Hello!

Continuing with the series of "How to spot a fake xxx", this article shall be about how to spot BTS signed or autographed albums, but also any items like Q-cards or any other items. Oddly enough, I have succeeded in being able to recognize instantly whether a signed BTS item is legit or not, I guess my eyes have been trained! (BigHit should employ me hahaha -dies-) They'd actually be scared because that would sound like what a crazy obsessed fan would say ;_;
Not sure if I would continue writing other articles for other groups/artists, because I am confident as of now for BTS, since they are my bias group, and since I am a sucker that buys all their albums.... I wouldn't feel confident to keep track of other artists' as it requires time and it would become more work than some sort of passion.

BTS is one of the current group for which many fake albums seem to circulate around! Many fans may be rather young or lack the knowledge, and don't really know that indeed it is possible that a person may be so money hungry enough to fake signatures. Not everyone is honest and people are ready to fake signatures just for the money. This is why never trust fully strangers and please always make your research before purchasing anything. I hope with this "guide" many people will know how to spot fake signatures.

And before starting, I would like to state that I am simply a European fan, I am not Korean, I am not linked in any ways to big hit, so my knowledge is based on albums I have received from mwave or any other trustworthy platforms. This took quite some time before I managed to achieve this "capacity". I have managed with time to spot the difference between real and fake and am writing this to share with you. Many of the images taken do not belong to me and were taken simply as examples, they belong to their rightful owners. 
Enough blabbering! Let's start.

The fact is, BTS signatures' have evolved throughout times. Rookies always have the nicest signatures, with details, and clean, but with time, they become more lazy because there's often more to sign and it is just impossible to have a signature with so many details if you need to sign 1000+ albums, for instance if they sell signed albums on mwave, which they did!

As for the signed random items like Q-cards, shirts, posters, or anything that is not album, you'd have to determine the "era" they were signed. Because a signed shirt during "No more dream" era wouldn't look the same as a "Run" era. Imagine someone states that this shirt was signed during the "run" era but in fact the signatures seem to match their older signatures during "no more dream" something is definitely fishy! f.a.k.e... ?





From the picture above, I selected things that were deemed official signatures. The first two pictures are from the photocards of my collection which come from the albums (School Luv Affair and HYYH2), and some pictures of the Kpop Bear Statue in Gangnam Seoul that a friend took (Her Twitter: link). Signatures such as those can be helpful when we are new and have no clue where to find pictures of signed signatures, but let's not forget that with time their signatures change (as you can see the difference between beg. 2014 and end 2015), and that the signatures they sign on albums are simplified, because they have to sign many times!

I actually own several signed BTS albums, sadly, since I am not at my apartment, I didn't take any picture, but I might add several pictures later on! edit: Some of my albums have been added as example!

So let's start with...... *drum rolls* 2 COOL 4 SKOOL. The first debut album!

2 COOL 4 SKOOL

So during the "2 COOL 4 SKOOL" album, where BTS debuted with No more dream, those albums come off as rarer in the market as they are older (as i'm writing this we are nearing 2016, and they debuted mid-2013, so 2.5 years ago!, there were fewer signed (not like HYYH pt.1 where for the m&g thousands of signed copies were sold), and most people aren't willing to sell them off!

But on some rare occasions, a person might sell it as they are no longer a fan, and it may pop out on any reselling platform such a eBay, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.
How to spot how it is fake?

Well from the debut until now, BTS has ALWAYS kepts the same "spot" to sign, very rarely they might mess up if they did a mistake, I only saw once that mistake where V and Jhope signed an album the other way around and the boys realized that half way, and they drew a heart in the middle of the album, sort of a "sorry".


So the order IS and IS ALWAYS:
Top left: Jin ; Top center: Rapmonster ; Top right: Suga ; Middle left: V ; Middle right: Jimin ; Bottom left: J-Hope ; Bottom right : Jungkook.
ALWAYS THAT ORDER.

For 2 COOL 4 SKOOL, they ALWAYS signed with the golden colored marker, so if you find a copy with a different color, WARNING. IT IS FAKE.

 
 

So here, we have on the right the real signatures and on the left the fake ones. I have decided to provide several examples in order for you to see how BTS's signatures variate a little. I will start off by analyzing the fake signatures:


 1. Honestly I will admit I am very lazy to pinpoint every details, but I shall do so very quickly on each signatures. Jinms signatures is way too broad, he takes less width to sign. Rapmonster's signature lacks the "bts" he used to always sign as well that during that era. And the signature seems more awkward, the flow does seem right. Suga's lower part of the "S" seems messed up, the !S" should, be quite generous and curved, but here it seems chopped off, and the lower part seems hesitating. V's signature lacks confidence, we can see it was not done very quickly, and is too rounded and he used to sign more clearly on the right "v" and I doubt he used to sign "BTS" on the left bottom part on those albums.  Jimin's signature looks not badly done, but it seems too broad.  J-hope's circle around his name seems very awkward , he does a sort of cloud during this era which doesn't seem to be done with confidence. For Jungkook's, the lower part of the "J", the curve is too big, way tooooooo big.

2. Jin's lower right curved line  is looking very odd. Rapmonster's signature lacks the two dots on the top middle and looks very weird. Suga's top part of the "S" is too rounded. V's  signature is not too well placed, I am sure he is not that dumb to not know how to place well his signature, his signature is a bit too much in the right.. Jimin's signature lacks the "BTS". J-hope's cloud looks somewhat awkward and the "J" doesn't even look like a J!  Jungkook's "J" is a big fat mess.the J is always done in one go, here it was done in two strikes. 

3. The gold pen's color is odd. Like yellow birdy. Very odd.  Anyway when you just look at it it looks soooooo messy. All over the place. Rapmonster's signature was completely butchered into some weird looking thing. Suga's S is unrecognizable . V's signature looks more like a tornado rather than a 4 clover leaves (well v's signature reminded me of a delicates 4 clover leave drawing). Jimin's "BTS" is usually more below the rather than in the left. Jhope's cloud looks non existent and half done. We can't even read the "hope". Jungkook's "J" is too cursive, too much space inside the curves. 

