Our 2020 Story: Launching an Overseas Buying Agent Amid COVID

Feelbetter began in 2020, the year everyone kept their distance. Classes moved online, the job market narrowed and international travel stopped. In that gap, a job seeker started an overseas buying agent business with ₩10,000. This is the story of Feelbetter's CEO, Jayden (Joohyung Im).

The story was featured in January 2021 in “COVID Firsts” (코로나는 처음이라), a series by The Herald Business. What follows draws on that article to record where today's Feelbetter came from.

2020: Looking for a Foothold Instead of a Job#

In 2020, he was a college senior studying both business administration and software engineering. With the time freed up by online classes, he worked through one certification after another: TOEIC, the Korean History Proficiency Test, Distribution Manager (유통관리사) and Management Consultant (경영지도사). He also applied for IT internships, and was turned down by every one.

The mood around him was much the same. Friends with strong résumés lowered their sights, and some switched to public-enterprise jobs or civil service exams. Before trying to get into a company, he decided to find out whether he could generate sales on his own.

First Attempt: Screen Protectors That Sold Eight a Month#

It started as his older brother's side hustle. In March 2020, his brother, a designer, imported several hundred tempered-glass smartphone screen protectors from a factory in China, designed the packaging himself and listed them on Naver Smart Store (네이버 스마트스토어), the online storefront platform run by Korean search portal Naver. The result: eight sold in a month. Without ads, the listing quickly sank in the search results.

Unable to keep looking at the boxes of stock taking up a corner of the room, he took over the selling. Once he linked the product page's photos and descriptions to a blog and cleaned up the tags, the listing showed up in more related searches, and visitors and sales rose with it. But he couldn't get past the wall of the product's own quality and price competitiveness.

An Overseas Buying Agent Business Started With ₩10,000#

When he decided to go into business himself, he took ₩10,000 to the bank. After opening a business bank account and getting an OTP security token, he had ₩6,000 left. That was fine. The business he had chosen, an overseas buying agent (해외구매대행), needs almost no upfront capital.

In November 2020, he opened a Smart Store and used product-research tools to find overseas items likely to sell. He ordered ₩3 million worth of products from overseas sellers on his credit card, listed them below Korean retail prices, and put up some 37 products, from clothing racks and snowboard wear to calendars. One hit was all he needed.

₩27 Million in Monthly Sales Within Two Months#

December was year-end gift season. He sourced tablet PCs from a US supplier and sold them for up to ₩100,000 less than Korean prices, carefully placing keywords aimed at gift shoppers. Tablets alone brought in up to ₩4 million in sales a day.

Startup capital

₩10,000

Source: Herald Business, 2021

First payout sales (November 2020)

₩3.7 million

Source: Herald Business, 2021

Monthly sales (December 2020)

₩27 million

Source: Herald Business, 2021

Products listed (December 2020)

100+

Source: Herald Business, 2021

The catalog grew to more than 100 products, and he hired a friend to help with customer service. He got there while spending five to eight hours a day on the business alongside his classes and certification study. In the article, he calmly describes it not as a big success but as a lucky start.

What That Winter Taught Us#

What he learned running one small store became the backbone of how Feelbetter works today.

1. 01Customers buy outcomes, not products. The tablets sold not because of their specs but because of the outcome: “a year-end gift, on time and for less.”
2. 02No inventory doesn't mean no risk. Stockouts, price changes and shipping delays at overseas sellers are all the seller's responsibility. (Read our inventory management guide)
3. 03Speed builds trust. Simply answering questions quickly changed buying decisions. Our promise of “a link within an hour” started here.
4. 04The ability to find is the competitive edge. The same product can vary widely in price and experience depending on where, when and on what terms you buy it.

From Buying-Agent Store to AI Shopping Concierge#

In 2020, Feelbetter was a shop that picked products likely to sell and put them on display. Today's Feelbetter flips that order. You tell us what you want, and we find that one thing and send you a verified purchase link.

AI reads each request first and organizes the product, conditions and budget. Then a person certified as a Distribution Manager (유통관리사) and a PMP (Project Management Professional) checks the seller, price and stock. Just like that winter we started with ₩10,000, the core is still the same: finding what you want, on the best terms, as fast as possible.