Yeah, I think of it in that sense given we would almost never get a comic book through the Auction so I think of cards as being the primary thing where the condition is make-or-break as to whether it sells for huge money or barely any.  Obviously anything being in good condition will matter, but other than 1970s-era stuff most of the stuff submitted is usually in good-to-great condition anyway.

Sort of makes me wish the auction people would host a seminar or a workshop on just what goes into putting on the auction, especially with how things are graded; how they should be stored, handled, and packaged; and if those things make for good auction material. (Action figures glued to table lamps vs. maybe Star Trek action figures autographed by the actors, all mint in box, of course).

If the auction charged a small amount for that, it'd generate a little extra income for them, and people attending might get some better ideas on what to do, what to look for, and what to ask for with the following year's auction, which could also save that year's staff some time and maybe even generate a little extra cash for everyone.

Quality/condition is really the most important in the collectibles/semi-collectibles auction.    The more common or less valuable something is, the less details are really needed.  For example, if you have a copy of Catan that you are selling in the consignment shop, I wouldn't get bogged in worrying about 'grading' it.   Just something like good/complete/all pieces present and note anything of importance for quality (rule book is a reprint, 1 card is missing, etc).

I would definitely enjoy an informational session about the Auction, despite attending for almost 20 years now, not to mention volunteering, haha.  There is always more to know!

In case anyone missed it, the deadline date to submit auction items was moved from 7/9 to 7/17 Midnight EST.

Store items deadline is still 7/28 (Midnight EST)

I have no inside info, but I'd expect that if you are submitting any game that is readily available in the vendor hall or being played as an event, you'll have it approved.   My guess is they are trying to limit the number of those mass produced types of games (Monopoly, Clue, Aggravation, Trivia Games, etc) and some TOVA type things

And, wow, the 20th is starting to cut things tight. Taking all of this stuff with me on a plane would be cost-prohibitive, but mailing it to the hotel much after, say, the 23rd and it might not make it to Indy in time. But then do I eat the plane ticket, take that credit, and drive 900+ miles, even though I have some trust issues with the car and knees that complain after just an hour's drive?

I'm getting dizzy watching that coin spinning in the air.

Urgh.

Reminder that anything that doesn't get approved for the auction can be listed in the store.

Are they rolled or framed?   If they are rolled, I wouldn't put them in the consignment store.   I'm not sure rolled posters would hold up in the store to 3 days of people rummaging through and, since they are rolled, people wouldn't know what they are unless there was some type of thumbnail attached to the outside.

Depending on how many you have, you might want to just email them now and discuss the situation.   If you have like 100 posters you are trying to send to the auction, they might balk at that anyways.

I did email them before item registration started and never hear a word. Even mentioned that I had a February 2007 Playboy with Cylon #6 herself, Tricia Helfer, but nary a word. (Yeah, I know, porn's not allowed for the Gen Con auction, but still, thought I'd hear something. Sheesh. <g>;)

All of the posters are rolled, and I didn't even think about folks wanting to unroll them. Good idea about the thumbnails. I'll try to get some pictures done up (probably about trading-card size) and attach them somehow (just not to the posters themselves). I've been using improvised paper-bands instead of rubber bands, figuring the rubber bands would probably damage the posters.

I have 39 posters/hopefuls for the auction itself, some even in the original plastic sleeves (9 movie, 4 TV, a Frazetta print, and the rest from comics, mainly from the '80s and early '90s), and 35 posters/poster sets for the consignment store. Almost all of those for the store are Empire Strikes Back promotional posters (16 sets of three, which would probably be a ridiculous amount for the auction) with most of the remainder individual promo posters. Again, all rolled up.

Printing a thumbnail on the paper and wrapping it with that would definitely work if I was looking at them to buy.

Sounds like a plan. Thanks.

(Now I have to try get A-Team music and a montage sequence out of my head.)

My guess as another somewhat insider with the Auction Room (and mentioned by someone else earlier in this thread) is that limiting the number of items (large numbers of overly common items) and non-gaming items (since TOVA is such a small time period for what ends up to be a huge amount of items) is the primary concern. Also my guess would be filtering out common items with large reserves based on experience where they can be moved from the live auction to the store if in fact they are not approved for the former.

The other positive thing would be having our categories and schedule somewhat known ahead of time and the space set aside that would be needed in the (our) warehouse for the different groups.

It seems like this new system has worked like a charm, even if not precisely in the expected fashion, given that the overall number of items submitted is currently down from 2019 (though you never know what the last few days will bring), which I imagine will make it easier (though I have no insider knowledge about the selection process) to approve everything that seems potentially relevant to Gen-Con interests.

I registered a few more things last night and was around 6200 for item number.   Curious at the auction/store split.   Normally it is around 4.5K auction items I think.  If a 50/50 split right now for auction v store inputs, then the number is going to be pretty close to previous levels.

There will always be the handful of people that show up at the convention with a box load of games that are not pre-registered; we have not done onsite registration now for more than a few years.

If you are dragging items to Gencon to register at this point, you are reallllly out of the loop.

Guessing onsite was just getting to be too much of a logistical nightmare to continue? But will people be able to switch from Auction to Store if need be?

Yeah I honestly think they stopped doing on-site registration by ... well they were still doing it in 2015 according to the Wayback Machine, so I am going to guess they stopped in 2017, perhaps in anticipation of there being a potential huge last-minute influx for the 50th anniversary.  Sort of like the anticipation of a huge potential influx this year made them change the pre-registration process to be more stringent.

I do wonder, as KevinRG asked, what the split of live-versus-store items is going to be with the probably under-7,500 items registered by the live deadline this year.  I assume there are not huge numbers of people waiting to register their store items until the store deadline, but I guess what do I know?  Definitely seems like it could be a return to the days when there were occasional 15-minute breaks at the end of sections once we ran out of items and were loading up the next set.  I think everyone would enjoy that, haha.