4. All signatures are in silver pen? Impossible. They ALWAYS signed in gold pen. No need to look any further, you can also compare with the real signatures, you can see the difference is flagrant. 

5. A mixture of grey pen and silver pen? Impossible. None of the legit signatures are in silver. This is already a sign you should not look any further as this is definitely fake. And th signatures look nothing like the ones on the right, the scammer seems to have added details to make it look real, but those things don't exist in their signatures. Only people who have never seen their signatures would believe that those are legit.....

6. This attempt was close enough as the pen is the same, but the position is all wrong. There's also some details such as the lower part of suga's "S" being too small, Rap Monster's signature being too simplified, or even "BTS" added to V's signature when usually it is never there. Just the general feeling is simply wrong.

ORUL82

Now onto to the second mini album! The signatures haven't drastically changed, as it was only a few months differences, but we can start to see that Jhope and Jungkook have started to become a bit more 'lazy" with their signatures. Jhope starts to sometimes not draw anymore the cloud as much, it is very random, sometimes it is just a curved line or a cloud. And sometimes he even doesn't finish the "hope" and only writes "ho". As for Jungkook, he started to simplify, it used to be "Jungkook golden BTS" and now it becomes sort of "Jkook gold BTS" from what I can see! 

The order is still the same as I mentioned previously. 

Those albums are a bit more available compared to the previous one, but still rare nevertheless because they are 2 years old! Those were available for sale as well on Soompi and Mwave, for a rather cheap price (something along the lines of 13$) but were limited it seems to a few hundred copies on each website.

 
 

So once again we shall analyze the fake signatures. The key to really spot a fake signature is to compare it with a genuine. 

1. So first of all, some signatures are not well placed, Rapmonster's (?) signature is like centered in the middle of the album which would never happen (unless he was drunk while signing this?) and it looks like a weird scribble? Jin's signature lacks the two dots on the top right. The "s" and "j" usually never touch each other. Suga's "s" doesn't even look like an "s" and we can't see somehow the usually "BTS". V's signature is not cursive enough. Jimin's signature lack the "BTS".  Jhope's signature is a hot mess, the "BTS' doesn't even look like "BTS". The j looks odd and the rest of the signature as well....

2. Wouuuuuuh. What a hot mess there! Jhope's signature in the top left? V's (?) signature on the top right? When you see this order you just know this is sooooo wrong and then the signatures look like nothing right? And there's only 6 signatures here, Jimin's signature is missing? Just compare and your eyes will bleed seeing how fake this is.

3. Rapmonster's signature misses the "BTS".  Suga's lower part signature is rather long and seems just like unnecessary scribbles. V's right curve is too stretched out, it should be more rounded. V's signature is also too much in the right. Not well placed. Jhope's as well is too far in the right. Jhope's circle or cloud just very odd the 'J' looks very unusual and the "h" is unfinished. 

4. This is a poster, and I wanted to show that even posters can be fake. Signatures don't any of the members. The alleged Suga signature is on top of Jimin, v's signature is in Jhope, Jhope's signature is on V,  Jimin's signature Iis on Suga.... I guess the scammer can't tell them apart lol. And all the signatures look like nothing. Just compare. It is just weird scribbles. 

Bonus: Jimin holding one of their signed albums! What better proof than the person himself show it?

 

SKOOL LUV AFFAIR

The albums are still a bit rare but are a bit easier to find compared to ORUL82. The boys's signatures have evolved, Rapmonster no longer signs with "BTS", he got lazy I guess. Jhope seems to have given up the "pe" of his name. Jungkook seems to have given up on the "gold" part of his signature and only signs "BTS" it seems to be more confusing what he is signing. 

 
 

So let's move onto the signatures one by one again!

1.  The signatures are not well placed, normally they have a well defined spot (unless they are drunk which I highly doubt) Rapmonster's signature is far too low, and the two dots are missing, the signature lacks fluidity. Honestly Rapmonster's signature is so unique, it is really hard to imitate his signature because only him can do it which such fluitidity. Suga has actually a star in his signature, but he actually only did a star during the debut era, and even sometimes it ended up looking more like a ball or a circle because he ended up being lazy doing a star everything. The BTS is far too but, and his "b" never looks like that. V's signature is far too stretched out and lacks more cursive parts. Jhope's signature is too small the circle should not be that tight. Jungkook's signature looks very unorganized.

2. THE SIGNATURES NEED TO BE WELL PLACED AT THE CORNERS. they are too close to the center. Jin's signatures lacks the three dots. Rapmonster's lacks cursive at the beginning. Suga's signature looks like nothing, we can't even see the "S", which is the main core of his signature. V's signature looks like random cursive lines. Jimin's signature was completely destroyed and looks like nothing. Jhope's signature is just a dribbles, we can't even see the "BTS" or even the "JHo" which is the main core of the signature.  Jungkook's signature also was destroyed.

3. For this one we can just tell this was signed by the same person as the pressure applied is the same, and the pen used is not the same they use to sign all the albums. Not the same type of pen. This pen seems to be able to get erased, not a marker. Plus the pen they usually use has some sort of reflection, hence why the quality of the signatures is not the best to compare because of all the reflections of the real pen. Rapmonster's signatures looks too shy, like s shy girl trying to sign and it has the BTS which he already doesn't use anymore ever since this era. Jhope's signature is a big given as well because the BTS is way too small, the circle is way to straight and clean, Jhope doesn't do it that cleanly. And Jungkook's signature is more done with character, this is done shyly. 

4. The members' signatures are not positioned well in the corners. J-Hope's circle is not big enough and is too oval. V's signature is missing the upper curve, it is just a line here, impossible! Jungkook has a weird curve added. Suga's lower curve of his " S" is too small, not well curved. Rap monster's signature is missing the two upper dots and isn't done with confidence. etc.
 

