Messages

What about having Thursday as "free" (as in badge-less)? I'd rather hang out at the swap meet for hours than waiting for a badge, then pick up my badge Friday morning instead.

And what are the tentative hours for swap meet on Thursday?

Thursday is still Badgeless, the times will be posted soon.

Any updates for when Swap Meet sign ups will be, or is it still a vague "soon"?

It still before Fanime ^^

I'm waiting for the venue to tell me space count so we can open registration.

Ah, thank you. I like this sort of transparency. Other departments should follow suit. ^^

I simply have the luxury of transparency.

Registration will be open earlier than last year.  Not that THAT'S a hard thing to do since it opened like May 16th or something like that.

You mean the registration might open in the middle of May?

Sooner, hopefully, I'll have an announcement on the Fanime Twitter and Facebook page once the date and time that it opens is set.  I'll also post it here so check back.

Any updates for when Swap Meet sign ups will be, or is it still a vague "soon"?

It still before Fanime ^^

I'm waiting for the venue to tell me space count so we can open registration.

Ah, thank you. I like this sort of transparency. Other departments should follow suit. ^^

I simply have the luxury of transparency.

Registration will be open earlier than last year.  Not that THAT'S a hard thing to do since it opened like May 16th or something like that.

Any updates for when Swap Meet sign ups will be, or is it still a vague "soon"?

It still before Fanime ^^

I'm waiting for the venue to tell me space count so we can open registration.

Just wanted to check if

• There is going to be a form/application for swap meet applicants going up prior to the con AND
• it will be able to accommodate panelists who are planning on registering at-con.

Registration for Swap Meet will be online prior to the con.  The actual date for this is very dependent on other things right now but I'm hoping to get it up before the end of April.

So long as you have your badge number at check in, you will be fine.

I had a question about permits: I've sold at the Artist Alley before but I was thinking about doing the Swapmeet this year too. Would i have to have two separate Seller's Permits if i plan on doing both this year or would I only need one?

The Seller's permit is valid for Swap Meet as well, however please note that you cannot sell anything that you are selling in Artist Alley in your Swap Meet space.

Tarps, Blankets, Towels, etc. are allowed so long as they do not encroach on your neighboring spaces or walkways.

Live Weaponry is strictly prohibited not only by Swap Meet and FanimeCon, but San Jose City as well.  You will be asked to leave if you bring real weapons.  PROP/Cosplay weapons however:

Any weapon-like props must be authorized and peace bonded by Rovers immediately after sale. A copy of the FanimeCon Weapons Policy must be provided with every sale. Please contact the Swap Meet Staff upon registration request to be appraised of other restrictions that must be adhered to. For more information on FanimeCon's Code of Conduct, which will be accessible when the main site goes live.

You will need to get a permit to sell at Swapmeet, Link here: http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/reg.htm This also lists all of the other information you're looking for on Taxes and the like.

Last year this was only necessary for certain sellers. Are the rules changing this year so that every swap meet participant must acquire a California Seller's Permit?

It's going to be the same as last year.  If I recall correctly, you will only need to get a CSP if you sell more than twice in a 12 month period.  If not, then there is a Temporary Sellers Permit form that you can fill out that counts as the same thing.  It will be posted on the Swap Meet page once Registration goes live.

I have a question in regards to adult items for the swap meet. So I see that it is specified to one container this year and, of course, the buyer's ID will need to be checked. What about buyer's who bring in fake ID's, will there be a briefing in regards to how to easily spot a fake ID.

I don't want to get in any trouble for accidentally selling to someone who is underage. Will the seller be responsible if another seller catches the same buyer's ID as fake or will it be seen as a mistake?

- Scott

We don't have an official training on spotting fake IDs.  Honestly it's all just common sense, but I doubt people are going to be buying fake IDs to buy adult material at Swapmeet when there's more than enough they can get on the internet.

If you really want to know how to spot a fake, this site has a neat 8-step checklist on spotting fakes.

http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Fake-I.D

With all the renovations to McEnery, you'd think they would have included State-of-the-Art internet   :-\

Oh well, makes sense.

League of Legends is pretty popular right now.  Are there any plans for a LAN tourny?  I'm sure Riot would be interested in doing something with the Premier NorCal Anime Convention.

Staff selling at Swapmeet:
I will get clarification on if this is something that we just don't allow or if we need to do staff registration differently.  I'm going to have to find this out from people higher up than me, if it was up to me though, I would just require a "Staff: Yes/No" field be in the sign-up process.  Unless you're Swapmeet Staff... then you're MY minions and no fun for you!

