Swap Meet 2011 Info SWAP MEET 5/25/11 *THURSDAY BADGES UPDATED*

Started by angeljibrille, February 15, 2011, 01:05:27 PM

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Kyra_Maverick


FanFicGuru

Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

Xeluu

While I doubt you'll see it before tomorrow:

angeljibrille:
I know you say we shouldn't line up before 5PM tomorrow, but what time will you start admitting the sellers? I'm wondering since I may be selling by myself tomorrow, and will be attempting to grab dinner before getting in line.

Thanks in advance, even if you don't see it,
-Xeluu
2016 Cosplay Plans
Gomamon/Gabumon - Digimon
Jolteon Gijinka - Pokemon
Oogie Boogie - Nightmare Before Christmas

angeljibrille

Hi there,

Not until 6:00pm. I'm just giving people the extra hour because people just LOVE to wait in line for some reason XD

Marisa

Quote from: Xeluu on May 25, 2011, 08:32:35 PM
While I doubt you'll see it before tomorrow:

angeljibrille:
I know you say we shouldn't line up before 5PM tomorrow, but what time will you start admitting the sellers? I'm wondering since I may be selling by myself tomorrow, and will be attempting to grab dinner before getting in line.

Thanks in advance, even if you don't see it,
-Xeluu

AR-99

What I'll be doing a lot of this Thursday-Monday - waiting in line.   ;D

Tonight will be interesting because I'm selling tomorrow after work but picking up my badge tonight.  Thankfully everything is packed and ready to go!
FanimeCon '97, 2K, 2005, '09-
Evangelion Virtual Museum

bsan89

Ah QUICK Question, I just notice this when I was packing up.

I'm planning on selling my Final Fantasy XIII Elixir Set



Is this allow or count as consumable? I mean...nobody in the right mind would drink it. Its like drinking GOLD.

angeljibrille

Quote from: bsan89 on May 26, 2011, 09:59:21 AM
Ah QUICK Question, I just notice this when I was packing up.

I'm planning on selling my Final Fantasy XIII Elixir Set



Is this allow or count as consumable? I mean...nobody in the right mind would drink it. Its like drinking GOLD.

That's ... awesome O.o  We've allowed it in the past. Just no selling stuff that people are going to eat/drink.

bsan89

kk your the best angeljibrille  ;D

This is my 1st swap meet.

-Are we allow to play music @ our spot?
-Can I bring my laptop? I wanna watch a movie while I'm selling stuff =p
-Can I bring a stool to sit on? Its one of those folder able retractable outdoor chair.

-I'm bringing in 4 boxes of stuff to sell, there's an elevator right?
-lastly, where's a good place to park till 10pm?

AR-99

I can answer some of these based on prior posts:

-Are we allow to play music @ our spot?

Yes per this:

Quote from: Eurobeat King on April 08, 2011, 11:43:25 AM
Quote from: Lizchan33 on April 05, 2011, 08:57:30 PM
Quote from: FanFicGuru on April 05, 2011, 12:38:57 PM

Alrighty, what if we're using battery powered things? Like if I used my laptop for the duration of its battery life?

There aren't any outlets against the wall if you get a wall-spot, and I didn't see any if you're in the middle-area.

I always buy new batteries for my Boombox to play music for the Swap Meet, which last for maybe all of one evening.  I am selling my Sony XPLOD Boombox to the first person who's interested, and will provide the A/C Power Cord, instructions, and box if they need it:

http://www.pcrichard.com/catalog/product_popup.jsp?productId=693

If someone does buy it from me, I will use my backup boombox (not as effective tho. haha) to play music for the rest of the Swap Meet. :)


-Can I bring my laptop? I wanna watch a movie while I'm selling stuff =p

You don't want to interact with people who are browsing?  ???

Search for "laptop" in this thread as there are several posts discussing this.  Laptops can be brought in, but only powered by the batteries, they can't be plugged in.


-Can I bring a stool to sit on? Its one of those folder able retractable outdoor chair.

Quote from: angeljibrille on March 16, 2011, 01:00:23 AM
Quote from: Xeluu on March 16, 2011, 12:28:05 AM
Only other question: last year we brought one of those folding chairs people use at parades, that won't be a problem to bring again this year to sit on while selling, right?

Absolutely fine!

Thanks :)

I myself am bringing a folding chair on top of a large rolling luggage, 3 boxes, and a backpack.   ;D


-I'm bringing in 4 boxes of stuff to sell, there's an elevator right?

