Wemakeprice, Korea's social commerce pioneer, collapsed with ₩5.8 trillion in damages

Wemakeprice was one of Korea's pioneering social commerce platforms, launched in 2010 alongside TMON and Coupang. It grew rapidly through aggressive marketing and discount-based customer acquisition, building a large user base in Korea's competitive e-commerce market. The platform connected sellers with consumers through time-limited deals and group-buying discounts.

In July 2024, Wemakeprice suffered a massive settlement delay crisis — the platform could not pay sellers for goods already sold, triggering a cascade of consumer refund claims, seller protests, and regulatory investigations. The company applied for corporate rehabilitation but failed to secure a buyer. Negotiations with Genesis BBQ and other potential acquirers collapsed. On 10 November 2025, the Seoul Bankruptcy Court declared Wemakeprice bankrupt.

The collapse left over 100,000 victims — small sellers who were never paid and consumers who had prepaid for undelivered orders — with total damages estimated at ₩5.8 trillion (approximately $4.4 billion). The failure was widely seen as the symbolic end of the 'open market' era in Korean e-commerce, caused by years of operating losses masked by ever-extending seller payment cycles.