Jump to content

Dealers getting multiple autos


Recommended Posts

 

At both the Ian McDiarmid and Carrie Fisher signings, the same dealer was at the front of both queues and got about 6 of each table picture signed. Hideous for both the guests and for the fans in line. Can't believe that happened.

I was in the very first few people to meet Ian on Sunday morning,once he arrived he seemed in good spirits, right up until the first person in the queue pulled out literally a pile of photos (I counted up to 30) for him to sign. It was obvious he was a dealer and you could see Ian weren't best pleased about it, yet nobody from SM said a word, in fact they were joking about it with him. Fortunately after he left Ian was ok again and was a pleasure to meet, but when your snaked shoulder to shoulder in a small box with no air con and you've just handed over a fair amount of money, while someone's basically abusing the system to make money themselves is pretty f*****g annoying!

 

Urghh.

 

The problem is anything that Ian signs sells for between £100-£300 and so a dealer paying only £70 per signature will jump at the chance to make as much cash as possible. But that's just horrible, I think that sort of thing should be done outside of convention hours when the celeb can just sit at home and do those as homework for the money. The point of the event should be the meeting and saying hello between fans and guests, not conveyor belt profiteering.

 

If I was Ian I'd have signed all those photos with "not for resale" or "Ian McKellan" :D

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

At both the Ian McDiarmid and Carrie Fisher signings, the same dealer was at the front of both queues and got about 6 of each table picture signed. Hideous for both the guests and for the fans in line. Can't believe that happened.

I was in the very first few people to meet Ian on Sunday morning,once he arrived he seemed in good spirits, right up until the first person in the queue pulled out literally a pile of photos (I counted up to 30) for him to sign. It was obvious he was a dealer and you could see Ian weren't best pleased about it, yet nobody from SM said a word, in fact they were joking about it with him. Fortunately after he left Ian was ok again and was a pleasure to meet, but when your snaked shoulder to shoulder in a small box with no air con and you've just handed over a fair amount of money, while someone's basically abusing the system to make money themselves is pretty f*****g annoying!

 

Urghh.

 

The problem is anything that Ian signs sells for between £100-£300 and so a dealer paying only £70 per signature will jump at the chance to make as much cash as possible. But that's just horrible, I think that sort of thing should be done outside of convention hours when the celeb can just sit at home and do those as homework for the money. The point of the event should be the meeting and saying hello between fans and guests, not conveyor belt profiteering.

 

If I was Ian I'd have signed all those photos with "not for resale" or "Ian McKellan" :D

 

i like what your saying but i dont think it wil happen. the dealers should atleas wait theri turn and do it on the last day or wait in line and get theri 5 max at a time like the fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with all these posts, I've been going to Showmasters events for years now and the most important thing for us as fans is to meet the stars we want to meet.

Its a show for fans to connect with their favourite actors. Not to be delayed in snaking queues by greedy dealers wanting to make a profit of fans. I did not get the opportunity to meet Stan Lee and was being told this on Sunday by a SM staff and the right next to him was dealers selling large prints for £70, very angry! If I go to an event I want to meet the person, its the only way I will buy an autograph. Ban all dealers from jumping queues and control and stick to the max limit for autographs.

This was the first year I have seen this appalling behaviour of jumping to the front of queues and then causing a hold up while they get dozens of autographs.

 

I really hope you sort out all the issues and learn from them for next years show......and please ONE HALL

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dealers are the lifeblood of the show, without the individual table fees of anything from £200-£1000 approx plus purchasing thousands of autographs between them........that's a huge revenue stream for the show......if they weren't there then prices would rise for all of us attendees - have a think about that....do the math and rethink your serious negativity towards them.

Edited by phillycheesesteak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dealers are the lifeblood of the show, without the individual table fees of anything from £200-£1000 approx plus purchasing thousands of autographs between them........that's a huge revenue stream for the show......if they weren't there then prices would rise for all of us attendees - have a think about that....do the math and rethink your serious negativity towards them.

Heaven forbid that anyone thinks the ordinary fans are supposed to be the lifeblood of the show.

 

Personally I've been lucky and never found myself stuck behind a dealer. Ok they're there to make money and maybe pay a lot for a stall but I thought they were there to sell things, not take up huge amounts of time getting endless streams of stuff signed to flog on at inflated prices.

 

I think there should be a limit on how many items they can take through like anyone else. Maybe give them a bit of extra leeway given what they pay for a stall, but surely that's their choice in order to try and sell things, not get 30 or more items a time signed when others can only get a maximum of 5. Maybe there's a genuine fan with lots of money who'd like to get that much signed too but can't.

 

The ordinary fans are restricted to try and get as many through as possible but why should dealers be allowed to take as many things as they can carry and hold everyone else up?

 

I paid £195 for a gold pass so why can't I get more things signed in one go than a normal entry person if I want? I paid a lot for that too.

