Coupang hit with $1.5M fine, corrective order for financially burdening suppliers
Published: 26 Feb. 2026, 14:00
Updated: 26 Feb. 2026, 18:47
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- LIM JEONG-WON
- [email protected]
![A pedestrian walks by a Coupang logistics center in Seoul on Feb. 10. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/26/be26539a-4482-4efa-9ffe-dcf13613fe28.jpg)
A pedestrian walks by a Coupang logistics center in Seoul on Feb. 10. [NEWS1]
Coupang has been slapped with a 2.19 billion won ($1.54 million) fine by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) along with a corrective order for demanding that suppliers reduce delivery prices and shoulder advertising costs, the antitrust watchdog announced Thursday.
The penalties were handed down for violations of the Act on Fair Transactions in Large Retail Business. Specific infringements fell into four categories: demanding that suppliers provide their products at a lower price to meet margin targets; requiring suppliers to bear advertising and other fees; delaying payments for goods; and not returning unused products left over from a promotional program.
The FTC specified Coupang’s violations of the fair transaction law for each of the four categories. From January 2020 to October 2022, Coupang set target levels for its merchandise gross margin with suppliers and monitored performance constantly, the FTC said. When suppliers failed to meet the targets, the company negotiated or demanded lower supply prices.
Over the same period, the company also set gross margin targets and required suppliers to shoulder costs such as advertising fees, promotional program fees and premium data fees if targets were not met. This constituted an unlawful demand for economic benefits, the watchdog said.
From Oct. 21, 2021 to June 30, 2024, Coupang delayed payments for a total of 508,752 direct-purchase transactions involving 25,715 suppliers. Payments amounting to 280.9 billion won were made past the statutory 60-day deadline from when the goods were received, the FTC said. Coupang also failed to pay about 853 million won in statutory late interest.
![Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi speaks at a meeting at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 26. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/02/26/124f2e40-128a-4d24-8be6-269b28b9899f.jpg)
Fair Trade Commission Chairperson Ju Biung-ghi speaks at a meeting at the government complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 26. [YONHAP]
The FTC further found that between September 2020 and June 2024, Coupang did not return about 24,986 unused products under a customer review promotion to 2,970 suppliers, equivalent to about 537 million won in costs.
Thursday’s fine and corrective order for Coupang marks the first such measure imposed on an e-commerce company for violating the statutory payment deadline since the provision on such deadlines for directly purchased goods was introduced into law in April 2021, according to the FTC.
“Coupang's practice of shifting the risk of margin reduction onto suppliers through demands such as lowering supply prices or advertising fees constitutes an illegal act that undermines the very essence of direct purchase transactions,” the agency said.
“We will continue to closely monitor unfair practices by large distributors that infringe upon suppliers’ legitimate interests, and will take strict measures if any further violations are found."
BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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