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Friday, November 9, 2018

Ordering My Golden Child Wish Albums

For Golden Child's latest album release, Wish, I ordered from both Choice Music LA and from Ktown4u. This is my first time ordering from Choice, so I wanted to blog about my experience. I also have an unboxing review post for Wish here!

This album comes in 2 versions. I pre-ordered 3 copies (2 Version A and 1 Version B) from Choice Music LA for just under $60 USD shipped and 2 copies (1 of each version) along with 2 folded posters from Ktown4u for just under $43 USD shipped.

This is my first time ordering from Choice Music, but they count on the charts and have positive feedback so I wanted to give them a shot. As they're based in LA, they receive albums a few days after the release, then ship them. I selected the cheapest shipping option, USPS Media Mail. The release date listed on the item page was October 25, but on November 1 I still hadn't received a shipment notification while my American friends who had pre-ordered after me had already received tracking information the previous day. I called Choice Music using the main number found on Google, but it would ring endlessly without a voicemail message. Eventually I found this number (213-905-9994) and tried throughout the day, even leaving a voicemail, and finally in the late afternoon I called again and got through. She explained that multiple comebacks is slowing down shipments, but that she'll push my order and I should receive my tracking information by tomorrow. I then asked why orders weren't being fulfilled in chronological order, and she said it depends on if other items were included in their order or not (one of my friends had another item in her order, my other friend didn't, so that didn't make sense). I received my shipping confirmation and tracking information about an hour later. This unnecessary delay has caused a lot of frustration; before ordering from Choice Music again, I'll consider if other comebacks are being released around the same time (when is there a time where other comebacks don't exist though).
My friends received their Choice packages on November 3 while I finally received mine on November 8. The cardboard box is very sturdy and the edges were secured well with packaging tape. Choice Music really branded their packaging well too with the store's sticker.
My albums were securely wrapped in 4 layers of bubblewrap. A layer of thick bubblewrap filled the top so that the albums wouldn't shift while in transit. Included was also a Choice sticker.
Each album comes with 1 of 20 photocards and 1 of 10 book in books. In my first copy of Version A, I pulled Jangjun's white photocard in between pages 66 and 67.
In my second copy of Version A, I pulled Bomin's orange photocard in between pages 76 and 77.
I pulled Y's white photocard in between pages 80 and 81 of Version B.
The book in book is placed in the very last page. I pulled Daeyeol's, Y's, and Jibeom's book in books from these 3 albums (I can't believe I actually forgot which member I pulled from which book, since I'm so meticulous and usually keep track of this).

Ktown4u shipped my package on October 25 and it arrived on November 5 in a cardboard box. My 2 albums and 2 folded posters came bundled securely in 3 layers of bubblewrap. The albums came in perfect condition.
I pulled Y's white photocard, slipped in between pages 76 and 77 of Version A.
I pulled Jibeom's orange photocard, slipped in between pages 60 and 61 of Version B.

For the book in books, I pulled Seungmin's in Version A and Joochan's in Version B.
Here are my pulls: Daeyeol, Y, Seungmin, Jibeom, and Joochan for the book in books, and Y white (x2), Jangjun, Jibeom, and Bomin for the photocards. I'm happy that I pulled a variety of members and managed to only get one duplicate.

In all honestly, I probably won't order from Choice Music LA for a long time; they're still fairly new in the online space and need to get their operation in order. I do have to say that Choice does package their items really well, much better than Ktown4u and YesAsia. However I'll continue ordering from Ktown4u since their packages usually arrive before 14 days in great condition and with complimentary posters.

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