It depends. For the animated stuff last year, there was a definite mark up. the rest seemed to be reasonable, even cheap in some cases.

 

Minicon people *MUST* be able to go into the Private Sales Room experience as well, since they're allowed to follow Primus members wherever they go. Otherwise it'd defeat the purpose of bringing family members as Minicons.

 

Porotoforms and minicons get the early bird experiences, i whent as a protoform in 2007 and got in to all of em, and the form says "No toys, tour, or classes" this year so you stil get the early bird stuff.

 

The general thing we're trying to get across is vendors don't really jack up their price for BotCon. However, many vendors have what some of us consider pretty expensive prices in the first place, especially on G1 stuff. I was seeing crappy toys priced at the eBay + shipping prices.

So, they're not jacked up for BotCon, they're just always jacked up period.

That's not to say that great deals aren't to be found. The Japanese guys always end up selling some stuff for dirt freaking cheap, Megamus and Gen1Fan's booth of course always has good prices, and you have to do some digging on your own to find them sometimes.

 

As has been hinted at by some here, BotCon buying is all relative. It all depends on what it is. For example, I would think that there may be some markup on toys that could be used for autographs.

What you have to really watch out for are the rare toys. I bring a Lee's Action Figure magazine with me and try to keep up to date by looking at what things sell for on Ebay. Only pay what it is worth to you. If you gotta have it, then grab it. Again, everything is relative.

If you ask anyone on here that knows me, there is a certain BC07 'gem' that I brought home from Providence and I think it was well worth what I paid for it. There was no guide price for this item, nor had one sold on Ebay in that condition at the time. I made an offer, he countered...we met in the middle and I got a case of 'other than chocolate' flavored import Kit-Kats out of it as well!

To really answer your question, jacking up is relative to the buyer and the price he is willing to pay. One's idea of too much may be just right for another person. Funny, I just learned all about this in Microeconomics!

Galvatro

 

*cough*Masterpiece Grimlock*cough*

 

And Animated Wreck-Gar ;-)

 

I got a MISB G1 (NO KO)Grimlock from a dealer...200 bucks.. no lie it happened last year!

YOu have to haggle...make deals..

 

It's funny.

You get some dealers who hate hagglers. They refuse to do it, and get pissy when you ask. You have some dealers who get mad that you DON'T haggle - they expect it, and want to work with you on a sale.

You have some buyers who expect to be able to haggle. They enjoy it. You have some buyers who haggling. They either will or won't buy it based on the initial price you give them.

Ya just can't win!

 

As a dealer I can say that I will haggle on some stuff but not everything. The thing that drives me crazy is when people ask to knock off a couple of bucks on a 5.00 item. Usually I'm willing to work with the buyer when the price gets above 20-25.00 but have been known to work with someone on an item that I have had for a while that hits below that price.

Normally during the show I get a lot of compliments about my pricing and I know that I'm reasonable, so I don't usually give killer deals on my items.

As far as pricing at the show compared to ebay, normally my show prices are cheaper at botcon than on ebay. The fees per item for ebay is usually higher than that of a show like botcon's fees which raises pricing on my end.

 

As has been stated its yes and no, some do, some don't. A lot of them have really high prices in general, plus you have to factor in too a lot of the dealers have to pay to bring there items to the show and to have a set up, so it makes sense that some of them want to make as much in return as possible. The thing is you have to have an idea how much you think something is worth and if you can't get it for that either hold out or look elsewhere. I myself don't plan on spending a lot in the dealer room, I have a few things I'm looking for but I know that I can always be patient and get them elsewhere.

 

It's not that big of a deal. I rarely see anyone get pissy about it. I'll occasionally hear some back talk when I decline a low-ball offer, but that's about it.

Personally, as a dealer I prefer not to haggle much. I won't even consider it during earlybird or preview hours - Why should I lower prices before everyone is even allowed in the room. Even beyond that, unless someone is buying muliple items or I realize that I have something overpriced I don't like to haggle. Many times I know I have close to, if not the lowest price in the room, so why should I lower it further?

As for "jacking up", I generally don't sell TFs any other time of the year so I don't have a regular price to "jack".

Remember dealers have booth and shipping costs to cover. We have to make some money on the sales!