What do you think determines how much you spend on merch at a

This should probably be in the AA thread, but I know my con spending has drastically dropped in the last couple of years. As far as official merch goes, people tend to bring the same things year after year. Even artists in the AA do this. So at one con I may have spend $300 dollars on merch, but the next year I'll barely spend $50 then the year after that I might spend $20. Plus I tend to browse, then if I find something I really want, I'll price check on ebay/amazon and if the price is comparable, I'll buy it there.

>>9325244
I've never been to a con where I was entertained by panels during the entire time I was there.

>>9325264
I think since this is about dealers hall, it's reasonable to have in it's own thread. We DID just get done talking about how Dealers Hall & AA are different in the AA thread.

>>9325244
I'll start by saying I consider myself a Big Spender, I generally budget between $400-$600 for merch at large conventions (over 5K attendees) and $200-300 at smaller cons. I collect figures and I make itabags, so I buy both a few large ticket items and a lot of small things.

Panels, meetups, and events come first - but one of the first things I do when I'm going through and highlighting my con schedule is look for that big block of time where nothing is happening. That's my designated Dealers Hall browsing time, and it's usually mid-morning on Saturday or most of Sunday.

If a convention has less programming, I am likely to spend more since I've got more time to browse and find things, but I am ALSO more likely to just not go back to that con again. Double edged sword for you, mate.

If a con has a guest for a series I really love, I find myself buying more stuff for that series. Not to get signed or anything, I hate signing lines, but just because I'm already in the frame of mind where I'm hyped up about the series.

And I feel like this should go without saying, but it also really depends on what kind of stuff the dealers actually stocked. If I'm seeing the same old stuff I normally see, eh. I don't really care, and I migrate towards the Artist Alley with my money. I'm more interested in new merchandise, limited release merchandise, blind boxes (because I hate myself), art books, stuff that's more than just the main character's face plastered on a key chain, merch for series that aren't as mainstream. The kind of stuff that I would have to import through a shopping service, and can't just buy on ebay.

I always do a quick round through the dealer room and do a longer round when I'm bored. However even then I hardly ever buy anything at a con due to the "con prices" they charge. Now I can't blame them as getting a table at a con costs money, but if I can get the same item cheaper on their webshop I'm definitely just going to order it there instead. Gunpla especially tends to be €20 more expensive at cons here which is insane considering how their webshop even offers free 24 hour shipping.
Also ever since I moved into my apartment I found myself with less money to burn. Rent, insurance and all that stuff really takes its toll.

>>9325244
Tbh, I never drop that much on merch. I'm pretty good about saving and spending on frivolous stuff/stuff I'm not that into (figures, manga, etc) doesn't make much sense. I stay out of the Dealer's Room unless my friends want to go. Most I spend is in AA (always stop there at every con) and even that's minimal. I go to cons mostly to meetup with friends and cosplay so shopping is pretty low on my list of priorities.

This is going to sound like a humble brag, but as a decent cosplayer who tends to do recognizable characters, I sometimes don't have time to do stuff like shopping because I spend my day getting my picture taken. I spent a day with a Teen Titan group and we had so many little kids come up to us and ask for pictures, it was hard to say no. I do like browsing, but even in the dealer's hall I'd get stopped by people who wanted a photo.

Fellow dealer here, I had to quit doing cons full time because they money is just not there anymore. The money used to be incredible, but like you, I've been making 1/2-1/4 what I normally make at conventions. Definitely on a downswing, and I got out before we were taking huge hits.

I blame it on people being more savvy on where to get merchandise/the economy/younger crowd at cons who don't spend as much/more casual crowd at cons/more con frequents who shop less.

Lots of possible factors.

My priority at cons are: programming and meetups, AA, dealers
I'll do a look around first before deciding on purchases.
I'm more into the fujoshi/non-popular series and create ita bags. The series I like don't have a lot of merch in dealers because it's not super popular. And if they do, mostly they are charms.
I'm really into exclusive items, so they can be hard to locate. (I browse for most of my stuff on jp auction.) I look for newly released/exclusive charms, badges, and optimistically for ANY figures for my unpopular faves.

tldr: niche fujoshi shopper

>>9325323
Personally I think the biggest factor is a shift in availability, a decade ago as as shopper I used to think "This is my only chance to ever get this", but now there are significantly more options for online shopping, importing is more accessible, and a lot of the merchandise I see repeated at conventions multiple years in a row. The sense or urgency is gone.

