싼 게 비지떡이라더니 · 싼 게 비지떡이에요
you get what you pay for; cheap things are poor quality (lit. what's cheap is a cake of bean-curd dregs)
Example
싼 게 비지떡이라더니, 인터넷에서 산 신발이 일주일 만에 찢어졌어요.
You get what you pay for: the shoes I bought online ripped after a week.
Word parts
비지 is the pulp left over from making tofu (두부); a 비지떡 made from it was cheap, coarse food.
Good to know
Said when something cheap turns out badly. Its modern opposite is 가성비 'value for money', as in 가성비 좋은 'cheap but good'.
Related words