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I'm not sure where to put this on the forum - but is Thursday Night Swap Meet still going to be badgeless?

Seconding this question, as I'm kinda curious and don't recall seeing anything posted on this one way or another.  For buyers, of course.  I know we'll need our badge to get in to sell.

Yes, Swap Meet buyers on Thursday can still be badgeless, as usual.

[really urgent I get a reply asap]

I emailed the swapmeet@ email two days ago, but dont have a reply yet, and really need one asap. I didnt put a secondary seller on my digital swapmeet application, because I didnt have any friends wanting to sell anything. But then I realized the date I picked, Friday, conflicts with a rehearsal for Cosplay Chess Im supposed to attend. I sent an email asking to either change the date I chose for my Swap Meet space, or if its allowed to add a secondary seller to the physical papers.

Could either a staff reply to the email and switch my spot to Thursday, or someone else let me know if they know if its ok to add another person on the physical papers if they werent on the electronic application, so they could cover the spot while I attend the other thing?
I really need to know asap in case I need to try to arrange something else with the chess rehearsal, because I really dont want to lose my spot, or lose half of the selling time there by arriving after rehearsal.

As I'm sure you can imagine, we got a lot of e-mails on various issues once Swap Meet opened. I've been working through them after work as well as working on compiling the master list of Swap Meet sellers.  I haven't seen this particular e-mail yet, but I should be coming up on it fairly soon.  Either option you mentioned should be doable.  I'll send you an e-mail back once I get to that point in the backlog asking which you prefer and we can go from there.

Thanks for the update, its reassuring to at least know that the delay is just a matter of email volume, rather than the email not being monitored lol. Ill indicate my preference when I see the email reply, rather than on here, so you dont have to try to keep track of who I am XD

Do you have an estimate of when you/someone would get to the emails sent on May 17th? Im worried by the time my email is answered (and by the time they get my response with preference), there wont even be any Thursday spots left.

If there are a ton of emails and Thursday spots are running out... Im wondering if its better to just ask for a refund for my Friday spot and try to book a Thursday spot, or share a spot with someone who already got a Thursday one... would that be faster? I know I want to switch to Thursday, but if I can keep my own spot, I also want to add a secondary seller anyways, as a backup for like, bathroom breaks, and to help me carry stuff...

Also in the Rules it says that if what you sell differs from what you declared 'when applying', you forfeit your spot, but the application wont let me go back and see the exact wording of what I declared. If its written on the paper application, is that ok, or does it HAVE to be on the initial digital one?
(Basically, my memory is awful, I should have saved that part but I kind of thought I would get some confirmation with it printed on it, or I would be able to go back and see... so Im not sure exactly how vague I was about certain declarations.  Because, when I first applied,  I wasnt actually quite sure of what I HAD to sell, I only found out about the swap meet application opening a few hours before it opened, and I was still at work right before, and I kind of made a fast decision to try to get a spot, since Im moving to another state soon and have to get rid of stuff, and didnt have time to go through all my stuff looking for what I was going to sell before I had applied so I just tried to think of stuff I knew I had and could sell and tried to be vague...)

And it says Cosplay items are limited to clothing, weapons, and wigs, with crafted accessory items subject to staff approval... what about cosplay shoes? Like, costume boots, dressy shoes? Like, obviously I wont sell smelly worn stuff, but like, what about shoes worn once for like an hour for a cosplay and never again.
(And on the shoes note, do they have to be like, OBVIOUSLY cosplay? I have a ton of pairs of like, nice dressy heels that I literally never wore once that I could try to get rid of too XD [I have a problem lol])

I resent my email, changed the subject line a bit to reflect that its really urgent I get a reply asap because if I cant change the date, that means I cant go to the cosplay chess rehearsal and I need to let them know that...
I wanted to both change the date and add a seller, because I know Im not going to be able to carry all the stuff on my own...

Any update on how far along in email answering the staff are??? I sent that first email nearly a week ago now. =/


And any advice on the items question? Ive been trying to pack but I cant remember if I wrote half the stuff on the online form or not, and Im not sure if I should bother bringing the stuff if theyre gonna kick me out for not having it on the online form. Isnt there any way of looking? I tried logging into the thing but it wont let me go back steps to see what I put.