DARK&WILD

Then for dark & wild, honestly this is one of the albums that was really available. So many signed copies were sold. Over 60 pages on mwave were sold, and on each page there's 49 copies. So you do the maths, I don,t have a calculator to do that (60x49=?) hence this album comes off as not too expensive, but it is slowly starting to be less resent int the market and prices start to go a bit higher because it is an album that is a year old (as of end 2015). Most people who sell them are legit, because since there were soooooo many copies sold, it was very easy to get a hold off, on mwave it was sold for like 20$ or so? The price of the album. So why bother buying an unsigned album and fake sign it when you can have a real one for the same price and not bother to fake sign it? Anyway there are still fake ones circulating, sold by the same fake sellers. 

The boys signatures have still evolved. Jhope's "BTS" has become messier, more linked and not as clear, and he signs in GENERAL "Jh" on rare occasions with a "hope" if he is not too tired. Jin also became tired ): it seems like his signature is much make squished, we can't truly distinguish anymore his dots, he used to have one more in the center and two together on the top right. Suga seriously gave up any circles he used to make in the top-middle right.

 

 
 

Let's goooooooo:

1. Rapmonster's signature is a big given no two dots as he usually does, like it just became a "C" his signature sort of? Nothing like his usual one. Suga's S doesn't really look like an "s" anymore. A weird cursive. V's signature is far too low, it needs to be exactly at the same level as the title "dark&wild". And it just looks like some random scribble. Jimin's signature is far too much in the left, and not well placed, and the sort of tree he does is gone (like you know on his right he does a sort of tree, an l or is it actually a J ? I actually never really knew what his signature stood for unlike the others- Jimin is such a mystery to me!) , and we also can't see the "BTS".  Jhope's signature is centered bottom when he is usually ALWAYS bottom left. And it seems like it's an "A" in this one? Like hm no, it's suppose to be a "Jh" on the normal one. Jungkook's J is much more rounded than this.

2. I wouldn't look any further and you'd just see the signatures look like nothing they usually do. People always give the excuse "ah they might have been tired so their signatures look different" even if they are tired..... The signatures wouldn't look like THAT, completely different! Edit of 6.2.16 the cover of the booklet could have been signed BUT that was only possible during the red bullet fansign in Singapore (not sure of other locations) the color of the pen is silver, and I would suggest you to ask the seller proof he attended that fansign.

3. The color of the pen looks funny.... A bit too smile fish? Normally it should be a bit whiter..... And then Rapmonster's signature looks very odd, there's usually nothing that circles the two dots. Suga's lower part of the signature looks massive and too wide. And it seems to have unnecessary scribble. V's signature looks like it was done with latience, he doesn't have time! He needs to sign several copies! This is done too neatly! Jimin's signature also looks too neat, and the sort of right part is not tall enough! Too short! Jhope's signature is not done with confidence,4 he "Jhope" looks too weird, it is not his usual handwriting but I have to admit the BTS part was well done.... Jungkook's signature is a hot mess, just a lot of scribbles after the "J"! Looks nothing like that!

4. Let me tell you that most fake signatures are done with golden pen.... Apart from a few exceptions. Golden colored pen are the best friends of scammers!!! The signatures are in the wrong position, and all over the place and look nothing like their usual signatures. I don't need to pinpoint everything to you right?

Bonus: BTS promoting their signed albums via KBS and mwave

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT1 ; HYYh pt.1 ; 화양연화 pt.1

Now onto this album! Interesting fact to know is that all the white version signed by all members on the cover of the album are ONLY promo albums, you wouldn't find any mwave white version all member signed! Or yesasia! (edit 23.2.16: actually very very few non promo white signed are floating around, not quite sure of the provenance, but seems like one came from a Japanese event, anyway in any cases you can only use your eyes to spot the signatures) But you could find individual members signed on the white version, for instance I had a Jhope and Suga signed white versions from mwave. And for the pink version, you can find them as promo albums or mwave ones. But the fact is all member signed was a tiny bit harder to obtain directly from mwave, because only 7/49 people could get all member signed, so technically 1/7 of chance to get it all signed. 

And *drum rolls* yes their signatures.... Worsened! Ah they are getting more tired!  Especially Jhope and Jungkook is seems to be messier and not as clean as before. They tried to simplify their signatures! But I have to say Jungkook's signature is not as messy if he signed individual on an album than if he signed with all member signed. V's signature also is not as elegant as before, looks a bit messier, and a bit smaller eh??? And Jhope's "h" seems to have decided to go out of the circle from time to time, the "h" has become a bit naughty! Suga's lower part seems to have even more simplified, we can no longer distinguish that those scribbles used to be "BTS" in the past.... :p Jimin has simplified a lot more his signature! No longer very well down up and down. More like very quickly done waves. Not sure if you can understand what I mean? 

 
 
 

Let's analyze once again the fake signatures! :
 

1. The signatures all over the place, not in their proper position. I would say: stop looking any further this is fake. The boys aren't drunk enough to mess up the spot they usually sign! Jin's signature spot and Rapmonster's has been inverted. Suga's "s" looks like brining. V's is too rounded. Jimin has weird scribbles that din,t exist, Jhope's circle doesn't do a full circle, it only surround from the bottom left to the bottom right. And he usually has two lines on the bottom!  Jungkook's j is not rounded enough in the lower part! 

2. Rapmonster's legendary signature looks nothing like as butchered into some weird scribble (but I have to say props to Rapmonster for keep his signature almost always the same since the debut and still looking very nice). Suga's lower part has too many scribbles. V's signature has ugly cursive. And looks like a kid drew that. Jungkook's signature has is too broad and flattened. 

 
3. Ohhhhhhhhhh. When you see this, you feel like it was the same person who signed this! Done very quickly in a gross manner. As if a kid signed it. The Rapmonster signature lacks the pointiness of the bottom lines. Suga's "s" doesn't look like a "S". V's signature doesn't have the "BTS" when he signs albums..... Jimin's horizontal line looks like weird scribbles and he doesn't sign anymore "BTS" as well. Jhope's circle looks very odd and it is just not his handwriting. 