 

I'm playing devils advocate here, throwing the arguments out there as I see it from both sides. Maybe dealers should hand their items over at the start of the show and the guest can sign them along with other pre-orders during downtime or when a crew member takes a small number through at regular intervals over the weekend to minimise impact etc.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Dealers are the lifeblood of the show, without the individual table fees of anything from £200-£1000 approx plus purchasing thousands of autographs between them........that's a huge revenue stream for the show......if they weren't there then prices would rise for all of us attendees - have a think about that....do the math and rethink your serious negativity towards them.

 

Heaven forbid that anyone thinks the ordinary fans are supposed to be the lifeblood of the show.

 

Personally I've been lucky and never found myself stuck behind a dealer. Ok they're there to make money and maybe pay a lot for a stall but I thought they were there to sell things, not take up huge amounts of time getting endless streams of stuff signed to flog on at inflated prices.

 

I think there should be a limit on how many items they can take through like anyone else. Maybe give them a bit of extra leeway given what they pay for a stall, but surely that's their choice in order to try and sell things, not get 30 or more items a time signed when others can only get a maximum of 5. Maybe there's a genuine fan with lots of money who'd like to get that much signed too but can't.

 

The ordinary fans are restricted to try and get as many through as possible but why should dealers be allowed to take as many things as they can carry and hold everyone else up?

 

I paid £195 for a gold pass so why can't I get more things signed in one go than a normal entry person if I want? I paid a lot for that too.

 

I'm playing devils advocate here, throwing the arguments out there as I see it from both sides. Maybe dealers should hand their items over at the start of the show and the guest can sign them along with other pre-orders during downtime or when a crew member takes a small number through at regular intervals over the weekend to minimise impact etc.

I actually agree with you - dealers should have the same limits as the fans and only able to get 5 per VQT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lostboy - you must have been behind me in the queue for Ian. The dealer had 30 photos to sign and you could tell Ian was getting agitated.

yeah I probably was then, I only started counting as I was curious as to what he had as it was obviously gonna cost a lot, but it was just multiples of various images. I doubt they were even selling them all at the show. I don't have a problem with somebody wanting to earn a living and do well for themselves, but when it's maybe stopping someone who's come to enjoy a once in a Lifetime opportunity to meet a guest they admire, it just doesn't seem fair. We've all paid to get there and get in, I just think everyone should get a fair chance, and I appreciate it doesn't happen for everybody but dealers with that amount of items just doesn't help with making an enjoyable experience, which ultimately is what Showmasters apparently want us to have. They do a pre order for autographs if you can't make it and wanna send something in, why couldn't they just add dealers to that example if they want a vast amount of items signed.

There are a lot of things that could be changed for future large events, but they're not really major things or that hard to achieve if they just take on board the feedback from the past few days, and I really hope they do as with a few adjustments LFCC could be something very impressive... we shall wait and see.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Being a classy fellow I won't say what I could say about- dealers and as has already been said those who wish to make money and screw over REAL Fans have no scruples.

 

Whether it be at Premieres, Stage Doors or Cons dealers make it so that True Fans miss out. Anyways I'm going to stop there before I launch into a rant on this one.

 

You and me both mate.

 

When I met William Hope (from Aliens) at his recent theatre performance last month, he really wanted to personalise my autograph because he thought I was going to sell it on.

I was only asking for 1 autograph from a genuine fan! The fact I was possibly labeled as a dealer goes to show that these horrible scalpers really do ruin it for the true fans.

 

I would find it hard to keep quiet and not speak my mind if I ever saw a dealer in front of me with 30 photos to sign.

Edited by Graphic_Delusions
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand peoples frustrations with queuing behind dealers i've been stuck behind dealers getting 30-40 things signed & really if you're getting that many & you're a stall holder at the event then these should be done throughout the day not when there's a queue of people.

However I went through a queue on Sunday with my dealer pass on my wrist with my 5 items & heard a few choice comments behind me about the fact i was getting multiple items signed, these were all for me & i have no intention of selling them, plus everything had my name on it so it'd be kinda hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if they're paying and queuing up like everyone else then I think they're entitled? I wouldnt say it unfair, I mean they queue up and pay like everyone else and they're just trying to make a living. You're always gonna have jobs where people dont like what you do.

 

Its up to SM to put a cap on the number of sigs though I reckon. Maybe it would be better though for SM to arrange for the guest to do all the dealers signing before or after their official apperance though?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe dealers should hand their items over at the start of the show and the guest can sign them along with other pre-orders during downtime or when a crew member takes a small number through at regular intervals over the weekend to minimise impact etc.

 

This is a really good idea. Dealers aren't there for the experience, so it won't matter to them if they meet the person signing or not, and then the guests can decide for themselves how much time they want to spend on this.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I want to know is how do they manage to do it with big names like Stan Lee?

 

When you pay for your autographs you have to tell them how many you want and the SM staff member will circle the correct number on the ticket that only goes up to 5.

 

Do these scalpers actually say "I'd like 30, it's ok, I'm a dealer"? Do they whip out a business card or something?

 

If we're told we can only have up to 5 per VQ ticket, why do SM staff fail to control this with the dealers?

 

This really grates on me. ....

