Wizard World Convention

[Former_Member]

Hello all!

I've been contacted twice now from a representative from the Wizard World Comic Con and invited to apply for the one in my area.
It looks like it would be the perfect outlet for my stuff, but the booth rent is $600 for one space.

Before I shell out the money, I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this particular convention or similar ones? Just curious.

[extradigital]

Wizard cons can be very profitable for vendors; and I think your product would do very, very well there. They attract large crowds for the most part*, so I think you'd definitely be able to make up the cost of the booth rental.

However, that being said, since they approached you, I would try and negotiate with them as far as booth cost. The worst they will say is "no can't do", but you do have the upper hand in the situation since they sought you out to ask you to be a vendor. *Plus the Raleigh one(which i'm asssuming by taking a quick look at your shop is the one they asked you to be a vendor at) is new, and I would definitely add in that a $600 booth is sort of pricey when you don't know if the convention is going to have much success, as they haven't really tested the waters there, yet.

[MountainGoth]

Is it a one day or multi-day event? Do you have enough inventory to cover that kind of table fee.

I've never done that but I did a two day steampunk event where I made 12x my table fee.

[Former_Member]

If you have the right product you can do extremely well at any of the ComicCons.

There are people who travel across the country just to go to them and the crowds are generally quite good.

If I were you, I'd make the investment as $600 isn't really that much for a multi day festival with the kind of crowds that they draw.

Just be sure that you are selling your own designs unless you have permission to use sell work based on trademarked characters.

[BaloolahB]

Your cushions are great, they look perfect for the event- but have you got the facility to make many multiples - how many cushions do you need to sell to make back your fee? You need a lot more than that!

[Former_Member]

I would take a look at the other vendors first - I visited the Michigan Comic Con for fun this year, and there was a woman who had AMAZING fantasy leather masks and not a single sale, even though the place was jam packed with people and other vendors were selling like crazy.

I talked to her and she planned on doing the Renn Faire to make up her booth fee from Con.

[moonbeamgifts]

They're a great convention - not our overall favorite but they are close and that's handy. :). People go to these conventions with money to burn and many of the older crowd has the disposable income to spend. Crochet girl is right, though: unless you have permission to resell the trademarked items, it's a dangerous flame to play with in setting up at a con. I've seen more than one vendor closed down on the spot and "served" because they simply didn't understand selling fan art, let alone having made a business out of it. If you don't have the permission, I'd turn the invite down, if you have complete permission for all characters that you can provide to anyone inquiring, I'd sign up in a heartbeat.