Yes, see p. 2 on the map of the SJCC here: http://www.sanjose.org/EC2/sitepdfs/convention-center-layout.pdf
FanimeCon '97, 2K, 2005, '09-
Evangelion Virtual Museum

Eurobeat King

A last-minute question which hopefully can be answered before the Swap meet begins (or at check-in) :

Will staffers be on-hand to help sellers bring their merchandise to their spot?

I am selling my items by myself this year, and I have a LOT of stuff.  I'm asking friends if they can help me JUST to bring my items from outside Hall 3 to my spot, but if they can't, will staff help me haul my stuff inside?  I have 3 suitcases, 2 boxes, large posters, 2 boomboxes (in a large box), an Xbox 360 (in a box) and other stuff.  Any help is appreciated.  :)   Thanks!
"Freedom is the right of all sentient cosplayers."

FanFicGuru

Quote from: Eurobeat King on May 26, 2011, 01:39:37 PM
A last-minute question which hopefully can be answered before the Swap meet begins (or at check-in) :

Will staffers be on-hand to help sellers bring their merchandise to their spot?

I am selling my items by myself this year, and I have a LOT of stuff.  I'm asking friends if they can help me JUST to bring my items from outside Hall 3 to my spot, but if they can't, will staff help me haul my stuff inside?  I have 3 suitcases, 2 boxes, large posters, 2 boomboxes (in a large box), an Xbox 360 (in a box) and other stuff.  Any help is appreciated.  :)   Thanks!

Hey Eurobeat King - Since they won't be letting people in until 6, and I'll be getting there around 5 PM, if I'm there I'll give you a hand. :) I always buy stuff from you anyways. Of course if swap meet staff will help that's great, but if not I'll offer my pair of hands to help. I'll pm you my cell so we can get in touch.
Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

Eurobeat King

Quote from: FanFicGuru on May 26, 2011, 01:43:48 PM
Quote from: Eurobeat King on May 26, 2011, 01:39:37 PM
A last-minute question which hopefully can be answered before the Swap meet begins (or at check-in) :

Will staffers be on-hand to help sellers bring their merchandise to their spot?

I am selling my items by myself this year, and I have a LOT of stuff.  I'm asking friends if they can help me JUST to bring my items from outside Hall 3 to my spot, but if they can't, will staff help me haul my stuff inside?  I have 3 suitcases, 2 boxes, large posters, 2 boomboxes (in a large box), an Xbox 360 (in a box) and other stuff.  Any help is appreciated.  :)   Thanks!

Hey Eurobeat King - Since they won't be letting people in until 6, and I'll be getting there around 5 PM, if I'm there I'll give you a hand. :) I always buy stuff from you anyways. Of course if swap meet staff will help that's great, but if not I'll offer my pair of hands to help. I'll pm you my cell so we can get in touch.


awesome!  Thanks a lot!  I should start bringing stuff up from my car after 5:00pm. :) 
"Freedom is the right of all sentient cosplayers."

Anon

hey if I work staff next year can you let me in early too, like you did for registered #37 or whatever the black girl with red dyed hair was #d at in spot #105? That's pretty unfair for people that were before her, letting her in with the 5-10 batch

FanFicGuru

Quote from: Anon on May 26, 2011, 07:09:27 PM
hey if I work staff next year can you let me in early too, like you did for registered #37 or whatever the black girl with red dyed hair was #d at in spot #105? That's pretty unfair for people that were before her, letting her in with the 5-10 batch

I'm not sure so we'll have to see what Marisa says officially as to why staff were given early entry privileges, but from my understanding the hold up for the swap meet line was largely due to the registration issues. In other words, getting people their badges, digging them out, etc. Then you have groups which made it more complicated or whatever. Whereas Staff sellers were very easy to pick out. There were probably only a handful of them out of 150+ names, so they  could be processed much quicker. That's my own thinking on it anyways.

I could tell they were working out the kinks with this new system last night, but overall I was very glad that I was able to pick my space and thought the overall organization was good. Just the processing was slower than it could have been. :)
Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

AR-99

According to staff everyone in line got in, as there were a lot of no shows.  Better late than never!

When I walked in the door I was shocked to see how much the person in the corner had, I was wondering if he was a store or something since he had so much stuff.  That and how did he get it all in!   ???

Then I saw how little other people had, so I felt reassured.  I fall in the middle of these 2 examples.
FanimeCon '97, 2K, 2005, '09-
Evangelion Virtual Museum

FanFicGuru

Quote from: Shear_Trigger on May 27, 2011, 08:06:36 AM
According to staff everyone in line got in, as there were a lot of no shows.  Better late than never!

