Review each distributor inventory purchase separately
Leaving a sales organization can leave a household with unsold stock and card bills.
A family member reviewing a parent’s purchases may assume resignation also returns every purchase price.
Under Korean law, resignation and written withdrawal of each purchase are separate steps.
This calculator helps multi-level and sponsored door-to-door distributors compare purchase deadlines, deductions tied to delivery and return dates, and the company’s refund timetable.
It uses Korean rules for 2026, particularly Door-to-Door Sales Act Article 17(2) and Enforcement Decree Article 26.
It does not apply the ordinary consumer 14-day rule to a distributor purchase.
For other situations, see the consumer dispute calculator or the installment defense calculator.
All monetary figures are KRW; results are conditional reviews, not approval of a legal claim.
Keep three different date systems separate
Contract date
The three-month written withdrawal period starts from the individual purchase contract.
Do not replace it with the resignation date or final card installment date.
Supply date
Delivery starts the one-, two- and three-month deduction bands.
Later delivery does not automatically extend the contract-based withdrawal deadline.
Company return receipt
Use the day the company receives the goods, rather than when you dispatch the parcel.
This controls the deduction band and the following three-business-day refund period.
Enter written notice dispatch and arrival separately.
The consumer dispatch rule in Article 8(4) is not automatically applied to distributor withdrawal.
Company receipt of the notice is used as a conservative review basis; missing arrival information produces a reference amount.
The preparation date three business days before expiry is neither a statutory dispatch deadline nor a promise of timely delivery.
Three calendar months are not 90 days
Civil Act Articles 157 and 160 generally exclude the event day and count calendar months from the following day.
Expiry is the day before the corresponding final-month date, or the final month’s last day if that date does not exist.
A period starting at midnight or special contractual provisions may require a different analysis.
Month-end example and holiday verification
For a 2026-02-28 contract, counting begins on March 1.
The raw three-month expiry is 2026-05-31, a Sunday; without an additional holiday the adjusted date is 2026-06-01.
Copying the contract’s day number into May would incorrectly suggest May 28.
The one-month raw boundary from 2026-01-30 is 2026-02-28.
Civil Act Article 161 adjusts a withdrawal deadline ending on a Saturday or public holiday.
Weekends are automatic, but public, substitute and temporary holidays are not prefilled.
Check the entire relevant period against an official calendar and enter the dates.
Company-only refund closure dates are entered separately: a company closure alone does not extend the legal withdrawal period.
Supply-based deduction thresholds use their unadjusted calendar boundaries conservatively, without assuming a favorable holiday extension.
Check the goods and the statutory exclusion conditions
Whether a package is sealed does not decide every case.
Act Article 17(2) excludes, among other cases, excess inventory obtained through false stock reporting and goods damaged beyond resale.
Decree Article 25 covers responsible loss or damage, significant loss of value through use, opened packaging of reproducible goods, and individually manufactured goods meeting specified conditions.
Inspection and partial use
Packaging opened only to inspect the contents is distinguished by Article 25(1).
Partial use alone is not treated as a complete exclusion.
The calculator asks separately about significant reduction in value and company measures such as clear non-withdrawal notices or trial goods.
Custom goods and disputed facts
Custom production requires expected irreparable serious loss, separate advance notice and written consent.
A custom-made label alone does not establish all conditions.
Unknown facts withhold the amount; review the contract and evidence with the company or an adviser.
5% and 7% are agreed-deduction ceilings
Decree Article 26 allows time-based deductions only after more than one supply month, within the relevant ceiling and an amount agreed by the parties.
Enter the actual price paid for the portion being returned, including VAT.
Using the full original order price for a partial stock return overstates the refund.
Deduction ceilings by company receipt date for ordinary and registration-cancellation returns| Return receipt after supply | Ordinary ceiling | Cancellation-caused return |
|---|
| Within one month | 0% | 0% |
| Over one, within two months | 5% | 2.5% |
| Over two, within three months | 7% | 3.5% |
Confirmed absence of a deduction agreement gives zero time-based deduction.
A known agreed percentage is capped at the statutory ceiling.
Unknown terms produce a minimum-refund reference under the maximum-deduction assumption.
