Changsha Evening News all-media reporter Fan Honghuan intern Tu Jingjing Qu Shuang
"The three newly received small cards have arrived, and one of the good-priced cards is only 100 yuan. I feel like I have made a profit." Recently, Nana, a post-00s citizen, posted in her circle of friends A few small cards, these are "celebrity cards" she carefully found in the second-hand market, and cost nearly a thousand yuan in total. The reporter learned that the market price of these small cards ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan each, and the rarer ones can be sold for thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan each.
The "star photo card" culture originally originated from South Korea, mainly to meet the collection needs of fans. Why is a small card so expensive? Who is paying for them? With a series of questions, the reporter visited.
"Celebrity Photo Card" can be sold for tens of thousands of yuan
Some people bring it to dinners and joke that "Xiao Ka will eat first"; some people take it to travel and check in landmark scenery with Xiao Ka; and some people take it to take exams, as if Good luck is coming...
Recently, "celebrity photo cards" have become popular among student fans. There are many high school students and college students who collect hundreds of photo cards. Click on the short video of the photo card they posted on social platforms. Over 10,000 likes. There are also a large number of underage fans who trade in the so-called "card circle", and the price can reach tens of thousands of yuan.
It is understood that the photo card is a peripheral product that comes with the physical album. It is usually a small card made from the idol's solo selfie. However, the small card that was originally given away for free in the album was sold for thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, which can be said to be a huge profit.
“When you encounter a good-looking card from Zidan (a term used by fans to refer to the idol you follow), you will have the desire to collect it. However, because it is difficult to take out the card surface you want when buying an album, so why don’t we Just go to Xianyu to collect the card, or buy a lot of albums." Xiao Zhou, a sophomore in college, talked about her experience of unpacking the newly arrived parcel. In addition to buying albums and removing cards, she also looked for possible business opportunities in the "card circle" and started a business of reselling small cards.
A reporter searched for "star photo cards" on Xiaohongshu, and a bunch of posts about fans collecting cards appeared. Some netizens showed their card books, which were full of "star photo cards", and these photo cards The value is even worth a small car.
The small card economy has spawned a series of industries
As the fan base continues to grow, various "star small cards" have also formed a unique small card economy, spawning a series of second-hand transactions, card speculation, and card removal. related industries.
reporter learned that the "star photo cards" are random, and different versions of albums have different photo cards. There are many kinds of these small cards. Fans who want to take apart the "self-owned" small cards or collect different versions of small cards. In addition to purchasing Chinese small cards through tetimall, k4, Yiyiyu and other platforms, purchasing agents can obtain small cards from other countries. The only way.
At the Yiyi Entertainment offline kpop store located in Changsha Hisense Plaza, many young people aged 20 to 30 gathered, and there were even twos and threes of middle school students in school uniforms selecting products in the store. A consumer who was stopping to study small cards told reporters that she had just "entered the trap" to collect small cards recently and was still in a relatively rational stage.
"I previously sold unpublished babymonstaer Japanese coffee shop cards. I bought 21 of them from relevant channels for more than 600 yuan, and I sold them on a second-hand platform for more than 800 yuan." Xiao Zhou also revealed to reporters, The selling price of small cards is based on the beauty and rarity of the card surface. Generally, small cards are priced at 30 to 40 yuan, and the more expensive ones are several hundred yuan. What’s even more exaggerated is that Idol’s undisclosed Polaroids are infinitely more expensive, with resale prices generally exceeding 4,000 yuan, including many small cards with a unit price of over 10,000 yuan.
It is reported that the current secondary market is roughly divided into the following categories: First, there are second-hand trading platforms represented by Xianyu and Zhuanzhuan, which can sell up to tens of thousands of pieces; secondly, there are often products on social platforms such as Douyin. Live broadcasts and posts about selling small cards; in addition, fans can also find their favorite small cards through Weibo Super Chat, card exchange groups and other platforms.On Xianyu, the reporter noticed that there is another emerging profession - Xiaoka appraiser. One merchant said that the fee for identifying authenticity starts from 1 yuan, and the fee for analysis and comparison starts from 3 yuan. Where is the magic of
little cards?
Why are little cards so magical? From the perspective of "outsiders" who are not star-struck, the soaring popularity of small cards is puzzling: a small card that costs only a few yuan can actually be "fired" for a high price of thousands of yuan, just because it is printed Photos of popular celebrities.
“At first I just followed Korean entertainment, and the small card was a gift from the album, so it was dispensable to me. Later, I saw a post about card replacement and withdrawal on social software, and I saw that they put beautiful small cards in It felt very relaxing to store it in the card book, and I fell in love with it immediately.” Xiao Lin, who is about to graduate from college, said that the card circle was as deep as the sea. There is no specific data to test the exact size of the
star card. But "Cotton Dolls", which also started in Korean entertainment, has now grown into a new track with an annual transaction volume of one billion in the domestic market, supporting cultural industries such as film and television roaming, and initiating new consumption and upgrading of the plush toy industry chain. According to the "2023 China Collectible Card Market Research Report", the scale of China's collectible card market has exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2022, and is expected to reach 27.66 billion yuan by 2025.
On the one hand, the birth and popularity of “celebrity cards” have enriched young people’s entertainment methods and given them more emotional value; on the other hand, the craze of “celebrity cards” also implies risks, such as fraud, counterfeit sales, Sellers "running away" and other phenomena also occur from time to time. Some people in the legal profession suggest that to curb the chaos at its root, it is key to improve the small truck market mechanism as soon as possible. For example, domestic photo card issuers can refer to the current domestic blind box practices and clarify the winning rate and circulation volume of photo cards in some albums.
Journalist’s Notes
“Celebrity Photo Card” carries the culture of the fan circle, the love and madness of star-chasers, is a derivative of the blind box economy, and is a product of the star effect. Chasing stars was originally a normal thing. Every generation had their own idols when they were growing up. However, under the influence of the interests of some capital and platforms, chasing stars has "changed." While fans are "generating electricity for love", they also need to rationally consider their actual situation, do not consume blindly, and remember to act within their means.
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