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know about the poster I saw a 10x8 photo signed by the five captains and he only wanted £800 for it. I know the dealers are to sell and earn a living, but f*** me Tom that seems a bit extreme. I had four items of MINE TO KEEP THAT I AM NOT SELLING EVER and if anything I was having a chat to the guy behind me about them and Ian seemed ok about it esp my Chronicles book. And when I told him that he is going to be the only person to have signed it in red he smiled and said "oh thank you I am honoured" I went on to say that I was looking forward to seeing him in Episode 7 and he (politely) said as he was signing "well youre going to be disappointed then as I am not in it" "Really?" I said but not sure if this was just a ruse. anyway glad I met him and got my items signed. They were the Chronicles book making of episode one book a 10x8 and a VFP. Spent out but came away a happy camper. Anyway getting back to original line yes it is annoying when the dealers come along and place 30+ items as if its nothing. I would suggest the idea of a separate time for the dealers but with talks and photo shoots as well then it would leave us THE PAYING PUBLIC/FANS even less time to get what WE want......

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would never buy from a dealer anyway. The thrill is having met someone I really admire.

 

I absolutely agree. Even if it's just for a few seconds, you get more than just a signature on a picture - you get to keep the memories of meeting a person you admire, and that's priceless!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah i got very anxious saturday evening as i had to que outside for almost 6 hours i barely met anyone of the guests i wanted to meet so was there extra early on sunday with a upgraded ticket. Got in got my VQ´s and met the guests i wanted that wasnt very busy and then waited around for my numbers on the bigger guests to come. I sat down right next to the exit for VIP/Guests and a door to wich i guess was a dealers storage room as i during the 1 hour or so i sat there atleast 10 dealers walked by with so many copies of the same signed star wars posters that they needed both hands to carry them. This made it feel even worse when i didnt get to see Carrie Fisher as she left a couple of hours early the SM staff told me when i asked why the que was gone :(

 

Managed to get to meet Ian and despite him surely have had a long day he showed obvious care for my item when he asked me what colour he should sign it with to get the best result, was also very polite. With the Money i spared on Carrie i Went back to George Romero to get a auto for my cousin and asked the staff at summer´s desk if it was oki to get 3 autos instead of the 2 i had planned. Felt like a criminal almost by doing so as i didnt wanna stop anyone else from seeing her so when asked if i wanted it personalised i declined and tried to get out of the way asap. She was also very friendly despite at that time being over VQ 700.

 

Was mentioned that dealers could have a time outside of the public signings to get numerous items signed and i Think that sounds like a really good idea. 5 is a more than enough top limit to get signed. I have never Before had as many as 3 items signed by one person so thught even that amount was at the upper end. Now i missed Carrie and doubt i will get a second chance and she was one of my main reasons for going. I hope they Control more harder the nr of autos you can get next time.

 

Couple of things, I was a dealer at the LFCC (I only had three separate, personal items signed, by three different guests) and I'm sure there was no 'dealers storage room'. All stock was kept either on the stall, or off-site in a vehicle. It could be you were looking into a Showmasters room, if they get stuff signed for some of their team? If that is the case, then one person getting 30 things signed for crew, is quicker than 30 different crew getting stuff signed for themselves.

 

Secondly, the dealers can't get stuff signed 'out of hours'. Usually, the guests arrive on or around opening time (or much later) and generally leave on or before the time that the show closes. I tried to get Edward James Olmos' autograph at 17.55 on the Friday and was told that I needed to wait until 6, so its possible they are only contracted for certain times (he was one of the first guests seated on the Friday).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can understand that there may not be the possibility to get dealer's items signed at a serperate time - but I don't see why the individual person should be limited to 5 itmes in a VT queue when dealers aren't...

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As i said i have no idea what kind of room it was but i saw alot of people with lanyards with passes of some sort going into them carrying loads of posters and then returning empty. There where one or two in blue showmasters shirt but the absolute majority was in normal clothes so to speak. The door was right beside where kenny baker and David prowse where sitting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said on different occasions, it is fine for dealers to get as many signatures as they wish and sell them for how much they want - it is their job, like it or not. However, it is not fair they are allowed a huge number of signatures at the expenses of tens of other fans. Dealers might leave stuff to be signed with a crew member (who can get that signed as soon as the queue ends or privately) and pick that up later.

 

The fact that, after a few years of debate on such topic, SM do not bother to give an official answer, it means that dealers are allowed to get whatever they want (as long as they pay) without any interference whatsoever from the crew.

 

Things are getting out of control even at more relaxed conventions such as Autographica. If you have the time you might want to read an interesting thread here

 

We are still waiting for an answer.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recall contributing to that thread and getting a sense of reassurance when I read that Stan Lee would have the 5 item limit in place!

 

It is a problem that needs to be sorted - at the last Autographica I had to wait around several more hours because a dealer was getting 30+ autos from Barbara Bain and then she was going to lunch. I also agree that the guests see it for what it is and this can detrimentally affect their mood

 

I don't argue with the fact that dealers get signed items and then flog them on at an increased value, but I agree they should also keep within the same item limits as the general public.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...