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[Pros:]

Pros:
-And now speaking of the swap meet.  Thursday went off without a hitch, it was perfect.  But Friday was a disaster.  The information desk told me that swap meet check in was at 6pm.  It was at 5pm.  Luckily, I was still able to get a spot.  The head of the swap meet was incredibly rude, when I brought up the change in time, she snapped at me that the information was in the program guide.  I read through the whole program, as did my friend.  It wasn't.

The Swap Meet check-in time for Friday was 5:00pm.  It was posted on the convention website , and on the forums in this thread for a while before the convention:

http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,16971.0.html

If you checked this thread like most of the sellers did prior to Fanime, you would've known ahead of time of the check-in time rather than wait until the con and rely on asking the information booth or what was stated/not stated in the program guide.  

Sure, it was posted around before the convention, but if the information desk at the convention told me 6pm and I don't have internet access, how was I supposed to know they were mistaken and there wasn't a last minute change in check in time?

I got there a little after 5:00pm on Friday.  With my spot being in the 20's, I knew I wasn't going to be checked-in until probably 5:20-5:30pm.  I personally would rather get to an event early, and if there were any changes I'd rather let the staff of that event tell us, rather than trust the Information Booth of a convention in-case of any mis-communications. :)

Also, you said in your previous post that the head of the Swap Meet was very rude to you.  Are you referring to Maryssa, AKA AngelJibrille?  She's always very busy running the Swap Meet each year (as-well as the Masquerade.)  My friend, who was also selling on Friday showed up later to check-in around 6:00pm.  My friend had to attend a funeral that morning, and by the time she got to the con, she had to wait in-line for badge pick-up which took a few hours.  Maryssa was very kind to allow her to check-in.

[Pros:]

Pros:
-And now speaking of the swap meet.  Thursday went off without a hitch, it was perfect.  But Friday was a disaster.  The information desk told me that swap meet check in was at 6pm.  It was at 5pm.  Luckily, I was still able to get a spot.  The head of the swap meet was incredibly rude, when I brought up the change in time, she snapped at me that the information was in the program guide.  I read through the whole program, as did my friend.  It wasn't. 

The Swap Meet check-in time for Friday was 5:00pm.  It was posted on the convention website , and on the forums in this thread for a while before the convention:

http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,16971.0.html

If you checked this thread like most of the sellers did prior to Fanime, you would've known ahead of time of the check-in time rather than wait until the con and rely on asking the information booth or what was stated/not stated in the program guide. 

[1:00am]

Did the power-outage on Thursday affect anywhere else besides the Convention Center?  My friend who's staff, texted me and asked if the Fairmont had lost power or not.  By that time I was already setting-up my spot in the Swap Meet, and didn't know there was a power-outage happening.

If one good thing came from the power outage, it was allowing the Swap Meet to remain open until 1:00am, instead of 11:00pm.  :)

On Friday, I packed-up all my stuff from the Swap Meet around 10:00pm, since I sold almost everything that was going to sell.  Did the Swap Meet close at 11:00pm as stated, or did the hours also get extended on Friday night?

Since I didn't pre-reg. I was fortunate not to wait in that cluster-cuss that was Day Zero, allowing me to be free to take pictures until it was time to head over to the Fairmont for the Swap Meet.  Throughout the day, seeing the lines stretch all the way to the Hilton side and Peet's Coffee, and then out the doors to Almaden Blvd., and then back n' forth inside the convention center, makes me reallllly glad I didn't pre-reg. 

I needed to do at-con registration, so after a long night selling stuff at the Swap Meet, I waited in-line for registration from 4:30am to 8:00am.  Then the servers went down, delaying registration from opening until 8:45am.  Got my badge within 10 minutes after things finally got started.  So total time waiting for me was less than an hour. :)  To clarify, I didn't mind waiting from 4:30-8:00am, since that was the time I chose to get in-line.  I myself count the time when registration opens to the time when I have the badge in my hand. 

