'I want people to trade used item like they drink Coke on normal occasion'
Parabara founder and CEO Kim Kil-jun, left, poses in front of his used items trading vending machine installed at Yonsei University in Seoul, in this 2019 file photo. / Courtesy of Kim Kil-jun
By Kim Jae-heun
Like many successful businessmen, Parabara founder and CEO Kim Gil-jun's idea of trading used items through a vending machine started from a simple question.
“During the summer break last year, I was looking for a secondhand game console and I came to think that it feels uncomfortable to expose my number and call the seller to meet up to trade the item in person,” Kim told The Korea Times, Monday.
“I wondered why we still have to deal with used items in such an old fashioned manner. Then, I remembered storage boxes in subway stations that people pay to keep their items in, and thought about making them into vending machines.”
It didn't take too long for Kim, a sophomore at Yonsei University College of Engineering, to build the vending machine at home with his longtime friend Yeo Jun-soo.
The problem was finding the right place to install the machine, which needed permission from a local district office.
For a week, the two went around different locations installing the vending machine for three hours at a time to check people's reactions and then moved to another place. Luckily, a lot of people showed interest in their idea, giving them the courage and motivation to keep going.
After visiting nearly 100 public offices by bicycle, Kim finally got permission to establish his vending machine at Gangnam Sports Culture Center in Seoul last September.
Currently, Parabara operates four vending machines at a university, a movie theater, a major company's headquarters and a sports facility in Seoul and it plans to install 10 more in July. It is Kim's short-term goal to set up 100 within the year in the capital.
“The strength of the Parabara vending machine lies in contactless trading, which ensures the safety of both seller and buyer. Also, used items are visible through the glass window of the vending machine so people can check their condition,” Kim said.
Kim started a mobile application service for Parabara in February so people can easily search online for what they need and where they can find it.
“The secondhand item trading market has big potential as its value is estimated at 20 trillion won, not counting the used car market. We are witnessing an increasing number of people looking to pursue cost-effective transactions and Parabara will be the next platform after Danggeun Market,” Kim said.