Korea Sale Festa 2026: Now K-Sale Festa, Oct 29 to Nov 15

Korea Sale Festa 2026 runs from October 29 to November 15, but it has a new name: K-Sale Festa (K-세일페스타). It is now the shopping part of the Korea Grand Festival (코리아 그랜드 페스티벌), a government-wide discount campaign that also covers markets, travel and vouchers. Most of the deals are aimed at shoppers inside Korea. Overseas buyers can still use the online marketplace discounts through a purchasing agent or a forwarder.

This guide covers the 2026 dates, what changed from the old Korea Sale Festa, which online stores took part in past years, which deals are useful from abroad, and how to order.

Quick facts

Item	Value
2026 name	K-Sale Festa (K-세일페스타), formerly Korea Sale Festa (코리아세일페스타)
2026 dates	Thursday, October 29 to Sunday, November 15 (18 days)
Umbrella event	2026 Korea Grand Festival, same 18 days
Government side	10 ministries plus the Korea Customs Service; the SME ministry leads the Grand Festival
Expected scale	About 30,000 businesses, according to the July 2026 government plan
Company sign-up	September 4 to October 25, 2026, free of charge
Official sites	k-salefesta.kr and koreagrandfestival.kr (the latter set to open October 22)
Main categories	Food, fashion, beauty, cars and home appliances
First held	2015 as "Korea Black Friday"; renamed Korea Sale Festa in 2016

Checked on October 15, 2026.

What is Korea Sale Festa?

Korea Sale Festa (코리아세일페스타, Koria Seil Peseuta), usually shortened to 코세페 (Kosepe), is Korea's government-backed national shopping festival. Think of it as an organized version of Black Friday, where the government recruits retailers, manufacturers and service companies to run discounts in the same window.

It started in October 2015 as Korea Black Friday. The government of the time planned it to revive spending after the MERS outbreak earlier that year. In 2016 the trade ministry expanded it, added tourism and culture, and renamed it Korea Sale Festa. That first Festa ran 33 days, from September 29 to October 31, 2016, with 249 participating companies, up from 92 the year before.

Over the following years the festival moved to November and grew much larger. In 2024 it ran November 9 to 30, and the trade ministry said more than 2,600 retail, manufacturing and service companies took part, the most on record at the time.

Why the name changed. In 2025 the government merged the separate consumer promotions run by different ministries into one campaign, the Korea Grand Festival. From 2026, the shopping part of that campaign is called K-Sale Festa. News reports from September 2026 say the rename was made to line up with the Grand Festival. You will still see the old name everywhere, because shoppers and stores have used it for a decade.

When is K-Sale Festa 2026?

October 29 to November 15, 2026. That is 18 days, Thursday to Sunday. The Korea Grand Festival runs on the same dates.

The government set out the plan at an economic ministers' meeting on July 3, 2026. In August, North Gyeongsang Province announced that Andong had been picked to host the opening ceremony, planned as a combined event with K-pop performances. The Grand Festival's official website says it will open on October 22.

Keep in mind that the official window is not the only window. Individual brands and stores often start earlier or run longer. In 2025, for example, Samsung Electronics ran its "Korea Sale Festa with Samsung Electronics" promotion for all of November, while the government's Grand Festival ran October 29 to November 9. Department store and carmaker programs also started on their own dates that year.

Year	Name	Dates	Notes
2015	Korea Black Friday	October 1-14	First edition, after MERS
2016	Korea Sale Festa	September 29 - October 31	249 companies
2024	Korea Sale Festa	November 9-30	2,600+ companies
2025	Korea Grand Festival (with Korea Sale Festa)	October 29 - November 9	37,000 businesses across 10 ministries' programs
2026	Korea Grand Festival / K-Sale Festa	October 29 - November 15	About 30,000 businesses planned

The 2025 and 2026 figures count every business in the Grand Festival, including small shops and market stalls, so they are not directly comparable with the 2024 Festa count.

Which online stores join K-Sale Festa?

This is the question most overseas shoppers care about, and the honest answer for 2026 is: the full list was not public when we checked. Company sign-ups stay open until October 25, and reports said participating brands and discounts would be posted on the official site after that.

What has been announced for 2026:

• Participating companies get promotion on the official K-Sale Festa website.
• They also get help reaching sales channels, and the announcement names Naver's 상생마켓 (sangsaeng maket, a Naver program for small sellers), the public home shopping channel 공영쇼핑 (Gongyeong Shopping), Lotte ON and Hmall.
• The Grand Festival plan includes a Korea Post Shopping (우체국쇼핑) special sale and an online showcase called "코그페 100" with 100 selected small brands in beauty, fashion and food.