Pretty sure people are right when it comes to ease of getting figures now. I also totally understand why the markup is a thing, but I refuse to spend $195 on a figure I can get on Amiami for ¥11000 and add in other things for combined shipping. Especially when stuff is still brand new and easily available.

I mostly find myself buying old things that would be harder to find nowadays (as long as they haven't skyrocketed the price unreasonably as a result), oddities, and smaller items that honestly wouldn't be worth getting bought and shipped even if the price is better. In the past I'd buy a figure or two but I just can save so much by shopping smarter online.

Kinda wish fujoshi were slightly more pandered to also. It seems though that sports anime and hetalia (even that's fading) are the only ways that ever happens though, sigh. Weren't even really any doujins at a con I went to recently - the giant table had a tiny box of hetalia and sports, that's it. Would have been happy to spend money on Final Fantasy/Bleach/One Punch Man, but nope.

>>9325392
Honestly, I'm really looking forward to to seeing what Yuri On Ice's insane runaway success does for the fujoshi merch market.

>>9325399

jfc, I'm tired of people acting like YoI will be a gamechanger.

Companies are already focusing on fujoshi (see nendo's orange line and everything related to sports anime). The big difference is that the west is obsessed with Yoi, so now people are noticed that merch is not all boobs.

OP here
So glad I asked this, I really needed this info. Thank you to everyone who is chiming in!

>>9325323
Do you stick to online-only now? If so, is that still doing well?

There was a big switch in the Dealers hall in terms of merchandise sometime past 2005 or so. All the dealers have less and less "collectibles" and more regular merch that is easy to come by online already. Also, most of the time they only stock the new titles and merchandise.

I'm a bit of an oldschool fan, so my tastes are geared more towards 70s-90's animu.

I only really go to Artist Alley or the swap meets at anime cons nowadays If I'm going to shop at all. AA you can get unique goods, and the swap meets is where you can find actual collectibles and rare goods, since people are usually selling parts of their collections off. Weird stuff like old Playstation Neon signs from babbages, or Macross soundtracks with autographs. Used manga collections for dirt cheap. Old VHS and laserdiscs sets for those of us who like to collect.

Now, that's just me. The real reason you in the dealers hall are seeing a downturn is because everything you carry at your booth can probably be found online for cheaper, or every booth around you has the EXACT same shit. You might be better off hitting a niche.

OP again

I make my own merchandise, I just have a large stock and variety. Should I scale back and try for an artist table instead? I have my stuff made for me, but I design it with my own artwork, so no one else sells what I sell.

>>9325441
>or every booth around you has the EXACT same shit.
A thousand times this, a lot of the dealer stands here have either become Pop Vinyl stands or plush stands, all with the same small trinkets on the side.

>>9325323
This tbqh, though I'm 'older' so I am willing to spend money on the things I can't find elsewhere. Now I can get most of it online cheaper, even with shipping. Local cons don't have much merch, so I never see anything of interest there. The bigger cons in the US have more, but the exchange rate is terrible for Canadians so I don't buy any merch there, unless it's AA goods. I'd consider it for bigger items, like large plushies or figures, but there is usually a discount at online shops if you PO them in advance so that still usually ends up being cheaper.

What I definitely buy is wigs for my next few cosplays because I can save on shipping them from the US. Actually, Id' be willing to spend money on any cosplay related accessories (other than the outfit itself, like jewelry or special footwear) because those things are typically not discounted online, or harder to find and have expensive shipping.

Also, very much so this + some early 2000s:

>>9325441
> I'm a bit of an oldschool fan, so my tastes are geared more towards 70s-90's animu.

I keep up with current media, but nothing grabs me like the animu from my childhood/teenage years.

>>9325437
Dealer anon here, the past few conventions we sold off most of our inventory at low prices. We still have some of it left, and are planning to just sell it cheap on eBay/local conventions when it's convenient. We had a website for a little while but it was too hard to keep up, with only 2 of us, so we got rid of it.

>>9325470
Maybe it is time to stop with the cons then. I don't even have a product that people can find anywhere else (I design my own stuff, I don't sell official merch) and my sales are down incredibly far from even just last year.

>>9325559
Well, there's also the problem of whether or not your unique product has any value to the consumer base.

>>9325244
What is it with all these people who start threads like "I was at this con and..." and never mention which con it was. Like, are you afraid to namedrop them for some reason? I see it happen constantly on this fucking board and it's kinda retarded.