4. The last example is a signed page in the booklet of the album. Impossible. Because if they were to sign in the booklet, they would have all their individual pages, and this would be done during a fansign. All the non fansign albums were signed on the cover of the album. The signatures looks nothing like the ones that I showed you in the right. 

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT2 ; hyyh pt.2 ; 화양연화 pt.2

  Now onto the 2nd chapter of the HYYH serie! Seems oddly that there's not a lot of the copies floating around? I am guessing big hit did not promote a lot this album in broadcast stations since BTS has already got a high popularity. 

 
edit 23.2.16: Back in December and January, only signed peach promo were circulating around. However in the recent days, some blue signed have popped out. I am still unclear whether those are only promo albums, but it seems there's also C1 ones out there. So, honestly you truly need to spot whether it is genuine according to the signatures. I have compiled Peach and Blue. 

And the members..... Have become even more tired! Jhope especially! Wow when you compare debut versus now you can see a big difference! Jin is not as cramped as before but we can see his signature was done in a few strokes, not as clean and elaborated as it used to be in the past. Rapmonster has given up on doing the two legendary dots on the top middle part of his signature (well on rare cases it still appears). Suga seems to only be signing a "S" along with a sort of "B" and a horizontal line? V still seems to have kept a good bunch of his old signature, just signed a bit messy.  Jimin's little thing on the top left is now closer to his main part of his signature, it used to be higher in the past, and he simplified it as well. Jhope's signature...... What is that now??? I am guessing it is just a "B" a very squished "J" and a spike that used to be an "h" in the past? Jungkook doesn't seem to have changed too much ever since HYYH pt1, maybe some strokes that have disappeared? 

 

 

Fake signatures weren't too late into the party!

1. I have to a admit, the fake signer did a pretty good job, but the placement of the signature is not too well done. Especially for Jimin and V. Far too close from the center! Rapmonster's signature looks odd, not done with ease. The "s" of Suga is very odd.... Let's not forget that the "s" is the core of the signature! And Suga simplified much more his signature, all those scribbles just makes it so much less legit. V's curves are too broad, and the start the the curve is far too centered and too high. Jimin's right part, the sort J or tree is not high enough. Jhope has simplified his signature.... So too much going inside the circle!

 
2. The pen used is too thin..... The signatures are not well placed, they don't correspond to the usually spot. Suga's signature was butchered and looks like nothing, Jimin's as well is very odd. Jhope's signature looks like scribbles of circles, and Jungkook's j is not cursive enough. Just looking at it just screams FAKE.

3. The signatures are so tinny! It seems like it was a girl who tried to copy, all the signatures are neat and cramped, and all of the same style. You can see for instance that Jungkook's signature is half the size it should be! The pen used seems a bit too thick. Anyway just by comparison you can see the fakeness just pops out! 

 

Now onto the blue signed versions, suddenly they all popped out of nowhere (need to get myself a copy as well without being ripped off!), here we go:

1. The signatures are not well placed, especially V's and Jimin's, they are too close from the center.  Jimin's signature is too wide, Suga's is too complicated and his 'S' looks weird shaped on the bottom part, Rap Monster's signature is always the hardest one to copy, and it's missing the deep pike at the bottom. v's signature is supposed to be more cursive and here it seems too cramped. Anyway just by comparing you can see how off it is. 

2. The signatures are too big! The boys always have similar signature sizes whenever they sign, they got trained to! Once again V's and Jimin's signature are too close to the center, they are suppose to be close to the border. Rap Monster's and Suga's as well are too far from the border. Rap Monster's signature is missing several of his strokes.

3. The person tried to copy the boys' old signatures...... Not working. Jin's signature looks very odd as well as Rapmonster. The placement is completely wrong, they are far too close to the center. They are suppose to be well close to the borders. V's signature is not done with confidence. It also is not suppose to have BTS written as well. Jimin doesn't write BTS anymore and here there it is. Jhope doesn't do the cloud anymore cleanly, he does a circle, and this is way too clean, he simplified much more the inside of the circle! And Jungkook's as well looks very messy and too complicated, he simplified that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NOTICE: This guide has been cut in two, another article is published with Young Forever, Wings and YNWA on it  as due to the large amount of pictures, my computer freezes more and I am sure that for people with slower internet the page must be taking ages to load! 

LINK OF SECOND PART OF THE GUIDE 

So there you go, I have tried to analyze BTS's signatures. This just shows that there's too many scammers out there and we need to be cautious. I would also advise you to check out my other "guide", which is "how to spot a fake signed / autographed kpop album" as this guide is more about the boys's signatures, and the other guide will help you more as well to give you a general idea... Such as the komca sticker or what not.
This took quite some time to write, and as I am writing this my fingers are a bit dead, so I would appreciate if you would not plagiarize this out of respect ♥ All pictures were taken from various platforms, I do not own the pictures apart from a few that come from my collection. Otherwise they belong to their rightful owners.
I will surely update this article if there's any new informations, if you feel like some of the stuff I wrote are wrong, and for future comebacks, as I am sure the boys' signature will continue to evolve! (And also there's the repackage edition of SKOOL LUV AFFAIR which I didn't add but if one day I feel really bored and I am very motivated to add it, I will add it as well!)
I hope this will help out some fellow ARMYs ~

PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL OF MY ARTICLES BEFORE LEAVING A COMMENT OR EMAILING ME. THE ANSWER IS PERHAPS IN ONE OF THEM. I will not answer any comments asking the legitimacy of a signed album! 

All comments related to "Is this legit????" are going to be deleted.  Thank you for understanding!

Check out the "Is this genuine request" article if you wish me to analyze your BTS album. Click here

Feel free to comment, it is always nice to know that this article was of some use and that I didn't waste my time writing this for nothing (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Unlike the western music industry, signed Kpop albums actually exist! But it can become a big of a confusion where to buy them. There are several places where you buy, some places where you can buy with no worries and others where the guide of spotting fake signatures shall be needed and a bit more studied required as well! Here is another article I wrote for the newbies out there!