I think for next year I will do this again.

Will Day 0 require Badges to get into the Swap Meet, or will it be like last year with no Badge Check?

angeljibrille said in the Swap Meet thread this:

You have to have a print-out staying you are registered, not a badge itself (or, of course, a badge if you actually have time to get one). You also need an ID matching that registration.

However, on Friday, you have to have the badge itself. We are more understanding on Thursday for obvious reasons.

Hope that helps. :)

I'll admit though, it's nice to have some set-up time.
...But, it's nice to sell at the same time too. xD

True, the set-up time will be nice. :)  Getting all your items neatly arranged, making-sure every item is priced/labelled, and using the restroom and/or get something to eat before the attendees are let in.

I probably will take a picture of my set-up area once it's all ready to go on Thursday.  ;)

Has anyone experienced the Friday morning lines in recent years? How bad are they in comparison to the recent Thursday/Day 0 lines? I'm planning to be there when the line starts moving Friday but I have an event to be at by 12... I'm hoping it doesn't take 4 hours to get through?  ???

It would depend on how early you mean by 'morning'. There are people who are already lining up at around 3am or so, and the main crowd starts coming in around 6-7.

Do people really wait in-line for Friday-morning registration at 3am?  :o  I was planning to get there at 6am, but may have to get there earlier now if people will be camping out or getting there earlier than that.

It won't take me 2 hours to set up

Likewise. ;)  If we finish setting-up and say it's not 8:00pm yet on Thursday (7:00pm on Friday), what are we to do if the room isn't open to the public yet? 

Registration Hours for FanimeCon 2012
Thursday: 4 PM – 8 PM*

And I'm just not even sure if they'll allow you to get in line that much early... You could try, but they might just make you move along. ^_^;;;

Thanks for the info.  If the staff gets those yellow-tape lines set-up early they will probably let people start to line-up.  I haven't waited in-line since 2010, and when I got there around 10am there were already a good amount of people in-line.  I recall pre-reg. opened at 3:00pm that year.  4:00pm (to me) seems rather late to be starting pre-reg.   :-\

Since I have to wait in-line this year (last year because I was selling in the Swap Meet, I was able to get my badge there on Thursday night) I'll be there earrrrrly Thursday morning.  :)  Perhaps at 8am if not earlier.

I'm pretty sure that the pre-reg lines don't open until 4pm on Thursday... The times were listed in the announcement for Early Registration. If you meant Friday, then okay. But definitely showing up at 8am on Thursday wouldn't really do anything for ya.

They haven't posted the hours yet for Thursday, have they?  4:00pm is rather late, considering that I need to get my badge and then prepare for the Swap Meet which is over at the Fairmont, and set-up begins at 6:00pm.  The sooner I get my badge the easier I can relax a little, so being in line early will help.  And I'm sure there will be people waiting in line on Thursday at maybe 9:00am.

Since I have to wait in-line this year (last year because I was selling in the Swap Meet, I was able to get my badge there on Thursday night) I'll be there earrrrrly Thursday morning.  :)  Perhaps at 8am if not earlier.

It doesn't matter when you create the account, it's when you pay that matters. So you won't be pre-reg, but rather early-reg before mid May.

Thanks for clearing that up.  I definitely will submit the payment this week.  

Reading the FAQ's, it said that for EARLY Registration I can pick up my badge starting on Friday morning.  So I can't wait in-line with everyone else on Thursday (May 24th) to get in-line for pre-reg.? 

I pre-reg. but haven't paid yet.  I will get paid this week and submit the payment by Wednesday night via PayPal.  Will that be ok and I will still be pre-reg.?

We will fill the front first, and as we go further down the line, full the back of the room. You can give us a general preference as to where you want to be in the room if you like (from what's available by the time we get to you), but you can't pick an exact space, and we can't promise you can be in that area but we will work with you.