On-topic: I think it's how quickly I can manage to get to the dealers room, combined with how much programming I'm attending. I buy a lot of wallscrolls, and if I can't manage to get to the DR until like Day 2 (or Christ help me, fucking Day 3), then all the shit I want might be gone; and in that case, I'll just buy a couple keychains and a figure and call it a day.

>>9325281
This.
For artbooks, I shop directly from Amazon Japan because the total including shipping is always cheaper and faster than con prices or English webshops/American Kinokuniyas. General merch also seems more expensive with con prices because of the current exchange rate.

>>9325612
It did last year

I never see dealers selling doujinshi at cons but it sounds like something people are more interested in seeing than overpriced figures.

What would you spend on a book in person? Max for me would be around $10 unless it's an anthology or a favorite artist, since I know what these generally go for on toranoana and secondhand sites.

>>9326018
I know A-Kon has (had? I can't remember if they were there last year) ONE SINGLE DOUJINSHI DEALER. It's so annoying. I wish we'd take out overpriced mini-Hot Topic looking dealer #5324213 and replace them with some more doujinshi people. Get me some shit I'd have to physically go to Japan for. I know how to use AmiAmi.

>>9326018
At large cons sometimes I'll see a general seller with like, a single box of doujin. But the good stuff is always gone within the first couple hours of the first day, and I never make the rounds that early.

I'd be willing to spend 10-15$, but that's because I'm only interested in hard to find ships, so I'm willing to pay my character tax.

I used to spend a lot more in the dealer's hall, but these days it's more like: browse and see something I want, compare prices at all the booths there, look online and see that it's cheaper online than anyone's selling it for, don't buy. Perhaps if dealers had something beyond what is just popular at the moment/all the same stuff I'd be excited to see it, but when it's just recently released popular goods you can easily get online, it's hard for me to be tempted into buying it. And since I don't want English versions of anime/manga, there's a whole chunk of stuff I have no interest in buying. I usually spend all my money at the AA since I can get unique products made by fellow fans for more obscure series.

only thing i will buy at a con are exclusives
that means AX and SDCC

everything else you get cheaper online

>>9325264
Same here. I noticed that vendors and artists tend to stick to a particular con circuit, so I can kind of predict what they're going to bring. I usually look at their websites/profiles/sale pages ahead of time to see if there's anything I want in particular. If not, then I compare prices online while I'm at the vendor hall.

I think that in addition to experience of shopping at cons is that I've lost interest in buying most typical weeb merch like tees and wall scrolls, and again, I try to stick with hunting what I've been looking for instead of impulsively buy. If there are any bigger purchases ($100+), it's usually lolita related and at bigger cons.

Swap meets are kind of unpredictable, even if people share ahead of time through con group pages.

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I'd spend more money if the dealers chill with scamming.

>At a small con
> Dealer tries to sell me a $15 figure for $45.
I totally understand trying to make a profit, that's fine, but this is just insulting. sometimes I will splurge even if i can get it cheaper online, as long as it's not completely insane.

I usually come prepared to spend money, but in the UK it's hard to find merch for my favourite series. I'm not really into anything super obscure, but dealers here pretty much only stock FOTM shit and the big three. No way in hell will I ever find anything from NANA, My Hero Academia or Ace Attorney, even though those are all popular series. So I'm game to spend money, but I'm not going to spend it on shit I don't care about.

To any anons that choose to answer, what series/ships/etc stuff ARE you looking for?

>>9326021
> shit I'd have to physically go to Japan for
This is exactly what I'm looking for nowadays in the dealer's room too. Fuck, even food vendors get more of my money since they're priced reasonably compared to merch.

>>9326028
At most I've seen someone with a box of hentai that looks like it's from the 90s.

As a huge otome/fujoshi fan girl person how ever the fuck you'd describe me, over the years... I've found less and less of my fandoms? I do get that dealers sell what's popular but it's become a rarity to find anything worth buying. One exception for me last year was Kawaii Kon, but they had a really on point selection of blind boxes, clear file folders, and other merch I was interested in for really good prices.

As for stuff that's not official merch but is on the dealers side or AA stuff that's not fandom related, I rarely buy from that section and when I do it's typically smaller but well made and decently priced stuff. Like I won't buy a big poster but I'm more willing to buy a couple of bookmarks or a tiny knited octopus. I just can't justify myself buying something huge?