Past years give a good idea of who usually shows up:

Store	2024 Korea Sale Festa	2025 Korea Grand Festival	Overseas direct option
Coupang	Extra discounts listed by the trade ministry	Time deals and SME specials; "TOP 100" SME event with extra 20% coupon	Korean account needed; check the store page
Naver	Extra discounts	Time deals, SME "TOP 100" event, food brand time sales	Korean account usually needed
Gmarket	Extra discounts	Time deals and SME specials	Some Gmarket items are sold through Lazada in five Southeast Asian countries
11st	Extra discounts	Not named in the opening report	Check the store page
SSG.com	Extra discounts	E-Mart's Ssg Day ran in the same window	Check the store page
Lotte ON, Hmall	Lotte e-commerce and Hmall listed	Named as 2026 partner channels	Korean account needed
Olive Young	Not named	K-beauty sale on Olive Young's global brand site	Olive Young Global ships abroad

Sources for this table are the trade ministry's 2024 announcement as reported by Segye Ilbo, Newsis's report on the 2025 opening, and the September 2026 recruitment notices. A store appearing in one year does not mean it will join in 2026. Check the official site or the store's own event page.

Which K-Sale Festa deals are actually useful from abroad?

A lot of what makes the news is not something you can use from another country. Here is how the main parts sort out.

Not usable from abroad:

• Cars. Hyundai, Kia, GM Korea, Renault Korea and KG Mobility run their biggest discounts of the year in this window. They are for Korean registration.
• Vouchers and lotteries. Digital Onnuri vouchers (온누리상품권, a voucher for traditional markets) get a higher discount, rising from 7% to 10% for part of the 2026 period. The spending lottery and card cashback are tied to Korean payment methods.
• Lodging coupons and travel deals. These are for trips inside Korea. The 2026 plan includes lodging coupons for stays outside the capital region.
• Groceries and kimchi ingredients. The 2026 plan lists cabbage, radish and pork at up to 40% off and six popular fish species and laver at up to 50% off. Fresh food cannot be shipped abroad in any practical way.

Usable if you are visiting Korea:

• Duty-free shops. The 2026 plan mentions up to 50% off at 26 duty-free shops for foreign visitors, along with airport welcome events.
• Palaces. Free entry to the four main palaces in Seoul, plus free performances at the National Theater of Korea.

Usable from abroad through an agent or forwarder:

• Online marketplace deals on Coupang, Naver, Gmarket and similar stores, especially fashion, beauty and small home goods.
• Brand promotions run on Korean brand sites during the period.
• Small-brand showcases such as the 100-brand online exhibition, if the brands you like are in it.

Home appliances are a special case. The discounts can be large, but Korean appliances are built for 220V and Korean plugs, and big items cost a lot to ship. Read Korean electronics voltage before you consider one.

How is K-Sale Festa different from 11.11 and Black Friday?

November in Korea is crowded with sales, and they overlap.

• K-Sale Festa is the government-organized umbrella. Stores sign up and run their own discounts under it.
• 11.11 events are run by marketplaces themselves, such as 11st's annual November event. They do not need the government campaign and happen whether or not a store joins K-Sale Festa. See Korea 11.11 sales 2026.
• Black Friday sales at Korean fashion platforms and brand sites are run by each store on its own schedule. See Musinsa Black Friday 2026.
• Korea Grand Sale (코리아그랜드세일) is a different, tourism-focused event run by the culture ministry and the Visit Korea Committee. The last one ran December 17, 2025 to February 22, 2026 and offered discounts for foreign visitors on flights, hotels and shopping. It is easy to confuse with the Grand Festival because of the similar name.

In practice, a lot of the best online prices of the year land between late October and the end of November. K-Sale Festa is one of several reasons, not the only one.

Can you shop K-Sale Festa from outside Korea?

Not directly, in most cases. The festival is organized for consumers in Korea, and most participating online stores need a Korean account, often with 본인인증 (bon-in injeung, identity verification) through a Korean phone number. Many also only take Korean cards or Korean payment apps, and they ship only to Korean addresses. Our guides on Korean phone verification and paying Korean stores with a foreign card go into detail.

Before you use a middleman, check whether a direct route exists:

• K-beauty: Olive Young has a global site that ships abroad, and in 2025 it ran a K-beauty sale there during the Grand Festival.
• Southeast Asia: Gmarket has been linking Korean sellers' products to Lazada in Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, with the catalog expanding to about 30 million products in 2026.
• Cross-border sales: The 2025 Grand Festival included a cross-border e-commerce sale with eBay and Shopee.

If the item you want is only on a Korean domestic site, you have two choices.

	Buy direct	You buy, we ship (package forwarding)	We buy for you (HaulKorea)
Korean account and phone verification	Needed	Needed	Not needed
Korean card or payment app	Often needed	Often needed	Not needed; pay once by PayPal
Korean shipping address	Needed	Forwarder's warehouse	Our warehouse
Time-limited deals	You must check out in time	You must check out in time	We buy after you send the link
Combining stores	Separate parcels	Usually possible	Possible, one box
Total cost known before paying	Item only	Shipping charged later	Full total, international shipping included

For a deeper comparison, see purchasing agent vs package forwarding.

How do you order K-Sale Festa deals with HaulKorea?

Sale prices move fast, so the order of steps matters.