There are several places where you can get signed albums:

★ In a fansign

★ On an official website like mWave or Yesasia (previously also Soompi but they stopped the shop)

★ On eBay, tumblr, Facebook, forums, .... 

FANSIGNS

In Korea, the idols do regularly fansigns, so kfans get the opportunity to achieve signed albums. but as for us, international fans how is it possible? 

Concerning the fansigns, majority are done in S. Korea and Asian countries, there's a very slim chance to go to a fansign in your country if you're European, American (North American/Latino American) or even African. So yay if you're Singaporean, because chances that you might be able to go to fansign is quite possible! But for instance, your chances are almost 0 to go to a fansign for Super Junior in France (although it is one of the most common European country kpop groups go to), but for a more nugu group that might come, you might have the chance to assist to some sort of fansign (limited and pricier to be able to do that)  I know for a thing Boys Republic came To tour in Europe, and people with VIP tickets could get signed posters. (Sadly I learned about the event way too late.... Because I never check the news ;_;) But usually if a kpop group comes to your country, the closest interaction you'll be able to achieve is a high5 event (quick, effortless, and yeah... Not always satisfying for us fans). 

BUT the fansigns outside of S. Korea ARE very different from the ones held. The ones in S. Korea allows you more interaction with the idols (you get a good 20-30 seconds with each member, you talk to them, they answer your question on the post-it, you can lock your fingers with them...), whilst for instance for BTS's highlight tour in North America, the fans barely had a second to talk to the members, the members just signed on a poster in front of the fan and had to do it very quickly (bad organization as well).

The fansigns outside of S. Korea do not usually involve signed albums, but more signed posters or other objects. They are basically available whilst the group is in your country, and sometimes they may offer along the concert a ticket that includes a fansign. For instance, HISTORY will have a european tour in February 2016, there were 150 VIP tickets for the Romanian stop (which were sold out in 15 minutes!), and this includes a fansign, where the people will receive a signed poster.

But IF you ever happen to go to a fansign in S. Korea (I have never been so yeah I can't give you details), there's two types of fansigns, FIRST come FIRST served and Lottery based one. First come first served is for more "nugu" groups or rookie groups. For 24K it was First come First served, basically there's 100 spots available, and if you manage to be one of the first 100 people to buy from a specific CD store (you'd have to tell them you want to participate for that fansign), then you got yourself secured a spot! You will receive a ticket with a number, that goes from 1-100, and that'll be the order you'll go. Groups that have done first come first served were: 24K, C-Clown, HOTSHOT, The Legend, .... etc. Basically if a group is not very popular, odds that their fansigns are first come first served are very high. Rookie groups which did do the first fansign with that system was UP10TION but it got sold so quickly! I am pretty sure now they do the lottery system. Now, what is the lottery system? NOT everyone gets to get in, there's this sort of lottery, 1 album bought makes 1 chance to be selected at the lottery. One entry. So the more popular a group is, the HARDER it is to get in if you only buy 1 album). So you want to go to an EXO fansign but only got 1 album? Chances are extremely low for you, but you want to go to a Boys Republic fansign? Chances are you won't get any trouble getting in even with one album, apparently even if they do the lottery system, it seems like there isn't a lot of competition going on. Since I am a big ARMY, I can only tell you about BTS, the fact is in fansigns, for lottery system, only a percentage is allowed for foreigners, I believe for BTS they only allow 20% of the spots to be given to the foreigners. As a result, foreigners tend to buy MUCH MORE albums in order to secure a spot in contrast to the koreans, as for instance Japanese fans have a lot of money and tend to be able to buy A LOT. So you have on one side Korean fans who usually buy 40 albums in order to secure a spot, whilst foreigners would need to buy 80 albums. This is based on the RUN promotion fansigns, those numbers may increase! You aren't obligated to buy 80 albums, but it just means the chances to be picked are higher, some people who bought that amount may have not been picked as well! It is all about luck! Do not forget that lottery is based on luck and buying more albums just increases your odds to be picked but DOES NOT guarantee the fact that you'd get in.
So you got in, what happens? Basically you will have an order to go to the front where the idols are, and once your turn comes, each member will have its own seat, and you will have to pass one by one. They will sign the booklet in your album (one page dedicated to each member). You may also prepare a post it in advance where you write a question to each member. You get approximately 20-30 seconds per member, and it depends on each group. You get to talk to the members, give them gifts if you wish, and have skinship such as locking hands! And to top it off, you leave with a signed album, dedicated to you, as they sign " TO: YOURNAME". And may sometimes write an extra little word on it!

MWAVE / YESASIA ALBUMS

But not everyone can have the luck to have a group coming to their country or going to Korea, or even to have the money? (buying 80 albums in one go.... can be very expensive!) 

So the trick is, you can buy official signed Kpop album on mwave. (Http://mwave.interest.me) I was a bit sceptic all because I didn't know the site at all at the beginning, but after doing my research, this site is the most legit. Indeed, in Korea there are weekly broadcast shows such as Inkingayo, The Show, M! countdown and so on... M! Countdown is organized by Mnet, aka Mwave, which is an official channel in S. korea. So you are sure that the albums sold there are 100% legit! The website also organizes meet and greets, which is basically you purchase an album (or more as you wish) and you can leave a message to the idols. The idols will do an hour broadcast which you can watch live, and they will do some activities, read some comments that people leave when they purchase the album, and select randomly those that win special items (like badges, all signed albums....). Sometimes, they will also read at the end of the broadcast some messages fans write live, this is actually how I got noticed by B1A4 and UP10TION! I have the worst luck ever, so my only chances to be noticed was to spam the fan board with my messages, and B1A4 did do my request when I asked them whether they could roll their tongues (yes this is a very stupid request), and UP10TIOn answered my question when I asked them which hair color they wanted to do next. They pick the messages they want to read, I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see your message pop up and THEY JUST DON'T READ IT. So the thing is, mwave doesn't offer the album you might be interested in. For instance, you might be searching for an older signed album or mwave never sells their signed albums, such as SM artists or YG artists. They only currently sell albums from recent comebacks, and the artists are rarely extremely popular ones. You wouldn't find INFINITE, or BEAST at this point. Usually companies allow their artists to do meet&greet or signed albums sales just to boost their sales. At this point you'd know that Infinite doesn't really need any boosting? But for instance, recently, the latest album by VIXX chained up was available for a few days, and it was one random member signed! Well not too bad right? knowing how popular VIXX is.

