Service terms.
Updated October 20, 2026
Seoulside offers one-to-one Korean conversation and cultural exchange with Seoul-based Korean university students. Your account lets you share learning preferences, request lessons, and keep your learning records. Paid checkout is available only when the lesson-pack page explicitly shows it as open. Account creation is free.
Accounts and lesson requests
Signing up for updates or creating an account does not purchase a lesson or reserve a time. A submitted booking is a request. It becomes a confirmed session only after a tutor or interviewer is assigned and confirmation appears in your account. Availability depends on both participants’ schedules.
Request a Korean lesson at least 48 hours before your preferred start time. Our team aims to confirm it within 24 hours of your request. If we have not found a tutor by then, your request stays open and any reserved lesson credit stays with it while we discuss another time through chat. We will agree on a new time with you before changing your schedule. You can cancel an unconfirmed lesson request from your account and recover its reserved credit.
Research interviews are separate from Korean conversation lessons. Session details will identify which type you requested. You can cancel a request through your account where available, or contact us through the homepage chat to change it.
Lessons and prices
Conversation lessons last 40 minutes. We reserve 45 minutes in the tutor’s schedule to allow five minutes for the lesson record. Lessons take place on a Google Meet call with personal practice notes afterward.
Prices are in US dollars: $12 for a first conversation, $19 for one lesson, $72 for four lessons, and $136 for eight lessons. The $12 first-conversation offer may be purchased once per learner. Each pack is a one-time purchase, with no subscription or automatic renewal. The total is shown before you continue to PayPal. Your bank or payment provider may apply its own currency conversion charges.
When checkout is open, a completed payment adds the stated number of lesson credits. One credit reserves one 40-minute lesson request. Buying credits does not by itself confirm a particular time or tutor.
Cancellations and payment help
An unconfirmed Korean lesson request can be cancelled from your account at any time. Once a lesson is confirmed, you can cancel it from your account up to 24 hours before its scheduled start. In either case, its reserved credit is restored once. If there are fewer than 24 hours left, contact us through chat so our team can review your cancellation request. Sending a message does not automatically cancel the lesson or restore a credit. Research interviews can be cancelled from your account before their scheduled start.
If our team cancels a credited lesson, its reserved credit is restored. A restored credit stays in your account; it is not an automatic cash refund. If you have a connection problem or want a payment refund, contact us through chat so we can review the session and purchase. We do not currently set an automatic expiry date for lesson credits.
For a payment problem, include the purchase reference from your billing page and describe what happened. Please do not send card details or passwords. Refunds and payment reversals can remove the affected unused credits and temporarily pause new paid requests while our team reconciles the account. We will review any affected existing sessions. Your rights under applicable consumer law continue to apply.
Peer conversation, with clear expectations
Tutors are Seoul-based Korean university students whose enrollment and Seoul base must be checked before they teach. A tutor application or pending verification does not mean a tutor has been approved. Sample lesson topics illustrate the format. Website illustrations do not identify individual tutors or learners.
Your lesson preferences help our Codex assistant prepare a plan for the assigned tutor. Preparation is not instantaneous. The tutor reviews the plan and adapts it to the conversation; a generated plan does not confirm the session or replace the tutor’s judgment.
A newly assigned tutor can prepare using your learning profile, the current lesson plan, and relevant notes and tutor observations from earlier completed lessons. Your private self-reflections and tutor service reviews stay private to you and the operator. A tutor’s confirmation that they reviewed the materials is separate from confirming or completing a lesson.
SeoulSide is independent of the universities pictured or mentioned. Enrollment checks do not imply a university partnership or endorsement. A preferred university, major, or tutor cannot be guaranteed. Conversation practice does not promise admission, a visa, an exam result, or a particular level of fluency.
Your learning journey
Completed 40-minute conversation lessons appear in your private learning journal with the planned goal, available lesson notes, your reflection, and tutor observations. Tutor feedback may arrive after the call. A lesson opens for reflection after our operator confirms it was completed; research interviews, future lessons, and cancelled requests do not count.
Learning XP recognizes participation: 20 XP per eligible completed lesson, 5 XP for submitting a reflection, and 5 XP for marking its practice mission done. Each 100 XP opens the next participation level. Editing a reflection or giving a higher tutor rating earns no extra XP. These levels and achievements are personal progress markers, not a Korean proficiency certificate, a payment balance, or lesson credits, and they have no monetary value.
Your tutor rating and service comment are optional and private to you and the operator. Honest feedback, including a low rating, does not reduce your learning XP. Your tutor’s observations concern the tasks practiced in that lesson and may differ from your self-reflection.
Taking part
Provide accurate information, keep your account and private session links to yourself, and treat other participants respectfully. Harassment, discriminatory behavior, impersonation, and sharing someone else’s personal information are not acceptable and may lead to account suspension.
Calls are not recorded by default. Do not record or distribute a session without the other participant’s clear agreement. If a connection problem or inappropriate behavior interrupts a session, leave the call if needed and report it through chat.
Getting help
Questions and scheduling support are handled through the chat on our homepage and your signed-in Messages. Our operator can start a conversation linked to your booking to coordinate a time or discuss a cancellation. Check Messages for these updates and reply there. Chat messages do not themselves confirm, reschedule, or cancel a booking or issue a refund. Replies may be asynchronous. We explain material changes to service terms before they apply to a new purchase or activity.