Post #32659 by martiki on Fri, May 2, 2003 9:47 PM

OK- here's the latest. Sorry for the delay, it's been a crazy week:

Otto has told me firmly that there is to be no vending out of rooms whatsoever on Saturday. It isn't fair to the dealers who have paid for vending space and make their livings off of events like these. He did suggest that it might be OK for Sunday since there will be no sales on the lanai and most vendors will have left. So we could have a single event in a room say between 11am and 1pm on Sunday. Now we have to decide the trading versus selling question.

Trading: There's a lot of advantages to everyone trading. But as bax points out, he doesn't want to trade for anything site unseen, and he (and others) aren't familiar with the names of the mugs. There is something to be said for seeing all of these things at the same time, as you might find something that strikes your fancy and wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. I think it would be fun for all of us to be together haggling. But...if someone is interested in building up a small collection, then they would likely have nothing to trade. This would leave all these people out.

Selling: Would allow more people to participate. I don't know if it would upset vendors if people were saving their money for Sunday and mugs. And I don't know how many of us would rather sell or trade.

Personally, there are things I'm interested in trading for, and I have things I'd like to sell. So there's no reason why we can't get together and exchange both goods and cash for things, depending on how we felt. That involves everyone being there at the same time. Still, it's going to be hard for a people to look at other people's things and watch his/her own stuff. (Which is why I volunteered to watch it all in the first place.)

Everthing has it's pro's and con's. But I think I have the answer. What about this third way: Everyone meets on the lanai or in a room at 11am Sunday. We form a circle with our stuff in front of us. Then, one at a time, everyone tells/shows what they've got (and declares the condition). If you don't have anything, just say that you're interested in making offers. Take notes of what you're interested in. At this point, the first person could say, "OK- I saw that skull mug that Joe had and I'd like to offer you a scorpion bowl in trade." Then people could pipe up and say, "Don't do it, Joe! I'll give you a ren clark, or a 100 bucks or whatever" I expect that it would descend into chaos quickly at this point. But I think it will be a fun chaos. At least this allows all of us to be together socially and for everyone to set their eyes on all the stuff.

these are just my addled thoughts. Tell me what you all think. I know it sounds anal on paper, but it's really not that bad.

-martin