I've been on staff for the past 4 years, and I've also participated in swap meet 3 of the 4 years. I signed up just like everyone else did, waited for online pre-registration to go up, waited in line for pre-reg check-in. I never had a problem before, I think I might have had to get my div/dept head to okay my participation though? (My memory's a little hazy, so I can't quite remember on this particular detail.) The swap meet staff also check my badge and form, so if there was a problem with me participating as a swap meet seller, they would have let me know at that time.

I looked into this a bit more.  There was an announcement made last year at the Fanime Staff meetings before Con where it was stated that you need to get your Department Head/Division Head's approval to sell at swap meet.  The same goes for this year.  There will be more announcements about this at the Staff Meetings, so be sure to attend if this is something that you need information about.

As for why you weren't allowed, I don't really know what to tell you, I've been the one doing Reg for the last 2 years and we have had Staff sell before.  If you weren't approved for selling at Swapmeet by your Dept. or Div. Head, you might want to ask them.

At the end of the day, Staffing for Fanime is supposed to be about throwing the best darn Anime Convention in the world.  Fanime is By fans, For fans; this is our creed.  It's not supposed to be about getting a free badge and making money, talk to the Dealer's hall if you wanna go that route.

I will try to make all of this information clear at the Staff Meetings, and all further staff related questions will be answered there.

How much change do you recommend bringing? I'm hoping to deal only in whole dollars so I'm mostly focused on $1 and $5 bills but any advice is appreciated!

I really depends on how much you're going to be selling and what you price everything at.  Keep in mind that Swapmeet is Day Zero and 1, so people haven't blown all their $20s yet.  If you're selling manga at $3 a pop, make sure you have plenty of $1s to make change for increments of $5.  If you're selling everything in multiples of $5s, make sure you have $5s and $10s.

If you're interested in being able to accept Plastic, you can look into Square Card Readers if you have a smart phone.  Depending on where we are, the signal strength might be sketchy and we're not providing WiFi to attendees, so keep that in mind.

Do we need to account for tax? and if so, how? (As in would we have to pay a certain amount back at the end of the night or would we pre-pay or something else?)

We do not take care of your taxes.  If you think you've sold enough that you should give a cut to the government, you should look into that.  I doubt you're going to sell the minimum to warrant that though, the Board of Equalization lists $100k as the minimum to get a tax account ^^

You will need to get a permit to sell at Swapmeet, Link here: http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/reg.htm This also lists all of the other information you're looking for on Taxes and the like.

[Swap Meet Registration will go live, Friday May 16th at 7PM PST]

Swap Meet Registration will go live, Friday May 16th at 7PM PST

READ FIRST BEFORE POSTING

Welcome to the FanimeCon 2014 Swapmeet FAQ or Fans Ask Questions Thread.

This is going to be a compilation of all questions asked by you, the fans.  Please ask them here and I will add them to the top post.

Questions asked so far:

When is Swapmeet registration?
-Before Fanime ^^;

Sorry I can't give more info right now.  I'm going to be working with our Web team in the coming weeks to make sure that we have a smooth system like we did last year.

Where will Swapmeet be?
-There are a couple of places that we're looking at.  Last year we had an amazing space, however Artist Alley was pushed to South Hall where, I'm sure we can all agree, was not the best place.  I'm doing everything I can to make sure that our next location will be just as good.

I made an error with the previous posting on this, please re-read for accuracy
My friends are going to be selling with me but they're going to wait in line for their badges.  Can I sign in for them?
-Only 2 people per spot.  This is non Negotiable.  They can leave stuff with you to sell if they trust you, but they cannot be in the spot selling or "Hanging out".
-If you are signed up as either the Primary or Secondary on the form, you can check in.  If you are not, then we cannot allow this.  Make sure that both people are listed at sign-up for the spot to avoid confusion.  If you decide after signups that you want to add a second, please email me so that I can make the adjustment in our system to avoid confusion.

How much change do you recommend bringing?

I really depends on how much you're going to be selling and what you price everything at.  Keep in mind that Swapmeet is Day Zero and 1, so people haven't blown all their $20s yet.  If you're selling manga at $3 a pop, make sure you have plenty of $1s to make change for increments of $5.  If you're selling everything in multiples of $5s, make sure you have $5s and $10s.

If you're interested in being able to accept Plastic, you can look into Square Card Readers or Paypal if you have a smart phone.  We will not make access to Wifi available to attendees, so keep that in mind.

Do we need to account for tax?  And if so, do we give you a portion at the end of the night?

We do not take care of your taxes.  If you think you've sold enough that you should give a cut to the government, you should look into that.

Questions I remember from last year:

I need to leave and do something, can this friend watch my stuff?
-My question for you: Are they on the Seller's permit as your second?
>If yes: have fun.
>If no: No, they must be on the sheet as a seller in order for them to sell.  This is not up to me or FanimeCon, this is a San Jose City thing.
Then what do I do with my stuff?
-Take it with you?  FanimeCon is not responsible for your things if you leave them out.  If there is someone stealing, we will do everything we can to identify the individual and bounce them, but at the end of the day, it's your stuff and we can't keep an eye on it for you.