When I walked in the door I was shocked to see how much the person in the corner had, I was wondering if he was a store or something since he had so much stuff.  That and how did he get it all in!   ???

Then I saw how little other people had, so I felt reassured.  I fall in the middle of these 2 examples.

Yeah there are definitely extremes as far as stuff people are selling. Some have 5 plushies and a wall scroll, others have flat hand trucks piled high with boxes full of manga, anime, soundtracks, everything.

Craaazzzyyy.
Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

Ecchi ja Nai

Quote from: Shear_Trigger on May 27, 2011, 08:06:36 AM
When I walked in the door I was shocked to see how much the person in the corner had
From previous swap meet experience, and if you look at the floor map, you can see that the first five or so spots are reserved, and are used by Fanime staff.  I was surprised the first time I saw that whole corner spot piled high and deep with figures and boxes and boxes of manga/doujins.  It also makes more sense when you consider the corner guy is usually the first one in, and last one out, as far as sellers go.

Quote from: FanFicGuru on May 27, 2011, 08:13:35 AM
Yeah there are definitely extremes as far as stuff people are selling. Some have 5 plushies and a wall scroll, others have flat hand trucks piled high with boxes full of manga, anime, soundtracks, everything.
I'm still not understanding how some people come in with hand carts.  Shopping carts and rolling luggage are one thing, but these are four-wheeled flatbed hand trucks I saw rolling around last night.  I guess, they might have an "in" with staff, since I recognize those people from swap meets past, but it just doesn't make sense with all of the warnings they give that the building is union controlled.

FanFicGuru

Okay so swap meet feedback time.

First, thanks Marisa for another great swap meet. Despite the complaints/suggestions below, I really appreciate you and your staff for organizing and running this great staple of Fanime.

1) Thursday night line - The ability for sellers to be able to pick up their badges early was an awesome (and late) addition, and so I understand that working out the kinks took time. Still, the line was pretty terrible on Thursday. I was spot 76 and it took me and my partner about 2 or 2 and a half hours to get inside. I would think the best way to have done it would be to organize the badges by spot on the waiting list. Someone walks up, says "Hi I'm spot X" and under spot x is their badge and any other badges they might be picking up. Hand in form, pay and be on your way. Instead even when I got there people were digging through huge stacks of badges looking for names etc. which seemed to really be slowing up the line. Friday's line was of course, much better.

2) Spot size on Friday - I understand you're wanting the most spaces possible. The small size on Friday didn't bother me. It was paying $20 for half the size of the spot I had on Thursday. For next year if you guys do half spots ONLY on Fridays please let us know in advance (unless I missed that somewhere?) and cost should only be $10 instead of $20.

3) Item inspection - I think that the majority of swap meet sellers can have their material inspected while waiting in line. Approved containers will be given a sticker similar to the ones you had last year so that you know they've been checked and this helps to expedite the check-in process. People with excessive amounts of stuff can take their stuff off to the side for proper inspection.

4) Staff sellers = front of line? - It's not that I'm questioning whether or not they SHOULD be given priority, I'm just wondering what the reasoning was behind it.

I think that's about it. I was also curious about the hand carts in certain cases.

Anyways, thanks again!
Fanime attendee since 2004
Swap meet staff - 2014
Swap meet co-chair - 2015

Ecchi ja Nai

Let me echo FanFicGuru by thanking Marisa and all Fanime staff involved in pulling off another great swap meet this year.  It's hard to choose one part of Fanime that I look forward to the most, but it's easily up there at the top with the dealer's hall and musicfest for me.  Now, on to my own comments and observations:

I can understand the complaints about the long wait on Thursday to get in, even if I didn't experience that wait myself.  I was lucky to register at spot #8 for Thursday night, so I got in almost right away, even though I arrived after people had already started to work their way in.  To play devil's advocate, I can see why they might need to keep the badges in alphabetical order - anyone who didn't show up on Thursday would have to have their badges sent back to the registration staff to be picked up like usual on Friday or Saturday. And as long as you know to look at the LAST name and not the first, it really shouldn't take all that long to flip through the badges.  Conversely, couldn't something like the badges have been dealt with while people were waiting in line?

Having said that, I don't really understand the point of having a start time of 8:00, which I was actually expecting, only to see the first 20 spots already being processed and let in at 6:02.  I actually wouldn't mind longer swap meet times, without stepping on the feet and pissing off the people in the dealer's hall on Friday, but instead of getting there with plenty of time to get my forms out and compose myself, I wound up getting in about a dozen spots later than where I had registered.  Again, I'm not really sure how I feel about this part, since longer swap meets are a good thing in my opinion, but it would suck for anyone who only showed up an hour early.

