I’ve seen quite a few posts asking about the basics for the Buy/Sell/Trade (BST) community, and wanted to create this post to hopefully help out. These are all things I’ve learned from personal experience, so please keep that in mind. I’m going to include some common questions/answers and phrases used, but please comment anything I may have missed! IF YOU ARE A MINOR: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check in with a parent/guardian before doing ANY of these actions below. Some parents may not feel comfortable with you giving out your home address to strangers, and it's good to have an adult monitoring just in case anything happens (scams, blackmail, grooming). Buying/Selling Questions: Q: I want to buy photocards, how/where do I do that? A: Depending on your location, there are a few options to buy individual photocards. There are websites like Poca Market, Mercari, and EBay to buy individual photocards. You can also buy photocards on social media like instagram, twitter, and reddit (r/kpopforsale). Buying through social media does come with a higher risk of getting scammed/not receiving your items, but the prices are usually lower since there’s no fees taken by a website. Please make sure to check the prices across multiple websites to make sure you’re not overpaying. Q: I want to sell photocards, where/how do I do that? A: Depending on your location, there’s a few options. If you want to sell on a website/app, there are apps like Mercari, Ebay, Vinted, and Depop. These apps typically take a percentage of your earnings, but can also protect you and the buyer if the photocard gets lost. You can also sell on social media like instagram, twitter, and reddit (r/kpopforsale). You will likely want to create a separate account for BST activities. Q: How much should this photocard cost? How do I price photocards A: There’s no set cost for photocards, but a good way to look up the value is looking for listings that have been SOLD on places like Mercari and Ebay. Just because a photocard is LISTED for a high price doesn’t mean it will sell for that price. You can also look for listings on social media You can also use photocard pricing guides, although not every group has them, since they’re fanmade and subjective. Trading Questions: Q: I want to trade my photocards. How/where do I do that? A: Trading is against the rules on most apps (like Mercari). Most people trade photocards on social media. The most common platforms I’ve personally traded on are instagram and reddit. Q: What’s a fair trade? How do I know if this is a fair trade? A: In general, trades are considered fair if they are the same type of photocard. For example, trading an album photocard for another album photocard is fair, but trading an album photocard for a POB is usually not considered fair. However, sometimes people will accept multiple album photocards for 1 POB. There are other considerations for fairness. Out-of-print album cards may have more value than a POB. In general however, as long as you and the person you’re trading with are happy with the trade, it’s considered “fair”. Group Order Basics: Abbreviations: GO: Group order GOM: Group order manager (the person running the GO) Initials: The original cost of the item, not including EMS and DOMS EMS: This usually refers to the shipping costs to get the item shipped from Korea to the GOM DOM/DOMS: This usually refers to the shipping costs for the item to be sent from the GOM to you Q: What is a Group Order? Why would I join one? A: This post answers a lot of the questions. Q: How can I find/join a GO? A: I've only joined GOs on Instagram, so my answer will be about that. Look for accounts that are hosting a GO for your country. You can use tags or tag accounts to find them (more info on tags/tag accounts in the "instagram BST" section). You can check the availability of the GO in the comment section of the post. Please read the GOMs info before joining. This can be found either in the post description, account description (linked), or in their instagram highlights. Most GOMs are very kind and understanding of newcomers, so if you have any questions just comment or DM them to ask. Q: How much are EMS/DOMs? A: There's no way of knowing how much these will be before joining a GO. In my experience, EMS was $1-5 for photocards, sometimes $10-15 for bigger items like albums and merch. Prices may have gone up with the tariffs however. DOMs is usually around $2 for stamped mail (1-4 photocards), and $5-10 for albums or merch. Photocard Basics: There are 2 main types of photocards: album photocards and POBs. Album photocards are the photocards you receive in a kpop album. These photocards usually sell for UNDER $10, and usually aren’t considered “rare”. Album photocards will vary in price depending on how many photocards you get per album. For example, TWICE's album photocards may be cheaper since you get 5 photocards in an album, but for IVE you only get 1. Albums where you get a guaranteed set of photocards (such as weverse and nemo albums) tend to be lower in value compared to a randomized album photocard. Pre-Order Benefits (POBs) are an additional photocard that you get when you pre-order an album from a certain site (Makestar, Soundwave, etc). These usually range from $8-15. I also include Lucky Draw cards in the POB section, since they’re basically the same thing. Winner Benefits are cards that you receive if you win an event like a fancall/fansign. These benefits can be things like photocards, polaroids, or 4-cut photos, and are usually priced higher than typical POBs. Broadcast Cards are photocards that are handed out to people attending music show broadcasts (MNet, Inkigayo, etc). Since you have to