My interest in the band Seventeen began when I during the pandemic. I created my TikTok account in order to make fun videos, while also practicing my editing skills when I wasn't able to learn them in person at school. As my follower count grew, I would engage with my community of fellow fans to get more ideas for future edits. Soon, my account had thousands of followers.
As I acquired more of their albums, I also started to get into the fun of collecting, trading and selling the accompanying collectible cards and items. I did some livestreams and promotions for related accessory brands, before participating in the excitement of group orders - these are arrangements to join with a group of fellow fans to order imported albums and collectibles in bulk, as a way to maximize chances of getting luck-of-the-draw items, while minimizing costs.
My asssociated instagram account became my main channel for promotions associated with my trading and selling, and group orders, so that interested folks can more carefully review my items, terms and conditions, and easily message with what they'd like to trade or purchase.
After I promote and solicit participation in a group order, that’s when I turn to other tools and skills to power me through:
Numerous spreadsheets and forms: obtain and keep track of who’s paid, what they've paid for, and also their preferences for who they receive
Constantly communicating updates and deadlines, and responding to messages with questions, as different elements of the order ship and arrive
Staying on top of order deadline dates and release windows to place orders within the time frame or before the items sell out
Calculating shipping fees for all inbound shipments from overseas and outbound shipments to participants
Opening every item in order to organize and sort the smaller items contained inside, matching to each individual based on their specified preferences from earlier
Packing and shipping all orders, after verifying contained order items and that their address is correct