I did reply a few days ago.  I'd check your spam filters to make sure it didn't get caught there.

If you still don't see it, e-mail [email protected] and I'll try to respond again.

I've got a couple of questions that don't seem to have been brought up yet:

I know the rules on this aren't likely to differ from last year, but since I don't see it mentioned anywhere, have there been any changes regarding how we transport our items into swap meet?  I'm assuming hand trucks and the like are not allowed per the usual Union rules, but if I were to have a platform of some variety with wheels or casters on it, would I be able to push my items in on that?  I didn't realize how much stuff I've accumulated and I could really do with the freed up space and cash, but I'm a little concerned with how I'm going to get it all in.  I can probably manhandle it with a couple of trips, but I won't have any friends available to help out and I'd rather work smarter than harder, ya know?

What exactly is the restroom situation like for South Hall?  I remember seeing a sign towards the back of the hall that said RESTROOMS with an arrow to the side, but when I looked over in the direction it was indicating it was pointing to a door that was blocked off by trash cans.  I'm guessing there aren't any restrooms actually in the South Hall since it's basically a big tent.  If we have to step out of Swap Meet for a minute to head over to the actual convention center, is there a quick and easy way we'd be able to get back in?  Is there a way we can identify ourselves as sellers to skip any line of buyers to get back in to our spot?

These are good questions I would like answered too. I have a lot of used books Im hoping to sell (Im moving soon lol), and it says on the Rules that you need to have EVERYTHING with you when you check in, and it sounds like you cant take trips to carry stuff... so are we supposed to somehow be able to carry everything? I planned to try to get a friend to help, but even with a friend... I have three boxes of JUST books. And at least one more box of other stuff I wanted to sell...

And the bathroom thing I had wondered too. The swap meet is for 4.5-5 hours, and we have to get there ahead of time to set up. Do they expect the 'single' sellers to just not drink anything that whole time...? They cant ask the person at the next booth, or text a friend, to just keep an eye on their stuff for 5 minutes?

Honestly, that's one of the issues of selling alone.  The rules basically state that someone has to be in your booth at all times.  If you ask your neighbor to keep an eye on the booth for you while you make a quick restroom run, I don't think that'll be an issue.  Just keep in mind that Swap Meet staff will not be able to mind your booth for you while you run to the restroom.  Also, anyone who is not on your Swap Meet Seller's Application is unable to stay in or make sales at your booth, so even if another seller is watching it, they won't be able to make sales for you, even on items where the price is marked.  This is also why someone who is not on a seller's agreement cannot be in a booth or watch it period. 

What is the policy on raffles as a method of selling items?

Raffles are not allowed at Swap Meet.  It gets into its own set of legal issues that are much more trouble than they're worth to deal with.

Thanks! Fair enough. What about auction-style sales? I.e. I put a piece of paper in front of some kind of item and people write down bids, with the highest bid winning the item at the end? I figure this might be a bit less dodgy than the raffles since no money exchanges hands until the end.

No, I think auction-type sales might run afoul of the same restrictions.  I'm not 100% sure, but until I've had time to look into it (which will not be before this year's Swap Meet), I'm going to say no for auctions.

I've got a couple of questions that don't seem to have been brought up yet:

I know the rules on this aren't likely to differ from last year, but since I don't see it mentioned anywhere, have there been any changes regarding how we transport our items into swap meet?  I'm assuming hand trucks and the like are not allowed per the usual Union rules, but if I were to have a platform of some variety with wheels or casters on it, would I be able to push my items in on that?  I didn't realize how much stuff I've accumulated and I could really do with the freed up space and cash, but I'm a little concerned with how I'm going to get it all in.  I can probably manhandle it with a couple of trips, but I won't have any friends available to help out and I'd rather work smarter than harder, ya know?

