Returns at Korean Online Stores 2026: The 7-Day Rule Explained

Korean online stores must let you cancel a purchase within 7 days of receiving it, even for a simple change of mind, under the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce (전자상거래법). The store must refund you within 3 business days of getting the item back, and you pay the return shipping unless the item was wrong or faulty. The catch for overseas buyers is that the 7 days and the return address are both in Korea.

This guide explains what the law actually says, the exceptions stores use, who pays for shipping, how secondhand sales differ, and what a return realistically looks like when you live outside Korea.

Quick facts

Item	Value
Law	Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce (전자상거래 등에서의 소비자보호에 관한 법률)
Current version	In force from July 21, 2026, per the national law database
Change-of-mind window	7 days from receiving the goods (Article 17(1))
Item not as described	3 months from receipt, or 30 days from when you found out (Article 17(3))
Refund deadline	3 business days after the store gets the item back (Article 18(2))
Late refund interest	15% a year (Enforcement Decree Article 21-3)
Return shipping, change of mind	Buyer pays; no penalty or damages allowed (Article 18(9))
Return shipping, wrong or faulty item	Seller pays (Article 18(10))
Who it covers	Businesses selling by mail order (통신판매업자), not private individuals

Checked on October 15, 2026, against the text on law.go.kr.

What is the 7-day return rule in Korea?

Korean consumers call it 청약철회 (cheongyak cheolhoe), literally "withdrawing the offer." It is the legal right to cancel an online purchase after the fact. In everyday shopping, people just say 반품 (banpum, return) or 환불 (hwanbul, refund).

Article 17(1) of the Act gives the buyer at least 7 days to cancel. The clock starts on the day you receive the written contract details, or, if the goods arrive later than that, on the day you receive the goods. In practice, for physical products, it means 7 days from delivery. A store may offer a longer period, and the longer period then applies. It may not offer a shorter one.

The right does not depend on a reason. You can return a shirt because you changed your mind, which Korean stores call 단순 변심 (danseun byeonsim, simple change of mind).

Two more timing rules from Article 17:

• If you never received proper contract details or the seller's address, the 7 days run from when you learned the address.
• If the store obstructed your cancellation, the 7 days run from when the obstruction ended.

When you cancel in writing, the cancellation takes effect on the day you send it (Article 17(4)).

When can a Korean store refuse a return?

Article 17(2) lists the cases where you cannot cancel against the seller's will:

1. The item was lost or damaged through your fault. But opening the packaging to check what is inside does not count as damage.
2. Your use or partial consumption greatly reduced its value. Think opened skincare or worn shoes.
3. Time has greatly reduced its value so it is hard to resell. Seasonal or perishable goods.
4. You opened the packaging of a copyable item. Sealed albums, DVDs and software.
5. A service or digital content has started. Partial services can still be cancelled for the unused part.
6. Custom-made goods, under the Enforcement Decree, but only if the store warned you separately beforehand that cancellation would cause serious, irreversible loss and got your written (including electronic) consent.

There is an important condition attached. For cases 2 through 5, the store must clearly mark that returns are not possible, on the packaging or somewhere you can easily see, or offer a trial product (Article 17(6)). If it fails to do this, you can still cancel even in those cases.

Article 17(5) also puts the burden of proof on the store. If there is a dispute about whether you damaged the item, when the contract was made or when it was delivered, the store has to prove its side.

Situation	Can you cancel?
Changed your mind, item unused, within 7 days	Yes
Opened the box to check the item	Yes; checking is allowed
Wore the item or used part of a cosmetic	Usually no
Opened a sealed K-pop album	Usually no, if the store marked it non-returnable
Made-to-order item with prior written consent	No
Item differs from the listing	Yes, within 3 months of receipt or 30 days of finding out
Bought from a private individual on a secondhand app	The Act's withdrawal right does not apply

What if the item is wrong, damaged or not as described?

Then you are under Article 17(3), and the rules are better for you. If the goods differ from what was shown or advertised, or the contract was carried out differently, you can cancel within 3 months of receipt, or within 30 days of the day you learned or could have learned about the problem. This applies even if one of the Article 17(2) exceptions would otherwise block a return.

And under Article 18(10), the store pays the return costs in these cases.

