K-Style TripCosmetics: when to buy, and what you get back
What to buy is written everywhere already.
What is here is when it is cheaper, how much of it you can claim back, and what you need on you for that to work.
Unlike prices, none of this moves often.
What you get back
Visitors can reclaim the VAT on goods bought in ordinary shops.
The terms changed twice recently, and most English-language guides still carry the old numbers.
Minimum per receipt
₩15,000Lowered from ₩30,000 in 2024.
Any guide still saying thirty thousand is out of date.
Instant refund cap
₩1m per purchase, ₩5m in totalBoth doubled on 1 January 2026.
Above the cap you claim at the airport instead.
Deadline to leave
Three months from purchaseAfter three months the claim lapses.
What to carry
Your passportIt is needed at the till.
Leave it at the hotel and that day's purchases cannot be claimed.
When it is cheaper
Olive Young runs four big sales a year, each about a week, at the start of March, June, September and December or the last days of the month before.
Reductions reach 70%.
If your dates fall in one of those weeks the same basket costs far less.
There is also a discount on the 25th to 27th of each month, but that one is for membership holders, so the four big weeks are the realistic ones for a short visit.
Booking through this link costs you nothing extra — the price is exactly the same.
We separately earn a commission when the booking goes through.
Olive Young gift card
An e-gift card you can have in hand before you go in, issued instantly and spent in the shop. Useful if you want to fix a budget before you start.