From now on, even if people join paid idol fan clubs to enjoy benefits such as "concert presales" and then cancel, they will be able to get part of the membership fee back. Previously, once someone used the paid fan club benefits, the membership fee was not refundable, but that has changed as related terms have been revised.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission said on the 10th that it reviewed the terms of service for paid fan club memberships at a total of 24 entertainment companies and fandom platforms, including SM Entertainment, BigHit Music under HYBE, and Weverse Company, and pointed out unfair clauses that disadvantaged consumers. The businesses accepted the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC)'s findings and voluntarily corrected the problematic clauses.
A paid fan club membership means that if you pay a joining fee for a membership operated by an entertainment company or platform, you receive benefits for one year such as being able to book concerts and fan meetings one day earlier than the general public. Members can also view membership-only digital content (photos and videos). The joining fee is around 50,000 won. Because it is difficult to get tickets for popular idols' concerts and fan meetings, most people are known to join paid fan club memberships for the presale benefits.
With this measure, entertainment companies and fandom platforms will, within this year, create a formula to calculate final refunds by checking whether paid members used presale opportunities and viewed content. Refund amounts will vary depending on how much of the paid membership benefits were used, and in some cases members will be able to get back up to an amount comparable to the full joining fee.
In addition, if there is no usage within seven days from the date of joining, members can receive a full refund. If seven days have passed or there is usage, the remaining amount will be refunded after deducting a penalty (10% of the joining fee) and the calculated amounts for each benefit used. Until now, businesses did not offer refunds even in cases that could be seen as attributable to the business, such as the withdrawal of a specific idol group member, but going forward refunds will be possible in such cases as well.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said, "As the scope of the K-pop market expands globally, we conducted a preemptive review of unfair terms in the paid fan club membership service market," adding, "This will be an important opportunity to protect consumer rights in the industry and to establish a fair and transparent transaction order befitting the size of fandoms."