose and asked them to confirm it.

They confirmed, paid by Wise, and gave us their room number and the name on the booking. They asked for the parcel to be left at reception, so we put that on the delivery, and we messaged them on WhatsApp when it reached the hotel.

Another customer wanted an expensive item from the KREAM store on Dosan-daero rather than from the app. Paying that much to someone they had never met made them nervous. We went to the store, bought it in person, and took it back to our office, and we messaged them at each step along the way: at the store, once it was paid for, and until it was on its way to them.

On KREAM, the version matters as much as the size. A wrong option is a final purchase too.