Common examples:

• Wrong size or color sent
• A different product from the photo or description
• Damaged on arrival
• Missing parts or contents

Take photos as soon as you open the parcel. They are your evidence.

Who pays return shipping in Korea?

Reason for return	Who pays to send it back	Can the store charge a penalty?
Change of mind (Article 17(1))	You	No
Wrong or faulty item, not as described (Article 17(3))	The store	No

Article 18(9) is short and clear: for a change-of-mind return, you bear the cost of returning the goods, and the store cannot claim a penalty or damages because you cancelled.

That second half matters. In 2014, the Fair Trade Commission (공정거래위원회, KFTC) fined overseas purchasing-agent businesses that charged customers warehouse fees and storage fees on top of return shipping when they cancelled. It treated those charges as damages the law does not allow. The same announcement found businesses that shortened the 7-day period in their terms or wrote that overseas shipping meant no returns. The KFTC said the Korean Act applied to them like any other online store.

Korean product pages usually show a 교환/반품 (gyohwan/banpum, exchange/return) section with the store's return shipping fee and return address. Read that section before you buy.

Membership programs can change who pays. Coupang, for example, lists free returns as a benefit of its WOW membership in Korea.

How fast must a Korean store refund you?

Article 18(2) sets the deadline: within 3 business days of the day the store gets the goods back. If the store never shipped, the 3 days run from the day you cancelled.

If the store is late, it owes interest for the delay. The Enforcement Decree sets the rate at 15% a year (Article 21-3).

For card payments, Article 18(3) requires the store to ask the card company, without delay, to stop or cancel the charge. If the store has already been paid by the card company, it must refund the card company and tell you. The card company then has to pass the refund on to you without delay.

When the seller, the business that took your money and the business that made the contract are different companies, Article 18(11) makes them jointly responsible for the refund. That covers many marketplace setups.

Do these rules apply on Korean marketplaces and secondhand apps?

Marketplaces. On open marketplaces such as Naver Smart Store, Gmarket, 11st and Coupang's seller listings, the seller is usually a separate business, and the Act applies to that business as a mail-order seller. The marketplace itself must make clear when it is only an intermediary (Article 20(1)). Each seller sets its own return address and fee within the law.

Secondhand apps. Apps such as Bunjang and Joonggonara mix two kinds of sellers:

• Business sellers. If the seller is a registered business, the Act's cancellation rights apply.
• Private individuals. Sales between individuals are generally outside the Act's cancellation rules. Korean coverage of secondhand disputes notes that in those cases the buyer falls back on the Civil Act's seller warranty for defects, which must be claimed within 6 months of learning about the defect.

The practical rule: on a secondhand app, check whether the seller is a business before you buy, and assume a sale from an individual is final. Ask for detailed photos first.

How do returns work when you live outside Korea?

This is where the law and real life split.

The window is short. Seven days from receipt is enough for a shopper in Seoul. For an overseas buyer, the item is first "received" in Korea, at a friend's address, a forwarder or an agent's warehouse. Depending on the route, the 7 days can be over before the item even leaves Korea.

The return address is in Korea. To return a change-of-mind item from abroad, you pay international shipping back to Korea, and possibly duty in your own country on the way in. That alone often costs more than a basic clothing item.

Duty is not automatically refunded. If you paid import duty or VAT on arrival, getting it back is a separate process under your own country's customs rules, if it is possible at all.

Timing for faulty items is better. For an item not as described, you have 3 months from receipt or 30 days from discovery. That gives more room, but international return shipping is still slow and the store must agree on how the item comes back.

	Buy direct	You buy, we ship (package forwarding)	We buy for you (HaulKorea)
Who is the buyer of record	You	You	HaulKorea
Where the item is "received"	Your Korean address	Forwarder's warehouse	Our warehouse
Checking the item before it leaves Korea	Not applicable	Depends on the forwarder	Inspection photos before shipping
Returning a change-of-mind item	You arrange it with the store	You arrange it, often from abroad	Ask us before you order
Total known before paying	Item only	International shipping charged later	Full total, international shipping included

For more on the two models, see purchasing agent vs package forwarding.

What do Korean return terms on product pages mean?

The return section of a Korean product page is short and full of shorthand. These are the words you will meet most often.

