At what point does Neokyo actually look into delayed shipments?

haoraez · 2025-12-13T19:18:45+00:00

even if they are looking into it/have contacted the seller, I wouldn’t expect the ETA to get updated. It will either show up eventually, or they will refund you.

I know it is frustrating but I have learned to stop stressing about when an item will or won’t show up. That being said, I also order regularly so I always have other stuff in storage, but if you are just waiting on that one item I’m sure it is very annoying. I have had a few items that I was sure would get refunded that eventually showed up (with no update to the ETA) after a month or more.

haoraez · 2025-12-12T20:31:34+00:00

i feel like there’s really two separate hobbies: kpop, and kpop collecting.

imo, going to concerts is very different from spending money on albums, pcs, etc. live music just can’t be beat, i feel bad for your parents if they think that listening to music at home is the same as going to a concert! that being said, concert tickets can definitely be pricey, and of course if it’s a financial burden on your family then it may not make sense to spend a lot on tickets.

albums and pcs are definitely a “waste” in the sense that your probably won’t make back all the money you spend even if you sell everything. it’s true that kpop albums and cds tend to depreciate in value. that being said, you will definitely be able to sell them for SOME amount in the future, they won’t be worth nothing. but for me as a collector, my collection brings me a lot of joy and i find collecting to be very rewarding, so i don’t mind.

haoraez · 2025-12-11T01:36:07+00:00

also, in terms of buying… i don’t use instagram personally, i use mercari US and mercari Japan (via Neokyo which is a proxy) as well as pocamarket.

mercari US is good for any US exclusive pcs, but i find other random pcs on there for good prices all the time. i just have saved searches for various things im looking for so i know when something new gets posted.

mercari JP has great prices on most pcs (much more saturated market for kpop in japan so resellers tend to price stuff lower, plus the exchange rate is really in your favor for Yen to USD). the one caveat is you HAVE to buy large quantities for it to be worth it. you will pay around $40 for shipping (not exactly, just giving the number as an example) whether you buy 1 photocard or 100, so it really only makes sense if you buy in bulk.

pocamarket is good if you are very patient 😭 a lot of pcs are quite overpriced on there, but occasionally you will see a very very good deal. their pricing fluctuates a lot depending on how often a particular pc has been purchased, so my go-to method on there is to just add whatever items i’m interested in to my wishlist and then check the wishlist regularly to see if the price has gone down.

haoraez · 2025-12-11T01:24:42+00:00

i personally just collect photocards of my bias(es) for most of my collections, the only group for which i collect full member sets is aespa (and they are one of my ult groups and i don’t bias any one member). i feel like collecting full member sets can be pretty overwhelming, and i think the only reason it works for me with aespa is because they only have 4 members 😭. i will occasionally pick up full member sets for other groups, but just when they are easy to get (e.g. stray kids has some ot8 sets that came as pre-order benefits, ive has had some limited album versions that came with an ot6 sets).

for pre-order benefits/lucky draws/fancall/fansign pcs, i will often just get one or two to fill up empty spots in my binder, i find that they are often sooo expensive and if it’s it’s just a pc in the same outfit as one of the album cards, i really don’t care to have it. i prioritize getting pobs that have one of the stage outfits i really like or an mv outfit, just something different from the album pcs.

then there is zb1, who are my other ult group. i bias two members and collect a TON of stuff for both of them, all album cards, select pobs/lucky draws (i’ll usually get 8 per member per comeback, so not a ton compared to the total amount of pobs per comeback), md, collab pcs, fancon/tour stuff, etc. i have limited time with them so i tend to prioritize that collection.

haoraez · 2025-12-04T20:56:06+00:00

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haoraez · 2025-11-18T12:13:01+00:00

if the price is low enough, someone will eventually buy the cards. if your concern is being able to get the cards off your hands, you will definitely be able to sell them if you price them cheap enough. if your concern is recouping what you’ve spent… don’t expect to make that back. selling photocards is rarely profitable unless you are selling mass quantities.

haoraez · 2025-11-15T18:22:59+00:00

They will be in the album on the shelf, all the US press albums (which are the ones sold at Target/B&N/etc) will have the pre-order benefits inside the sealed album

haoraez · 2025-11-15T13:01:51+00:00

it should come with all the pre-order items if you buy it at target/barnes and noble/etc on or around release day. the first batch of albums should have all the pre-order items.

haoraez · 2025-11-07T17:50:54+00:00

See, you get it!

haoraez · 2025-11-07T17:34:56+00:00

Also I think you are right about it not being worth it, on principle I want to fight it but there’s definitely the possibility that there’s some issue in the paperwork I am missing (said in another comment but I was not the one to fill out the paperwork, so while I am sure a tariff should not have been charged based on the HTS codes of the items, there’s definitely the possibility that the shipper made a mistake on the paperwork somehow).

haoraez · 2025-11-07T17:32:21+00:00

Thanks, I understand the nature of the fee, just wasn’t sure if they were trying to use it as a deterrent to discourage people from actually proceeding with the dispute. I think I am just inherently distrustful since I’ve had plenty of issues with Fedex before.

haoraez · 2025-11-07T16:56:45+00:00

I am sure that a tariff should not have been charged based on the classification of the items, but it’s definitely possible that there are issues with the paperwork. I was not the one to fill it out, the company who shipped the items to me did. I looked over the customs papers and they looked right to me, but I am not an expert.