Hopefully we will be able to do that.  :)

Thanks again!

I sincerely appreciate your input, as you know :)

Thanks for taking the time to reply.  :)

Will a .pdf or link to a map/layout of both ballrooms (or mainly the Imperial Ballroom) be provided with the Swap Meet spot #'s so that the Sellers may see where they'll be stationed for either/both nights?  This will give us a heads-up ahead of time.  Thanks!

I guess I'm the first one to post about the new location, being at the Fairmont Hotel, inside the Imperial Ballroom.  This is just my thoughts on the location, hours, etc.  Not trying to cause drama.  And sorry for being a little long :)  I will say that the Fairmont hotel is kinda out of the way from the convention, not "across the street" like originally planned, making travel to/from the convention center with your Swap Meet items even more a hassle to carry/transport.  The Fairmont does have parking as you stated, but that's more of a hassle for me since my car will be parked inside the SJCC parking garage, and leaving it to drive to the Fairmont would be mean giving up a good spot and paying one fee, and I don't know if the Fairmont also charges for their parking lot. 

The main issue that people will have with the Swap Meet being at the Fairmont is foot-traffic.  With a lot of events and people mainly at the convention center (Friday mainly), the majority of people will want to remain there and not go out-of-their-way.  Last year I went to the Fairmont only once to find friends, and I had to ask friends how to get there exactly since I never went there before as-long as Fanime's been at the SJCC. With the Swap Meet being inside EH3, where the video-games are, it brought in a lot of people on both nights.

Set-up time is 6:00-8:00pm, and the event opens at 8:00pm. So that means if Seller #1 checks-in and sets up his/her booth at say, 6:10pm, he/she can't sell anything until 8:00pm when the room opens?  Previous years with the Swap Meet being inside EH3, people would be able to walk-around and look at what Sellers were offering.  (True, we weren't technically allowed to sell stuff until the staff said it was okay) but this year that's a loooong time for the first group of sellers to wait before the public can look/buy their stuff.

The Swap Meet goes from 8:00pm-11:00pm on Thursday, and 7:00-11:00pm on Friday.  I can understand since it's inside the Fairmont this year, the hotel probably wants the room closed by midnight the latest, but that's earlier than previous years where we could sell stuff until 12:00 or 1:00am.  For myself, I usually shut down around midnight, but for those who really like to stay until the very end (1:00am) they won't be happy with the 11:00pm closing-time. 

What also is tough is for those who have the higher #'s (#100+) and on the waiting list, is that if the check-in time goes beyond 8:00pm, (just saying there's a possibility with the large amount of sellers this year), they will be losing valuable time selling stuff.

I know the staff will do their best to make-sure everything goes smoothly, and while the Swap Meet won't be the same like it has been in previous years, we will have to make the best of the new location, times, etc. :)

 

People will not be able to get neighboring spots this year because of some blatant violations by several people last year to try and create "uber spaces". I'm sorry, but we had to change the rules and we can't make exceptions :(

Thanks!
Marisa

When we sign-in on Thursday and/or Friday, we'll be taken to the spot that has been designated by our place #?  We won't be able to choose our own spot this year, correct?  :-[

Next year, if I decide to sell stuff again, provided I HAVE stuff to sell again, I know exactly which spot(s) to choose for both days.

I keep telling myself that this year will be THE last time I sell-stuff at the Swap Meet..  But most-likely you'll see me there, selling stuff next year at Fanime 2012!  ;D

The greatest part about this year's Swap Meet was being given my badge when I checked-in on Thursday.  Not having to wait in that cluster-cuss for pre-reg. downstairs all day was such a relief, and it allowed me to wander around, take pictures of cosplayers, plug my laptop in and go online, get food, and just be somewhere where it was calm & relaxing until it was time for the Swap Meet.

Hopefully the staff will do that again next year.  Thanks for making this year's Swap Meet my favorite of all the years I've participated. :)

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. :) 

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!