What exactly is the restroom situation like for South Hall?  I remember seeing a sign towards the back of the hall that said RESTROOMS with an arrow to the side, but when I looked over in the direction it was indicating it was pointing to a door that was blocked off by trash cans.  I'm guessing there aren't any restrooms actually in the South Hall since it's basically a big tent.  If we have to step out of Swap Meet for a minute to head over to the actual convention center, is there a quick and easy way we'd be able to get back in?  Is there a way we can identify ourselves as sellers to skip any line of buyers to get back in to our spot?

The rolling platform would still probably run afoul of the restrictions against handcarts and the like, so I don't think that you'll be able to get them into South Hall like that.

However, like last year, there's no restriction on hand carts and rolling platforms up until the door, so you should be able to use them up to that point.

On the second issue, South Hall itself doesn't have restrooms, so we will be using the ones outside again.  It is my plan that there should be a way for sellers to identify themselves for easy return access through those doors, but it's not set in stone yet.

What is the policy on raffles as a method of selling items?

Raffles are not allowed at Swap Meet.  It gets into its own set of legal issues that are much more trouble than they're worth to deal with.

I emailed the swapmeet@ email two days ago, but dont have a reply yet, and really need one asap. I didnt put a secondary seller on my digital swapmeet application, because I didnt have any friends wanting to sell anything. But then I realized the date I picked, Friday, conflicts with a rehearsal for Cosplay Chess Im supposed to attend. I sent an email asking to either change the date I chose for my Swap Meet space, or if its allowed to add a secondary seller to the physical papers.

Could either a staff reply to the email and switch my spot to Thursday, or someone else let me know if they know if its ok to add another person on the physical papers if they werent on the electronic application, so they could cover the spot while I attend the other thing?
I really need to know asap in case I need to try to arrange something else with the chess rehearsal, because I really dont want to lose my spot, or lose half of the selling time there by arriving after rehearsal.

As I'm sure you can imagine, we got a lot of e-mails on various issues once Swap Meet opened. I've been working through them after work as well as working on compiling the master list of Swap Meet sellers.  I haven't seen this particular e-mail yet, but I should be coming up on it fairly soon.  Either option you mentioned should be doable.  I'll send you an e-mail back once I get to that point in the backlog asking which you prefer and we can go from there.

It's been a few years since I've sold so rules may have changed a bit by now.

Jewlery - I've sold small things like necklaces and bracelets that could be used for cosplay but was mostly just scene/costume jewlery. As long as it's not overwhelmingly jewlery you're selling it should be fine.

Maps - Another user posted a link to a map in the General Convention board that might help with layout. Basically Reg and Swap Meet are on the same side of the convention center with Reg being in the Marriott on the second floor and Swap being on the ground floor in the large blue/white stripe building just past the Marriott.

Items Check - when I sold, staff just sort of riffled through your selling boxes to make sure everything was on the up and up. Throughout the night they would walk the sales floor making sure you were following the 18+ rules and thats also when they could get a better look at any potential counterfit goods. If you had something they didn't allow they would ask you to set it aside and not sell it.

This is still pretty accurate.  It comes down to staff discretion on jewelry, but if you don't have a whole spread that looks like you're trying to sell Artist's Alley goods in Swap Meet, you should be fine.

Item check information is also accurate.

Nice and easy reg again this year.  I got ID 9208.  Guessing I was the 7th or 8th to register?

One thing I noticed was that we would be contacted with our assigned space.  I don't remember that from previous years, aside from the spot where you could put in a special request.  Are the spaces going to be planned and assigned ahead of time?  I think that would make things a lot easier for us sellers when we get there.

That's just the standard language that goes along with it.  Per the normal rules, we'll try to be accommodating regarding some requests about where you will get your spot, but nothing is 100% guaranteed.

[SWAP MEET REGISTRATION OPENS AT 9:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13.]

Okay, everyone, I appreciate your patience.  I'm co-ordinating with the social media people to put out official notice through the official channels, but I wanted to make sure that those of you regulars here got the notice as early as possible.

SWAP MEET REGISTRATION OPENS AT 9:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13. 