Like others have already mentioned I notice dealers tend to stay within the same con circuits and they keep boxing up and bringing the exact same merch to the next con they go to that didn't sell at the last one. It becomes incredibly boring when you and every dealer there all have the same generic animu crap I can get online for ALOT cheaper.
Variety of items and stuff that's actually unique would definitely get me spending more. As it is I haven't bought anything at the last 3 cons I've gone to and I used to drop $200-300 regularly.
This goes for artist alley people too, I saw 5 vendors selling the same handmade knitted animal plushies: squids/octopuses, chthulus and rice balls. No one buys those anymore, why are you all still making them?

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>>9326145
Tales of, Fire Emblem, One Piece (easy mode), Gurren Lagann, and merch for a shit ton of medium level popularity Visual Novels (mostly Otome & BL). If I could ever find this rubber strap, I would die a happy man.

And I am ALWAYS looking for anime wallets that aren't Naruto or Full Metal Alchemist. What you can get online are usually bootlegs, and not built to last. I've been mourning the loss of my One Piece wallet ever since it finally bit the dust after a long and arduous journey in my pocket for years.

>>9326165
KawaiiKon would be an exception, wouldn't it, since it's so close to Japan compared to other cons?

>>9326168
>This goes for artist alley people too, I saw 5 vendors selling the same handmade knitted animal plushies: squids/octopuses, chthulus and rice balls. No one buys those anymore, why are you all still making them?
I hate this shit. 2010 is over. I can get a better made, cheaper plushie at practically any store now since that generic cutesy shit is so mainstream now. Get creative (and stop bitching about said generic stuff not selling in the Artist Alley general while you're at it). While we're on this- artists, STOP TAKING ADVICE ON WHAT TO SELL FROM OTHER ARTISTS! At best, you get well-intentioned but generally useless advice. Just because another artist is willing to buy your slightly fancier whatever for twice the price doesn't mean your average customer will. At worst, they're actively trying to fuck you over. Ask your customers what they'd want to buy instead, and maybe we can have less of these threads and less people crying about how mediocre artist so and so made five times the amount they did.

I'm not an average customer because I table as well but in AA. I'm a huge scrooge mcduck during cons because I dont want to spend money that would eat into my profits. For the dealers halls I find the prices just way too high and I can always get better deals myself online. Exception to this however was last year I was able to find an old figure on my wishlist for a great deal, I wouldnt have been able to get it for that price online with the exchange rate(canada-fag)+shipping.

>>9326145
I get into series that are niche years after the peak of their popularity. My favorites right now include:
>Blazblue
>Guilty Gear
>Skullgirls
For more popular series
>Ace Attorney
>Watamote
>Touhou
>Voltron
>Idolm@ster
>Vocaloid
>Pokemon

>>9326145
Touken Ranbu (which is very popular in Japan right now)
osomatsu (strangely I haven't seen much? There's a lot of cute keychains/badges I'd like.)
Natsume Yuujinchou (always has a bunch of nyanko plushes/charms, or the yukata figures, nothing of the other characters. It has 2 new seasons now so I'm hoping for more merch brought to cons.)

At big cons, there's at least 1-2 doujin dealers. They usually buy randomly instead of researching what's hot. There was only ONE doujin of the pairing I liked.

Non-fandom wise, I also really like stationary, pens, stickers, office supplies, authentic Japanese clothing/accessories, books on Japanese culture/folklore.

>>9325244
>What do you think determines how much you spend on merch at a con?
If the artist alley has a bunch of good lolita shit, will spend. If anyone has anything with alpacas on it, I will buy it because I collect alpacas (not just alpacasso).

Dealers has has merch from older series and older video games and not just vocaloid and flavor of the last few years shit. I will spend money there. Cute plush and stationary is a huge plus too. I tend to only like really large dealers rooms anymore. Small con dealers rooms seem to have the same tired shit and what I do like is usually extremely overpriced. Larger ones tend to have older merchandise and little treasures more often than not.

Good places to eat nearby and not just garbage or fast food and I'll spend money at nicer restaurants. Cons are like mini vacations for me anymore and I treat them as such.

>>9326168
>This goes for artist alley people too, I saw 5 vendors selling the same handmade knitted animal plushies: squids/octopuses, chthulus and rice balls. No one buys those anymore, why are you all still making them?

God, yes, thank you, someone finally fucking said. So tired of seeing that shit. And so tired of seeing the artists sitting behind their tables with a sorry look on their 'cause no one's buying that shit.

>>9326145
I like a pretty wide range of things. YuGiOh (though my favorite character is Bakura, doomed myself), Sailor Moon (easy mode, though I like older classic merch and it's always crazy expensive), Final Fantasy anything, One Punch Man, Nintendo franchises like Zelda, Fire Emblem, and Splatoon, and it's not anime but pops up at cons Avengers. Would also be nice to see some Pokemon Center special collections, never really see those. Video game playing nostalgiafag.

