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These days, many people celebrate their acquaintances' birthdays through KakaoTalk. A list of people who have a birthday pops up and there is a gift button right next to it, so you can easily convey your feelings. Kakao occupies 84.5% of that, and it was revealed that in the process, it earned tens of billions of won in gift refund fees alone.



Correspondent Kim Ki-tae.



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A person who receives a gift through KakaoTalk may choose to refund for various reasons, such as an unwanted gift or the expiration date of the gift being forgotten.



However, in this case, you cannot get a refund immediately, and only 90% of the purchase amount can be returned after 90 days of validity.



Kakao will take 10% as a refund fee.



[Lee Sang-soo / Seodaemun-gu, Seoul: We got it. You may still have what you received. This is an e-coupon, so why do they set a time limit and put restrictions on them?] Over the



past 5 years, Kakao returned 717.6 billion won in refunds for gift-giving services.



It is estimated that the company made up to KRW 70 billion in profits from refund fees alone.



Due to the nature of the gift-giving service, it is estimated that it is unlikely that a buyer who can get a full refund requested a refund, but Kakao did not disclose how much of it.



According to the Fair Trade Commission's terms and conditions, "The right to request a refund shall be the final holder of the new type of gift certificate."

In other words, it is stipulated that the recipient of the gift has the right to a refund.



Nevertheless, Kakao stated in the terms and conditions that the buyer has 100% of the refund before the expiration date and the receiver has 90% of the refund after the expiration date.



[Rep. Yoon Gwan-seok/Democratic Party (National Assembly Political Affairs Committee): Regarding new type gift certificates such as gifting, system improvement and corrective action are needed so that there is no difference in the interpretation of the standard terms and conditions of the Fair Trade Commission.]



Divide the refund rights around 90 days In response to the criticism that the provision was arbitrary, Kakao stated that although there is no specific basis, it is setting an expiration date to prevent misuse of cash.



(Video coverage: Park Hyun-chul, video editing: Yoon Tae-ho)