Howdy. I'm considering bringing some art prints to sell at the consignment store this year. They're prints that I purchased from various artists at the art show over the years. Is this something I can even do? I know games are just fine for selling, but I wasn't sure about art. If this is something that can't be done through the consignment store, is there another group that buys/sells/trades are during Gen Con? Thanks for the help.
This is indeed a great thing to sell at the Auction, and indeed I cannot think off-hand of any other way you could unload someone else's art at Gen-Con (short of donating it).
Source: Auctioneer since 2014 and Auction fanatic since about 2005. Though I can certainly say you never know with anything you put in the Auction as to whether the right audience will be in the room when it sells (unless you put it in the consignment store). But I have been continually surprised how well non-game items I put in for sale end up doing.
Good to know. Thanks for the info.
So, follow up question. What's the fee per item for consignment?
_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
My wife will be attending for the first time this year and I am thinking of us trying out the auction. What are the hours for the auction? Can you just show up and sit down? How do you sign up if you see something you want to bid on? Thank you.
Last year the auction started around 9 or 10 a.m. depending on the day and ran until 9 p.m. or later depending on the night for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It runs continuously.
You just show up and sit down. There is usually seating unless it's one of the special auctions like the Charity auction or TOVA (toys, oddities, videogames and art). It's broken up by category (RPGs, non-TSR RPGs, Boardgames, Eurogames, Family Games, TOVA, Charity, Collectors, etc) with the schedule posted around opening on Thursday. You don't have more specific info than the category except for the Collectors auction where they have a case with some of the more unusual items. So if you're looking for a specific boardgame, you just have to show up for the Boardgame slots and hope it's there. They do a really good job of adhering to the schedule given the amount of items they move, but things do happen and sometimes run long or whatever. So expect some churn.
If you plan on bidding, make sure you pickup a bidder card beforehand (usually only takes a few mins). Then if you see something you want, just hold up your card.
If you have items to sell, you need to register them ahead of time online (I think registration closes the weekend before Gencon) and then bring them on Wednesday.
Schedule Page Link
Now, realistically, that schedule will be 100% accurate for start times and Consignment Store times, and probably incorrect about every Auction end time. Source: I remember still being onstage at 1:30 Sunday morning at Gen-Con 2017 finishing the Charity Auction with Josh, haha.
But yeah, broadly speaking that schedule is very useful, even if the exact categories and times for those categories will not be set until the week of the show (and often not until the day before).
@quarex, kudos to you and the other auctioneers. You guys do a fantastic job. The auction is always great fun.
wdavidlewis wrote: @quarex, kudos to you and the other auctioneers. You guys do a fantastic job. The auction is always great fun. Seconded. One of the underrated parts of the con.
Thanks! Obviously I totally agree that it is underrated, as once I actually gave it a chance at about my 4th or 5th Gen-Con it quickly became my favorite part of the entire convention.
And now every time I watch someone's summary video of their entire experience and they never went to the Auction, I feel like A) I have to suggest they go next year and B) I wonder what other amazing side attractions I am still not aware of after about 20 years? Hah.
Just jumping in to pile onto the auction (and auctioneer!) love fest. Sold some stuff for the first time last year, and also just spent hours sitting in and waiting to see what RPG treasure might show up next. So fun, if a little addictive!
I will say one thing about selling prints in the consignment store and that is make sure they are adequately protected. 3 days in the store being sorted through, moved around, banged around, a print that isn't adequately mounted/protected could get damaged. Remember the $50 cap on pricing also. good luck!