Lots of other anime/games I like a specific pairing and characters and couldn't care less about other merch, and I like a lot of manga series but of course don't expect to see anything.

>>9325244
I buy mainly artbooks from the dealer's room and the occasional retro game if there's something unusual and not too expensive, although lately con prices for both have been going up so much it's often better to buy online or at local used game stores if in stock.

I would buy music and soundtrack CDs but all I see is Taiwan bootlegs, same as for the past 10 years of cons.

I don't buy figs as I don't have the shelf space.

In AA I mainly buy little zines, artbooks, and comics. I'm not attracted to individual prints as I wouldn't put them on my walls anyhow. I would like to buy keychains and buttons of series I like, but they're hardly represented at all. All I see on button racks are the latest fujobait like Yuri on Ice/Osomatsu, LL/IM@S, Attack on Titan, Overwatch, Fire Emblem, and some mobage characters I don't recognize.

I would LOVE to buy NON-H doujinshi of series I like and doujin music CDs of Touhou remixes.

>>9326145
Series I would be looking for: Yotsuba&!, Kantai Collection, Girls und Panzer, A Bride's Story, Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Sakura Wars, Macross, Spice and Wolf. I realize most of these are too obscure to expect much fan merch for sale.

Writing out this response has made me realize that maybe I should just buy prints and slot them in a 3-ring binder with plastic protectors, make my own artbooks.

>>9326821
P.S., in AA I would gladly spend 30-70 bucks on one to three 5.5"x8.5" artbooks/zines but skip buying prints at $5-10 each.

>>9326786
>Bakura

I know anon, it hurts so much

>>9326018
AWA always has this one dealer that brings an asston of doujin. I really like looking at their stuff but it is a bit pricey. I did cave and buy a $20 doujin from them right after I turned 18 though just because I could. I wouldn't spend that much on a doujin now though.

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>>9326858
>>9326786
>tfw almost no Bakura merch
I'm happy I'm not alone in knowing that feel

>>9325315
brag on anon, the struggle is real.

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> mfw most of the things I like are obscure and have little to no merch.

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>>9326885
>>9326858
Like, at least the Kotobukiya figure got a rerelease? The markup hurt my soul. Everything else is so tiny. Very popular classic series, very popular character, just why.

I spend a shit ton at cons, I always bring $300 or $350 and spend ll or most of it and most of it I spend at the artist's alley because I like seeing things in person and merch of shows and games I like in person so it is a lot more exciting and fun to buy in con than online.

>>9326947
>>9326858
>>9326786
That's kind of surprising. I thought he was pretty popular

>>9326195
They tend to splurge on brining out vendors I think? There are a lot of Japanese vendors? Like there were like three or four booths for stores and I haven't seen them in the rest of the US? I haven't gone to AX though so they might also appear there?

I collect figures, and a lot of it overpriced easy to find stuff of the big fandoms (CCS, Sonico, Miku, LL, im@s, etc), or super marked up open/no box prize figures of popular stuff. I usually bring a few hundred for figs alone, as my "maybe I'll see something hard to find/expensive to ship so it'll work out to about the same" fund.

I purchased a NIB VGS Victorique at AN from Navito World's booth for like $140-ish a few years back, when I couldn't find it anywhere online. I just checked MFC and there's a few sellers, but 0 regrets.

I spend more money on stuff like nominoichi where everything's used so you can haggle the prices down, or pay opened price. I consistently spend more in nomi at AN for figures that aren't high on the priority list, or buying stickers in AA than I've ever spent in the dealers room.

For stuff I can buy online (figures, art books, anything in the dealers room really), I come with a list of what I want with shipping prices from the big three stores calculated (it doesn't take more than an hour to make a list, I swear I'm not crazy). I'll add $10-$20 (depending on how much I want the item) for a convenience charge of getting the item RIGHT NOW instead of waiting for it to ship to me. That's the goal price I'm looking for. If it's over that, fuck no. If it's around my target price or lower, then I consider that a good buy. A good amount of the "overpriced" stuff is actually at a decent price after you consider shipping and convenience since the price you see on Amiami isn't the price after shipping. It's just the price of the figure. Then you have the dealers who price prize figures at $100 for some ungodly reason.

