Self-employed business owners and delivery riders clash over delivery-app fee regulation: “Assess the impact of regulation first”

[Financial News] Tensions are escalating between self-employed business owners and delivery riders over the introduction of a fee cap that would limit total costs, including delivery-app brokerage fees and delivery charges, to 15% of the order amount. Business owners are calling for legislation to reduce the burden of platform costs, while riders are pushing back, saying that across-the-board regulation that also caps delivery charges could cut their income. As concerns mount over a “balloon effect,” in which the cost burden of regulation is shifted to other market participants, calls are growing for a thorough assessment of the impact on the entire delivery ecosystem before the policy is introduced.
Participants at a forum held at the National Assembly Building in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th, titled “Legislation for Delivery Platforms to Protect Self-Employed Business Owners,” said they supported the legislative aim of easing business owners’ cost burden, while emphasizing that the effects on all market participants—including consumers, riders and platform operators—should be considered comprehensively.
Lee Seung-min, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University School of Law, said a plan to cap brokerage fees and delivery charges at 15% of the order amount did not reflect the actual cost structure.
Lee said, “For a 10,000-won order, payment processing fees and delivery charges have to be covered while keeping costs within the 15% cap. If the delivery fee paid by the business owner is 3,000 won, that already exceeds 30%.” He added, “The current brokerage fee is 7.8% to begin with, so a 15% cap is meaningless, and a 15% limit that includes delivery charges is impossible.”
He explained that even when restaurants choose restaurant-managed delivery, fewer than 1% directly manage their own delivery staff, leaving many business owners with no choice but to rely on delivery agencies. The point was that simply reducing their use of delivery apps or switching to another delivery method would not be enough to ease the cost burden.
He also questioned whether the government needs to introduce direct price controls in the delivery-app market. 
Lee argued, “Directly setting fees comes close to being unconstitutional, and unnecessary price controls distort the market and cause social losses.” He continued, “Unfair trade issues can be addressed under existing laws, and other problems can be resolved through market mechanisms,” proposing measures such as lowering barriers to entry to encourage competition, penalizing collusion and disclosing information.
Some said it would be necessary to verify whether a fee cap would actually improve the earnings of self-employed business owners.
Hong Yeon-woo, a professor in the Department of Economics at Chungnam National University (CNU), analyzed that restaurant earnings could actually fall if losses from a decline in delivery orders exceeded the benefits restaurants gained from lower fees. Citing the U.S. case of a 15% cap on delivery-app fees, Hong said restaurant profits increased, but overall social welfare, including that of consumers and platforms, was found to have fallen by 8%.
Kim Dae Jong, a professor in the School of Business Administration at Sejong University, also said, “Artificially controlling prices does not fundamentally solve market problems; it can undermine the market’s ability to set prices autonomously and cause new side effects.”
There was also a call for a regulatory impact assessment analyzing the actual cost structure of South Korea’s delivery market to be conducted before any regulation is introduced.
Ha Myeong-jin, secretary-general of the Korea Online Shopping Association, said, “Policy outcomes should be assessed not only by the extent to which nominal fee rates are reduced, but also by whether the profits actually retained by small businesses improve on a stable basis.”
Some on the self-employed business owners’ side also said that a range of costs affecting their actual business burden—not just delivery-app fees—should be considered together.
Go Gyeong-jin, president of the Korea Association of Businesses Listed on Delivery Platforms, cited labor and ingredient costs as key factors lowering restaurant owners’ operating profit margins, emphasizing the need for comprehensive support that also takes rent and financing costs into account.
Shim Jae-hwan, president of the Korean Competition Law Association, said, “Discussions about delivery platforms should take into account the perspectives of all the different groups involved in the ecosystem, including not only listed businesses and consumers but also delivery workers and platform operators.”

[email protected] Jang Min-kwon Reporter