winners and losers from my day 1 and advice
 

Winners
AC/Wifi both worked very well.

They shoved corporate off to a corner and the breaking nonsense to the back of the middle area. Breaking looked like a carnival clown show.

dealers in the big hall between corporate and the connecting areas to the middle and autograph pavillion. seemed like the most trafficked area.

people wanting to buy 80s basketball at great prices. There was a ton of it and some guys were up to their eyes in glee.

brady showed up I guess

Losers
PSA took a massive L. They had all kinds of setup and it was a total bust. At 6 people who paid for express and all the bells and whistles were still waiting even at 7 they still had a crowd of maybe 25-30. They did not have the staffing do the grading or customer service. Even people who thought they had special passes were stuck.

The upstairs thing was baffling and beyond awful. They had the entire space open to them up there and the aisles could maybe fit 1.5 people with backpacks. A number of dealers up there weren't set up at 10.

Be prepared to wait in lines for everything. The lines to go in for non vips were all the way through the entry way down the street towards the loading dock-at 9. For the trade night same thing going the other way.

Beckett/JSA/PSA-there is very strong suspicion from dealers about buying memorabilia right now and that scandal a few weeks ago really broke through. I don't think they appreciate the extent to which people question their brands.

I congratulate the boomers who continue to believe that the stuff they've brought to shows the last 40-50 years will magically sell to buyers who increasingly are the grand children and great great children of that era. Boomers are downsizing houses, gen x has kids off to school and is probably thinking about it.

I also congratulate dealers selling at 150-200 percent of online prices. Your 5-8 dollar cards that should be $.50-$1 and your $20-$40 cards that should be $5-$10 that should be fun to take home.

The online map was dump. They could've done better there. That needs to be fixed for next year. Face of owner. Logo. Contact info.


If you're coming and doing memorabilia I'd leverage the scandal a few weeks to go knock off $$$ on prices. Dealers know that they're at risk there.

Lines are very long even if you're a "VIP". PSA was badly badly understaffed to the point they brought out cookies and rice krispie treats to give away.

Upstairs had no space to walk and 20 percent of dealers didn't show up by 9 so beware.

The only time to go upstairs is between 5 and 6 and even that is shaky because that is when dealers start packing up for the day.

What's the recent memorabilia scandal you're referencing? I only frequent the baseball and vintage forums and don't recall seeing anything.

Will they have the intelligence to move the upstairs tables so there is more room? Seems Iike a simple fix

[QUOTE=K111;19978358]Will they have the intelligence to move the upstairs tables so there is more room? Seems Iike a simple fix[/QUOTE]

They did not move them from Wednesday to Thursday, it was just as bad yesterday during the sneak peak.

[QUOTE=Sluggerrr;19978346]What's the recent memorabilia scandal you're referencing? I only frequent the baseball and vintage forums and don't recall seeing anything.[/QUOTE] Bring up [URL="https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/indiana-cops-say-theyve-been-investigating-mister-mancave-since-february/"]Mister Mancave[/URL] and watch them squirm. 2 weeks ago police raided a suburban Indianapolis business that was forging signatures and supposedly COA stickers. The next day they went to save a search warrant at the guy's house and found him dead. Before he offed himself he went online and made exaggerated claims targeting all of the major authentication companies.

I'll probably buy a framed piece or two this week but brought my jewelers tool to look for the telltale signs of an autopen (which is reportedly what he used for flats). I'm looking to buy at cost of framing, the standard price for the photo, and a small upcharge for the ink.

I believe Fiterman is the only dealer that has stayed above the fray. Even so, everything still has to be considered suspect and nothing should be bought with the belief that it is 100% legit.