YesAsia also offers signed albums, but they have pretty much the same choices are mwave, if not less, and more expensive. They are a great alternative in case the album you wanted to purchase was sold out. The GOT7 "Mad" signed album on mwave was sold out so quickly, good think there was still YesAsia offering it, it was just a bit pricier, of a few dollars. Otherwise YesAsia offers the same signed albums as Mwave, if not less, and they only offer it one random member signed if for instance mWave proposes it one random member signed BUT with the chance to be picked randomly for all member signed, which yesasia doesn't offer.

EBAY

Some people that sell their signed albums on eBay often buy them from broadcasting channels. When idols come to broadcasting channels, they have to sign their albums in order to.... Promote their album! So some signed promo albums come with a "TO: XXX" and a long message on the cover, because it is often destined to a PD.... who doesn't always seem to want to keep that album. They receive so many promo albums that I doubt they'd wish to keep them all, too much! So the people with links to the broadcast channels manage to get them for free orrrrr for a cheap price! And they resell them on ebay. Not all the people on eBay who claim those come from broadcasting channels are legit. Please read my other article about how to spot a fake signed album. The good thing with those sellers is they will offer you a wider range of albums, older or newer, and more artists! Such as SNSD, exo, SHINee... etc. But this comes with a price, usually those albums are more costly, nearing the 100$ including the shipping price. But this of course depends on the artist, and Exo album will cost more than a SHINee one, since Exo is much more popular nowadays.

Otherwise other types of sellers would resell albums they've bought from the places mentioned above. You also have to be careful because some sellers might "steal" other people's pictures and claiming them as theirs. So you believe you are purchasing a legit signed copy of an album but in fact the seller might send you something totally different from the picture. Hence even checking previous feedback is important and doing your own research. I would say NEVER impulsively buy from eBay or other less safe platforms like the ones below. 

OTHER PLATFORMS: TUMBLR, FACEBOOK, TWITTER...

And as for other platforms such as Facebook, Tumblr, .... those people tend to resell things they've bought on Soompi, YesAsia, eBay. Beware, not as trustworthy, you'd have to be really careful. Not everyone is fake, but you'd need to work on spotting whether it's fake or not what they sell, even if they have an amazing feedback, always look out. Basically they tend to resell albums that come from the places written above.

Basically what I can remember where you can buy signed Kpop albums.

Thank you for reading this!

Kpop is a blooming industry, with a growing appreciation around the world. Unlike western album, we get the opportunity to achieve signed albums of those idols. But this has attracted a group of people thirsty for money, ready to cheat international fans by selling fake signed albums. But here is a way to not fall into this trap. 

Just to clarify I am not korean. My advice might not be 100% accurate, but I have gathered enough knowledge concerning the issue, and I thought about sharing it to other people. 

As you may know, the most common place international fans buy their signed albums is eBay. But as everyone knows, it isn't the safest place to buy legit things. Obviously not everyone is a scammer, so you have to really do a thorough search before impulsively buying.

There are mainly 3 types of signed albums on eBay sold:

★ mWave/soompi/yesasia albums 

★ Promo albums

★ Fansign albums

Before starting off, two important things to know before starting your own research:

★ If the album has a COA certificate, it is fake. Reason: the COA certificate is itself very pricey, somewhere along more than 50$ in order to obtain it, the person would need to ship it to the company, and the whole procedure itself is expensive, hence it is very likely that the people who obtained these certificates end up not being genuine. As why would you sell a signed album with COA for a mere 30$ when you spent more to get the certificate. So a signed kpop album has a COA certificate? Fake.

★ The Komca sticker DOES not prove the authencity of an album. You can ONLY rely on the signatures themselves to judge their genuinity. The silver Komca with "not for sale" are just albums not sold to general public but given as GIFTS to the staff. Those gifts could be signed or unsigned, and someone could buy an unsigned one and do the signatures himself. There are silver Komca albums unsigned on eBay, someone can buy them and sign it themselves. 

MWAVE/SOOMPI/YESASIA ALBUMS

The first type is essentially mwave albums (soompi no longer sells albums and yesasia tends to be pricier than mwave, so people mainly buy from mwave). There is no way to tell that it is a mwave album. Those are regular albums, with the C1 golden color sticker. However, there are still some ways to spot whether it is fake. Usually people who sell mwave albums will state it in their description, or if the seller doesn't state where he got his album, do ask them. Some sellers who are kind of new to eBay won't always remember to state that it is a mwave album. (Because they sometimes just want to sell this one album because they are no longer fans so they don't really care about writing lengthy descriptions and just want to sell them quickly) Then, do make sure the album they are offering was sold by mWave. Imagine they are selling a signed Shinee album and state they got it from mwave, there is no way they got it because mwave doesn't sell any signed YG or SM albums, or some popular groups like INFINITE or B2ST, I have myself asked mwave directly and this was the answer I got: 

“Dear Customer, Hello this is Mwave. Thank you for your interest. At this time we do not have any plans for Beast or Infinite because they are too busy with their schedules. We do not have plans for SM or YG artists either because it is pretty hard to get them to come. I am sorry for the disappointment. Please keep an eye out just incase we do get them for our Meet and Greet! Thank you. Best, Mwave

