Dealers getting multiple autos

[dannyboy321]

Perhaps there's something in limiting signings on the weekend to X number per person (2, 3, 4?) But having a specific session for dealers on an evening/early morning where they pay more for a 'dealer pass' - the guest could decide if they wish to partake in such sessions or not - after all it is a two-way commercial venture then and it would free up time for fans who rarely get these opportunities.

[loveamyadams]

none of the dealers i saw even had tables at Earls Court, most dealers don't bother with conventions because they rarely cover their costs. All their stuff is sold privately to customers, on their websites or on Ebay. The dealers inside the convention were complaining they did mixed trade because so much money was going on photoshoots and the like.The only way to free up more time for those left behind in the queue (like Stan lee's queue) is one or two per person in future and stick to it, Gold pass or dealer or anyone.

[Starbuck17]

This was a problem with books as well. On Saturday I queued for 3 different authors (one of them I waited over 45 minutes) and I didn't get to see any of them. Each time there were people in the queue in front of me with piles of books to get signed. In the malorie Blackman queue there was a girl with 7 books and yesterday in the Holly Black queue a girl with 9 books! Some of the authors were only signing for a little, that combined with the many people getting piles of books signed meant that a lot of people were disapointed. I know that things don't always go your way but 3 queues (one after the other) where you come away with nothing was a bit much.

 

That being said the guy behind me in the preview Stan Lee auto queue on Friday was made to queue up a second time if he wanted all his stuff signed.

[Avengers7]

I thought there was a limit of 2 books per person for the authors? I'm sure that's what it says on this forum.

 

Personally, I only wanted to meet one author and couldn't get anywhere near him to even get my book signed.

[Dent_1]

This is a topic that gets me very angry.

 

When in Carrie Fishers queue I was behind a guy who, between his numerous prints and MASSIVE roll of original Star Wars posters must have had Carrie sign a good 30 items give or take.

This person was a dealer, telling many a tale to those around him of chasing down other celebs for signatures on his items.

 

This is annoying for two reasons:

1. Carrie was clearly visibly annoyed at doing it. When you're flat signing that many autographs on posters with multiple signatures, the guest knows the item is to get flogged on. I have no problem with dealers making money mind you, but in these instances the guests knows the item is an asset/commodity and not a keepsake for a fan. This sours the guests' mood for the moment and might sour them from returning, or might jack their prices up next time.

 

2. Most importantly, when the show has been a fiasco for many attendees who have spent their time and money to come away from the show without autographs from the 'top' guests, these selfish attendees, dealers or not, they take up more of the guest's time and in doing so take away from the experience for many other fans. If this dealer had been capped at 5 autographs another 25 fans could have met the legend that is Carrie Fisher. She would never be an open queue when she was their for restricted time periods anyway so the organisers would lose no money through capping - they'd sell the same amount if autographs, just to more/different people.

 

When I stood in Ian McDiarmid's queue more people did the same as the example above with Carrie. And he didn't look overly impressed either.

 

I have heard over the years it is a 5 limit max on autos and if you want more then you get another VT ticket and rejoin the queue or when the guest becomes open queue. This did not happen this weekend. But even if it did, the fact that not a single crew member took my VT ticket from me when I finally joined a queue (Fisher, McDiarmid, Madsen, Billy Dee, Beihn, EJ Olmos) any capping system could clearly be abused by using the same VT ticket several times.

 

The organisers owe it to the every paying customer to make things fair for everyone. Capping will not do any harm to anyone other than those greedy enough to complain 5 autographs are not enough.

With so many people missing out on Carrie, McDiarmid, Glau, and notably Stan Lee over the weekend I think Showmasters need to examine this issue and make sure everyone has a fair chance at what is advertised.

[Starbuck17]

Maybe there was but it was not policed at all. Me and the other people in my part of the queue for Malorie Blackman were getting really frustrated. The queue doubled back on itself so we passed the people in front of us. The amount of fans with 4+ books was shocking.

[Dent_1]

I should say all of the above as an attendee who managed to see every guest I wanted to.

I should add this was achieved by getting to the venue at 7:30 to upgrade my reg ticket to early bird, after booking a last minute night in London for Sat night (on Sat afternoon) because driving to get there that early was not feasible or safe (tiredness). I have never had problems or concerns getting any guest when arriving at 8am previous LFCC.

These were lengths I should not, and probably would not, have had to go to if the event had been organised better.

 

Given some guests have so much to do in a day between shoots and talks and signing, and turning up whenever they feel like it(!) - management of autograph limits is essential for smooth running the day and good reviews afterward.

 

I genuinely sympathise with every single person who could not meet a guest. It could have just as easily been me.

[twinzz]

if we wanted more than 1 item signed, we asked for a VQ for each of those items (even if it was two items - 2 of us, 2 siggies) ... seemed most fair

[1Forrest1]

There should be a limit for sure. People who got many items signed by the big guests cost many others the chance to get so much as one item signed. There should be a generous cap of 5 items, even for open queues. If someone wants more than that they should re-join the queue to give some other people a chance. Yes, Showmasters would get more money from dealers without this limit, but shouldn't better general customer service be prioritised? Even for big guests? Take Stan Lee, this was everyone's last chance for meeting him. With an item limit more people would have left that day without waiting for HOURS in vain.