1. Find the item on the Korean store and copy the product link. If the deal is a coupon or time sale, take a note or a screenshot of the price and the time limit.
2. Write the exact option: size, color, set or bundle. Many sale listings put several options under one link.
3. Send us the link with the option. Add anything else you want from Korea, from any store, because it can go in the same box.
4. Check the total. We show you one price that includes international shipping before you pay. You pay once by PayPal.
5. We buy and receive the items at our warehouse in Korea.
6. Check the inspection photos we send before shipping.
7. We ship the box. If the actual weight comes in under the estimate, we refund the shipping difference. There is no second charge.

Two limits to keep in mind. First, store coupons tied to a Korean account, first-purchase coupons and card-issuer discounts may not apply to an agent purchase, so the price we pay can differ from what you saw. Second, some time deals sell out within minutes. Send links early in the sale window rather than on the last day.

Import duty is not included in the HaulKorea total. In every country, including the US, the person receiving the parcel pays local duty, tax and any carrier clearance fee on arrival. See US import duty on Korean orders for how US rules changed.

What should you buy during K-Sale Festa?

Fit the deal to what travels well.

Good fits:

• Fashion basics and outerwear. November is when Korean brands discount fall and winter stock. Use the Korean clothing size chart before you order.
• Skincare and hair care. Light, compact and often in bundles. Check our Korean sunscreen and Korean hair care pages.
• Stationery, planners and character goods. Light and easy to pack. See Korean planners for 2027.
• Books and albums. Small, sturdy and not food.

Ask first:

Food, health supplements, perfume, aerosol sprays and anything with a battery fall under country rules and carrier rules that differ by destination. Many of the government's headline deals in this festival are food. Read what you cannot ship from Korea, and ask us before you order.

Usually not worth it:

Large appliances, furniture and anything bulky. Shipping charges depend on size as well as weight, so a 30% discount can disappear once a large box goes overseas.

How do you combine K-Sale Festa orders with other November sales?

The festival ends November 15. 11.11 events fall inside it, and Black Friday sales on fashion platforms may run after it. If you are buying from several stores, it can make sense to send links as each sale happens and ship everything together once the last item arrives. That keeps you to one international shipment instead of three.

The trade-off is time. Items bought in late October wait at the warehouse until the later ones arrive. If something is a gift with a deadline, ship it on its own. See combining orders from Korea for how consolidation works.

What can go wrong with K-Sale Festa purchases?

Prices you cannot get. Many headline discounts are "up to" figures that apply to a few items, or need a Korean card, membership tier or app-only coupon.

Sell-outs. Time deals and limited quantities run out. Have a second choice.

Fake "official" pages. The official 2026 sites are k-salefesta.kr and koreagrandfestival.kr. Type the address yourself rather than following links from ads, and be careful with lookalike pages.

Confusing events. Korea Grand Festival, K-Sale Festa and Korea Grand Sale are three different names. Only the first two run October 29 to November 15, 2026.

Return rules. Returning a Korean purchase from abroad is slow and often costs more than the item. Check sizes and options before you order. See returns from Korean stores.

Unfair trade. The official K-Sale Festa site links to the Fair Trade Commission for reports of unfair practices during the event. If a "discount" looks too good, compare the price with the store's normal listing.

FAQ

When is Korea Sale Festa 2026?

It runs October 29 to November 15, 2026, under the new name K-Sale Festa. The Korea Grand Festival runs on the same 18 days.

Is Korea Sale Festa the same as K-Sale Festa?

Yes. The festival that ran as Korea Sale Festa from 2016 was renamed K-Sale Festa in 2026 to match the Korea Grand Festival, the government campaign it now belongs to.

Which stores participate in K-Sale Festa 2026?

The full list was not published when we checked on October 15, 2026. Company sign-ups close October 25, and the official site is expected to list participants after that. In past years Coupang, Naver, Gmarket, 11st and SSG.com ran extra discounts.

Can foreigners shop Korea Sale Festa online?

Most participating Korean stores need a Korean account, phone verification and Korean payment. Overseas shoppers usually go through a package forwarder or a purchasing agent, or use a store's global site if it has one.

Is Korea Sale Festa like Black Friday?

It started as "Korea Black Friday" in 2015 and works in a similar way, with many stores discounting at once. The difference is that the government organizes it and recruits participants.

What is the Korea Grand Festival?

It is a government-wide discount campaign launched in 2025 that combines promotions from 10 ministries. In 2026 it runs October 29 to November 15 and includes K-Sale Festa, market events, voucher discounts and travel deals.

Is Korea Grand Sale the same thing?

No. Korea Grand Sale is a tourism festival for foreign visitors run by the culture ministry and the Visit Korea Committee. Its last edition ran December 17, 2025 to February 22, 2026.

Can HaulKorea use K-Sale Festa discounts for me?

We buy at the price shown on the store when we place the order. Discounts that depend on a personal Korean account, a Korean card or app-only coupons may not apply, so the final item price can differ from what you saw.

Ready to shop K-Sale Festa from abroad?

Watch the official site after October 25 for the participant list, then pick the deals that travel well. Send us the product links with the exact options, and we will show you one total, shipping included, before you pay.