So do double check whether the album was sold by mwave. Another thing to spot whether it is fake is to ask the seller the receipt of the order. Legit sellers will provide it (often) immediately with a screenshot, whilst fake legit sellers will try to come up with an excuse (well some really are telling the truth when they forgot for instance their password, in that case ask what their ID was - to check whether they did buy from the board) or just NEVER answer you. Never buy without having some security. Some people also buy from group orders, ask them the seller's name (from who they bought), proof they paid them (or discussed with them) and when it's a meet&greet item, check whether that seller actually exists in the all star board (the board shows all the people who bought the items). A case for which I spotted a fake signed album was when a seller on mwave "let's talk" board put a thread saying she was selling several signed albums from mwave. However that seller registered on mWave several months after that meet&greet, so she obviously didn't get it herself (or she could have created a new account? But I doubt it), so I sent her email from who she obtained it. It has been 2 months and I NEVER received an answer. Yes, she could be busy, absent for vacation, but after more knowledge about the signatures (I now know well how some groups' signatures look like) I realized that the signatures were fake.  Good thing I didn't buy it, I tend to rush when I buy things - because I'm always scared that someone might buy it before me.

For the fake one, I am 99.99% it is fake. I will give you several reasons as to why. As for the "real" ones, once again there is no certitude those are 100% real, but by comparing to the signed albums I got from mwave, those ones are pretty similar. (The real albums are promo albums,  I couldn't find any mwave signed albums, there are very few around) Let's not forgot that those signatures are slightly simplified (like Jungkook) because they have to sign several albums, so they will look different from a fansign (because they are given more time and they give it to the fan in person!) or represented official signatures (like in photocards, goods, ... Etc because those are printed signatures, so obviously they'll try to make it look nice! Who would put a simplified signature for it to be printed on stuff?).

So why would those signatures be fake? Here are my reasons:

★ Anyone can spot that those signatures look signed by the same person. Same pressure of the pen...

★ Same neatness.... Too neat. We can see that person was trying to be careful. Usually they are trying to sign it quickly, but this looks like it was done carefully.

★ Rapmonster's signature was the most obvious. (Top middle) His signature is the one that usually never variates, it is clear and bigger, not a shy little scribble. We can't even clearly see the signature.

★ J-hope's (bottom right) signature was wayyyy too neat, like the circle surrounding his name is very neat, too straight. Just look it yourself.

★ The pen used isn't the normal one. You can see smudges, when there shouldn't be any. (It's possible smudges when the ink wasn't dry, but in this scenario it looks like it was because it was because the pen is easily smudged if you touch it even when it dried out)

★ There are so many other details that it is fake, I let you obverse with your own eyes.

So after you have double checked everything, that the signatures look legit and everything else, I guess you could buy it? At first, I have to say I couldn't tell this was a fake, because my eyes simply weren't used to their signatures. Please buy it if you know well the signatures (take some time to look at several of their signatures, like printed ones, or from people who did reviews on mwave of their albums, people post what they received and those people are the most legit obviously because they bought directly from mwave, and why would they post fake signatures? It's not like they were selling it)

Also look at the price, if it's $10, this is way too suspicious. (Except if it's an auction, then it's another story) if it's direct buy at that price for (more) popular groups like Miss A or 2pm, then really check thoroughly. Sometimes some sellers put pictures that aren't theirs, so please ask the seller to send more pictures if possible (or to ask them to put a paper with their username written next to the album when they take the picture). For nugu groups, those prices could be possible, but then be very careful. 

Never impulsively buy. Nobody wants some random money thirsty person's scribbles on the album they buy, that album would be worth NOTHING. (and would be impossible to resell)

Also, here's a little trick for BTS. BTS, from their debut, have NEVER changed the position of their signatures. The order is always as follows, Jin is top left, Rapmonster top middle, Suga top right, V middle left, Jimin middle right, J-Hope bottom left and Jungkook bottom right. They have adapted this since they signed a loooooot of albums and I guess it's easier for them. But not every groups does that though.

PROMO ALBUMS

Promo albums are special albums usually distributed to broadcasting channels such as Inkigayo, M! countdown, The Show, Music Bank etc. They are used to ... Promote their album! They are given to the staff. However, not everyone wants to keep those albums (with every groups that pass to those broadcasting channels, they could have a HUGE library made of all those treasures), so those eBay users will buy it from them (usually at rather cheap price or for free? Because they got connections with them) and then resell them on eBay. The fact is, the albums are not as desirable as we expect them to be, here's an article click here showing that the workers.... don't really care about those albums.
Promo albums are distinguishable because they have often printed "NOT FOR SALE" or "PROMOTION ONLY" on the back (normally), and have a silver colored promo sticker, with written 비매  which means Not for Sale in Korean. I've gone ahead to confirm this by asking mwave (I think they must really hate me with all the questions I ask them, but they are still polite to answer me!)

“ Dear Customer, Hello this is Mwave. Thank you for your inquiry. I believe that the difference between normal CDs and promo CDs is the different wording on the sticker and perhaps color. The promotional albums are more silver and has the word 비매 which means not for sale and the normal CDs have C1 and are more gold in color. There are even red letters for some of the promotional KOMCA sticker, so I believe some of the normal CDs could have red letters on it also and some CDs have white letterings. I think the company makes so that the KOMCA stickers also matches the CD colors. Also, I do not think there is a place where you can verify the number of your CD.

Sucks right? There is no way to know whether the KOMCA sticker corresponds actually to the album. So what's the use of that number then? ._. So basically, also make sure the letters' color is the same for every promo album of the same album! If one KOMCA sticker has white lettering for every promo albums a certain album has sold and then someone sells them with a red lettering... suspicious right? You really need to find the details, my friend!

Also, people who can get promo albums are.... korean! So do double check where the item ships from (some sellers says that they are based in USA, but doesn't mean they aren't shipping from Korea). If the item is shipped from Shanghai.... ermmmm.... wouldn't recommend buying from the person. Many many many fake signed albums are sold from chinese sellers, and they can't give any reason as how it would be real, the sole reason is "please trust me" (erm no. I won't. Plus they tend to sell only C1 KOMCA albums.) But watch out! Item sold from Korea =/= legit. Some companies don't use the promo stickers in their latest albums such as TOP Media (Teen top) or FNC entertainment (FT island, CN blue, n.Flying, AOA). Sometimes, there's also the management contact list (we can see the phone numbers, and it's a white sticker with the details. The seller usually hides parts of the phone number to avoid that people call those numbers, which is rather common sense!)

