Duty-free or Olive Young?
Short answer: buy the everyday brands (COSRX, Anua, Round Lab, Torriden and similar) at Olive Young, and check duty-free for premium Korean brands like Sulwhasoo or Hera. The two shops sell mostly different things, so the real question is usually which shop carries what you want.
How each one works
| Olive Young | Duty-free (downtown or airport) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can buy | Anyone. Visitors get the tax refund with a passport. | Travellers leaving Korea, with passport and flight details. |
| How tax is handled | You pay the shelf price. The refund comes off at the till on receipts of ₩15,000+. | Prices are already free of Korean taxes. No refund step. |
| Prices shown in | Korean won | US dollars (won also accepted) |
| When you get it | Straight away | Downtown stores: collected at the airport after passport control. Airport stores: straight away. |
| Typical brands | Hundreds of Korean skincare and makeup brands, including most budget favourites | Mainly premium and international brands, plus some big Korean names |
| Discounts | Four big sales a year plus frequent sets with bonus minis | Membership tiers, coupons and spend-more-save-more offers |
When Olive Young wins
- Budget and mid-price brands. Many of the products on this site aren't sold at duty-free at all. Where they are, Olive Young's sale prices and bonus sets often match or beat them.
- You want to use it on the trip. Duty-free bought downtown is handed over only at the airport.
- Sale weeks. During the Olive Young Sale, discounts plus the tax refund are hard to beat for everyday skincare.
When duty-free can win
- Premium Korean brands such as Sulwhasoo, Hera and the Whoo, which Olive Young mostly doesn't stock.
- Big single purchases. On expensive items, being free of tax up front plus membership coupons can add up to more than the tax refund.
- Liquids for the cabin. Liquids bought airside after security come in a sealed bag, so they don't have to fit the 100ml rule on that flight. If you change planes, check the rules at your connecting airport, because you may be screened again.
Limits to know
Korea no longer caps how much a departing traveller can buy at duty-free (the old limit was scrapped in 2022). What matters is your home allowance: US $800 and UK £390 of goods duty-free, as covered in how much K-beauty you can bring home.
How to compare a product yourself
- Find the product on the duty-free store's website and note the US dollar price for the same size.
- Look up the same product on this site. Our Seoul figure already takes off the tax refund.
- Ask whether the duty-free price needs a membership level or coupon you'll actually have.
We haven't price-checked duty-free stores yet. Their prices change with membership tiers and coupons, so we'll only add a side-by-side table once we can check like-for-like. Not affiliated with any store.