Have you ever felt the need to start a collection of official merchandise of your favorite idols but didn't know where to start? Well here's the perfect page for you! I myself have began a collection of both albums and photocards recently, and I've accumulated a fair amount of merchandise. I started my own blog to update you guys on my collection (sophiaskpopcollection.tumblr.com).
1) Make sure you are financially capable of collecting. Collecting albums and/or photocards can be quite an expense, especially if your group has been around for a while and have released a lot of albums and such. 2) Get a good idea of what it is you are collecting. Are you going to collect albums, photocards, or both? Are you going to be collecting for only one member of a group, one whole group, your five favorite groups, or anything you can get your hands on? Are you looking for signed albums, unsigned albums, or either one?
3) Find a place where you're going to store your collection. For photocards, you can use a binder with 9-pocket sleeves that are about the size of a regular photocard with a few sleeves with pockets of bigger sizes. You don't absolutely need a binder, especially when you're just starting, but once you have quite a good amount of photocards, you're going to need to store them somewhere, and a binder is the most common place for them among kpop fans. For albums, you can get a completely new shelf for them. You can use any kind, including a bookshelf, wall shelves, or even drawers in a dresser that aren't being used.
Image not property of Kpop Addiction
4) Find places to buy the merchandise. There are many places to go with this, whether you want to buy your stuff straight out of the packaging or from other fans who may have used it but have kept it in good condition. Many collectors use Ebay to buy their content for their collection from other fans. Some fans have started blogs for trading cards of a certain group or group member, some of which will be listed at the bottom of this page. There are also Facebook groups, forum discussions, and a lot of other reliable places to buy your stuff from others. If you want to buy an album directly from a website, there are a lot that will count your purchase towards music shows and such. However, if you want a specific photocard, you will either have to buy it from other fans, or buy the album (or whatever the photocard comes with) and hope you're lucky.
Ebay screenshot of kpop photocards for sale. Not property of Kpop Addiction.
5) Do your research on what is safe. There are, as unlikely as it may seem, scammers out there, even in the kpop merchandise business. If you're buying anything from other fans, make sure that it's safe. If you pay them through PayPal, make sure they send you an invoice rather than paying them through Friends and Family. You can find lists of people who have been known to scam people in this field, and a few will be listed below. 6) Enter contests! There are a bunch of different contests hosted by kpop music programs, festivals, and more. Some contests are pure luck of the draw, and some you have to work for. An example of a luck contest is on After School Club, where they pick one Twitter user who wins a signed album that the group/artist is promoting. An example of a contest where you can win it by working hard is a contest on the KCONUSA Jammer site. There, I won a signed Teen Top album by sharing the trailer for The Admiral! 7) Organize it! Make your collection look pretty so you can show it off to everyone else. You can put up YouTube videos of your collection, start blogs updating people on what you have gathered in your collection, or just show it off to your kpop-loving friends who come to visit!