attend to get one (and a limited amount of people are selected to attend), these photocards tend to be priced higher than POBs. I’ve seen some broadcast cards go for $30-70, sometimes higher depending on the popularity of the member and rarity of the card. There are also photocards you can get through buying merch or other events. The prices of these vary. LOMO cards are unofficial/fanmade photocards. These are NOT the same value as offical photocards, and people typically do not buy or sell these. These are usually given out as freebies, and you can buy packs of them online. Q: How do I pack a photocard to sell/trade? A: this post has a lot of details Creating a BST account on Instagram I started my BST account in 2024, so I'm not an expert, but I've completed 300+ sales, trades, and some GOs. I'm listing the steps I took to make a very basic BST account. BST acronyms: BST: Buy/Sell/Trade WTS: want to sell/willing to sell WTT: want to trade/willing to trade WTB: want to buy ISO: in search of NFS: not for sale PWYW: pay what you want (usually used when people want things gone asap) QYOP: quote your own price (typically a little over/under a fair market price) DWAYOR: deal with at your own risk DNI: do not interact (USA/WW): the user is based in the USA, but will sell/trade World Wide (USA ONLY): the user is based in the USA, and will only sell/trade within the USA Making a BST Account: Step 1: create a new instagram account. I personally made a whole new gmail address to create my instagram account, but that is up to personal preference. Step 2: customize your account (profile photo, username, bio). I made my account name based off of my favorite idol & fandom to make it easier for people to know which group(s) I liked. Step 3: follow some established BST accounts (I look for accounts with over 500 followers or 100 proofs) Step 4: Make your info page. You can use a website like carrd, write your info in instagram stories, or just write down your info/rules in the notes app and post a screenshot. This is where you want to include your rules and information. Some general info you'll want to include are your location (USA, CA, EU, etc), age (doesn't have to be specific, but people may not want to interact with minors, so you should put "minor" or "adult" somewhere in your info). I also like to include what groups I like, and who I collect. I like to look at other accounts' info pages to get a general idea of what I want my info and rules to include. Step 5 (optional): Make your wishlist. You can find photocard templates online, and I like to indicate which cards I'm looking for, and which cards I have. Look at other BST accounts to see how they make their wishlists. After this, you can make your first post, and/or message people to buy. Making a BST Post on instagram: Step 1: take a photo of the photocards you want to sell/trade. I try not to put more than 20 photocards in one image so it's easier for people to see. You can also take a photo of the backs of the cards. People will usually include a post-it note or paper with their username written on it, to prove that you have the cards in your possession. This is good to do if you're a new account. Step 2: write the caption of the post. This is how I format my captions: WTS/WTT (USA/WW) GROUPS NAME Photocards Shipping NOT included with prices . Slide 1 availability: ✅✅✅✅✅ Guide: ✅: available ❌: not available ⏳: pending Step 3: add tags for visibility! There are tag accounts you can tag (search up (group name) tag/tags) and you can find a bunch. Also include hashtags! I usually do #groupnameWTS and #groupnameWTT. Look at which tags/tag accounts other accounts use Step 4: Post! Make sure to update the availability of photocards in your captions. BST Etiquette: -Read people's info BEFORE commenting or DMing them. Some people will require to you include a certain emoji in your DM to show you read their info -Member-pricing (pricing a popular member higher than the other members) is considered bad taste. Member pricing is more common on platforms like ebay/mercari, or with international sellers. Popular members like Wonyoung or Chaewon usually get overpriced, while other members are sold for more normal pricing. It's generally frowned upon to member-price, and you can/will get called out. -If they have "WTS only" "WTS" (no WTT in the caption), don't ask to trade. If they are open to selling AND trading, they will usually put "WTT/WTS". The same applies if they only want to trade. Please do not ask to buy a card they're only interested in trading. -Do your research before DMing an account. If you want to trade, check their wishlists to see if the photocard you have is something they want. Get a general idea of the values of the cards you want/have, so you don't try to offer a trade of a $2 album card for a $15 pob. -Instagram usually only lets you send 1 DM to an account at first, so try to include as much information in your first DM as possible. My general format for buying: "Hi! I'm (country) based and interested in buying your (idol name) photocard(s). I can pay with Venmo and Paypal. (insert info emoji if needed)" My general format for trading: "Hi! I'm (country) based and interested in trading for your (idol name) (type of photcard) card. I have (idol name) (type of photocard) from your wishlist (insert info emoji if needed)". -Trust and respect is what BST is built on. Please be polite in your messages and don't demand things. Please remember that these are people you're interacting with, it's not a huge company. -If you are a minor, and the person you want to interact with has something like "minors DNI, 16+ only, adults only" in their bio, please do NOT message or DM them. Respect that