The half ceiling applies when goods are returned because registration was cancelled; ordinary closure is not automatically the same event.
Returns after three supply months are outside this table and withhold an amount, rather than extending 7% indefinitely.
Separate the refund from other claims and net cash
Formulas
Time-based deduction = floor(return price × applied percentage ÷ 100).
Refund after time deduction = return price − time-based deduction.
Net assuming separate payments = refund − use-benefit claim − commission clawback − own shipping.
Whole-KRW flooring is a disclosed display assumption; actual settlement and rounding need verification.
Act Article 18(7) permits a separate claim for benefits obtained from partial use or consumption.
A commission clawback also needs the company’s payment criteria and contract.
Entering these values does not establish a lawful right to offset them against the refund.
The consumer return-cost rule in Article 18(8) is not automatically applied to distributor returns: enter shipping you bear under the actual terms.
Net proceeds can be negative if separate payments exceed the refund.
How to complete the review
- Confirm you purchased as a distributor, select the sales type, snapshot date and whether cancellation caused the return.
Verify holidays and actual refund business days.
- Reconcile each contract, supply record and price of the returned portion.
Use up to 10 orders without merging different purchase dates.
- Separate notice dispatch, company arrival and return receipt, then verify goods condition and deduction terms.
The fictional example is for practice; replace it with your evidence.
- Read raw and adjusted expiry, deduction thresholds, refund and net under separate-payment assumptions.
Withheld orders are not zero and are excluded from the calculable subtotal.
- Save the TXT review and retain notice, delivery and card-cancellation records.
Do not treat unverified arrival, calendar or agreement assumptions as a final claim amount.
Worked KRW 1,000,000 return and late-refund example
Amount comparison
A fictional contract and supply date of 2026-08-10 with company return receipt on 2026-10-13 falls in the over-two-month band.
A maximum ordinary 7% deduction leaves 930,000 KRW.
A cancellation-caused return at 3.5% leaves 965,000 KRW; a 3% agreement leaves 970,000 KRW; confirmed no agreement leaves 1,000,000 KRW.
In a permitted partial-use scenario, paying a 10,000 KRW use-benefit claim, 20,000 KRW clawback and 3,000 KRW shipping separately leaves 897,000 KRW net, distinct from the 930,000 KRW refund.
The sealed-goods UI example instead uses zero use benefit and gives 907,000 KRW net with those commission and shipping assumptions.
Three business days and 15% annually
Count three business days from the day after return receipt, excluding weekends and relevant non-business dates.
A Tuesday 2026-10-13 return is due by Friday 2026-10-16 if there are no extra closures.
If the full principal remains unpaid until a full refund on 2026-10-26, the delay is 10 calendar days.
Reference compensation is floor(930,000 × 15% × 10 ÷ 365) = 3,821 KRW.
Late days are calendar days, not business days.
Partial or staged refunds require a balance-by-date ledger; their compensation is withheld here.
Compare immediate return, a threshold date and holding stock
The scenario table assumes receipt on the snapshot date, the last day before the next deduction threshold, or the adjusted withdrawal deadline.
These are independent future-action assumptions with timely written notice and unchanged condition and terms.
Past dates and dates outside the deduction table do not produce a refund figure.
Posting a parcel today is not the same as the company receiving it today.
Enter both the expected resale unit price and quantity for the same stock to compare gross resale proceeds with return net cash.
Gross proceeds do not guarantee sales or collection and exclude additional selling costs and taxes.
The calculator does not assume unsold stock becomes worthless after expiry.
Waiting can raise the deduction or lose the ordinary withdrawal opportunity, so assess evidence for sales prospects and the time needed for notice and return delivery.
After expiry, more favorable company terms or other rights may still require individual review.
KRW 50,000, KRW 2,000,000 and sponsored-sales exemptions
Review signals are not findings of illegality or compensation approval.
Decree Article 29 addresses an annual 50,000 KRW compulsory burden tied to registration, continued qualification or favorable commission criteria.
Do not enter all voluntary purchases; the provision distinguishes performance-based differences in commission criteria.
Decree Article 30 sets an individual-item limit of 2,000,000 KRW including VAT, rather than an entire multi-item order total.
