〈Anchor〉
It is Friday, time for Friendly Economy with reporter Han Jiyeon. Han, what do you have for us today (the 18th)?
〈Reporter〉
A 72 billion won scale of metropolitan Seoul Love Gift Certificates, which can be used at affiliate stores across all 25 districts in Seoul, will be released on a first-come, first-served basis starting at noon today.
These certificates cannot be purchased at stores, but only through a dedicated app called Seoul Pay Plus.
Those born in even-numbered years can make purchases from noon to 2 p.m., while those born in odd-numbered years can buy them from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., with 36 billion won allocated for each group.
The maximum purchase limit per person today is up to 500,000 won.
If you happen to miss out during these hours, any remaining stock can be purchased after 6 p.m. regardless of your birth year.
The discount benefits are quite substantial.
First, you can buy them at a 5% discount, meaning if you purchase 100,000 won worth, you get it for 95,000 won. Furthermore, if you use them before the budget runs out, you receive a 2% refund—amounting to 2,000 won—back in gift certificates next month. Taking everything into account, your actual out-of-pocket cost is 93,000 won, which is 7,000 won cheaper.
The 2% refund will be deposited into the Seoul Pay Plus app on the 20th of next month.
This year's issuance scale has been nearly doubled compared to last year, reaching 280 billion won.
Because people are watching eagerly, 8 billion won worth of certificates released in advance on the 14th for those born in 1961 and earlier has already sold out.
〈Anchor〉
As you explained, there are many discounts, but when you actually try to use them, there seem to be many places that do not accept them.
〈Reporter〉
You can generally think of large-scale businesses as not accepting them.
This includes large supermarkets and some large cram schools.
One important distinction not to confuse is that apart from the metropolitan gift certificates being released now, there are also separate district-specific gift certificates sold by each autonomous district.
While district-specific certificates can only be used within that specific district, metropolitan certificates can be used at Seoul Love Gift Certificate affiliate stores across all 25 districts of Seoul, making them much more versatile.
However, you just need to remember that they cannot be used at large supermarkets, department stores, certain large prep schools with annual sales exceeding 3 billion won, and direct-managed stores of large corporate franchises.
For reference, district-specific gift certificates were also rolled out sequentially throughout this week, and the Gangnam Love Gift Certificates proved so popular that 9 billion won out of 39 billion won worth sold out within just 30 minutes of launch.
In particular, people looking to save on academy tuition and wedding expenses flocked to them.
Given that competition for today's metropolitan certificates is expected to be fierce, it is advisable to sign up for the Seoul Pay Plus app in advance.
You can check whether a store accepts the certificates in advance by using the Find Affiliate Stores feature in the app.
〈Anchor〉
Lastly, we have a story about counterfeit Chinese products. This is an issue that keeps coming up to an exhausting degree.
〈Reporter〉
Counterfeit Chinese goods disguised as famous cosmetics and health functional foods worth 4.5 billion won have been sold.
According to an announcement by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, a Korean broker conspired with Chinese manufacturers to sell fake cosmetics and health functional foods as genuine products on open markets like Coupang and Naver for about a year.
The counterfeit items bore the names of 28 famous cosmetic brands such as Celladix, Kahi, Beauty of Joseon, Estee Lauder, and Lancome, while the health functional foods were sold under probiotic brand names like Koraeundan and Denps.
Because the prices were only slightly lower than genuine products, it was easy for consumers to be fooled. When the confiscated items were compared with genuine ones, subtle differences were found in the packaging material, instruction manuals, container shapes, and color tones.
Actual成分 (成分) testing revealed that functional ingredients such as whitening agents or probiotics were completely absent.
Consumers spent their money without gaining any effects. Fortunately, no harmful substances were detected, but the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety explained that safety cannot be guaranteed since the products skipped quality testing altogether.
Out of a total of 100,984 items brought in, over 82,000 have already been distributed, and only the remainder was confiscated.
Criminal proceeds of 13 million won collected by the broker as delivery fees were confiscated, and the broker has been handed over to the prosecution.
When purchasing famous products, it is best to check whether it is an official seller first, and if something seems fake, inquire with the customer service center of the authentic brand.
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