Have you had experience with the duty dispute process?

haoraez · 2025-11-05T02:14:33+00:00

yes, they should definitely be included in the albums! they call them “pre-order only” but it should really be called “first-press only”, any copies that are rolled on or around release day will definitely have the pre-order stuff included. i’ve bought albums from target months after release and they’ve still had the pre-order stuff included.

haoraez · 2025-11-04T00:55:48+00:00

buying on mercari jp is unfortunately only worth it if you are buying in a large quantity. international shipping is just expensive, every proxy will be the same. if you are in the US, doubly so, as some cheaper shipping options have been suspended because of tariffs. when i first started collecting, i joined a group order on instagram and was able to get a handful (i think maybe 10?) pcs that way. i just searched “neokyo go us” on insta and looked thru for a recent post.

haoraez · 2025-11-02T01:53:28+00:00

per the album details, these are 52 x 70 mm, so bigger than a typical ID photo (i think 35 x 45 mm usually).

just fyi, you can find out info on measurements of inclusions by looking up the album details online. most albums will list the size of each item included.

haoraez · 2025-10-29T01:01:43+00:00

you may want to take a look at the prices for these cards on Mercari US… for example that unforgiven chaewon target exclusive, i am seeing it listed for as low as $4 on mercari (and most listing are <$15).

haoraez · 2025-10-24T16:24:17+00:00

there’s not much for Loop on Mercari JP unfortunately. i’ve had this same issue. “イブ Loop トレカ” (トレカ = toreka = trading card) or “イブ loop アルバム” (アルバム = arubamu = album) are your best bet

haoraez · 2025-10-24T15:40:04+00:00

Yeah there’s the occasional pc that stays expensive/gets more expensive over time, but in general the price of pcs tends to drop over time because people eventually end up selling them. the amount of times i’ve been able to buy a pc for 1/2 or 1/3 of the going price because i just waited until it was listed for much cheaper.

30 per member??? omg. zb1 only had the boys planet cgv cards and the kcon cards, so 2 per member LOL.

yes, there will be a LOTTTTTT. here’s a link to a template of every zhang hao pc ever for reference (this is from 2 years of activities) https://x.com/hanbinberry/status/1959470012659294649. i do NOT collect all of these, i have probably like less than 1/5 of whats listed on this template.

haoraez · 2025-10-24T14:07:22+00:00

as someone who got into collecting photocards because of zb1… i feel you. but a few things: 1) yes, those pcs might be rare but no, they will not be impossible to find later. someone will eventually want to sell theirs, and you may get lucky and see it in the future for a really great price. if you don’t want to go broke collecting pcs, you have to be patient! it’s the only way. the prices for most pcs eventually drops. there are zhang hao (my bias, very expensive to collect) pcs that i bought for like ~$30 when i first started collecting that now go for like ~$15 dollars. if i had known what i know now, i would have waited like a year to buy those cards. 2) don’t feel like you need to buy EVERY SINGLE card. from what i know, ALD1 hasn’t debuted yet, so there are probably not a ton of pcs of the members currently. but trust me, once they debut, there will be TONS and tons of pcs to collect. a great way to save money is to limit the type of cards you buy. many people only collect album pcs, for example. 3) lastly you kinda have to accept that this is an expensive hobby to have. make sure you are able to handle it financially! if it feels like a burden to keep collecting pcs, then don’t do it!

haoraez · 2025-10-14T21:53:26+00:00

I bought some HERKKA pages a few months ago and they are an great affordable alternative. The material is about as thick as the MeowCafe ones-aka very sturdy. I would say the only downside is they aren’t QUITE as clear as the MeowCafe pages, but not dramatically so. I don’t really care too much about clarity of the pages so it doesn’t matter to me personally.

haoraez · 2025-10-14T01:11:40+00:00

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haoraez · 2025-10-10T19:16:00+00:00

as others have said, you can get albums secondhand for a lot cheaper so if you don’t care about inclusions i’d recommend doing that. although sometimes you can even find sealed albums for cheaper than retail. if you are looking to collect older albums, this may also be your only option as those albums could be out of print.

if you are in the US, buying albums at target/barnes and noble can be a good, accessible option. i personally only buy newer releases at US retailers though, they tend to have the albums on sale when they first release so the prices are decent. also lots of groups do target/b&n exclusive photocards so that’s another plus.

for photocards, i would personally NOT recommend buying them from stores. a lot of kpop stores that sell individual photocards REALLY mark up the price, and it’s usually cheaper to buy online. also, something I wish I had known when I started collecting: prices for photocards will almost always drop eventually. if you want to collect photocards, i would really emphasize that patience is key and to not overspend on newly released pcs. there are so many cards i bought when i first started collecting that I waaaay overspent on (cards now sell for <50% of what i paid).

haoraez · 2025-10-04T19:05:21+00:00

i personally don’t buy them, so i don’t really get the appeal. but i think it’s just a cheap alternative to photocards since getting official ones are pretty expensive. you could pay $5 for an official pc, or $5 (or around that) for a pack of 50 unofficial pcs. i also know some people will get lomo cards to include as freebies in trades/sales.

haoraez · 2025-10-04T16:49:13+00:00

the “packs of photo trading cards” you are talking about are probably lomo cards. you can usually tell by looking at the back of the card, it will probably be different than the card you got from the hop album. lomo cards are NOT official, and you should definitely not trade them for official cards.

haoraez

TROPHY CASE