SEVENTEEN Criticized for High Album Price, Company Responded It was an Error

A topic titled “The price of SEVENTEEN’s deluxe edition album, which has received criticism from fans, was posted on the Korean forum “theqoo” on May 7. Within a few hours, it garnered over 50,000 views and almost 1,000 comments.

Specifically, it was mentioned that SEVENTEEN will be releasing a deluxe edition of their most recent album, “17 IS RIGHT HERE”, which will feature a photobook, stickers, a complete set of photocard, and key rings.

Nevertheless, despite previous deluxe versions of SEVENTEEN’s albums being sold for around 40,000 won (approximately 30 USD), fans were shocked to find that the “17 IS RIGHT HERE”deluxe version was priced at a staggering 170,000 won (approximately 125 USD after a 17% discount).

Consequently, many netizens felt compelled to voice their frustrations, accusing HYBE (the parent company of SEVENTEEN, who is managed by Pledis) of being greedy for setting such a high price.

Here are a few remarks from internet users:

Wow I really hate HYBE
Except for the key ring, everything is made of paper, so it’s more expensive than a concert. Ugh..
Is it logical for the price to be higher than that of a concert ticket?
HYBE are trying to recover their money after their stock dropped due to Min Hee-jin…
Ever since (SEVENTEEN joined) HYBE, there has been an increase in commercialism and the design appears to be outdated. It appears that the company is exploiting their fans for profit.

As the controversy surrounding prince change continues to escalate, SEVENTEEN’s agency Pledis has released a statement addressing the issue and stating that the previous price was a mere mistake.

On the 7th, Pledis clarified, “We want to address the price labeling mistake on the ’17 IS RIGHT HERE (Deluxe Ver.)’ album, which was released at 11 AM today. This album was originally intended as a limited edition with a unique setup to celebrate Seventeen’s Best Album release. However, during the preparation stage, we decided to modify the composition and price to make it more accessible to a wider range of fans, aligning with the concept of the Best Album instead of focusing on its rarity.”

Despite the agency’s acknowledgement of operational errors, they stated that due to miscommunication, the initial planned price was mistakenly conveyed to distributors as the final price. This resulted in a price labeling error on the sales page. The agency explained that discussions with distributors regarding price adjustments and refund processes were time-consuming, which prevented them from announcing the price error sooner.

Finally, they announced that they will be correcting the sales price labeling on the sales page starting at 5 p.m. today. They also assured that they will assist those who have already made purchases with the refund process and re-payment at all sales outlets. They expressed their sincere apologies for any confusion and concern caused and promised to improve their internal processes to avoid similar errors in the future.

The album is currently priced at 83,400 won (approximately 60 USD), but with a 17% discount, it has been adjusted to 69,500 won (51 USD).

The sources are Daum and theqoo.