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South Korea Customs & VAT on Trading Cards from Japan — What You Actually Pay

When you order trading cards from Japan to South Korea, one figure decides how your parcel is handled: US$150. But it is not the point where tax begins. It is the point where an exemption applies — and what that figure is measured on is the part most people never check.

We run a trading card shop in Japan and ship to South Korea. This guide covers the rules as of September 2026, with links to the official sources. Rules can change, so please check the latest for yourself too.

The short version

  • US$150 or less: customs duty and value added tax (부가가치세) are both waived. Not reduced — waived.
  • The line is measured on the price of the goods (물품가격), per parcel. Shipping to Korea and insurance are left out — but only where they can be clearly separated from the price.
  • Over US$150: the exemption no longer applies, and the whole amount is taxable, not just the part above the line.
  • Duty on cards is 0% as a rule (HS 9504.40). The rate table also shows 8%, but the lower 0% is what applies.
  • So above the line, what you pay is 10% value added tax, plus, by post, a clearance handling fee of a few thousand won where it applies. You pay before delivery, and you can check the figures yourself.

The line is an exemption, not a starting point

Korean law has a provision for small-value goods received by residents for their own use. If the goods price is US$150 or less, customs duty is exempted (Enforcement Rule of the Customs Act, Article 45). The Value-Added Tax Act then exempts small-value goods on which duty has been exempted (Article 27) — so value added tax is waived as well.

Go above the line and the exemption falls away. The parcel is handled as an ordinary import, and tax applies to the whole amount. The government's plain-language legal guide says it directly: when the goods go over the exempt amount, you pay tax not just on the excess, but on the entire amount. Once the exemption no longer applies, the tax is calculated on the value customs assesses, which by law can include international shipping and insurance.

Below the line, the system is zeroing it out for you. Above it, you are simply back to the normal rules.

What the US$150 is measured on

What counts is the goods price (물품가격). The cost of carrying the parcel to Korea, and its insurance, are not part of that test — where they can be clearly distinguished. If the shipping is folded into the price and cannot be separated out, the price including shipping is what gets tested.

For example, say you pay US$155 in total:

How the order is written Value tested against US$150 Result
US$140 of cards + US$15 shipping, shown separately US$140 Under the line
"Free shipping", US$155 in one figure US$155 Over the line

The same money leaves your pocket; the answer changes because of how it was written. So before you order, it is worth looking at how the shop presents its shipping.

Per parcel, not per card. The test is on the parcel as a whole. Cards that each sit under the line on their own are counted together once they are in one box.

When separate orders are added together. Amounts are combined in only two situations (Notice on Import Clearance Procedures, Article 68):

  • goods that arrived as one single consignment are split up at clearance to stay under the line; or
  • goods bought from the same overseas seller on the same date are brought in separately.

Which means that if you bought on different dates, arriving on the same day does not combine them.

Is there customs duty on cards?

Duty rates are set by HS code — the product number countries around the world share. Trading cards fall under 9504.40, cards for games (오락용 카드). Korea's official tariff lookup shows two rates on that line for 2026:

Rate What it is Rate on 9504.40
Basic rate (기본세율) Set in Korea's own tariff law 8%
WTO rate (WTO협정세율) The rate Korea committed to under the World Trade Organization agreement 0%

This is where people who look it up get confused. The Customs Act says the agreement rate takes priority over the basic rate where it is the lower one (Article 50). So even though the table shows 8%, what applies is 0%.

The final call on classification belongs to customs, so the accurate way to say it is 0% as a rule.

What arrives when an order is over US$150

With duty at zero, the tax that reaches you is value added tax at 10% (Value-Added Tax Act, Article 30). For parcels sent by post, the post office may also charge a fee for handling the customs clearance (통관절차 대행수수료) — a few thousand won, where it applies.

The exact amount is set at clearance. The customs service's estimator, below, lets you see roughly what it comes to before you buy.

How and when you pay

  1. Your parcel arrives in Korea, and customs assesses it.
  2. The amount is passed to the post office that handles clearance, and you receive a notice to pay.
  3. You pay, and the parcel is delivered as normal.

That order is set in law: a postal item on which duty is due cannot be handed to the recipient before the duty has been collected (Customs Act, Article 260). Korea Post's own page puts it the same way — delivery starts once the tax and the handling fee have been paid. It is simply a payment step added to the sequence.

You can look it up yourself. On Unipass, the Korea Customs Service's electronic clearance system, the postal clearance status page (우편물통관 진행정보) lets you type in the postal item number and see where your parcel is in the process, and what is being charged for it. No login is needed.

Two things to do before you order

1. Check your personal customs clearance code (개인통관고유부호). This is the personal number used when you receive goods from abroad, and the Korea Customs Service issues it free of charge. Since 28 August 2026, the customs service has been running a new dedicated E-Commerce Customs Clearance Portal (전자상거래 통관포털), starting as a pilot; the old code page now takes you there.

  • The postal code has to match. From 2 February 2026, customs checks not only your name and phone number, but also the postal code of the delivery address against what is registered for your code. It applies first to codes issued or updated since 21 November 2025, and reaches more people as codes are renewed. You can register up to 20 delivery addresses in advance — useful if you receive parcels at work or at a family address.
  • A one-time authentication number (일회용 인증번호). From 28 August 2026, a code that is newly issued, or whose details are changed, is used together with a one-time number that the customs service sends you when you order. Existing codes carry on as before until they are renewed — from the renewal in the holder's birthday month in 2027.

It is worth opening your own record once and checking it before you order.

2. Estimate the tax. The Korea Customs Service has a page for estimating the tax on an overseas purchase (해외직구물품 예상세액 조회). Choose the item, enter the amount, and it shows roughly what it comes to. The actual figure can differ a little with the exchange rate and rates at clearance.

How we ship to South Korea

We send to South Korea by international mail — EMS (Express Mail Service) and a lower-cost tracked air option. Both are postal, so everything above applies as described.

We do not collect Korean taxes at our checkout. If an order is over the line, you pay once, when it arrives in Korea, and it is then delivered. That is the ordinary shape of buying from abroad, and the amount is something you can work out in advance. Our invoices show shipping as a separate line from the goods; how a parcel is valued is, in the end, decided at clearance. See our shipping policy for the current methods and rates.

Official sources

Last checked against official sources: 28 September 2026. This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rates, thresholds and procedures change — verify the current official sources for your own situation. How a specific parcel is classified, and the value it is assessed on, are decided at clearance.

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