Starting this August, the refund rate for expired mobile gift certificates exceeding 50,000 won, such as those used through KakaoTalk Gift, will increase from the current 90% to 95%.

According to the IT industry, Kakao announced the revision of its electronic financial transaction terms and conditions on June 22, which includes these changes.

This measure follows the reflection of the revised standard terms for new types of gift certificates announced by the Fair Trade Commission into the service.

Previously, when requesting a refund for an expired mobile voucher, consumers could only receive 90% of the purchase price in cash, regardless of the amount.

The remaining 10% was deducted as a fee for platform operation and refund processing, which has been a persistent source of consumer complaints.

Under the new terms, the 90% refund rate will be maintained for mobile gift certificates of 50,000 won or less, while the rate will be raised to 95% for higher-value certificates exceeding 50,000 won.

In addition, if users choose to receive a refund in the form of Kakao Shopping Points instead of cash, they can now convert the full 100% of the amount into points without any fee deductions.

Furthermore, a new clause regarding prior notification before the expiration of the statute of limitations has been established.

Under current law, the rights of users for mobile gift certificates or points expire after five years. Kakao will now be required to notify users of their remaining prepaid balance and the fact that it is set to expire before the statute of limitations takes effect.

When using payment services such as Kakao Pay, users can withdraw their consent or cancel their account registration through the service screen at any time before the withdrawal is processed and recorded in the account ledger.

(Photo: Screenshot of Kakao website, Yonhap News)