How to use Naver Shopping Connect — eligibility, getting your own link, how commission is set, disclosure text, and using it on Instagram

Most guides to Naver Shopping Connect are written by bloggers, for bloggers. If your main channels are Instagram or YouTube, the questions are different: links in captions don't click, and if you already use Coupang Partners, it's hard to tell where the two programs' rules split. This guide covers Naver Shopping Connect (쇼핑 커넥트) — the affiliate program of Naver, Korea's largest portal, for products sold on its Smartstore marketplace: eligibility and setup, getting your own link, how commission is set, and the disclosure text. Then it covers where to put the link on Instagram and what changes when you run it alongside Coupang Partners (the affiliate program of Coupang, Korea's largest online retailer).

Before you read: The service overview is based on Naver's official press release, Shopping Connect official launch (2025-07-23), the Naver Brand Connect creator page, and coverage of the beta announcement (Asia Today, 2025-03-13) (checked 2026-10). Items we couldn't find in official documents — the attribution window, commission ranges, payout timing — are marked "per public sources", and where sources disagree, we say so. Terms can change; the final reference is the terms and product information you see after logging in to Brand Connect. This guide is written by the UUP team, which builds link pages and Auto DM.

1. What Naver Shopping Connect is — an affiliate link inside Brand Connect

Shopping Connect is an affiliate service inside Brand Connect, Naver's creator partnership platform. Naver's press release describes it as a solution where "Smartstore sellers and creators collaborate to promote and sell products and share revenue based on sales." After a beta from April to June, it officially launched on July 23, 2025.

In short, it works like this:

1. A Smartstore seller lists products in Shopping Connect and sets the commission rate.
2. A creator picks products to feature and gets their own link.
3. When a visitor buys through that link, the creator receives commission at the rate the seller set.

Step 1 is the biggest difference from Coupang Partners. Coupang sets commission by category, but in Shopping Connect each seller sets it per product. So the same kind of product can carry different commission depending on the store.

2. Eligibility and setup — creator space and your own link

At launch, Naver said it was expanding eligibility so that "creators with social media channels can use Shopping Connect." Coverage of the beta announcement also described creators posting reviews with sales links "on the channels they're active on, such as Naver Blog, YouTube, and Instagram." In other words, you can start with an Instagram or YouTube channel, no blog required.

Per public sources, the setup steps are:

1. Go to Naver Brand Connect (brandconnect.naver.com) with your Naver account and start as a creator.
2. Create a creator space and register at least one channel you run. Public sources say you can register Naver Blog, Instagram, or YouTube. There's a step to confirm the channel is yours.
3. Accept the terms in the Shopping Connect menu. Public sources say there used to be thresholds such as blog neighbor counts, but many describe being able to apply without a separate pre-review since the official launch.
4. Pick a product, check its commission, and get your own link.

One thing to know: pasting the Smartstore product page URL as-is doesn't track sales. What identifies you as the referrer is the link you generated (public sources describe it as a short link starting with naver.me). If you're used to copying the address bar from product pages, change that habit here.

3. How commission is set — sellers decide per product

Some of this has an official source; some is confirmed only by public sources.

Three things to remember in practice:

• Check a product's current commission before you generate the link. Because sellers set it, the same product can change over time.
• Don't put commission rates in your content. If they change, your post becomes wrong.
• Rather than memorizing ranges from blog posts, go by the rate shown in the product list after you log in.

4. Disclosure text — the standard sentence and where it goes

Posts that include a Shopping Connect link need to disclose the financial relationship. The standard sentence widely used in public sources is this (Korean original, which partners check word for word, followed by a translation):

이 포스팅은 네이버 쇼핑 커넥트 활동의 일환으로, 판매 발생 시 수수료를 제공받습니다. (This post is part of Naver Shopping Connect activity, and I receive a commission when a sale occurs.)

The condition differs from the Coupang Partners sentence ("이에 따른 일정액의 수수료를" — "a set commission accordingly"). For Shopping Connect, it's "판매 발생 시" — "when a sale occurs."

Placement and wording follow Korea's Fair Trade Commission Guidelines on Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (amended, effective 2024-12-01). In summary:

• Put the disclosure in the title or at the start of the post. The "end of the post" option allowed before the amendment was removed.
• Disclosure only in comments, or only visible after tapping "more," is given as an example of improper display.
• Conditional or uncertain wording such as "may receive a commission" was added as an example of unclear display.

The source text and a placement table are in our Coupang Partners disclosure text guide — the partner differs, but the principles are the same.

