Stationery franchise to terminate contract with store that sold ping-pong paddles to middle schooler at 7 times market price

A stationery store in Dongtan, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, that sparked public outrage after selling two ping-pong paddles to a middle school student for 140,000 won — far above the 15,000 to 20,000 won ($11 to $15) they typically fetch online — and then refusing a refund is set to lose its franchise license.

Alpha Stationery's head office has begun termination proceedings against the franchisee, according to industry sources and media reports Tuesday. The store is eligible for immediate contract termination because more than 10 years have passed since it first signed its franchise agreement.

The franchisor moved to terminate the contract after the controversy spread to other franchise locations, which began receiving complaints and suffering reputational damage.

The dispute came to light when a post appeared on the online community Bobaedream, in which a parent described how their middle school child had paid 140,000 won for two unpriced ping-pong paddles at a stationery store in Dongtan.

According to the parent, identified only as A, their first-year middle school child paid by card for two ping-pong paddles with no price tags, a ping-pong ball and a ballpoint pen, and only discovered the total charge of 149,800 won after receiving the receipt. The two paddles alone accounted for 140,000 won of that amount.

After seeing the card payment notification, A looked up the product online and found the same paddles selling for about 15,000 to 20,000 won each. Three nearby stationery stores were selling them for 22,000 to 30,000 won apiece.

A contacted the store just 17 minutes after the purchase to request a refund, but the owner refused, citing a notice printed at the bottom of the receipt stating that sporting goods could not be exchanged or returned.

"My child is a minor who has little sense of money and assumed the price was normal because there were no price tags displayed," A said, adding that the store had charged an unreasonably high price without displaying any pricing information and had not even posted a notice about the no-refund policy for sporting goods.

The controversy intensified once it emerged that the store was an Alpha Stationery franchise. The head office said the paddles were not products it supplied, but determined that the store had set an excessively high price and recommended a refund. When the backlash began affecting other franchisees, the company ultimately decided to terminate the franchise agreement.