Origins
Mail-order selling is often traced to Aaron Montgomery Ward's one-page catalog in Chicago in 1872, which used railways to reach rural buyers. Faceless trade creates the information gap Akerlof (1970) described, so Korea first regulated distance selling in its 1991 Door-to-Door Sales Act and, in 2002, required online sellers to register and disclose their identity under the E-Commerce Act.
Exemptions and filing
Registration is the rule, but sellers with fewer than 50 completed sales in the previous year (returns excluded) or simplified VAT taxpayers may skip it. Identity disclosures are still required. To file: complete business registration, obtain an escrow service certificate from your marketplace, bank or payment provider if you take payment before delivery, then file through Government 24 or your local office.
Costs and next steps
- A registration license tax is charged every 1 January while you stay registered: KRW 40,500 in cities over 500,000 people, 22,500 in other cities, 12,000 in counties.
- Report changes within 15 days.
- Honor the 7-day consumer withdrawal right and comply with the Personal Information Protection Act.
- Low search costs intensify price competition (Bakos, 1997), so reviews and reputation matter (Einav et al., 2016).
FAQ
- Do marketplace sellers need to file?
- Yes, unless they had under 50 sales last year or are simplified VAT taxpayers.
- Is the license tax a one-off?
- No, it recurs every 1 January while registered.
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-09
References
- 전자상거래 등에서의 소비자보호에 관한 법률 제12조(통신판매업자의 신고 등)·제13조(신원 및 거래조건에 대한 정보의 제공). Korean E-Commerce Act articles on mail-order registration and mandatory seller disclosures.
- 공정거래위원회고시 제2022-4호. (2022). 통신판매업 신고 면제 기준에 대한 고시. Fair Trade Commission notice exempting sellers with under 50 sales or simplified VAT status.
- 국세청. (2023). 판매 금액이 많지 않아도 사업자 등록과 통신판매 등록을 해야 하나요? (자주 묻는 질문). NTS FAQ clarifying that the 50-transaction threshold counts actual sales, not listings.
- 정부24. (n.d.). 통신판매업신고 민원안내. Government 24 portal for filing the mail-order business report online.
- Akerlof, G. A. (1970). The market for "lemons": Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488–500. Classic theory of how hidden quality drives good products from markets.
- Bakos, J. Y. (1997). Reducing buyer search costs: Implications for electronic marketplaces. Management Science, 43(12), 1676–1692. Shows how lower search costs online intensify price competition.
- Einav, L., Farronato, C., & Levin, J. (2016). Peer-to-peer markets. Annual Review of Economics, 8, 615–635. Review of how reputation systems build trust on peer-to-peer platforms.