Korean	Romanization	Meaning
반품	banpum	Return of the item
교환	gyohwan	Exchange, usually for another size or color
환불	hwanbul	Refund
청약철회	cheongyak cheolhoe	Legal cancellation of an online purchase
단순 변심	danseun byeonsim	Simple change of mind
반품 배송비	banpum baesongbi	Return shipping fee
왕복 배송비	wangbok baesongbi	Round-trip shipping fee (outbound plus return)
회수	hoesu	Pickup of the returned item by courier
반품 불가	banpum bulga	Not returnable
하자	haja	Defect
오배송	obaesong	Wrong item delivered
택 제거	taek jegeo	Tag removed, often listed as a reason a return is refused

Two things to keep in mind when you read them. First, a line like "반품 불가" on a page does not override the law for an ordinary item. Article 35 voids terms that are worse for the consumer than Articles 17 to 19, so the exceptions in Article 17(2) are what count, and the store must have marked them clearly. Second, an exchange is a separate service. The law gives you a right to cancel, not a right to swap sizes, so exchange rules are set by each store.

How do you avoid needing a return from Korea?

Most international returns are avoidable. These steps help:

1. Check the size chart in centimeters. Korean sizes run differently. Use our Korean clothing size chart and Korean shoe size chart, and compare with a garment you own.
2. Read the 상세페이지 (sangse peiji, product detail page). Fabric, fit notes and model measurements are usually in images, not text. Our Korean online shopping glossary covers the terms you will see.
3. Read the 교환/반품 section for the store's return fee and any non-returnable notices.
4. Confirm the exact option. One listing can hold many sizes, colors and bundles.
5. Check authenticity on resale and marketplace listings. See how to avoid fake Korean products.
6. Use inspection before shipping. At HaulKorea, we send inspection photos after the item reaches our warehouse and before it ships. That is when a wrong color, a missing part or obvious damage is easiest to raise, because the item is still in Korea.
7. Ask before ordering if a return might matter to you.

What should you do if a Korean store refuses a valid return?

1. Write to the store. Cite the reason: change of mind within 7 days, or item not as described. Keep it short and include photos.
2. Refer to the law. Article 17 of the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce. Korean stores recognize "전자상거래법 제17조."
3. If you paid by card, ask your card issuer about disputing the charge. Korean law requires the store to ask the card company to cancel a charge after a valid cancellation.
4. Use consumer channels. Inside Korea, the Korea Consumer Agency (한국소비자원) runs consultations through the 1372 line. For overseas consumers, the agency has cooperation agreements with foreign consumer bodies. A 2016 agreement lets consumers in North America file complaints about Korea-based businesses with their local Better Business Bureau, which passes them to the agency. Macao's government has also published a contact route to the agency for cross-border complaints.
5. Keep records. Order number, dates, messages, tracking numbers and photos.

FAQ

How many days do you have to return an online purchase in Korea?

At least 7 days from receiving the goods, under Article 17(1) of the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce. A store may offer longer, but not shorter.

Can you return an item in Korea just because you changed your mind?

Yes, within 7 days, as long as the item is not in an exception category, such as used, consumed or a sealed copyable item you opened. You pay the return shipping.

Who pays return shipping for a Korean online order?

You pay for change-of-mind returns. The store pays when the item is wrong, faulty or not as described. The store cannot charge a penalty for a valid cancellation.

How long does a Korean refund take?

The store must refund within 3 business days of getting the item back. Late refunds carry interest at 15% a year under the Enforcement Decree.

Can you return an opened K-pop album in Korea?

Usually not. Opening the packaging of a copyable item, such as an album, is an exception, provided the store clearly marked that it cannot be returned once opened.

Do Korean return rules apply to Bunjang or other secondhand apps?

They apply when the seller is a registered business. Sales between private individuals are generally outside the Act's cancellation rights, so treat them as final.

Can I return a Korean order from overseas?

Legally the same rights apply, but the 7 days start when the item reaches its Korean delivery address, and return shipping to Korea is usually expensive. Faulty items have a longer window.

What if an item from Korea arrives damaged?

Photograph it immediately. Damage that happened before the item left Korea is easiest to raise while it is still there. With HaulKorea, inspection photos show the item's condition before it leaves Korea.

Want to order from Korea with fewer surprises?

Check sizes, options and the store's return section first. When you are ready, send us the product link with the exact option. We will show you one total, international shipping included, and send inspection photos before your box leaves Korea.