My friend is has registered for a spot, can we be next to each other?
-If you're in line together, then we will try to get you into a spot near each other.  Space is limited so there is no guarantee.
-As a side note, there has been a major problem in the past few years with "Professionals" selling at Swapmeet.  They have purchased multiple spots, either next to each other, or spread out over the hall.  This is not going to be tolerated, if we find you, you will be kicked out, NOT REFUNDED, and Banned from Swapmeet; possibly FanimeCon.  If you are a Dealer, contact Dealer's Hall and do it legitimately.  There is way more traffic in there, you get a much bigger space, many more days for you to sell, and everyone is happy.  We already have a few people flagged as such that are not going to be allowed back, if you try to circumvent this somehow, actions will be taken.

I have adult material to sell, is this okay?
-The specific guidelines will be detailed once we get closer to Registration but it's probably going to be the same as every year.
>1 container MAX
>Make sure you check ID
>Must be covered properly
>Must be legal to sell

I have a bunch of stuff to bring in, it's really heavy, can I use a dolly or hand cart?
-No, this is not allowed due to Union policies that we have to follow.
Can you help us?
-Within reason, we have a ton of people to check in and get to their spaces.  My staff has to be on their feet for hours running the event and we have many people checking in.  Consider the fact that last year we had over 150 spaces filled, if we helped everyone, we would be dying on our feet.  If it's just a poster or shopping bag that we're carrying, probably; but if it's a box of Manga, please bring your own muscle.

I'm disabled.  Look!  Here's an official thing from California stating so!  Can I get help?
-Please email me at swapmeet <at> fanime dot com, we can make arrangements.

Okay, so a few questions since I've been afk.

Staff selling at Swapmeet:
I will get clarification on if this is something that we just don't allow or if we need to do staff registration differently.  I'm going to have to find this out from people higher up than me, if it was up to me though, I would just require a "Staff: Yes/No" field be in the sign-up process.  Unless you're Swapmeet Staff... then you're MY minions and no fun for you!

Group Leader getting badges:
First off: only 2 people allowed in a space.  It's been like this for years and people seem to always want to fight about it.  We are not budging on this.
Secondly:  If someone is going to come in later, make sure that who ever is going to be in the reg line AT SWAPMEET is the primary on the sign-up.  We will not be letting people sign in for other people.  If you are going to be at swap meet first, but he is going to be getting badges, make sure that you're the one that is the primary for Day Zero Swapmeet.  He can be the Primary for Day One if you would prefer that.

I'll get some clarification on Staff selling rules though so check back soon.

We're going to keep that system since it made check in sooooooooooo much easier.

Not going to say too much yet, but we're looking at ways to allow sellers to get into their spots on Friday without having to wait through the insane pre-reg line for their badges.  More on that coming soon.

That would help a lot. I remember the blackout year where this rule for having  a badge to sell kinda ruined the experience on fanime! Got the badge, sadly i lost a spot -_-!*

The Blackout was the worst for us as well.  You are still going to need to have your badge on Friday, but Thursday is un-badged.  Our new space organization system is much better than it was that year to avoid giving away other people spaces. 

Wherever it is, please allow the set-up time again.

With the new way that we were doing space registration last year, we were able to get people processed in time to setup.  We're going to keep that system since it made check in sooooooooooo much easier.

Not going to say too much yet, but we're looking at ways to allow sellers to get into their spots on Friday without having to wait through the insane pre-reg line for their badges.  More on that coming soon.

Last years location was amazing for swap meet, however it was to the detriment of Artist Alley.  We will have more information on the location soon.

The times will be the same, Thursday and Friday night.  Sellers setup starting at 6:30 and people are allowed to browse and sell between 7:30PM and Midnight.  Depending on traffic, we may stay open later (usually do).

Is that the same place as last year? What will they use the huge space after swap meet is over?

Unfortunately no, we are looking into a couple of places for Swap meet.  There will be more information on our location soon.

As for registration, I am currently working with our webmaster to get that up and running.

This was my second year selling at swap meet, and overall it went really well! In the future it'd be more helpful to register further in advance, just so I could prepare more stuff to bring with me. But I was happy to see that there was an easy check-in, spaces were already assigned and sectioned off, and that we had a good amount of time to get everything ready before people came in. Also staff was really helpful and generally awesome.

That's really great to hear!

As we were having the pre-reg system programmed from scratch this year, it too a while to bug test and get finalized.  Next year we're going to have it opened far in advanced.

Thanks for the feedback, let us know if there's anything else that you can think of.