they are uncomfortable selling or trading with a minor. If you are an adult and someone has "adults DNI", respect that as well. Instagram BST Questions: Please remember that the BST community runs on trust. A lot of the way the community runs may seem scary, so do your own research on the sellers before interacting with them. As a beginner, you will likely be wary of getting scammed. Just remember that to these established accounts, you're a new account with no proofs, low followers, and no BST history. To them, YOU could be the scammer. Remain polite when messaging them, and ask questions if you have any. Everyone starts from somewhere, and people are usually understanding that you're new to the community. Q: What are proofs, and how do I get them? A: "Proofs" are basically proof that you successfully sold or traded something. You get proof by having successful transactions with other users. The more proofs you have, the more trustworthy people will find you. Most people will not trade if you have no proofs, so it may be better to start off with buying and selling photocards first. I would start with lower value cards, so if they get lost it's not a huge financial loss. If you only want to trade, people may ask you to send your side of the trade first. Once you send out your part of the trade, the other person will send out their side. Yes, this seems like an easy way to get scammed and it is. If you do this, make sure the person you're trading with has a lot of proofs and experience. For example: you sold a photocard to A. Once A receives the photocard, they take a photo of it and post it on instagram stories and tag you in it. You will re-post A's story, and save it to an instagram highlight titled "proofs". When you receive things from people, you should do the same (post a photo of the card and tag them). Q: How do I pay/receive payment? A: Use whatever app you're comfortable using. The most common apps used are Paypal, Wise, and Zelle. Some people also use Venmo and ApplePay (and other payment methods). Please note that most people will ask you to send via Friends and Family (F&F), instead of Goods and Services (G&S). This is because people may have to pay taxes on G&S payments, and/or they run the risk of getting their account shut down or suspended. Another option is CC (concealed cash), where you will mail the person cash and they mail you your card. Most people don't like doing CC because it's risky (huge chance of the money getting stolen or lost), and technically illegal. Q: How do I grow my account/get followers? A: interact with other BST accounts. Repost their selling/trading posts. I've also found that hosting giveways is a great way to gain followers and build trust. People are more willing to join giveaways of new accounts, since they have nothing to lose. Q: Do I have to give my address out? A: Unfortunately yes. Unless the person you're interacting with lives near you and offers pick-up, they will need to know where to send the item to. If you are uncomfortable with it, you could get a PO box instead. Q: What are those videos that I see when selling/trading? A: There are 3 main photos/videos that people send when selling/trading. These videos benefit both the receiver of the photocard, and the sender for protection. -The condition video is a video of the front and back of the photocard, using the flash to show any imperfections or damages. This allows the receiver to back out if the card has damages they're not happy with and proves that the photocard is on-hand. It also gives the sender proof of the photocard's condition, so if the photocard gets damaged in transit, the sender is not liable. -Address proof is usually just a photo of the receiver's address, and is sent before the sender mails off the card. This allows the receiver to confirm everything is written correctly. If the photocard gets lost or sent back, the sender is not liable since the receiver confirmed that the address was correct. -Send-Out video is taken by the receiver of them sending out the item. This is usually a video of them dropping the envelope into the mailbox/blue box. It should show either the person's name/address (front of the card), OR the person's username on the back. Some people will send a bunch of mail at one time, so instead of making individual videos showing the address, they'll write the receiver's username on the back of the envelope and show a bunch of envelopes going into the mail slot. Q: What is the process for buying on instagram? A: Here is how a typical transaction would look like: Buyer: Hi! I'm interested in buying these photocards! Seller: Ok! here is a condition video (sends video) Buyer: The photocard looks good, I would like to buy it Seller: Ok, here is the total price including shipping. My payment info is ____ Buyer: (after sending the money) Sent the payment! Here is my address Seller: Got it! Here is an address confirmation, please make sure I wrote your address correctly Buyer: It looks good Seller: Great, I'll send it out by (date). Seller: (Sends Send-Out video) Buyer: (receives photocard, gives seller proof) Q: What is the process for trading on instagram? A: Here is how a typical trade would go: Trader 1: Hi! I have Photocard 1, and would like to trade for your Photocard 2 Trader 2: Sure! Here is a condition video of PC2 Trader 1: Looks great, here is my condition video of PC1 Trader 2: Looks good to me! What's your info? Trader 1: (gives address) Trader 2: (gives address) Trader 1: Here's an address check, please confirm! Trader 2: Looks good! Please confirm your address Trader 1: Looks good, I'll send out by (date) Trader 2: Ok, I'll send out by the same date submitted by /u/miynayah [link] [comments]
