How HotDeals Korea works

A lot of Korean online stores don't ship abroad, or they sell a smaller range on their international sites. HotDeals Korea sits in the middle: we buy from Korean stores for you, or receive the parcels you order yourself, and then ship everything to you in one box.

This guide covers the two ways to use us, what happens at each step, and what it costs.

Two ways to use us

Buy-for-me

You send us a product link and we place the order for you. This is the option for stores that need a Korean phone number, a Korean payment card or a Korean address to check out, such as the Korean Musinsa store and Coupang.

Ship-for-me

Every account comes with a free personal address at our warehouse in Korea. Line 2 of the address carries your suite code, which looks like HDK123456. You place the order yourself and ship it to that address, and we receive it into your box.

Always put the suite code on line 2. It's how the warehouse team knows the parcel is yours.

	Buy-for-me	Ship-for-me
Who places the store order	We do	You do
Korean account or phone needed	No	Yes, if the store asks for one
Service fee	₩3,500 per store order	None, because you placed the order
Arrival photos and basic check	Included	Included
Free consolidation	Yes	Yes

You can mix both in the same outgoing box.

The buy-for-me flow, step by step

1. Paste a link. Add the options you want (size, color, shade, album version) and anything we should know in the note.
2. Get a quote. Our staff check the current price and stock and send you a quote. It's valid for 72 hours, and nothing is charged until you accept it.
3. Pay. You pay in US dollars (more on the exchange rate below).
4. We buy. We place the order with the Korean store. You can cancel for free up to this point. Once the store order is placed, the store's own cancellation rules apply.
5. It arrives at our warehouse. We take arrival photos and do a basic check: item count, the option you ordered, and visible damage.
6. It waits in your box. Storage is free for 60 days, so you can collect items from several stores.
7. We consolidate and ship. When you're ready, we combine your parcels into one box for free, pack it, and send it with the shipping method you choose.

The ship-for-me flow starts at step 5.

Paying: pay once, or hold in your box

There are two ways to handle shipping costs.

Pay once. You pay for the items plus the estimated shipping at the start. When we pack the box, if shipping costs less than the estimate, we refund the difference automatically. If it costs up to 10% more, we cover it. This works well for a single order you want sent as soon as it arrives.

Hold in your box. You pay for the items now and pay for shipping later. When you ask us to ship, we pack, weigh and measure the box, and you pay the actual cost. This works well if you're collecting from several stores over a few weeks.

Either way, you can see your parcels and photos in your box.

What it costs

Fee	Amount
Service fee (buy-for-me)	₩3,500 per store order, however many items (about $2.70)
Service fee on store orders of ₩200,000 or more	None
Bulk and group orders (20+ identical items)	3%, minimum ₩10,000
Packing and handling	₩3,000 per outbound shipment (about $2.32)
Consolidation	Free
Storage	60 days free, then ₩500 per day per parcel (₩1,000 per day over 5 kg), capped at ₩30,000 per parcel
Shipping	Korea Post's published rates, or our courier rate card

A "store order" is one checkout at one Korean store. Five items from the same Olive Young checkout is one store order and one ₩3,500 fee.

Optional extras, only if you ask for them:

• Extra protection (bubble wrap and corner guards): ₩2,000
• Vacuum-pack soft items: ₩5,000
• Detailed photos, up to 10: ₩1,500 per parcel
• Priority packing within 1 business day: ₩3,000
• Extra loss and damage cover: 2% of the value, minimum ₩2,000

About the exchange rate

We charge in US dollars at the mid-market exchange rate plus 4.5%. That margin covers card and PayPal fees and currency conversion, and there's no other payment fee on top. On 28 September 2026 the mid-market rate was US$1 = ₩1,356, which works out to about ₩1,298 per dollar after the margin.

A worked example

Say you order ₩60,000 of skincare from one Olive Young checkout (assuming the store delivers free to our warehouse), and it ships to Japan by K-Packet at 0.5 kg.

Line	KRW
Items	₩60,000
Service fee (one store order)	₩3,500
K-Packet to Japan, 0.5 kg	₩9,340
Packing and handling	₩3,000
Total	₩75,840 (about $58.45)

Import taxes aren't included. Those depend on your country, and customs there decides the final amount. We show estimates in the calculator.

What we can't do

• Guarantee delivery dates. Transit times are typical ranges from the carrier, and customs can add time.
• Certify authenticity of second-hand items. We compare what arrives with the listing, but that's not a certificate.
• Ship items that break air-safety rules by post, such as perfume, nail polish and lithium batteries. See what we can't ship.

Getting started

Create an account to get your suite code and start a request. The full fee list is on pricing, and how it works has the same steps in a shorter form. If you have a question, ask it in community Q&A or check the help center.