Terms of service

Last updated: 29 September 2026 · Draft for legal review

These terms are the agreement between you and Pending confirmation (Pending confirmation) ("HotDeals Korea", "we", "us") for hotdealskorea.com and the services we provide through it. Our privacy policy and refunds & cancellations policy form part of these terms. By creating an account or placing an order, you accept them. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under consumer law that cannot be excluded by contract.

1. Who we are

• Operator: Pending confirmation (Pending confirmation)
• Business registration no.: Pending confirmation
• Mail-order business registration no.: Pending confirmation
• Registered address: Pending confirmation
• E-mail: support@hotdealskorea.com
• Hosting provider: Cloudflare, Inc.

Our representative's name and telephone number are shown in the footer of every page.

2. Our services

We offer two services:

• Buy-for-me. You ask us to buy specific items from Korean online stores. We send a quote, you pay, and we buy the items in our name as your purchasing agent. We receive them at our warehouse in Korea, check and photograph them, and ship them to you.
• Ship-for-me. You buy from Korean stores yourself and send the parcels to our warehouse using your personal suite code. We receive, check, photograph, store, consolidate and ship them to you.

In both services we act as your agent and intermediary. We are not the seller of goods bought from other stores, and we are not affiliated with those stores unless we say so. The store's product descriptions, warranties and return rules apply to what you buy. You are the importer of record in your destination country, except where we prepay duties and taxes for you as your agent (section 8).

3. Your account

• You must be at least 16 years old, or the age at which you can make a binding contract where you live, if that is higher.
• One account per person. Your suite code is personal: don't let other people send their parcels to it.
• Keep your details accurate, especially names, addresses, phone numbers and any tax ID that customs require.
• Keep your password secure. Tell us at support@hotdealskorea.com straight away if you think someone else has used your account. You are responsible for activity on your account unless it results from our failure to protect it.

4. Buy-for-me orders

Quotes. We quote the item prices, each store's delivery charge to our warehouse, our service fee and any other charges. A quote is valid for 72 hours, because store prices and stock change. After that, you need a new quote.

Purchase. When you pay, you authorise us to buy the quoted items on your behalf. We place the store order as soon as practicable.

Price changes and stock. If a store's price has gone up by the time we buy, we ask you before paying more. You can pay the difference or cancel that item for a full refund. If an item is sold out or unavailable after you have paid, we refund that item and its share of our fees in full.

Arrival checks. When items reach our warehouse, we check the item count, options and visible condition, and photograph them. We don't test how items work or verify authenticity. If an item is wrong or damaged, we contact the store for you before anything is shipped.

Cancellation. You can cancel free of charge until we place the store order. After that, what can be returned depends on the store's return policy, and you pay Korean return shipping and our return handling fee. See the refunds & cancellations policy.

Second-hand items and events. We don't guarantee the authenticity, condition or description of items from second-hand marketplaces or individual sellers (for example Bunjang), or the outcome of draws, raffles, lucky draws or limited releases. If we can't complete a purchase, we refund what we didn't spend.

5. Ship-for-me parcels

• Address parcels exactly as shown in your account, including your suite code. If we can't identify the owner of a parcel after reasonable efforts, it may be treated as unclaimed under section 7.
• Tell us what's coming so we can match it quickly.
• We log, check and photograph each parcel when it arrives. We may open parcels to check the contents against your declaration and for prohibited items.
• We aren't responsible for what the store sends, for delays by the store or the Korean courier, or for parcels that never reach our warehouse. Those issues are between you and the store, though our arrival photos can support your claim.

6. Fees, currency and payment

Our current fees are on the pricing page. They are:

• a service fee per store order (buy-for-me);
• a packing & handling fee per outbound shipment;
• fees for optional services you choose, such as extra protection, vacuum packing, detailed photos, priority packing or extra cover;
• storage fees after the free period (section 7);
• international shipping, and duties and taxes where we prepay them.

The fees that apply are the ones shown when you accept a quote or pay for a shipment.

Currency. Prices are shown in Korean won (KRW). We charge in US dollars (USD) at the exchange rate shown at checkout: the mid-market rate plus 4.5%. This margin covers payment processing and currency conversion, and we don't add any other card or payment surcharge. Your bank or PayPal may charge its own fees, for example if your account is in another currency.

Pay once. If you pay for shipping together with a buy-for-me order, we charge the estimated international shipping upfront. When we pack your box, if the actual cost is lower, we refund the difference. If it's up to 10% higher, we absorb it. If it's more than 10% higher, we ask you before charging anything extra.

US shipments. For shipments to the United States, we prepay import duties at checkout at an estimated rate and refund the difference once the actual customs bill arrives.

Payment. At launch we accept payment through PayPal, including cards processed by PayPal. We never receive full card numbers. We and PayPal may run fraud checks, and we may cancel an order that fails them and refund anything taken.