[1Forrest1]

Complete newbie question as i attend purely to purchase merchandise and collectibles but say a guest charges £25 for their autograph and someone takes in 4 items to be signed do they pay £100 for the privilage or £25 ?

They pay per autograph. If this wasn't the case Showmasters would be missing a money making trick, and with all their experience they never do that! And the queue issue would be so much worse

[eccheetham]

Complete newbie question as i attend purely to purchase merchandise and collectibles but say a guest charges £25 for their autograph and someone takes in 4 items to be signed do they pay £100 for the privilage or £25 ?

you pay for every autogrpahs for if 1 costs 25 they pay 25 for every item they get signes for 1 r £25 4 is £100 or 10 is £250.

[Hayden Is My Hero]

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.

[Diabolik]

It is awful - I was speaking to someone who bought a Pop vinyl figure for £45, that they could barely afford, to have it signed by Stan but missed out.

 

Then you see them being flogged by unscrupulous dealers on e-bay for up to £1500 a time!

[SpaceAce]

It is awful - I was speaking to someone who bought a Pop vinyl figure for £45, that they could barely afford, to have it signed by Stan but missed out.

 

Then you see them being flogged by unscrupulous dealers on e-bay for up to £1500 a time!

 

i saw signed ones being sold in EC1 for £90 sunday

[avsie_2014]

What I also noticed, is the fact no one from SM's staff bothered to follow their own rules for Stan Lee's autographs. Gold/silver comic passes were supposed to give you priority queueing for Stan Lee -- but just once, as the 'SL' on your wristband was going to be marked. Well, no one marked our 'SL' on our wristband, and I'm sure we're not the exception. This opened up the opportunity for gold/silver comic passes to priority queue more than once for an autograph of Stan Lee (or even worse -- MULTIPLE autographs).

[casbyness]

What I also noticed, is the fact no one from SM's staff bothered to follow their own rules for Stan Lee's autographs. Gold/silver comic passes were supposed to give you priority queueing for Stan Lee -- but just once, as the 'SL' on your wristband was going to be marked. Well, no one marked our 'SL' on our wristband, and I'm sure we're not the exception. This opened up the opportunity for gold/silver comic passes to priority queue more than once for an autograph of Stan Lee (or even worse -- MULTIPLE autographs).

 

That's probably what made Stan require a nap after Sunday morning. He probably thought he was going bonkers, seeing the same faces over and over again. Jamie Madrox attack! XD

 

I do hate the idea of people gaming the system though, treating the celebs like they are manufacutirng plants and the dealers are retailers buying at cost to sell on with a hefty mark-up. If I was Stan I'd throw thousands of items with my own signature on them up on ebay each week, beating the prices of the dealers, just for the lulz. Stuff like used crisp packets, carrier bags and coke cans. I'd go mad with power, exploiting my writing hand's magical ability to imbue any item with value.

[Iceman71]

I noticed a few times on Saturday and Sunday that guests were signing more than 5 items at a time. I queued four times on the Sunday to get one Carrie Fisher autograph and saw numerous people coming away from her area with multiple items signed.

 

Surely with bigger name guests their should be a limit of 2 items to allow more people the chance of getting an autograph.

[cherrydarling]

I agree that dealers are a problem. As others have suggested maybe they could get items signed by agreeable guests out of con hours. I think most guests would enjoy interacting with fans rather than signing the same image over and over for someone who is obviously going to sell them on. This is another reason I like the idea of an autograph voucher. Showmasters could police online the limit of how many could be purchased per person and it narrows the chance of dealers getting bulk autographs and preventing fans from meeting guests.

[D4vem88]

When I was at Ian McDiarmid's table, a SM worker pushed in front of me (not asking) and had 6/7 large posters signed which had all been previously signed by Carrie Fisher and she came from the exit walkway so she had literally just had them done by Carrie. She had a chat with another member of SM staff while in front of me and didn't acknowledge that I was standing there.

 

On the other hand when I was waiting for Summer Glau, a SM worker asked me if she could go in front of me and she had one thing to sign (I assumed she just finished her shift and the queue was huge so I said fine) which was ok because she asked and only had one thing.

 

Didn't notice any dealers as such in front of me, but the SM worker at Ian's table was rude.

[touchthesky]

I do think it's crap that dealers who couldn't care less about meeting the guest potentially do so over people who have spent ages saving for just one autograph from their favourite actors.

 

I would be happy with a cap on autographs. Makes it fair.

[KingRichard76]

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.

[Vhiper]

With a guest like Stan Lee they should have limited everyone to a single visit for a single autograph, that way making sure the FANS, not dealers, get their few seconds of Stan. They would still have sold just as much, still probably a few people missing their chance, but have way more people leaving the Con happy, not just us passholders.

[Lostboy1981]

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!

[eccheetham]

With a guest like Stan Lee they should have limited everyone to a single visit for a single autograph, that way making sure the FANS, not dealers, get their few seconds of Stan. They would still have sold just as much, still probably a few people missing their chance, but have way more people leaving the Con happy, not just us passholders.

i agree with people as big as stan lee it should have been no more than 1 or 2 per person that way more people would be been seen. If the dealers want auto they can go abroad and get autos then come back and sell them for extortionate money. its not fair on the fans who have been saving for months that a dealer gets 10 autographs and they wait for hours only to be turned away with none.

[Karl J]

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.