We all know that pulling your bias’ photocard from Kpop albums already needs luck. This is the reason why for the very first time, I tried the popular album pooling which I never thought actually exists in Kdrama album group orders, but it did, and here’s the full experience:

The pooling and group order (GO) experience

My friend saw a group order for Shax OST Album on Twitter so we decided to join. They also offered the ‘pooling’ thing which I have no idea before but I checked online that it is done when you have preferred photocards and you are willing to have your album delivered unsealed. 

Upon placing our order, we never received any updates from the shop and it took about three DMs on Twitter for the seller to reply as we asked for updates (after 2 months of waiting). Although we know that it is under normal ETA, we just at least want to get an update of the album’s whereabouts. Days after, the album arrived at home all of a sudden.

Since I signed up for the pooling, I am expecting my priority photocard Kwon Ryeok to be on my album since most of the ones who ordered there are Ateez and Sf9 fans and aren’t really interested in Junyoung. To my surprise, I got Hwiyoung and Chani (my 2nd and 3rd priority photocards) and Ahn Jung Hoon.

That time, I thought the batch we had didn’t have many photo cards of Kwon Ryeok but when my friends got their albums, four of them got Junyoung photocards and some didn’t get their priority photocard Hwiyoung.

That’s the moment that I got so annoyed because I signed up for pooling but the seller didn’t even check it. I feel like they just pulled whatever photocards they want from others’ albums and didn’t check ours at all. To be clear, this is the first time that I joined pooling and the experience wasn’t nice at all.

I understand if I wouldn’t get my desired photocard because more people listed before me but it wasn’t really the case for us. I signed up on the pooling first before my friends did but my friends got my priority pc (and their priority photo cards are with me?) so what’s the point of signing up for pooling if it wasn’t checked at all? 

Buying the photocard overseas is the only option

I am super eager to buy that Kwon Ryeok’s photocard that I messaged a lot of accounts on Twitter and finally, after three months, I found one in Singapore. As my first pooling is such a frustrating experience for me, I opted to buy my priority PC in Singapore, asked my friend to use her address, and ship it to me. 

I am not really the type of fan who collects all photo cards, I just keep whatever pulls I have but I am really a fan of Junyoung and I wanted to have that photocard as well because I love the drama Imitation too. 

The seller from Singapore is actually nice to include a sticker of Kwon Ryeok from the album and it comes with Jae Woo (Ahn Jung Hoon) and Do Jin (Park Yu Ri) photo cards for only 350 pesos, including the postage to my friend’s address. I still can’t believe I get to pay 350 pesos for the three photocards already when I am so ready to pay 350+ for Kwon Ryeok’s photocard because the frustration is already killing me.

I am so grateful to my friend who actually let me use their address for the sole purpose of buying photocards or merch and they even made an effort to repack it to secure it further before shipping it to me. 

Related Reads: My first photocard buying experience, Photocard Collection Binders

Will I be joining photo card pooling again?

At the moment, No. I am not saying I will never do it again, but I might only do it in the future if the pooling will be handled by the people I know or by my friends. Another option is that I am just going to buy the photocard I want instead of feeling so frustrated about not getting my desired photocard through pooling.