Here is the link you will use to sign up for Swap Meet, which will start working on Friday.

https://apps.fanime.com/2016/swapmeet/

It should be the same process as last year.  I don't know if it applies to anyone here, but we've somewhat formalized the process for refunds, since there was a bit of an issue with it last year.  Otherwise, the process should be the same as last year, where some people may have to be manually cleared through the system by Swap Meet staff to continue on to the next step of the process.  We've gotten pretty good at it over the last few years, so it should hopefully proceed in an organized and quick manner. 

Please give us a day notice at least before registration opens! I've waited all year for this and I'll be sad if spaces run out quickly

That's the goal, but the closer we get the more precious time becomes.  I will say that based on the numbers for last year and the layout for this year, I don't anticipate running out of spaces.

I'm sure staff is aware, but there's only 17 days until Day 0.  I don't mean to sound like one of the other posters in the forums counting down the days, every day, but it is getting pretty close.  Especially when you consider Swap Meet has been confirmed for this year, and we're supposed to get at least one day's notice before seller's registration goes up.  Just sayin'.

Yes, I'm definitely acutely aware of the limited time left.  I do apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience.  We are moving as fast as we can to get the registration up.

Okay.  Official thread's up, so that's primarily where I'll be lurking for future questions.

[SWAP MEET REGISTRATION IS OPEN!]

Hello Fanime Forum users.  This is Ben Levy, your returning head of Swap Meet.  Like last year, I wanted to have a centralized thread for Swap Meet information and questions.  This is going up a bit later this year than last year, but rest assured that we are still working to make sure everything from Swap Meet runs as smoothly as possible this year.  I was quite happy with how things went last year, and we are taking some of the feedback we received into account in deciding what changes to make for this year.  Be sure to check the other official Fanime means of communication (Twitter, Facebook, site, etc.) for news, but I'll do my best to have this be a centralized location for that information.

-SWAP MEET REGISTRATION IS OPEN!:  Go here to register:

http://apps.fanime.com/2016/swapmeet/

-Swap Meet 2016 will once again be held in SOUTH HALL, the big tent-like building behind the convention center.  Go out the East side of the convention center (the Marriott side) and take a right.  It's very hard to miss.

-Swap Meet 2016 will be held on Thursday, May 26 from 7:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and on Friday, May 27 from 8:00 p.m.to 1:00 a.m.

-Check-in for Sellers will begin about an hour and a half before doors open to the public.

-As we are in South Hall again this year, that means we must once again say that amplified sound will not be allowed in Swap Meet.  This is the trade-off we have to make for a larger area.  I know some people don't necessarily like the lack of music, but I think that the bigger space more than makes up for it, personally.

-Swap Meet spaces will be $40 per day per space.

-Swap Meet spaces will be 14 feet wide by 6 feet deep.

-The final floor plan for Swap Meet is being finalized, but we should still have more than enough spots for everyone, based on last year's numbers.  There might be fewer overall spaces, but we had more than enough room last year and some contingencies in place should extra space be necessary.

-The Swap Meet Seller's Agreement is in final revision, but the rules are mostly the same as last year.  There have been some changes, though, so be sure to read it over again.

-All sellers at Swap Meet must fill out both the Seller's Application form and sign the Rules and Guidelines.  Please have these ready to go prior to arriving at the convention.

-Seller's Permits were a big question last year.  Please read over the Seller Application form for more information.  Short version is if you qualify as an "occasional seller," then you simply need to fill out the Seller Application Form and mark yourself as an occasional seller.  Occasional sellers are basically people who sell no more than twice in a 12 month period, don't buy things specifically for resale, and are not selling new merchandise.  Those last two requirements are prohibited by Swap Meet rules anyways.  Be sure to look over the information and find out if you qualify as an occasional seller.  Just remember, Swap Meet staff is not your attorney, and thus cannot necessarily answer legal questions about whether your specific situation qualifies as an occasional seller.  If you think you might not qualify as an occasional seller, please follow the link on the form to get more information.  If you know you don't qualify as an occasional seller, please be sure to have a copy of your valid seller's permit for staff to look at when you check in.