Act Article 29(2) provides an exemption for qualifying sponsored door-to-door operators selling at least 70% of supplied goods to non-distributor consumers, while the relevant provisions apply to electronic transactions.
Therefore insurance / guarantee absence or an item over the price threshold is not uniformly labelled unlawful for sponsored sales.
If exemption status is unknown, first verify the evidence and transaction method with the authority.
This exemption does not itself remove individual purchase withdrawal rules.
Preserve evidence and prepare the next action
- Reconcile contracts, orders, deliveries, payments and the exact quantity returned.
Photograph contents, packaging, any use and company warning labels.
- Identify the purchase and express withdrawal in writing, including electronic documents, and retain dispatch and arrival evidence.
Certified content alone does not automatically prove delivery; check receipt records too.
- Keep the company’s goods receipt and request the basis for deductions and commissions.
For card payments, verify the suspension / cancellation request and return of settlement proceeds under Article 18(3).
- For non-refund, check the actual guarantee association or insurer’s cover, cap and application period.
Decree Article 44(1)(4) includes distributors among protected claimants, but this calculator does not determine the award.
Present purchase, return and unpaid-balance evidence when contacting the FTC or local authorities.
Frequently asked questions
Does resignation automatically refund inventory?
Act Article 22(4) resignation and Article 17(2) written purchase withdrawal are separate.
If you only resigned, check each purchase’s withdrawal notice, receipt and return.
Neither automatic refund nor automatic zero is assumed.
Does the exact two-month boundary already mean 7%?
Within two months the ceiling is 5%; over that boundary and within three months it is 7%.
An agreement is also required for the actual deduction.
Use the date the company receives the goods.
Does opening any package prevent withdrawal?
Opening only for inspection is distinguished from responsible damage.
Reproducible goods packaging and partial use with significant value loss and protective notices require separate checks.
Can I just dispatch the notice on the last day?
The consumer dispatch rule is not automatically applied to distributors.
The conservative company-receipt review does not confirm timely exercise from dispatch alone.
The three-business-day preparation date is not a delivery guarantee.
Are commissions automatically subtracted from the refund?
Commission clawback is separate from the statutory time-based deduction.
Use benefit and shipping enter only the separate-payment net scenario; actual set-off needs contractual and legal review.
What if timely notice is followed by a late goods return?
Withdrawal notice and physical return are distinct.
Company receipt beyond three supply months is outside Decree Article 26’s table and withholds automatic deductions.
Review timely notice evidence and actual delivery with the company.
Is every sponsored seller without insurance unlawful?
First check the Article 29(2) exemption involving 70% consumer sales and non-electronic transactions.
Relevant provisions apply to electronic sales; claimed exemptions need evidence.
The calculator only provides signals based on entered facts.
Will I receive the exact late compensation and guarantee award?
15% annually, a 365-day denominator and whole-KRW flooring are reference assumptions for the entire principal remaining unpaid.
Partial refunds, actual business days and deduction terms can change the amount.
The guarantee institution’s caps and claim periods are separate rules.
Official sources and update boundaries
Verified directly through the National Law Information OPEN API on 2026-10-30.
The current Act, MST 290239, is effective 2026-10-02; Decree MST 286997 is effective 2026-07-01; Civil Act MST 284415 is effective 2026-03-17.
Public-holiday regulation MST 285779 has search effective date 2026-05-11, with the Labor Day part effective 2026-05-01.
- Door-to-Door Sales Act, Articles 17, 18, 22, 23 and 29: withdrawal, refunds, resignation, limits, sponsored-sales application and exemptions
- Enforcement Decree, Articles 13, 25, 26, 29, 30 and 44: 15%, deductions, exclusions, compulsory burdens, price limits and insurance
- Civil Act Articles 157, 160 and 161 and public-holiday regulation: calendar periods and holidays
Recheck amendments, holidays and company business days, facts and conditions, agreed deductions, cancellation grounds and guarantee terms.
This page does not replace legal assessment or payment approval.
Start with the oldest purchase
Gather contracts, supply records, company contact details and return instructions.
Compare each deadline and deduction threshold, allow time for notice and goods delivery, then save the TXT review to reconcile the settlement.
This calculator does not save your entered values to a server.