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Fan Expo Vancouver October 12-14, 2018
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117 posts in this topic

1 hour ago, kimik said:
3 hours ago, mysterio said:

$5,000 per day ($15,000 weekend) would be decent sales?

Decent enough to cover costs to attend the show, but not a great one.

I can’t speak for all dealers, but a $15,000 weekend at most shows would be a spectacular weekend, not a decent one. Obviously mileage may vary, but if you’re not selling AF #15s and the like off your wall you’re not pulling down those kind of numbers. 

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18 minutes ago, mysterio said:

I can’t speak for all dealers, but a $15,000 weekend at most shows would be a spectacular weekend, not a decent one. Obviously mileage may vary, but if you’re not selling AF #15s and the like off your wall you’re not pulling down those kind of numbers. 

Not necessarily. You would be surprised at how much revenue hot moderns, Campbell exclusives, and $2 boxes for blowing out collection drek can generate over a 3 or 3.5 day show. The sweet spot for back issues are decent looking keys/early SA books in the $100 - $300 range. You can sell a ton of those all weekend long, and all it takes is 10 or fewer books to hit $1K. Big books sell better online than they do at local shows.

Edited by kimik
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31 minutes ago, kimik said:

Not necessarily. You would be surprised at how much revenue hot moderns, Campbell exclusives, and $2 boxes for blowing out collection drek can generate over a 3 or 3.5 day show. The sweet spot for back issues are decent looking keys/early SA books in the $100 - $300 range. You can sell a ton of those all weekend long, and all it takes is 10 or fewer books to hit $1K. Big books sell better online than they do at local shows.

Are you speaking from experience? Everything you say is certainly true and possible, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it. I’ve sold at roughly 40 shows over the past 3-4 years, large and small, and the money doesn’t flow quite this smoothly most of the time. Of course I don’t have a tree with $100-300 keys in the yard either. You can only sell them if you get them. 

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17 hours ago, kimik said:

Are they sure they want FEV as well? Sounds like it is not on the same level as the Calgary or Edmonton Expos....... :devil:

We're all one company now, it makes more sense for the Western Division to handle the Western shows... Calgary (x2 inclusing the Holiday Market), Edmonton, Vancouver. Edmonton is less than half the size of Calgary Expo, Vancouver is about 75% the size of Edmonton. 

 

 

 

Edited by Kevin Boyd
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3 hours ago, mysterio said:

Are you speaking from experience? Everything you say is certainly true and possible, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it. I’ve sold at roughly 40 shows over the past 3-4 years, large and small, and the money doesn’t flow quite this smoothly most of the time. Of course I don’t have a tree with $100-300 keys in the yard either. You can only sell them if you get them. 

I am speaking from my experience selling at local shows over the past 20 years. It was 2011 when things really turned for the better. Granted, Alberta has a younger population with higher disposable income levels than other parts of Canada, which definitely helps, but the formula is simple - grade accurately and price at FMV and you will do fine. Too many sellers can't grade and/or try to gouge at shows. I am fine with that as it drives more people to just buy from us. lol 

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1 hour ago, Kevin Boyd said:

We're all one company now, it makes more sense for the Western Division to handle the Western shows... Calgary (x2 inclusing the Holiday Market), Edmonton, Vancouver. Edmonton is less than half the size of Calgary Expo, Vancouver is about 75% the size of Edmonton. 

 

 

 

I am surprised that Vancouver is so small. That means the Calgary Holiday Market is likely a bigger show..........

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Edmonton seems to have a larger base of support behind it, and Vancouver has higher costs associated since it's in... Vancouver. 

Holiday Market is definitely smaller than Vancouver since it's basically just a vendor show. 

Edited by Kevin Boyd
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10 hours ago, mysterio said:

Are you speaking from experience? Everything you say is certainly true and possible, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it. I’ve sold at roughly 40 shows over the past 3-4 years, large and small, and the money doesn’t flow quite this smoothly most of the time. Of course I don’t have a tree with $100-300 keys in the yard either. You can only sell them if you get them. 

Kimik, artboy, 500club and I set up at about 10 shows per year.  Sales vary but yes,  we do combined sales of $15k to $20k on good days.  The Calgary Expo is a beast.

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20 minutes ago, thehumantorch said:

Kimik, artboy, 500club and I set up at about 10 shows per year.  Sales vary.

Clobberin' Time is welcome to roll the dice at the FEV show. We have an 8' x 8' non-wall booth ready for your team for $970 plus $33/day parking unless booth ??? rates go up for March, 2019 plus your gas, time away from family or day job, plus hotel, plus meals, wear and tear on your van or SUV. Good news is you don't have to worry about being downwind of greggy, as he has retired from FEV. 

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21 hours ago, kimik said:

It is not that bad if you look at it from a $333/day per booth cost. As long as there are enough comic collectors to support decent sales (i.e. at least $5K/day) then it would be worth it.

 

With your varied vintage to modern inventory, realistically you could do $5k sales each on the Friday and Sat, but your sales on Sunday may flatline to $500. Even Harley displayed 19 longs of 67c comics. Race to the bottom $. 

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6 hours ago, kimik said:

I am surprised that Vancouver is so small. That means the Calgary Holiday Market is likely a bigger show..........

In terms of square footage, it looks like FEV could fit in the Big 4 Building plus 2 medium size size rooms for artist or media guest panels. Corporate sponsors like London Drugs get a good size display. Comic vendors along 1.5 lanes at FEV.

Remember the 8' x 8' booth is 36% smaller than AB Expo's 'standard' 10' x 10' booth. The booth cost per square foot at FEV is MORE expensive than at Calgary Expo not even counting the vast difference in attendance at the gate, as Calgary Expo and Edm Expo each crush FEV. :p 

Edited by aardvark88
sp.
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1 hour ago, aardvark88 said:

With your varied vintage to modern inventory, realistically you could do $5k sales each on the Friday and Sat, but your sales on Sunday may flatline to $500. Even Harley displayed 19 longs of 67c comics. Race to the bottom $. 

It depends on the show. You tend to move bigger books and keys on Sunday to other dealers and collectors that have price checked for two days. The past few years I have not noticed much of a dip. However, the Thursday night at the Calgary Expo tends to be slower than the other three days.

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5 hours ago, aardvark88 said:

Clobberin' Time is welcome to roll the dice at the FEV show. We have an 8' x 8' non-wall booth ready for your team for $970 plus $33/day parking unless booth ??? rates go up for March, 2019 plus your gas, time away from family or day job, plus hotel, plus meals, wear and tear on your van or SUV. Good news is you don't have to worry about being downwind of greggy, as he has retired from FEV. 

As much as I like you guys setting in Vancouver sounds like a bad idea

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On 10/13/2018 at 10:25 PM, Kevin Boyd said:

I end my show travels for 2018 here in Vancouver, and start them in 2019 —- show dates are March 1-3, 2019.

Hey Kevin, what about those of us who just splurged for VIP badges for 2018 not knowing that you're moving the show from the end of one year to the beginning of the next year. As I expect that you know, the VIP badge provides admission to your other shows in between, which has essentially been reduced to nothing. With a show and guest list as small as Vancouver's, the only real benefit to me was anticipating going to other shows next year. Please tell us you're not stripping away this perk. Thanks.

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19 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

Vancouver sounds like a bad idea

After the 16 hour drive from Edm to Vancouver, thehumantorch would 'enjoy' the bonus of face-time with his family member. 2 side by side FEV booths for Clobberin' Time would only be about $2k for attendance that is 25,000 on a good weekend. We would love to have attendance hit 35k+ like Edm Expo in your lifetime. :/

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