Most promo albums are signed, but not all of them! So beware, really beware, some really money thirsty people may go ahead to buy some unsigned promo albums and do the signatures themselves. Hence promo album doesn't equal to 100% genuine signed album.

The fake signatures just SCREAM for themselves. Just look at the details. Although it has the KOMCA silevr sticker, the NOT FOR SALE sticker, the manager's contact info (that weren't even covered tssss.)..... Anyone can see by comparing that it is fake. (I don't need to tell you what's wrong like the other example do I?) (Also the item would be shipped from Korea, an example that there's korean scammers as well!)
Also don't forget, the signatures on the album won't be 100% like the reference signatures. They signed it for Billboard, obviously they won't use their simplified signature. They have to sign several promo albums, so they won't add details like "Beast". Some members are more lazy when it comes to signing, some aren't. (men tend to have more lazy signatures, when you look at girl groups' signatures, theirs always seem to be quite nice, especially for rookie groups, they have the cutest signatures ever! Like Red Velvet, Oh my Girl, CLC...)
Once you spot someone who sells at least one fake signed album, I wouldn't recommend buying ANYTHING from them, even if some other seem legit. Once a scammer, always a scammer.

As said for the mwave albums, be sure to know well the person's/people's signature. Also a much too low price can trigger some doubts, selling an exo album for $30 is just way too suspicious, nobody is that kind hearted to sell it at such low price. 

FANSIGN ALBUMS

Fansigns albums are also recognizable by the fact that they are signed inside the album, in the booklet. Each member has his own page where he signs with his signature and there's a "TO: person's name" and sometimes a little message (depends on how that fansign works, sometimes they'll allow the idols to write a little message, sometimes they won't). There's also a post-it for which the person asked a question to the person and he has to tick between the choices (multiple choice question) or simply write the answer. The post-it is not always sold together with the signed album because the person might have kept it as a souvenir or whatever. The signatures are usually look very similar to their 'official signatures' which you can see on goods with printed signatures, on the back of some photocards and so on. You can always Google a group's signature to compare. Since the people have more time signing (and they make an effort doing a nice signature since the fan is literally in front of them), the signature will look almost the same as their official one. 

Just my own opinion, I personally wouldn't buy a fansign one, simply because the signatures would have been meant to another person, to that certain person since there's the person's name. It would feel wrong for instance to receive/buy a used birthday card, with someone else's name. You know what I mean? But I am not stopping you from buying it. 

(Pfouahhh. Took a bit of time to find fansign pictures ;_; I could have put again BTS, since there's plenty being sold on ebay, but we need some variation!) Okay so we have Exo-K here (and there's an unbelievable amount of fake being sold on ebay...), I decided to pick them since it would be more useful to the big fandom they have!
Okay so this person did a pretty good job copying I guess.

Why is it fake for me? I will go one by one, from top to bottom. (Btw, I didn't put them by the order of preference lol)
★ Kai NEVER does circles for the points on the ' i ', this is a big error. The picture was cut the way I found impossile, to see well the entire signature. So I cannot analyze it any further.
★ For Sehun, I got to say, the scammer did a pretty good job on this one. The "Hun" just seems fishy to me, especially the 'H'. But then, if it was only this signature, would be tough to spot the fakeness.
★ For D.O., The ' D ' is wayyyyyy too streched out. And his ' D ' is usually inclined, like a bit rotated, somewhat 30-45 degrees rotation. Just compare with the real signature and the reference.
★ Baekhyun..... ooooooh.... big giveaway.... really obvious on this one. Can't see? His signature is made of ' exo ' and 'baek' or 'baekhyun'. So basically his ' e ' looks like a horizontal arrow pointing toward the left. The fake signature ' e ' doesn't even look like a ' e ' , just an arrow pointing towards the top??? And the ' B ' isn't supposed to touch the ' o ' of 'exo'. Even if he did it quickly, it shouldn't touch that awkward way.
★ Suho's looks well imitated, The ' h ' looks like a curl, when he usually never does, normally just a spike.
★ Chanyeol's looks okay as well, but it doesn't look as smooth. The ' l ' isn't curled enough, well it's too small the space inside the ' l ' , and the ' c ' is not curled enough at the end.

Obviously the best option would be to a fansign yourself if ever you plan on going to Korea or the group comes to your country and offers it (like a poster fansign session for Boys' republic for their European tour for people who bought VIP tickets), because like that you are sure it's legit since they are signing it in front of YOURS own eyes. Or even buying it directly from mwave or yesasia, because they are 100% legit.

A good example of a 100% fake seller is an ebay user, which I won't reveal the name, but give his link click here. All his albums are sooooooo fake, now that I know so well the BTS albums, this just jumps to the eyes. I've contacted him previously, asking where he got the albums and he answered "abc company", what company is that???? And he never answered me back afterwards when I questionned him further. This guy has been scamming so many people, please do not buy from him. So even if a user is from Korea, they can scam you even better. Like an innocent lamb. I might post a full article of the sellers I belive are legit and those that are fake (more fake I know of...).

And as an end of note, feel free to comment if you want some help spotting a fake signed album. My opinion isn't 100% reliable, but if you have doubts, it's always better to have some opinions! :) (I've seen people ask help on forums, the signed album was so fake and since people have no experience - like they just toss their opinion like that without any afterthought - they thought it was real.) PS. That post took several days to write, motivation was needed, it took me several months of experience, so all was not done in a few minutes. Please do not plagiarize the article or use it to try to cheat better people. That would be very dishonest of you.  Tne images took time to be photoshopped, to be found etc. (my fingers hurt as i'm writing this, I should seriously learn to type with all 10 fingers)