All About Signed K-Pop

ARE THESE SIGNATURES LEGIT?
Naturally the very first concern every fan has is whether the signatures are real. So first of all: we guarantee that all items are authentic. Based on the autographs and sources we are confident that the items we list are not fake. We built up some expertise, especially with popular acts like Blackpink and BTS there are fakes around, so especially with those we are very careful to put those in our inventory. Only items that pass the test of our expert eyes will be offered up for sale.

WHERE DO THESE SIGNED ITEMS COME FROM?
Signed K-pop finds our shop via different routes. We get them from sources that are connected to the entertainment companies, like members of the media or business relations. Also we get in collections or items in from fans, who got their signed item via fan events or via via. Especially if the sources are less direct we do have a close look if everything looks legit.

WHAT’S A PROMO?
When labels release albums they often produce a batch that they mean to spread to media and relations for promotion purposes. These albums have not for sale markings and the official sticker of KOMCA (Korea Music Copyright Association) that registers releases and give each copy a unique number, also states it is not for sale (bimae). In South Korea they created the tradition to let the idols sign loads of these promos before they hand them out to those relations (have a look here, where Momo is in one of the practice rooms in the entertainment company used to sign all of them). It adds to the confidence of determining it is a legitimate item, but it doesn’t mean promos are never fakes. As there are also unsigned promos falling in the hands of scammers it still can happen, and we also have seen people trying to carefully use a promo sticker from another album on their faked sign album. So whether the album is a promo or not, in the end we do have to look at the autographs themselves as well.

HOW OFTEN DO FAKE SIGNED ALBUMS SHOW UP?
It depends where you look and what you look for. We also are active on eBay and there there are some sellers obviously selling fakes, but those are of the more popular artists and/or hard to find signed items that are expensive. These sellers typically are based outside of Korea, but you might also find sellers from Korea with questionable inventory. That having said, there are also solid sellers with a long lasting good reputation that you can be sure of they sell the real deal. For artists that have smaller fanbases – making up most of our inventory as we do like to dive into niches – it rarely happens fake autographs show up.