Echoing a lot of other sentiments - if I do spend any money at a con it'll be in the AA before DR because I'm more likely to find something to my tastes/favorite series due to obscurity. And yeah, con exclusives only because the markup outside is so ridiculously stupid now.

I found that it was far easier for me to spend money at Comiket when I went because they had a much, much larger variety of available merch ranging from crafted items to artbooks to individually produced trinkets. Not even into trains but I was happy to drop $15 for a random photobook by a train nut because it was nicely laid out and interesting.

Nearly all the dealers here (US) have become trapped in a cycle where it's too risky to venture out of the norm of standard merch but aren't making the sales because of burnout, even craft fairs are beginning to experience this.

>>9327900
>Nearly all the dealers here (US) have become trapped in a cycle where it's too risky to venture out of the norm of standard merch but aren't making the sales because of burnout

I agree. When I venture out to do something more obscure, people who recognize it scoop it right up. But only 2 people per con recognize them. Meanwhile I pass out Zelda and Pokemon stuff like it's free candy, but then next con I see the same guy who wearing my Zelda shirt.

>>9325244
Honestly I spend almost zero money in the dealer's room at all the cons I go to. Almost everything is super overpriced so I just look at things in person and then buy them online later.
In the last 3 years I think the only things I've bought from merch booths were 3 small figures and a couple doujin, maybe a couple snacks. I spend anywhere from 100-400 USD in AA for the cons I go to, though. That's usually where all my money goes.

>>9326145
>yuru yuri
I've only seen one piece of merch from this series at a con in all my years. I know it's not super popular, but it's not exactly unpopular either.
>yotsuba
>k-on
I really only ever see figures for this series and they're always the exact same figures I see at every con
>Pokemon
Stuff other than starters and eeveelutions
>little witch academia
>animal crossing
>x-men and other comic book series
I like anime and comics, but there are way more anime cons around here than comic cons, so it's nice when I can find some comic book merch too.

>>9325244
I don't spend anything at cons anymore, really. Even in the AA. Nerdy product blogs like Geek Studio, Geeky Merch, etc just find it all for me and put it on my dash. Gives me more time to cosplay and eat and party. Everything in the AA and DR can just be delivered to my house, socializing is con-only.

>>9325244
This is probably not an issue in the US, but I know in my country (and others) a lot of people have had their confidence for spending at cons knocked by the amount of dealers selling bootlegs. I never want to buy something I'm not familiar with out of fear it's a marked-up fake - and if it's from a series and release I am familiar with, I probably bought it online already.

>>9325244
Do you happen to make plushies or apparel, anon?

>>9330233
It's not an issue primarily because US consumers don't care or can't tell when something's bootlegged half the time. Case in point - I railed against animebooks.com for fucking years for having bootleg artbooks and no one would believe me until I dragged them to the booth, tell them to watch the page numbers in the corners as I flipped through a given book and when they finally saw the numbers bouncing all over the place they realized shit was fake.

>>9325279
Your last paragraph is exactly what I want to see more of as well.
Good fucking luck finding anything from three seasons (or more) back, vendors gotta ride the hype trains for doche, I get it, but good example, guy selling cells at AX, new fucking world for me, and I dropped 400 right fucking there on one of a kind items is never see again.

>>9330294
Woah, I didn't even know bootleg artbooks were a thing, I only look out for it in nendos. What a shitty thing to rip off.

>>9330186
>Everything in the AA and DR can just be delivered to my house, socializing is con-only.
I'm beginning to realize this as well.

What about for non anime related merchandise? Things like clothing and fashion subculture accessories? Do you guys even consider these booths within the dealer hall? Or are you strictly looking for fandom related merchandise?

>>9330527
I've bought j-fash clothing at a con exactly once, but generally vendors don't carry fatty-chan sizes (103-85-110). I love what I bought and still wear it, but generally it's just not an option.

>>9330527
I do look around, but so much is grossly overpriced. I'm not going to buy a bodyline dress for $150 when I can just order it online. Very rarely do booths offer changing rooms too, which can literally just be a curtain tied around a pole, so I'm usually hesitant to buy clothing items.
Accessories though, I usually spend some more on. After some not so good lucky pack experiences however, I've been keeping my wallet more in check.

I can never find anything I like these days because I've stopped buying random "cute" shit, and (at least at my local cons) it's really hard to find merch for something that isn't a large anime or a incredibly large western anything. As in you can't find any Green Lantern merch at most cons because it's not large enough for anyone to bother with, and the same goes for game franchises the size of Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls.