Instagram creators tend to miss the places outside the caption:

• Captions and Reels: on the first line of the caption. For Reels, it's safer to add it as on-screen text in the video too.
• Link page: above the product list. On a UUP link page, the editor's notice bar is this spot. If a page has Shopping Connect links (naver.me, smartstore.naver.com, brand.naver.com) and no disclosure, the editor warns that affiliate activity needs a disclosure, and one check on Naver Shopping Connect inserts the standard sentence above. If you set the notice position to "below products," you get a warning that disclosures must sit above products.
• Auto DM: in UUP Auto DM, the subtitle of a product card is the disclosure spot. When you pick a product identified as a Shopping Connect link for a card button, the empty subtitle fills in with the same standard sentence automatically (you can delete or edit it), and when the subtitle is empty you can also tap a disclosure chip to insert it.

One point that's easy to mix up: the only disclosure UUP draws on public pages by itself is for Toss Shopping Sharelink (see Toss Sharelink). For Naver Shopping Connect, the disclosure appears only when you add it yourself with the notice-bar check or the subtitle chip.

If the page also uses Coupang Partners, check both programs in the notice bar. They're combined into one sentence:

이 포스팅은 쿠팡 파트너스 활동의 일환으로 이에 따른 일정액의 수수료를, 네이버 쇼핑 커넥트 활동의 일환으로 판매 발생 시 수수료를 제공받습니다. (This post is part of Coupang Partners activity, for which I receive a set commission, and part of Naver Shopping Connect activity, for which I receive a commission when a sale occurs.)

5. Using it on Instagram — links that don't click, and 3 places to put them

Instagram doesn't turn URLs in feed or Reels captions or comments into links. Paste a Shopping Connect link into a caption and it's just text; visitors have to long-press and copy it. So put links where they can be tapped.

Details for each spot are in How to put links in Instagram comments and Instagram story link sticker, and how to plan multiple profile links is in Instagram profile link layout.

Here's how to add a Shopping Connect product to UUP:

1. In Brand Connect, generate your link and copy it. UUP doesn't search products and create links automatically the way it does for Coupang — for Shopping Connect, you use the link you generated.
2. In the UUP editor, Add product → paste the link into the link field. Type the product name yourself.
3. Upload the photo separately. If you put a Smartstore product page URL in the image URL field, it's rejected as "a web page address, not an image." Save the photo and upload it with Select image, or right-click the photo (long-press on mobile), choose "Copy image address," and paste that.
4. In the notice bar, check the Naver Shopping Connect disclosure and set the position to top (or below profile / above products).
5. If you'll send the product by comment Auto DM, pick it for the card button in Auto DM — then confirm the subtitle disclosure filled in.

Link pages and up to 30 products are available on the free plan. Per-product click stats open on BASIC ($3.99/month) and up, and comment Auto DM on DM Pro ($8.49/month) and up. Clicks count taps on your UUP products, so they're measured differently from the Shopping Connect report — one is "how many people tapped," the other is "how many orders were credited." Pricing is on the pricing page.

6. What changes when you use it alongside Coupang Partners

If you already use Coupang Partners, you'll often mix the two. Here's where the rules split:

Three rules when they share a page:

• Disclose both programs. You can combine them into one sentence, but leaving one out means no disclosure by that program's standard.
• Don't swap links between products. Putting a Naver link where a Coupang product was (or vice versa) makes your click stats and reports hard to reconcile. Keep one link per product card.
• Read the reports separately. How to read Coupang's report is in How to read the Coupang Partners report. Shopping Connect results are on the Brand Connect dashboard.

FAQ

Can I use Naver Shopping Connect with only Instagram, no blog?

At launch, Naver expanded eligibility to "creators with social media channels," and the beta coverage listed blogs, YouTube, and Instagram as channels. You register Instagram as a channel in your creator space. Check the Brand Connect screen for the detailed registration conditions.

Can I just use the Smartstore product URL?

Sales won't be tracked. You need to generate your own link for the product in Brand Connect so you're identified as the referrer. Put that generated link in your UUP product card too.

Where should the Shopping Connect disclosure go?

In the title or at the start of the post. On Instagram, that's the first line of the caption; on a link page, above the product list; in Auto DM, in the card subtitle or the message text. The standard sentence is "이 포스팅은 네이버 쇼핑 커넥트 활동의 일환으로, 판매 발생 시 수수료를 제공받습니다." (This post is part of Naver Shopping Connect activity, and I receive a commission when a sale occurs.)

See also

• Coupang Partners × Instagram — sending links by Auto DM to comments
• Coupang Partners disclosure text — the recommended sentence, where it goes, and spots people miss
• How to put links in Instagram comments — 4 places that actually click
• How to use Toss Sharelink — sign-up, issuing links, when commission counts, and the disclosure line

You can build a link page for your Shopping Connect links right away at Start free.