Your own store is the highest-margin route into Korea, the fastest to open, and the one where nothing sells. Zero platform commission, your own customer data, complete control of the brand experience, and the small matter that nobody knows your site exists. This chapter gets the technical setup out of the way first, then deals with the real problem.
Technically, you can open today
If you run Shopify, the setup is short. Add Korea under Markets and the checkout gains a Personal Customs Code field automatically. Without that field, orders bound for Korea stop at customs.
- 1Add Korea as a shipping destinationShopify brings the customs code field along when you add Korea to Markets. On other platforms you will need to add the order field yourself.
- 2Decide how you display currencyShowing prices in won automatically can actually block the payment. Covered right below.
- 3Choose your shipping and duty termsWhether you collect duties up front (DDP) or the recipient pays on delivery (DDU).
- 4Add guidance on recipient detailsA name spelled differently from the customs registration puts the parcel on hold. One line at checkout prevents most of it.
- 5Sort out returns address and policyInternational returns are expensive, and an undefined policy turns into a dispute.
Showing prices in won can block the payment
This is a trap almost no foreign seller knows about. Displaying prices in won looks like a courtesy to Korean customers. But Korean card issuers run a block service for overseas transactions billed in won (DCC).
- ▸Paying in won at an overseas merchant adds a 3-8% conversion fee
- ▸So Korean card issuers offer a service that blocks won-denominated overseas charges outright
- ▸A customer with that block on gets declined when a site tries to charge in won
- ▸Forcing won display is not a courtesy. It can be a failed checkout
People switch that block on to avoid the fee, and the more often somebody shops cross-border, the more likely they have it. Your most frequent buyers are the most likely to be blocked.
The safe approach is to let the customer choose the billing currency, or default to your own currency and show won as a reference figure. Quoting a price in won and charging in won are two different things.
One letter in a name causes a return to sender
A parcel to a Korean individual needs the recipient's personal customs clearance code, a 13-digit identifier beginning with P. Since 2 February 2026, Korea Customs has tightened verification: the recipient's name, mobile number and postal code must match exactly what is registered against that code.
- ▸Romanisation variants: 이 as Lee, Yi or Rhee; 김 as Kim or Gim
- ▸The code is registered under a Korean-script name, but the order came in with a romanised one
- ▸The code is registered to a home address and the order ships to an office
- ▸A hold runs 5-7 business days, and anything not corrected within 7 days is returned to sender
This is not a marketing problem. It is a checkout design problem. A single line next to the customs code field, telling the buyer to enter exactly the name and mobile number registered to that code, prevents most of it. Customs practice in full is covered in shipping, customs and payments for Korea.
Who pays the duty
Korean shoppers are particularly sensitive to charges appearing after payment. Above the de minimis threshold, DDP is the safer design.
The thresholds make the design easier. Generally 150 USD clears duty-free, and 200 USD for express shipments from the United States. Items excluded from simplified clearance, such as health supplements, food and cosmetics, sit at 150 USD even from the US. If your price points straddle that line, it changes how you build bundles.
Do you need a Korean-language site?
Not a full translation, not at the start. But a Korean customer needs a few things confirmed before they will complete a purchase.
Step four is the real problem with an own-store strategy. A marketplace lends you its credibility. Your own store has to build it. Korean consumers search to verify before entering card details on a foreign site they have never seen. That habit is covered in how Korean consumers decide.
The real problem is discovery
Zero commission is attractive, but the cost of traffic moves into that space. A marketplace gives you shelf space and visitors. Your own store gives you shelf space.
In Korea, those visitors come from a short list of places.
Saving 6-15% in platform commission means moving part of that budget into Korean-language content. In practice many sellers run both: a marketplace to build early reviews and credibility, their own store to capture the repeat purchase.
The order to do it in
- 1Turn on Korea shipping and the customs code fieldThis part takes a few hours.
- 2Set billing currency and duty termsAvoid forcing won, and decide on DDP against the de minimis threshold.
- 3Look at what a Korean sees when they search your brandUsually nothing, and that emptiness stops them right before payment.
- 4Fill the search result firstBlog reviews and community mentions come first. You can start with or without a store.
- 5Then switch on adsAds run against a search result that exists convert very differently on the same budget.
Frequently asked questions
What if we are not on Shopify?
The requirement is the same whatever the platform: capture the personal customs clearance code at order time and pass it to the shipping label and customs paperwork. Without that field, the carrier has to chase the customer for it, and orders get cancelled in that gap.
Do we need Korean customer service?
Not at the start. But enquiries arrive in Korean, and slow answers end up in reviews. Early on, a Korean-language FAQ covering delivery time, duties and returns cuts the volume of enquiries considerably.
How should we handle returns?
Set the policy before you start, because international returns are expensive. Korean shoppers check return policies before buying, so stating the terms clearly tends to help conversion rather than hurt it. List any non-returnable categories up front.
If we could only pick one, marketplace or own store?
If you have not confirmed demand yet, a marketplace is faster because the traffic is already there and it functions as a test. Once demand is proven and the category has repeat purchases, your own store carries far better margin. Running both is the norm.