Quote from: FanFicGuru on May 29, 2011, 10:29:58 AM

2) Spot size on Friday - I understand you're wanting the most spaces possible. The small size on Friday didn't bother me. It was paying $20 for half the size of the spot I had on Thursday. For next year if you guys do half spots ONLY on Fridays please let us know in advance (unless I missed that somewhere?) and cost should only be $10 instead of $20.


Actually, spots were only 5'x10' both days this year.  Like I posted a ways back, I'm surprised nobody else really said anything about this.  I decided to hold off judgement until after swap meet so I can see how it actually worked out, and all in all, it wasn't horrible.  I do have to admit I'm a little sore at the $20 cost for the "half space," since it seems like you're getting more people squeezed into the same size room, and we all have to pay the same as last year's larger space.  Cost aside, I think it would have worked out better for the sellers to have a wider spot, rather than a deep one.  It was difficult to interact with people interested when you couldn't reach them because of all the stuff between you.  Not only that, but having wider spots that didn't stick out so far into the room would have eased the congestion of people, which was a problem on Friday.  You had sellers sticking 10' out from the wall, then buyers three people deep, people trying to walk in both directions, and gamers trying to enjoy some eGaming goodness.  Wider spots would mean fewer spaces along the walls, but don't you think you could fit another row or two of spots out in the "middle" of the floor?

And to just touch on some other line-related things, I too think that inspections can at least start while people are in line.  When you've got a bunch of stuff to have opened up, looked at, and then stacked back up all while more people are coming in right behind you, it can be a pain.  For me, getting to my spot after I got my badge and payed my $20 was the most difficult part on Thursday.  And if staffers are going to have reserved spots to sell anyway, why not have them processed even earlier than everyone else, not just at the "front" of the line.  Either that, or have it done parallel to everyone else.  If they're staff, I don't think you'd have to inspect their boxes as throughly or have the same problems with the badges.  Give them some perks because they're staffing, but not at the cost of the paying attendees who wind up having to wait behind them.

Having said all that, I do hope that swap meet was as successful for everyone else as it was for me.  Although I didn't sell quite as much as I would have liked, and didn't get a chance to shop with anyone else other than my neighbors because I went stag, I still had a blast, and wound up more than paying for my weekend with what I did sell.  Fanime may still have Monday to go, but I'm already looking forward to seeing swap meet '12!

Anon

Entry inspection: I made the suggestion last year about inspecting while we were lined up waiting, I don't really have a complaint about it this year since they started getting us up and in before the 8pm start. As you can see though the people near the end of the line that waited 2 hours or so would have appreciated it. In hopes of making that process quicker for me and my friend, I passed my stuff off to the inspectors while you guys checked me in, instead of checking in first,then stepping aside to wait for inspection. Might want to suggest that to people next year

Badge Pickup: Glad you guys took some suggestion and consideration from the requests for last year. It's too bad I heard from staff that you guys won't do the same next year, due to stupid people who still went to regular registration when they signed up for the waiting list and made a mess down there for you guys. You guys made it plain and obvious that you would have their badges up at the swap meet. Don't let these stupid people ruin it and punish us sellers who know how to read. In any case, friggin loved it, I sure hope you guys keep this process and streamline it further

Smaller spaces, same price: Seriously? I can understand you guys are still growing and need more money and all. Hopefully you made some decent money off of us to justify moving into a dedicated room just for a swap meet. (One can  dream...) Suggestion? There isn't really much to do to fix the small space situation, aside from moving in to a bigger or fully dedicated room. I think Friday's jam packed attendance should warrant a look into this, as it was a human cattle herding experiment, or worse yet, a massive disastrous death trap waiting to happen.

Staff priority/jumping the line: My earlier comment on Thursday night was tongue-in-cheek. As you can see from the previous posts, people were made to wait nearly 3 hours to get in. The comment made after mine saying "Better late than never"? What if a buyer was looking for something a seller had, but the seller was only let in 3 hours later, and this buyer couldn't find it anywhere else from anybody? Both people lose out. Better late than never? Looks like your statement doesn't hold water in this case. In any case, my main point - if they paid to have a spot just like everybody else, then they're not staff, they're a paying customer to you and should be treated equally as everybody else. No favoritism. Unless of course they don't even need to pay since they're staff, and yes, quite a few of us noticed/realized your reserved spots at the very front entrance were filled by staff. Perhaps my comment about working staff wasn't so tongue-in-cheek after all...

More to come, after I have breakfast