Seoul City to Issue Additional 50 Billion Won in Metropolitan Seoul Love Gift Certificates with 7% Discount Sale

Second issuance worth 50 billion KRW in two sessions on the 28th morning and afternoon... Usable at all franchise stores in 25 autonomous districts

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 28th that it will issue the ‘Seoul Love Gift Certificate (Metropolitan)’ which can be purchased at a 7% discount to ease the burden on citizens amid high inflation. Following the first issuance worth 25 billion won, which sold out in just over an hour due to strong public response, the second issuance will double the scale to 50 billion won.

According to Seoul City on the 24th, the Seoul Love Gift Certificate (Metropolitan) to be issued this time can be conveniently used at affiliated stores in all 25 autonomous districts, and can be easily purchased up to 400,000 won per person per month through the Seoul Pay Plus app (Seoul Pay+).

The second issuance of the gift certificates (Metropolitan) will be conducted by dividing purchase times according to the birth year (the second digit of the resident registration number) to prevent simultaneous access congestion: odd numbers in the morning (10:00 AM to 2:00 PM) and even numbers in the afternoon (2:00 PM to 6:00 PM). The issuance amount is 25 billion won each, totaling 50 billion won. After 6:00 PM, if there is any remaining amount available for sale, anyone can purchase regardless of odd or even numbers. Purchases can be made not only through Seoul Pay Plus but also via T-money Pay, Shinhan SOL, and Money Tree.

The gift certificates (Metropolitan) can be purchased by consumers in units of 10,000 won at a 7% discount, with a monthly purchase limit of 400,000 won per person and a total holding limit of 1,000,000 won. Since the monthly purchase limit is 400,000 won, if a person purchased the full 400,000 won in the first issuance, they cannot purchase in the second issuance; if they purchased 300,000 won in the first issuance, they can purchase up to the remaining limit of 100,000 won in the second issuance. Unused gift certificates can be fully canceled regardless of the period, and for partially used certificates, refunds are available if more than 60% has been spent.

Additionally, to enable citizens to purchase the gift certificates (Metropolitan) quickly and without inconvenience, the city has more than doubled the server capacity compared to the first issuance, increasing the simultaneous transaction processing capacity from 200 transactions per second to 1,000 transactions per second, a fivefold increase.

Meanwhile, to ensure stable system operation on the issuance day, the following services will be temporarily suspended for two hours starting 30 minutes before issuance: Seoul Pay Plus membership registration and affiliated store search during the morning odd-number period (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM) and afternoon even-number period (1:30 PM to 3:30 PM). Currently, the Seoul Love Gift Certificate purchase and payment platform ‘Seoul Pay Plus’ has 1 million users, and the number of registered affiliated stores reaches 280,000.

Kang Nam-tae, head of the Small Business Platform Division at Seoul City, said, “We will carefully ensure that citizens can purchase the gift certificates quickly and stably during the second issuance, so that they can use them conveniently, revitalizing the neighborhood economy while also easing citizens’ inflation burdens.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.