A little disappointed with TFCon dealer room this year

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by BigWillay

Example was the ko os grimlock, one dealer had it and wanted $230 which is nuts. But thats how the cookie crumbles.

I would agree with everything you said except this. It is far better made than the Hasbro/Takara one, 1.5 times the size and at one point people were paying FAR more than that for the first Habro 2010 Grimlock when the market dried up on him. TF Direct sells him for about $213 so at a show I would expect to pay that at a show.

[Fear or Courage]

Honestly, the convention this year was just as good as last year's for me. I particularly liked the big bags they gave us to haul our hauls in.

As for the dealer's room, I don't buy 3P, but I don't begrudge its presence. In fact, I always get a kick out of looking at all the crazy stuff behind the glass in Chosen Prime's corner booth. What DID bother me was the massive overcharge on Titans Return stuff. I'm usually cool with paying a "con tax" in exchange for not having to hunt something down later, but they were literally charging double the retail price for Rewind and the other legends. Distressingly, it seems to have worked, since they were sold out by the end of Sunday, thus setting a bad precedent.

[wervenom]

I like that term "con tax" lol. I know a lot of people are stating the 3rd party overload but I think that should be expected. I don't see the reason for everyone saying that they wanted TR stuff when you know it will be significantly over inflated prices for the stuff. No one is going to sell current wave items at the same price as TRU or Walmart and I wouldn't buy that stuff at a con knowing that I will find it at retail eventually and on sale to boot. Take for example the Sentinel Primes that were $50 on Sunday and then $45 on Saturday and $80 for Generations Arcee at the same table. As for the Skylynx at $50 a lot of people in various other forums are charging the exact same. I think there was a good mix of product and a lot of vendors are also sitting on older stock so they have the same stuff every show. I don't see this as a point of disappointment simply because it's like that at every show we go to pretty much. We will all get TR stuff eventually (hopefully depending on distribution), we just need to have a little patience.

[Sunstar]

the con tax - great term... I am relatively okay with. I don't have a car, so I go to the convention to find stuff that I hopefully do not have to buy online. I did have some guys go out and find stuff for me on thier way down and I am grateful for them not charging me extra. Had they though, would not have bothered me.

I do not know how much a table is, but I suppose I could justify the "con tax" to cost of the table, the hours spent at the con behind table, gas, food and finally what little is left as profit.

I remember someone asking me if I was okay with paying like 50 bucks for a MW Starscream that was given free at botcon. I justified it as not having to fly there. I could never afford to go to botcon.

[Gumby]

Con Tax is not a problem for me either. I don't mind paying a little extra for an item at a show instead of wasting my time going to a store.

And if you think the price a seller is asking is too much, don't buy it. It really is that simple. Wait and keep looking. Sure, we all want that item NOW but have patience and you'll almost always find it for a much better price down the line.

[BlackZarak]

Originally Posted by Swalloweddark

The Attendance was pretty sad. I read an article stating there was over 3000 attendees but the area where the con was held said it could only hold about 300 people before it became a fire hazard. I did not see 3000 people at any given time of day. It was only busy in the morning and that was it.

I haven't seen this article you are referring to, but I'm assuming the 3000 attendees is over the entire day or who pre-registered. Obviously there wasn't 3000 people at any given time in the dealer room or panel room. Those would be SDCC numbers.

[Ninjatron]

I'm not into 3rd Party but whatever. There was still stuff there for me and it's not like if there would be less 3rd Party there would be more vintage on the floor. There is only so much vintage stuff in the world.

Surprised that I didn't see even one Unite Warriors Protectobots set. Maybe I would have bought one. But I guess you can't always have everything.

Prices are what they are. Sometimes the prices seem higher than they should be but you might also find an item you maybe didn't want as much but it's at a very low price that you wouldn't mind having it for. You can kind of mentally offset prices and make things work in your favor that way.

You can everything you want for your collection if you exercise patience and discipline. Waiting for that right moment to strike and obtaining things you didn't necessarily seek out but actually came to really like, these scenarios are part of the fun of collecting. Of course, I am ninja so... your patience and discipline may vary.

Sayonara.

[Stormrave]

First up, I want to say thank you for the SUPER AWESOME folks on this board who let Phalanx and Me get Vortex's and Sky Lynx's for close to retail cost instead of paying Con Tax. the Maritimes have been a Combaticon and Sky Lynx Wasteland and we greatly appreciate being able to build our Bruticus's and Sky Reign's so cost effectively

Secondly: Any of my comments on the dealer's room must be mitigated by the fact that I am, once again, broke. I partly blame Alex Milne and Sara Pitre-Durocher for the state of my bank account, but the people who sold me the QT's, Kabaya models, Silverstreak, and HoC Overlord also bear part of the blame.

That being said, it was a little weird that so much of the dealer's room was 3rd party and so much of the rest was stuff I remember from previous years. Maybe 11 years coming to a con will do that to you, when you see the same vendors with the same things year after year. But there might be something to the comment that this year's dealer's room was like the Greatest Hits cut.

OTOH I was quite happy to get myself a Weeformer from Teresa Levy, a Plushbot from Shattered Needle, some bookmarks from Wayward, QT's, Kabaya's, to visit Retro Joad's, etc, etc.....

[Ras]

My family and I love the Mississauga Hilton. It's a very nice hotel, has what you need/expect, the Starbucks deli was a lifesaver, and the waterslide and pools are top notch. All this combined with great rooms at a bargain TFcon price make for a great venue. I give my vote to having TFCon 2017 at the Mississauga Hilton.

[Slayback]

I'm sorta at a loss when reading this.. so i'm going to try and verbalize how it's coming across. People are complaining that vendors are
a) Not stocking something older or more specific that a customer wants
b) Stocking too much of what is the current trend
bii) Charging more than what Tru's is charging
c) Stocking too much 3rd party toys - which is everything that's not Hasbro or TakaraTomy.

Is that it? i think these were the main points...
So here's my roundabout answers..

a) Some of the vendors can only carry a limited amount in their car/truck/whatever (i remember some lady used a taxi). It sorta makes sense that they would bring what is hot and currently sells for them -rather than bringing everything that didn't sell for them and stock that at their table. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of trying to make money (which they've shelled out for the stock). Sometimes -ya, you won't find what you're looking for on tables -but that doesn't mean it's not there. There's a lot of vendors who have stock behind the tables and they haven't put things out because there's no room. Even with 3 tables i didn't have enough room. So imagine the bigger guys.

b) Sorry this point just seems silly. Why carry what's 'in'? Likely because it sells -and people are looking for it.
bii) Why do they charge more? Because it costs them x$ amount and they mark it up by y%. TRU's buys it at a crud load cheaper than x$ and marks it up by tru%. If everyone just stopped stocking the product that TRUs stocks - then you'll have people complaining that it's just a TakaraTomy and 3P show.

c) Too much 3p. Well since i've been doing it which is a little more than 5 years now, people keep asking for it. That's why i bring it to the show.. it sells. People ask for it. They don't ask me for Hasbro because they know i generally won't carry it - because you can go to TRUs. I can't compete against TRU pricing -because i'm sure people are going to give a lot of flak about not being able to match prices.

Sorry if i sound like a douche but i'm just really surprised that this thread even exists. You're voicing complaints about what's being carried by dealers and stores. These guys along with myself are trying to earn a living, pay overhead, support workers, keep customers happy, revolve stock, keep the industry fresh and alive - all while smiling, being courteous, work with people who lowball or nickle and dime.

I've worked both sides -customer and seller; and i've always just found it a blessing to have a show to go to, and dealers who carried stock. Seems like that sentiment barely holds any weight anymore.