Birmingham NEC Memorabilia show NOVEMBER 2012

Hi Guys,
I buy and sell vintage Star Wars & most 80's toys in my spare time. Some of you may have dealt with me in the past.

Is this a good show to sell at?

Just the table, hotel and fuel will cost me around £320 for the weekend.

Your thoughts and experiences on this would be greatly appreciated!!!

I would love to do the show and have been thinking about it for a looooong time. I am driving my gorgeous other half insane going on about it :lol:

Thanks,
Rich

Well, for what it's worth, depending on what you build in on your selling price, you'll have to factor into the price of your stock too.

Although I usually have between 2 or 3 tables, I personally feel this show has closed out the collector to stall and sell at. The costs are too high to make it viable.
I don't think Gary would mind me saying this, but he took more at Farthest From the other week than the last few Mem's combined.
One works out to be a tenner and fuel, the other a couple of hundred quid once table rent, accommodation, food and fuel are added in.

Mem is fun, but can be very painful if you're not pulling the sales in.

Hope that helps,
Dave

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the info buddy.

Can you give me any tips of do's & dont's?

I will have absolute quality stuff to sell, most of which is 80's toys but a fair bit of Vintage Star Wars & retro consoles/games.

You are right, it is expensive! I cheekly asked a B & B if they would accept £35 per night for a 2 night stay. Guess what? They said yes! If you don't ask you don't get They best part of all is that it is only 10 mins away!!! They originally wanted £40 per night.

I am doing this on my own and will have one table with backing table.

Are you going to be there and if so how many tables do you have? If you don't mind me asking what is your rough sales over the weekend?

Cheers,
Rich

Sell your stuff on here Rich!

Certain dealers do really well at memorabilia. I think it helps if you have a range of toy lines and quality normally sells. One of the big complaints that people always have with memorabilia is that items are sometimes overpriced. Stall holders have to mark up items to cover the large overheads for the weekends which is understandable.
Collectors who are used to buying through the boards are often turned off by the prices and it can turn the event into more of a social gathering than a hunt. That said, people take money with a view to buying, therefore I would argue that if the stock is good and the prices are right you could do well. The problem is getting over the initial layout for the overheads.

Chris.

Jez- I have tried before mate but not always successful. If your coming to the show then stop by and see what I have to offer.

Chris - Cheers mate and I understand what you are saying. I never try and overprice stuff as I am not one for sitting on stock for ages. I won't however be giving stuff away at the show as I can't afford to. I'm hoping my 80's stuff will sell just as well as the vintage Star Wars stuff. If you want to stick anything on my table to sell mate you are more than welcome! Are you there on both days? You can look after the stall for 5 mins so I can take a Tom Tit, grab a coffee and a snack :wink:

Mem is great for the meet up and laugh we have and that's what I go for in the main. Selling stuff hopefully at best covers the cost of the weekend which usually runs around the £200 mark, So effectively I get a great weekend with friends and it's paid for.

It's usually close though as in I only just managed to cover costs. Dave is right, I took considerably more at the Farthest From show in 5hrs there then I've done at 2 entire weekends at Mem. And it cost me £50.

Thanks for the info Gary.

I really hope I do better than just covering my costs but we will see.

If it is bad as far as sales go it will be my first and last show as a stall holder.

2k over the weekend would be lovely :lol:

Look forward to meeting you!