My question to you is:

If you are a regular at the Botcon dealers room, why would you expect the contracts to change from year to year ???

Theres plenty of documented evidence that these policies have never been enforced at any Botcon. Possibly enough eveidence to charge Funpub with false advertising since this stuff leaked out conveniently after tickets were sold. Not to mention the credit card security breach.

 

And does LV, Ralph Lauren, Paramount Home Video, etc sponsor that flea market? I doubt it. Hasbro DOES sponsor BotCon, and is an active participant in it.

I agree that dealers got screwed if they were fan artists or non-toy item makers, as that "clarification' didn't come through until just over a month before show, and well after signing the contract & getting airfares (if applicable).
The no KO/3P toy item looked pretty clearcut from what I saw in the contract, as well as (gathered from ppl I personally know, and reading on this forum the past few months) discussions w/ FP since January.

 

Credit card breach is a separate issue from the dealer room & BotCon.

BotCon = co op show between FunPub & Hasbro. As FP is a licensee of Hasbro, they're bound by Hasbro's legal peeps.
The TFCC-based purchases that were hacked = solely FP's control & sphere of responsibility. Whether them directly, or their choice of credit card processor.

And I would expect the Dealer Room contract to possibly change year-to-year, for the same reason my Rental Agreement on my apartment could change from year-to-year: due to changes in laws, enforcement of existing laws to protect my assets & reduce my liability, etc.

Again, with a contract that I sign, which states what A) my responsibility is B) the other party's responsibility c) either party's liability and D) legal recourse available to either party...

YES, I am reading it each year!

I do as a PayPal vendor, I do as an eBay vendor, I do as an AVON rep for the past 11 years, I do it as a renter even if I've been at the complex for 3 years - and make plans to not renew for a 4th year due to changes that they want to implement that I don't agree with.

 

You SHOULD expect them to change, though, because you never know if, say, the venue has some special rules that must be followed which you have to agree to. That might not be normal, but it isn't unexpected.

As for history of enforcement, the language in the contract which led me to start this thread and contact Fup in the first place is new to the contract. As such, there is no history about enforcement to cite if it ever came to that. Any past convention that did not contain this exact language in the dealer contract would be invalid as an example of past enforcement.

 

OKay... this is news to me, cause I didn't knew that. Thanks for the update Bigbot3030.

 

Good point. I'd forgotten (not being a vendor at a show myself in a loooooong time) about venue-specific issues.

Such as union-workers will bring your pallet to your booth location from your truck as well as the freight-shipped at the loading dock, and take it back to your truck as well as the freight-dock.
And if electricity rates/phone line for CC machines change, etc.

So glad I don't have to fool with trade shows anymore.

 

I would think when something becomes the "norm" and theres plenty of past photographic evidence to support it, the dealers would have a pretty strong case in any court. The key is that they sold you the booths first under false pretenses. What the fine print says might not hold up in court if it was disseminated in a decietful manner based on previous Botcons that set a norm.

 

OMG Hiro Prime just put on his Mitt Romney Pretender shell and challenged me to a debate !!!



First of all I don’t collect figures for value. I collect them because they represent the G1 characters I grew up with and love. I don’t consider my collection an investment and Ill probably take it with me to the grave. Most of the classics line and popular Botcon figures are no more than 5 years old. They are not civil war relics or Faberge eggs. They are lumps of plastic. So let’s stop sugarcoating them as “high end collectibles” and look at them for what they really are.

Maybe you were the guy that won an e-bay bid on a Henkei Wildrider for $500 bucks. Congratulations. All eyes were on that auction and you set the standard for what someone is willing to pay out of desperation. Now every e-bay dealer has created a 2nd account just to bid on their own items and drive the price up to $500. And if nobody out-bids the fake bidders, they cancel the auction. Heaven forbid they have a legit auction where they take the gamble like a man.

So I’m sorry, your Henkei Wildrider is not worth $500. It’s worth what somebodys willing to pay for it. Like we say in Miami, you got ganked.

You were asking how long I been in this game. I’m not at your status but my stats are as follows:

• 35 years of age, collected G1 figures from 1984-1988 and lucky enough to still have them all.

• Highly influenced by the 2007 movie to re-discover collecting, and been doing it ever since.

• Attendee of Botcon 2010, 2011, and got my 2012 reservations.

• Collector of all forms of G1 related items.

• Watched all American episodes of G1, Beast Wars, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, and TF Prime. Don’t know nothing about the Japanese series or TF Animated but willing to learn.

You really questioned my comment about Hasbro holding the molds hostage. My answer is the age old saying “use it or lose it”. How much more simple can I make it to you on my stance towards use of the molds and repaints people actually want ???

On to your customers. I’m all for customer service. But if you feel responsible when a toddler takes an “adult collectible” off of his dads “collectors shelf” and injures himself, you should retire from selling toys. It’s kind of like guns. Guns don’t kill people. People kill people with guns. Remember that. It might get you out of a lawsuit the next time “Little Jimmy” swallows a null ray.

As far as the quality of KO’s, (especially CHMS) people already know the risks. Your not going to get a lot of flack from repeat buyers. They know what theyre buying and aren’t expecting Hasbro style quality control tests. Occasionally you might sell a bad toy that breaks. It happened many times with certain items I bought from KO Toys. But since they bought in bulk, they sent me replacements like if they grew on trees. Plus I always took pictures of the problem and requested a replacement that had been inspected. And they always delivered, and let me keep the broken one for parts. Now that’s what I call a 5 star business with great customer service. Would you do all that to help your clients get what they want ???

BTW you never told me which one is the real Henkei Ghost Starscream ??? (right or left)



I’m not the only hardcore collector in the world. But I am probably one out of maybe five in my city. And Miami is pretty big. I only know 2 other hardcore collectors that live out here. And most hardcore collectors read fan sites. So we reach out to each other when we find out were from the same area. So my point is that if hardcore collectors around the country live hundreds of miles from each other, bragging rights get thrown out the window. 99.9% percent of the people who see my collection in person are not Transformer fans or collectors. They don’t know or care about “originals” or “KOs”. They just say that’s a bad ass collection and ask questions about the characters, not the companies that made the toys.

You talk a lot about capitalism. I suppose you are part of the 1% category. You want tax breaks and golden parachutes to keep your pockets fat. No wonder you support Hasbro.

I never heard of the term “intellectual property” before 3rd party companies starting making Hasbro look like s**t. Who invented that term anyway ? Every time I read somebody defending intellectual property, I cant help but think they look like this guy in person:



Damn I wanna punch him in the face !!! He has become the new face of Hasbro !!!

Oh BTW,

What in the blue hell is OWS ???

Enlighten me…

 

Its just like a minimall? hey hey?

 

Kind of. But some people might be scared to shop there because of the neighborhood. Plenty of drug dealers, strippers getting their nails done, crackheads panhandling, etc. If you blend in like I do, it's alot of fun to hang out there. And you get some pretty good deals there on stuff. No transformmers though. Maybe a few cheap KO's in the chinese dollar stores.

 

There is nothing further to be discussed here at this time. The Botcon stance is now known, this thread will be closed until further news comes to light.