Draft talk:KPOP Photocards

Photocards are a type of merchandise common within the KPOP industry and are pieces of cardboard with the artists face(s) on them. They are commonly included in albums or are sold separately as official or unofficial pieces of merchandise either made by the artists companies or by fans. They come in a range of quantities and sizes but most commonly 55 x 85 mm, similar to other types of trading cards such as Pokémon Trading Card Game and Baseball cards.

Origins
The first KPOP photocards was seen in the 2007 TVXQ Japanese EP named Summer (Tohoshinki EP), which was then followed by Girls' Generation who were the first KPOP idols to release photocards in Korea. In 2010, Girls’ Generation released their second full album Oh! (Girls' Generation album), which included one random photocard out of nine photocards of the members. This was a decision made by the groups company, SM Entertainment, in hopes to raise sales. Luckily, their plan succeeded and has led to almost all companies to follow their lead and include photocards in their albums.

Industry
Since then, many people have been collecting, trading and even selling photocards, one of the most expensive auctions being 3,213 USD of a photocard of a member of BTS named Jungkook. Since collecting your favourite member or groups photocard has become such a trend, many people have been profiting by selling the cards they don't want for a high, sometimes unreasonable, price. Even as far as pricing the card based on the members popularity, even if they are in the same group[www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5TUK-9XeY].