How much more does a US shopper pay for the same K-beauty product depending on where they buy it?
As of September 21, 2026, the same K-beauty product cost a US shopper 27.3% more on average at its highest-priced US-reachable retailer than at its lowest — $7.34 per product — across 5,781 products compared at 18 retailers.
- Average price spreadLowest vs. highest listing, same product, same day
- 27.3%
- Average overpayPer product, highest listing minus lowest
- $7.34
- Products comparedCarried by two or more US-reachable retailers
- 5,781
- Retailers trackedUS-reachable, domestic and international
- 18
- Products varying by more than 20%
- 3,752 (64.9%)
- Products varying by more than 40%
- 1,409 (24.4%)
Computed September 21, 2026 at 14:10 UTC. Recomputed daily. This is observed spread across retailers, not a claim about any brand's pricing policy.
How spread is distributed across brands
Number of brands whose average spread falls in each band, out of 96 brands with enough coverage to measure.
| Average spread | Brands |
|---|---|
| Under 20% | 1 |
| 20–30% | 28 |
| 30–40% | 49 |
| 40% or more | 18 |
How this is measured
Spread is (highest − lowest) ÷ highest for one product on one day, across the retailers carrying it, then averaged across products. Only verified, deep-linked listings re-checked within the last 7 days count. The full method, and what we excluded, is at method & exclusions.
Cite this page
The K-Beauty Plug. The US K-Beauty Record: K-Beauty Price Index. Edition of September 21, 2026. https://www.kbeautyplug.com/price-index/2026-09-21. Accessed .
The US K-Beauty Record: Shipping & duty terms · Method & exclusions · US K-beauty imports
Past editions
Every edition keeps a permanent, dated address so a citation still points at the figure that was quoted. Editions are published only on days that pass our quality checks, so some dates have none.