>>9326786
> Bakura
I'm so sorry anon. Used to go through the same pain because my favorite is Yugi (little Yugi, not Atem). Thank god the new movie finally resulted in him getting some figs and merch.

>>9330527
I would if jfash booths at local conventions didn't merely consist of shitty quality aliexpress items being sold for 6 times the original price.

>>9330571
>As in you can't find any Green Lantern

Sinestro is my husbando and this kills me.

>>9330255
OP here
Yup, apparel

>>9330527
Only if the vendor is an actual brand, or they have accessories that may potentially work with the jfash I have. Otherwise what the others have said re: overpriced/shitty quality.

>>9330527
I'm very much fandom merch, but I always take a look at Japanese traditional garb and accessories (kimono, tabi, fans, coin purses, umbrellas). Jfash-wise, depends if it catches my interest and is made well. Don't do lolita; I like mori/subdued tones. Girlfriend likes pastels and bunnies, so I take a look at that for her.
Prices often turn me away, so I don't bother much of the time.

>>9330619
Clothing is over-saturated at cons. If you want a fandom tee you can get it anywhere. Target has 20 to choose from at any given time, then add Hot Topic, Thinkgeek, Her Universe etc etc etc

>>9325244
I used to be a big spender but not much anymore. My collection is at a point where I really can't buy man more things, and there's few things that even interest me nowadays merch-wise and most of the stuff I'd like to buy are either niche (Gundam collectibles that aren't model kits) or reasonably too expensive for my budget (cels). The last con I went to, I only impulse bought one item which was a rubber strap, and the others were a gashapon and a few Gundam candy toys I was after that I felt lucky to have picked up without buying a whole box.

Seeing t-shirt vendors with obviously stolen artwork designs (including designs I've seen & purchased on Teefury and the like) and bootlegged plush (such as the 12" Pokemon plush plastered across ebay) also makes the dealer's room experience a bit demoralizing.

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>>9325244

This year there has been a SHITLOAD of overlap in fandom merch. Overwatch, Fire Emblem (Fates only, minus key waifus from Awakening), Voltron (lol), and Undertale were like 80% of the dealer's room at Magfest.

>>9326145

Shit that is "niche" popular like Drakengard/Nier, Bayonetta, Star Ocean, Xenogears/saga/blade, etc

I see people talk about this shit frequently enough that I know there's "a lot" of fans, but fuck if I EVER see any kind of merch for it. Fingers crossed Nier Automata gets popular enough for prints (and maybe some pity prints of previous games!)

>>9326165

Another fujoshit here, a different depressing trend I've observed is that artists these days butcher OTPs with shitty "muh style" art and headcanons. Yeah that might get a lot of reblogs, but fuck if anybody is buying it. If I'm paying money, I want my self-indulgent shipping garbage to be indistinguishable from official art.

>>9332075
>I see people talk about this shit frequently enough that I know there's "a lot" of fans, but fuck if I EVER see any kind of merch for it.
I honestly blame this on the fans themselves claiming the series is niche, when they really aren't.

I sold out of EVERYTHING Drakengard 3 related I had brought to the last con I attended (I brought a lot just because I'm a huge fan of the series but it still wasn't enough). This was in December, so it's not even a case of the game just having come out. There are a lot of fans, but the fans making it sound like there aren't a lot of fans steers other artists (who might not be familiar with the series already) away from making merch.

I do really well at cons. My #1 piece of advice is to steer the fuck away from the super popular stuff. Someone is going to have better merch than you. Someone else is going to have cheaper merch than you. Concentrate on the niche stuff no one seems to care about. Here's another wild idea: make stuff for the series YOU like.

>>9330527
Let's not forget major industry run conventions and comic related merchandise. Comic books (including rare issues), toys, rare memorabilia that's probably autographed. Not likely you'll find these nearby outside of eBay.
Plus, plenty of other misc. booths. Comic conventions will have photo ops booths for movie props. Video games, novelty flash drives, maybe therapeutic massage products, and a local clinic business advertising and sign up for a raffle.

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>>9332152

That's precisely why I used quotes in "niche" haha, I hate this attitude too.

I'd kill for more vocal fans. I shill these games to my discord groups, either by posting music or fanart or flat out saying "hey faggots don't forget to buy this game in March," so maybe 2B's glorious ass will carry us all to the spotlight for a little bit.

Also what con? East coast? What kind of stuff do you make?

