Collecting photo cards (or photocards) is a popular hobby for Kpop fans. For many people, the most valuable item when buying an album or merch of a Kpop idol is not a CD or a useful item, but the idol's photocard that is randomly given out by the company.
For famous idols, rare photocards are popular. Of course, with the status of a top Kpop star in the world like BTS, their photocards are truly more valuable than all others. In particular, there is a set of BTS photocards that only the 12 luckiest fans out of millions of current fans have.
If you don't know about it, admire these rare "heritages" below:
Photocards have long become an indispensable collectible for any K-pop fan. In fact, photos of idols in their signature poses are limited in number, so only a small number of fans can get their hands on them.
Not only is it rare in quantity, but sometimes, a fan who owns a rare card can earn hundreds, even thousands of dollars when selling or exchanging with other fans. That shows what a real treasure photocards are for fans.
For example, this photo of Jungkook from 2014 caused a stir in the online community when the seller listed it for $700 on eBay. But it wasn't the most expensive photocard to appear on this site, netizens were even ѕнσ¢кed to learn that another Jungkook photocard was for sale for $1000 and sold out shortly after.
However, these card photos, although rare, are still sold in a certain amount and meanwhile, there are 12 polarioids released by OSEN in 2018 below are the rarest photos with only 12 ARMYs. lucky to own. These 12 BTS Polaroids were taken during BTS's release of Love Yourself, under OSEN's exclusive collaboration with the group. The beauty of the 12 Polaroids is unique and they are even hand-signed by the respective members.
These photocards were given back to fans at an Osen event and reportedly 12 unique ARMYs owned them. If you happen to be one of those 12 ARMYs, keep your prize! It's a unique piece of BTS history and it's so valuable, there's so much desire to get it.
If you don't own one of them yet, check out the precious photos revealed below:
Meanwhile, the topic of photocards has recently become a sensitive topic for management companies due to suspicions of taking advantage of fans' support to increase purchasing ability. Because of the random nature (each album has a photo of one member), fans often have to buy many albums to have a chance to get a photocard of their favorite member or a special limited edition photocard.
Understanding this, entertainment companies started releasing multiple versions of albums and randomly selling photocards in the albums to stimulate fans to buy. Although this was not a big problem in the past, the increasing number of versions and members caused fans to buy albums in huge quantities to increase their chances of receiving their favorite photocards.
For example, the idol group NCT. For NCT 2020's album, nearly 50 different types of photocards were released with the album. When entertainment companies abused this, consumers were enraged by the photocard sales tactic that allegedly "exploited the love of fans". As a result, the Fair Trade Commission had to initiate an investigation amid a growing number of complaints about overspending on photo cards.
HYBE has also received an investigation on this matter as they are the company with the highest album sales. Chief among them are BTS-related goods. From photo cards, merch to BTS albums, there's no denying that it has a huge appeal with fans and they are willing to spend hundreds, thousands of dollars on them, especially rare photocards.
