My two shekels as a very small time, low end dealer and similarly a low end collector.
This was my second National (first was AC in 2016). At both I set up with some buddies and had essentially one 8-ft table for myself. The vast majority of what I sell is boxes ranging from 50 cents to 5 dollars, with a few cases of stuff. Almost all 50s/60s/70s, nothing later and very little earlier. I try to cater toward the OBC type crowd, set builders, etc. I make every attempt to bring short prints, variations, errors, and so on.
As you can tell, that's not a big money making endeavor. Like I said, I'm small time, low end. I mainly do small local shows, but like to go to the National and setting up is a way to cover some expenses. My buddies graciously watch my table for me while I walk the room and spend 4, 5, or 6 hours at Chandy Greenholt's table.
As a dealer, my biggest observation was that the crowds seemed lighter than 2 years ago in AC. I know I wasn't the only dealer who felt that way. In some ways this was odd as I still had the same volume of sales I had in AC (I keep meticulous sales data), but I know there were fewer people at my table overall. The other strange thing is that in AC, my strongest day was Saturday, and in Cleveland it was my weakest day. My strongest day this year was Thursday, followed by Sunday (which sort of blew my mind -- Sunday was a waste for me in AC).
As a buyer, I did love the layout. Found my way back to several tables without even writing the table numbers down. In AC even when I did write info down I couldn't navigate back to them. Food offerings were better which I appreciated as a guy who likes to eat, but I also feel like as a dealer may have hurt crowds some, because there was so much seating near the concessions (including several bars!). One thing I noticed was that there weren't a whole lot of dealers selling what I sell, which is disappointing to me as a buyer because that's what I like to buy, but encouraging as a seller because it's almost as if low end 50s-70s stuff is a niche market. Plenty of "set filler" dealers with all their sets in binders or boxes, sorted by year and number, but not as many boxes to dig through or cases with low end bargains. Case in point: #1 item for me was the lowest grade 1949 Bowman Snider I could find. I couldn't find anything low grade. #2 item was 53 Bowman Reese, same deal. I think I saw a PSA 2 Reese somewhere but I don't want a graded one. Everything else was high end graded or high end raw, nothing beat up enough to fit in my collection. Tons of ridiculous high end modern stuff, tons of ridiculous high end vintage stuff. Plenty of second-tier type stuff -- I mean in the several hundred dollar range. In fact this was where I saw what I thought were the best deals, it just wasn't stuff I wanted.
In general, I think the east/central bias is a mistake, and rumor is the committee that chooses cities wants it in Chicago permanently. I think that's a huge mistake for many reasons (money being chief among them, it's the most expensive place to stay). Even having been to only one previous National, I saw mostly the same dealers and in fact many of the same customers. Having it somewhere southeast, south central, or out west would be great.
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