If you are a Kpop fan, you most probably already know what I am going to talk about. However, I still want to vent as this topic is really bothering me.

Kpop resellers pricing photocards and merchandise based on member’s popularity.

I am going to use BTS products as an example, as it is something that I am invested to myself and is easier to show the evidence. I took screenshots of random listings on eBay to illustrate my point. It is not intended as a direct attack on any sellers.

Trading and selling photocards of Kpop idols is part of being a Kpop fan. Preordering your fav’s albums, group orders, special editions, lucky draws - that all requires time and money. Sometimes a lot of money. It is only natural that if you buy multiple copies of the same album and end up with duplicate photo cards, you would want to trade or sell extras. (Myself included!) Who doesn’t want to recover at least some of the money spent.

However, some sellers do not just sell their duplicates. They intentionally set prices based on member’s popularity. With BTS, the top seller is Jungkook. His photo cards are always overpriced not just by a couple of dollars, but by dozens and hundreds (if it is a special or limited card).

Look at the prices of Sowoozoo photocards.

Sowoozoo JK photocards are about 20 CAD and the limited photo card is over 50 CAD (from a special set).

It is not only JK who is usually overpriced, but also Jimin and Taehyung (maknae line). Compared to them hung line (Namjoon, Jin, Suga, Jhope) are very cheap.

Examples of prices for JIn’s Sowoozoo photo cards.

Sowoozoo photo cards, just like all other concert merchandise and fancon photo cards, are no longer on sale on Weverse, but can still be purchased at other Kpop stores.

However, it is a whole different story when it comes to limited photocards that come as a pre-order benefit or lucky draw event. Albums with those cards are sold out in minutes, and later are resold at crazy prices.

Jin’s lucky draw photocard from Powerstation is priced 7 times more than a regular photocard.

Here is another listing with Butter lucky draw photo cards.

Suga’s lucky draw photocard is priced at 76 CAD. Which is almost 5 times more than a Sowoozoo PC (I saw them priced at around 16 CAD).

And yes, as you can see even older BTS members are not priced equally with Jin and Namjoon being priced the lowest (and it honestly breaks my heart when I think about it).

But then there is maknae line. Jimin and Taehyung are usually priced in a similar way, from what I have seen.

Jimin lucky draw photocard priced OVER 250 CAD. — Jimin lucky draw photocard priced **OVER 250 CAD.**

Over 250 CAD. Almost 200 USD. This is a crazy price for a piece of plastic.

Oh wait. There is Jungkook.

Jungkook’s lucky draw photo card for a whooping 300 CAD.

Excuse me? Almost 300 CAD (230 USD) for JK photocard versus Suga’s card for 76 CAD (60 USD)?? That is almost 4 times the price of Suga’s card, which is not cheap to begin with.

I understand that you can argue that international fans have no access to some Korean stores without a Korean shipping address (this is what the proxy services are for) or that they have no time to research and find ways how to buy those albums from official Kpop stores (have you heard of Google?), etc. And it is great if you are able to spend 300 bucks on a piece of plastic with your favourite idol. But very few people can! And those who are able to afford paying, they only feed that crazy greedy market. Making the rest of the fans sad because they can not collect their biases.

Look, I am speaking from experience. I am collecting Jungkook and Yoongi photocards (although I keep all members if I pull others - I am very OT7) and it pains me that if I can sometimes splurge on Suga’s photocards, I will never be able to afford JK special photocards. And even if I could, I would not do it. Because I find it more reasonable to spend that money on buying actual albums.

As an example. I have spent less than the price of that one Jungkook photocard to purchase Butter Lucky draw CDs from Cokodive. I ordered 3 sets, one from M2U, Powerstation, and Soundwave. Each set came with 3 different lucky draw photo cards. Therefore, I purchased 9 unique cards (no duplicates) for the price of 1. (I actually have an unboxing video on my YT channel of me reacting to my pulls.)

And that was a lot of money because Cokodive sell at a higher price than Weverse or other respective stores.

I am sure that many fans are already aware of this issue, but I still felt the need to vent as it is really bothering me. It became even more event to me, when I started selling photo cards on eBay and my website, as I price every card equally, and received several positive comments about my pricing from buyers.

I am a fan who loves BTS (and other groups, but I use BTS as an example here) and all their members equally. I have my biases, but I will never overprice or under price a member only because of the popularity. It hurts to think that some members are not as popular as others. And they are, unfortunately, aware of that. All of BTS members are extremely talented and hardworking people. They deserve equal love and support. Overpricing and member pricing FREE album inclusions and LUCKY draws is just feeding off desperate fans.

I advise all new Kpop fans to be careful when swept by the need to collect your bias asap, and not to give in to those prices. Stay patient and positive - I am sure you will find what you are looking for at a reasonable price!

💜