Chargebacks. If something goes wrong, please contact us first. If you file a chargeback or payment dispute for a service we have already provided, we may suspend your account while it's resolved.

7. Storage and abandoned parcels

Each parcel is stored free for 60 days from arrival. After that, storage costs ₩500 per parcel per day, or ₩1,000 per day for parcels over 5 kg, up to ₩30,000 per parcel in total.

If a parcel has been at our warehouse for 150 days and we have sent you at least three e-mail reminders, it is treated as abandoned. This means you give up ownership of it and your right to have it shipped. We may then sell, donate or destroy it, and deduct unpaid fees and our disposal costs from any sale proceeds. We won't treat a parcel as abandoned while a claim or payment dispute about it is open.

8. International shipping, customs and duties

• You choose the shipping method. Transit times are estimates, not guarantees.
• You must describe contents and values accurately. We declare the true contents and values on customs forms. We won't under-declare values or mark purchases as gifts when they aren't, even if asked.
• You (or your recipient) are the importer of record and must meet the destination's import rules and pay its duties, taxes and customs charges, except those we prepaid at checkout. Our duty estimates are guidance only; customs decides.
• We may ask for your recipient's tax ID or other information where destination customs require it.
• If a shipment is refused, not collected, returned or seized, the costs are yours unless we caused the problem. See the refunds & cancellations policy.

9. Prohibited and restricted items

Our prohibited items list explains what we can't buy or ship, whether because of carrier rules, Korean law or destination rules. You must also check your own country's import rules. We may inspect any parcel, and we may refuse, hold, return to the sender or dispose of prohibited items. You pay any costs this causes. We may report items to the authorities where the law requires.

10. Loss, damage and claims

At our warehouse. We take reasonable care of items in our custody. If an item is lost or damaged at our warehouse through our fault, we compensate you for its value.

In transit. Once a shipment is handed to the carrier, compensation for loss or damage is limited to what your shipping method includes, plus any extra cover you bought:

Extra cover costs 2% of the declared value (minimum ₩2,000).

Claims. Report loss or damage within 14 days of delivery (or, for a missing shipment, within 14 days of the latest estimated delivery date) through support, with photos of the box, label, packing and items. Keep all packaging until the claim is settled. We file the claim with the carrier and pass on what the carrier or the extra cover pays.

11. Community and group orders

In the community, you must not harass anyone, post spam or scams, trade counterfeit goods, or share anyone's personal information. You keep ownership of what you post and give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to host, display and format it to run the site. We may remove content and restrict or close accounts that break these rules.

Group orders organised by members are arrangements between those members. We're not a party to them and aren't responsible for payments or disputes between members. Each member who places an order with us is our customer for that order.

12. Limits on our liability

We are not liable for:

• customs seizures, destination import restrictions or customs delays;
• duties and taxes, except those we prepaid for you;
• carrier delays, or loss or damage in transit beyond the compensation for the method and cover you chose;
• the authenticity of second-hand items or the outcome of draws and events;
• the products, acts or policies of stores and carriers.

These limits don't apply where the loss is caused by our negligence or wilful misconduct. They also don't limit any liability that can't be limited by law, including under mandatory consumer law.

13. Suspension and closing your account

You can close your account at any time by opening a support ticket, once your parcels have been shipped or given up and any fees are paid. We may suspend or close an account for serious or repeated breaches of these terms, fraud, abuse of staff or members, or unpaid amounts. We'll tell you why unless the law prevents it. We may hold parcels until the fees owed for them are paid.

14. Your statutory rights

The refunds & cancellations policy explains how cancellations and refunds work. It doesn't reduce any right you have by law, including any right to withdraw from a distance contract and remedies for services not provided with reasonable care.

15. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Korea. If you're a consumer, this doesn't take away the protection of mandatory laws of the country where you live, and you may bring proceedings in the courts there. If you live in the EU or UK, you keep your statutory consumer rights. Otherwise, the courts of the Republic of Korea have jurisdiction.

If something goes wrong, contact support@hotdealskorea.com first. We reply within one business day. If we can't resolve it:

• Korea Consumer Agency (한국소비자원). Consumer complaints, including cross-border ones, go through its 1372 Consumer Counseling Center (www.1372.go.kr). Since 1 January 2026, the Cross-Border Transaction Consumer Portal (crossborder.kca.go.kr) no longer takes new complaints; they are handled by 1372.
• EU consumers. The EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform closed on 20 July 2025. The European Commission lists national consumer dispute resolution bodies at consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll post changes here and e-mail you at least 7 days before they take effect, or 30 days before for changes to your disadvantage. Orders you've already paid for follow the terms in force when you paid. If you don't agree, you can close your account before the change takes effect.

17. Contact

Pending confirmation (Pending confirmation), Pending confirmation. E-mail support@hotdealskorea.com.