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Luxury platforms Must It, Trenbe, and Balaan penalized for violating advertising, e-commerce laws

Published: 20 Apr. 2025, 16:01

An image released by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) [FTC]

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) issued corrective orders and imposed a total of 12 million won ($8,460) in fines and 16 million won ($11,700) in penalties against three online luxury retail platforms — Must It, Trenbe, and Balaan — for violations of advertising and e-commerce laws, the FTC said Sunday.

According to the FTC, Must It operated as a third-party intermediary and also sold products directly through its platform from January 2021 to July 2024. During that time, the company ran extended promotional campaigns using phrases such as “Flash Sale for Limited Time Only” and “Sale Ending Soon,” falsely implying that discounts were limited in duration. The FTC determined this to be misleading advertising and imposed a corrective and public disclosure order, along with a penalty of 16 million won and a fine of 5.5 million won.

Must It and Trenbe were also found to have violated consumer rights by placing unlawful restrictions on order cancellations.

Both platforms denied order withdrawals, citing reasons such as size mismatches and promotional pricing, and in cases of defective or incorrectly delivered products, they limited returns to within seven days — a time frame shorter than the three months (or 30 days from the date of discovery) permitted under the e-Commerce Act. The FTC issued corrective and public disclosure orders to both companies, along with fines of 2.5 million won each.

Additionally, Trenbe and Balaan were found to have omitted key product information — including the manufacturer, country of origin and importer — on items sold through their platforms, preventing consumers from making fully informed purchases. The FTC issued corrective orders and levied fines of 1 million won on each platform.

“This action corrects unfair practices in the luxury retail platform market, such as misleading time-limited discounts and hindrances to order cancellations,” an FTC official said. “We expect it will help ensure that consumers can make informed and reasonable purchasing decisions.”

"The agency will continue monitoring the online platform market and respond strictly to any further violations of advertising or e-commerce laws," added the official.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]