Can I send cosmetics to South Korea?
Yes, with conditions.
Personal quantities. No aerosols or nail polish. Cosmetics with placenta, steroids, or unidentified ingredients need a full declaration.
For every Onvoyo box: No aerosols, perfume, nail polish or other flammable liquids. Keep liquids sealed and bagged.
More rules for South Korea
Allowed with conditions
- Alcohol, tobacco, and perfume
- Self-use limits for a shipment: 1 bottle of alcohol (1 liter or less), 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars, and 60 ml of perfume. Alcohol always pays liquor and education taxes, and tobacco pays excise taxes, even under USD 150.
- Cosmetics
- Cosmetics with placenta or steroids, and those with unidentified ingredients, can't use list clearance and need a full declaration.
Quantity limits
- Perfume (shipments)
- 60 ml as a self-use shipment.
- Travelers only
- USD 800 (about KRW 1.1 million) of duty-free goods in a traveler's own baggage, plus separate alcohol, tobacco, and perfume allowances. Baggage sent separately may share it if it arrives within 6 months; ordinary courier boxes use the USD 150 limit.
Before you ship to South Korea
- Tax-free limit
- Personal-use goods received by a resident of Korea with a goods price of USD 150 (about KRW 206,000) or less are free of duty and VAT. Boxes shipped from the United States get USD 200 (about KRW 275,000) when they qualify for list clearance; boxes that need a full declaration (for example because they hold food or medicine) get USD 150. Gifts follow the same limit. The goods price leaves out international shipping and insurance when they are shown separately. Boxes on one waybill are added together, and above the limit duty and VAT apply to the whole value, not just the excess.
- Receiver ID
- PCCC: Personal Customs Clearance Code (개인통관고유부호) needed. A code of P plus 12 digits that Korea Customs Service issues in place of a resident registration number to identify the receiver. Apply on the KCS e-commerce customs portal after an identity check. Foreigners need an alien registration card (or residence certificate) and a Korean mobile phone or certificate in their own name, or can apply in person at a customs office. From 2026 each code is valid for one year; codes issued before 2026 expire on the holder's birthday in 2027. If the receiver has no alien registration card yet, sort this out with the courier before you ship.
- Transit
- 2-5 business days from Europe or North America; 1-3 from elsewhere in Asia
Questions
Can I send cosmetics to South Korea?
Yes, with conditions. Personal quantities. No aerosols or nail polish. Cosmetics with placenta, steroids, or unidentified ingredients need a full declaration.
Ask about a specific item
Official sources
- 1.
Korean Law Information Center (Korea Customs Service notice)
수입통관 사무처리에 관한 고시 (opens in a new tab) - 2.
Korea Customs Service
Express Cargo Clearance (opens in a new tab) - 3.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
관세법 (opens in a new tab) - 4.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
부가가치세법 (opens in a new tab) - 5.
Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency
종자류, 수분용 화분 식물검역증명서 의무화 안내 (opens in a new tab) - 6.
- 7.
Korean Law Information Center (Ministry of Government Legislation)
관세법 시행규칙 (opens in a new tab) - 8.
Korea Customs Service
주간 환율 | 관세청 전자상거래 통관포털 (opens in a new tab)
General guidance, not legal advice. Customs in South Korea makes the final decision on every box.