I was always a dealers hall person, and now I find myself checking out more AA stuff. As others have said, a lot of merch is readily available online now. In my experience, sometimes at half the price (and I don't mean bootlegs, sometimes a US re-seller is just clueless about value). Another reason is stock. One con I was drooling over some fig and I found multiple sellers (on ebay even) with the same thing at LESS than half the price- so obviously I bought it online. I get some want the instant gratification, which I am also guilty of. But only if it's $20 or less more than what I can find it for elsewhere. Sometimes the inflated pricing just isn't worth it. I've seen this specifically happen with brands that make/sell UFO catcher figs. Con: 45$ Ebay: $30

>>9330527
Speaking of oversaturation, I'm sick of practically every item of Shepard apparel released by Bioware being fucking N7-related, what about some Alliance or Spectre gear?

>>9326145

Pokemon,gundam,steven universe,dbz. Anime in general Every now and then ill look for some earthbound shit and so far ive only seen keychains

So... don't sell in the DR unless the con makes you?

>>9334215
I think the take away from this is more like, most dealers are trying to sell shitty merch at too high a price.

>>9334405
Pretty much yes. Although I do wonder why things seem to have gotten worse over the years. Sure the internet plays a huge part in it, but it can't just be that, right? I know some of the bigger conventions here have nearly doubled the price for a dealer stand over the past few years so I wouldn't be surprised if dealers have to raise their prices more to compensate and are less willing to take any chances. It would sure explain why most we get now are cute plushies and Pop Vinyl stands...

>>9325244
the first con I went to I spent a ton of time in the vendor hall getting shit for friends
a few years later I'd make a round and would find maybe one thing to buy
these days I only visit the vendor hall for cosplay photos. it's all shit I don't need

>>9334411
>Pop Vinyl

There needs to be an active push to shame anybody who buys these piece of shit figures. Having NOTHING is better than giving them money.

>>9334411
>so I wouldn't be surprised if dealers have to raise their prices more to compensate and are less willing to take any chances. It would sure explain why most we get now are cute plushies and Pop Vinyl stands...
I just don't get why vendors think I'd be willing to spend twice the money for something I can get in Hot Topic now. MAYBE in 2010, but being a nerd or even a weeb is so mainstream now. Spice it up. Bring me things I NEED a vendor to get.

>>9334419
>>9334529
Blame the increasing amount of Western pop culture bleeding in.

>>9334568
Which is ironic, given that you can throw a rock from anywhere in the SDCC hall and hit a pop vinyl figure at this point.

Granted, it's near impossible for anyone to go to SDCC nowadays, but still.

>>9334411
I think DR tables are grossly overvalued relative to what they're actually worth as far as profits go. I expect we start seeing unsold booths regularly in the next couple of years followed by a general downsizing. DR's are largely antiquated outside of real collectibles or import stuff that's hard to come by online (animations cels, Gunpla, out-of-print books/manga/doujins, retro games, etc.)

>>9334580
>>9334594
The bubble will pop, once the industry figures out it does not need the SDCC name tag association and form their own convention since basically Hollywood barnacled SDCC to the oceans bottom as it is.

There's a demand SDCC can't keep up with, and those bigwigs in my mind is probably eyeing the remnants of real estate being taken up by dealers room and aa. I can't see any other solution than they realize they have to create their own media tv/movie/media pr circus convention.

I can imagine something called HDDC CON - Hollywood/Disney/DC in the near future.

>>9334405
>I think the take away from this is more like, most dealers are trying to sell shitty merch at too high a price.

Right, and it seems everyone's starting to feel that way, so they're not even wasting their time going in. A booth at RICC was $800 and the room was empty all weekend. People don't want to shop there anymore. And even if you did have a super cool and unique booth with good prices, people are sick of going in and being disappointed. So the booths aren't really worth the price anymore.

>>9334594
>>9334944

Speaking of RICC and unsold booths, I showed up to sell and set up, but my neighbors never did. I asked a staff member and they said both were mine. I didn't buy two booths, and I can't fill two booths. I did what I could to fill the space but it looked awful.

>>9334580
Pop SDCC exclusives sell for stupid money. I had no idea til I camped out in line for something else and said fuck it, might as well go for Pop too. All total the items they sold were $1200. You easily doubled your money on everything and on some items it was 5-10x for that particular item. There were guys who had camped out for multiple days just so they could get multiple sets to sell. Stacks of cash in hand because they'd bring family/friends as extra bodies to buy or help move the goods because if you got 1 of everything they were in two huge bags as tall as a small child.

And that is when I realized I am way out of my league when it comes to reselling things.