Mistakes I made while shipping orders from a hostel in Chiang Mai

When I opened my laptop on the top bunk of a hostel in Chiang Mai's old town, there were 14 Smart Store notifications waiting. Half of them were shipping inquiries. It was three in the morning when I sent a KakaoTalk message asking a friend to ship out the inventory I'd left stacked in my studio apartment in Seoul, but of course, my friend was asleep.

I Underestimated the Time Difference

The time difference between Seoul and Chiang Mai is two hours. Doesn't seem like much, but the problem wasn't the gap itself. It was my daily rhythm. At the hostel, I'd drink beer with people in the common area every evening, then sleep in and head out for pho in the morning. There was no way I'd be checking orders that came in at 9 AM Seoul time at 7 AM Thailand time. As order confirmations piled up half a day late, customer inquiries started rolling in.

If I were to go again, I'd set up automatic notification forwarding before departure. Instead of KakaoTalk alerts, I'd receive order notifications via email and block out a mandatory 30-minute work window at 8 AM Thailand time. Even while traveling, I needed a rule I'd actually stick to, no exceptions.

The Packing I Left to a Friend Came Back as Returns

Since I'd left my inventory in my Seoul studio, I had no choice but to ask a friend to handle packing and shipping. He did it as a favor, but naturally didn't know my packing methods. I sent photos over KakaoTalk trying to explain things like double-layer bubble wrap and the direction of air cap taping, but replies kept crossing due to the time difference, and poorly packed products went out. Two damage claims came in, and I had to refund about 35,000 won worth of products.

Looking back, I should have made a packing manual with photos before I left. A single sheet of paper would have done the job. Which products need bubble wrap, which ones are fine with paper cushioning, where to place the tape. Trying to explain all of this over chat was the mistake.

I Expected Wi-Fi Issues, but Didn't Know Mobile Payments Would Get Blocked

I went prepared for slow hostel Wi-Fi. I even bought a local SIM. But the real problem was something else entirely. When I tried to place an additional order with a supplier using my business debit card, the payment kept failing because of the foreign IP. The banking app had overseas transactions blocked by default. Trying to call customer service from Thailand and reach a Korean bank representative wasn't easy, and I lost an entire day.

"Enable overseas payments on business card" should have been on my pre-departure checklist. It takes three minutes through internet banking, but forgetting it meant I missed my ordering window.

Courier Pickups Are Impossible to Control Remotely

The most painful part was courier pickups. Normally, I'd just leave the boxes outside my door and contact the driver myself. But with my friend handling it, there was a time when the driver showed up and my friend wasn't home. The shipment was delayed by two days, and I couldn't keep my "fast shipping" promise to buyers.

If I did it again, I'd look into fulfillment services. Even if there's a monthly fee, if you're going to be abroad for over a month, it's better to hand your inventory to a logistics company. I'd basically dumped labor costs and stress onto my friend, so paying for a proper system would have been the smarter move.

On the flight back from Chiang Mai, I tallied up the refund records. Total losses came to about 80,000 won, with three shipping delay cases that could affect my seller rating. The trip itself was great, but before my next extended trip, I plan to build a checklist for switching my store operations to "remote mode" first. The first line on that checklist will probably be "Don't ask a friend to handle it."