I think that's most of the information I have for the moment.  If you have further questions, comments, or the like, please post them below or message me on the forums.  I'll keep up with this thread and update when I can, as well as following up on posts further down the thread.

Goal is to have registration up in about a week or two.  We're currently revising a portion of the Seller Agreement, which needs a few layers off authorization before final approval.  Once that is done, I should hopefully be able to have all the necessary information to make another collected information thread with everything in there, including the date that spots go on sale.

This is the goal, however, so not an exact promise.  We'll get it up as soon as we can, but we need all the information to be correct first.

Just wondering if there are any details that can be shared regarding this year's swap meet.  Are there any dates that can be given as to when we'll be able to request a spot?  Will it be back in the South Hall like I'm hoping?  Sizes and prices would be nice to know as well.  Heck, can we even get confirmation that there's going to be a swap meet this year?  I mean, I know the words "swap" and "meet" are up on Fanime's site, but that's almost literally as far as it goes.

We're working on some of the official details at the moment.  When we have more things confirmed, I'll do a larger consolidated post similar to last year.

What I can say right now is that there is Swap Meet again this year and we are scheduled to have South Hall.  More details than that are in the works and I'll be sure to let people know when it's available.

I just read over the seller's agreement again, and this year I'm not seeing anything against hand carts. My box of merchandise is quite large/heavy, definitely more than I can carry without some sort of wheels involved. I have a hand cart type thing I use at home for animal feed (I have chickens and horses). Would it be okay for me to bring that along and use it to transport my items, or is it still against the rules? If all else fails I'll buy something else wheeled (not a cart) to put my items on, but I just wanted to check on the policy regarding that before I spend extra money just to transport stuff to and from Swap Meet! Thanks. I know it's a union-related issue (not a rule the convention itself makes) so I understand if we're still not allowed to use them.

As far as I know, it's an issue that affects the entire convention center, which includes South Hall.  I have not heard anything indicating that we would be able to use carts this year as opposed to last year, so the default answer is to say "still no carts."  I'll double check with those more in the know to see if that answer will change.

I'm currently filling out the BOE form...what do I put for "Table/Booth/Location ID#"? I don't have that information yet, do I?

Also, do I have to print out the form, add a proper signature where it says Signature, scan it in, and THEN email it? Or just type my name in? (I've never done Swap Meet before...I just wanna make sure I get everything right!)

If you're an occasional seller, you do not need to fill out the BOE, just the Swap Meet Agreement and rules.  Please see the explanation earlier in the thread.

You will need to bring a filled out copy of the Swap Meet Agreement with you to the convention.

When will the site say something other than "In Process" during the day you want to have a space on step 7?

"In process" assuming that you have gotten to Step 7 and paid for your spot, means you're done.

[EDIT: To clarify, in previous years chairs were not permitted, typically due to the venue that we were provided. This was the case last year from what I can recall. I'm not sure what the policy is on chairs this year for the South Hall location, but whether they are allowed or not, reasonable accommodations are made for any person who needs one for medical reasons.]

I sent a special request in the registration portion for Swap Meet, and since I'll probably get an answer faster here, I figured I'd give it a shot. I'll be 34 weeks pregnant at the time of Fanime and I won't be able to sit on the floor or stand for extended periods of time. I know tables are not allowed, but there's nothing about being able to bring or use chairs. I know that we're able to choose our spaces within limitations, but if I'm not going to be allowed to bring a chair, what other accommodations can be made?

Accommodations are made for people with disabilities and as someone who will be 34 weeks pregnant, that will most certainly qualify. You can bring a chair of your own, and we will most likely have a few on hand if you don't. Please email [email protected] so we can be sure to make the right preparations for you.  :D

EDIT: To clarify, in previous years chairs were not permitted, typically due to the venue that we were provided. This was the case last year from what I can recall. I'm not sure what the policy is on chairs this year for the South Hall location, but whether they are allowed or not, reasonable accommodations are made for any person who needs one for medical reasons.

Chairs for sitting in are permitted pending Swap Meet staff approval (I.E. just don't push it.)  For a medical issue such as this, a chair will certainly be allowed.