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AliExpress Faces Major Fine in South Korea Over Misleading Discounts

By  |  August 31, 2025

South Korea’s antitrust regulator has imposed a multimillion-dollar penalty on AliExpress after determining that the Chinese e-commerce giant engaged in deceptive discount practices on thousands of items.

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    According to a statement released Sunday by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), affiliates OceanSky and MICTW were responsible for more than 7,500 misleading or exaggerated advertisements between May 2023 and October 2024. The companies were accused of inflating original prices on product listings to create the illusion of steep discounts.

    Investigators cited examples such as a tablet sold for 270,000 won ($200) that was promoted as 58 percent off a supposed original price of 660,000 won — a figure regulators said the product had never actually been sold for. Per the statement, OceanSky accounted for 2,422 products with falsified discounts, while MICTW listed over 5,000. The FTC said the practices were designed to distort consumer perceptions of actual savings.

    Related: South Korea’s Antitrust Watchdog Partners with AliExpress and Temu to Address Safety Concerns

    The commission also penalized AliExpress’s operator, Alibaba Singapore, and its Korean branch, Ali Korea, for failing to properly disclose essential business information, including terms of service and company details. A separate fine of 2 million won ($1,500) was issued for these violations.

    “This ruling underscores our commitment to applying the same standards to domestic and foreign businesses alike, ensuring that consumers can shop with confidence,” the FTC said in a statement.

    AliExpress responded by acknowledging the regulator’s findings and said it had already implemented corrective measures.

    Source: Korea Biz Wire