Business Consulting
Entering Korea: 8 decisions to make first
The order of decisions to settle right after choosing to sell in Korea. Eight items — seller of record, first items, stock location, landed cost, Korean naming, ownership, support and the decision cycle — plus why channels, documents, budget, timeline and partner materials come after them.
Once you have decided to sell in Korea, settle eight things before you choose where to list. Who sells · what and how many items · where the stock sits · what the landed cost is — the eight rows in the table below. They are linked, so changing one late pulls down the decisions made before it. Taken in order, this is two to three weeks of work.
What gets decided first?
The right-hand column is the work that stays frozen while that row is blank. The table usually shows at a glance where you are stuck right now.
| Order | What to decide | What stalls while it is blank |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seller of record — whose name the sale is made in | Contracts, account ownership and tax handling all wait |
| 2 | First items — what you list and how many | Required documents and label copy stay undefined |
| 3 | Stock location — inside Korea or shipped in | Delivery times and the return route cannot be written |
| 4 | Landed cost — what it costs once it is in Korea | You cannot quote a selling price |
| 5 | Korean naming — the name and the label text | Printing and product-page copy stop |
| 6 | Ownership — whose name accounts and trademarks are in | Records break when the person in charge changes |
| 7 | Support — who answers Korean-language questions, and when | You cannot take the first order when it arrives |
| 8 | Decision cycle — how many days an approval takes | Every round pushes the schedule back |
Why does the seller of record come first?
Because the other seven answers branch from it. There are three shapes. Under direct sales, the overseas company sells to Korean buyers under its own name. Under buy-and-resell distribution, a company inside Korea purchases the goods and resells them under its own name. Under consignment, ownership stays overseas while a company inside Korea sells on your behalf for a fee.
| Item | Direct sales | Buy-and-resell | Consignment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who contracts with the buyer | Overseas company | Korean company | Overseas company |
| Who carries the inventory | Overseas company | Korean company | Overseas company |
| Name shown on the listing | Overseas company | Korean company | Per the contract |
| Who sets the price | Overseas company | Korean company | Agreed jointly |
| Who takes Korean-language questions | You set it up | Korean company | The appointed company |
| Run-up to the first sale | Long | Short | Medium |
The test is one line — can you set up, right now, a place inside Korea that holds stock and answers in Korean? If you can, direct sales keeps pricing and buyer data in your hands. If not, buy-and-resell has the shorter run-up. Row 6 is the one to open in your own company's name from day one — the shape can change later, and the sales record and the trademark carry over unbroken.
How far do you narrow the first items and the Korean naming?
Narrow to three to five items, not the whole catalogue. Each item carries its own work — documents, labels, photography, copy, carton specs. Twenty items means twenty rounds of it. Three tests narrow the list: items your home market already reorders · items that survive a long shipment · items that need a short explanation.
The name is written in three places — the printed label, the listing title, and replies to questions. If the three differ, one product reads as three. So decide before the print plate is made whether the brand name stays in its original script or is transliterated into Korean. Remaking a plate costs money and time again.
What must appear on the label differs by product type. Check what has to be written there in the guidance published by the ministry that oversees that product category.
How do you find the price floor?
Do not name a selling price first. Add up everything that attaches until the goods sit in a Korean warehouse — the landed cost — and set the price above that. Seven rows.
| Row | What is added | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product cost | Your own cost sheet |
| 2 | Freight to Korea | Carrier quote — varies by volume, weight and terms |
| 3 | Taxes charged on import | Set by the tariff classification number · look it up in the customs authority's published material |
| 4 | Domestic storage, packing, delivery | Logistics provider quote |
| 5 | Sales channel fees | The rate that channel publishes |
| 6 | Share for returns and exchanges | Expected return rate × round-trip shipping |
| 7 | Advertising and content | Monthly budget ÷ expected units that month |
Row 3 is not fixed as a number here, because it differs by item and it changes. There is an order instead — write a sheet of composition and intended use, fix the tariff classification number from that sheet, then look that number up in the customs authority's published material. Without the number there is nothing to look up, so write the composition sheet the day you pick the first items.
Who answers in Korean, and who approves?
Questions arrive during daytime in Korean time (UTC+9). In this setting, if no reply comes within a day, buyers often drop the order and buy elsewhere. So settle three things before you start — who replies · the hours replies go out · the answers written in advance. Questions run in roughly four directions: when will it arrive · where is the shipment now · how do exchanges work · what is it made of. Fifteen to twenty sentences written in advance across those four will carry the first month.
Approval speed is settled in advance too. A time-zone gap adds a day to every question-and-answer round, and with three approval steps one question takes a week. So write down two lines — how far the local side decides on its own · below what amount you proceed without asking.
What comes after that?
The five most-asked questions all have answers only once the eight above are settled. Reverse the order and you redo the work every time an earlier answer changes.
| Decided next | Answers it needs first | Why it comes later |
|---|---|---|
| Where to list — channels | 1 seller of record · 3 stock location | The seller and the stock location narrow the places you can list |
| Documents and certification | 2 first items · 1 seller of record | The items determine which documents are needed |
| Budget | 4 landed cost | You need the margin before you can carve a budget out of it |
| Timeline | Documents · stock location | It is set by how many waiting steps there are |
| Materials sent to a partner | All eight | The answers above become the fields of the document |
What to do today
Write eight rows down the left side of one sheet — seller of record · first items · stock location · landed cost · Korean naming · ownership · support · decision cycle. Make three columns on the right: the answer you have now, the person who will decide it, and the date it will be decided. Thirty minutes fills it in. The blank rows are the work that is stopped right now, and they are the only rows to raise at the next meeting.
