Views and observations from AC - share your experience at the National!

[notfast]

As for the show itself, I thought it was great. I was helping out a dealer for Wed-Fri with mainly modern even though I dabble in both modern and vintage.

Prices were high across the board but there were deals to be found. EVERYONE who came to the booth was selling. Modern vintage TCG etc. People’s prices weren’t great either, much like majority of the dealers.

Overall, the hobby is beyond strong IMO. People are just changing their focuses.

Edit - forgot about some of the best convos I had in the PSA lines. Met and talked to so many diverse people. From guy grading 51 Mantle to a PMG Kobe. The last line you had me picking up a 2022 card, talking to guy from this group who was a t206 expert picking up a 51 mantle mixing it up with woman behind us with a $50k Luka card.

[Johnny630]

100 Hundred Dollar Bills Everywhere from 14 year old's to 70's. On dealer had a bank counting machine on his backup table. Wow. The wealth in this hobby is broad reaching.

[hcv123]

I had an INCREDIBLE show - literally didn't have time to use a rest room from Wed-Sat. Sold a very broad range of material. As mentioned a very broad range of ages - also saw a lot more women than I usually see at shows. Great to meet a few and see a few other Net 54 members. Anyone who said the show sucked, clearly was at a different show.

That said a few well deserved criticisms - The reliance on union personnel was horrific - I was unable to set up Tuesday despite arriving at 10AM because it took the union 3.5 hours to deliver 4 tables I had ordered and paid for 3 months earlier (that were supposed to be waiting at my booth)!!

Lack of internet connectivity!! How they operate a "Convention center", a place which by definition is in large part about attracting and doing business with a signal that sucks so bad that you almost cannot conduct business is disgraceful. I spoke to 1 customer who got separated from his son and was unable to get through to him on his cell phone because there was no signal strength! I lost a few transactions (buy and sell) because I was unable to do due diligence on the net. Utterly ridiculous. I know there was the option for dealers to pay $80 per day for a locked WIFI signal - That would have been +30% of the booth cost - ridiculous and still doesn't resolve the issue for people walking the show. Didn't speak to anyone who chose that option, so I don't know the quality of that signal.

It wasn't an issue for dealers, but I heard from many customers about the parking nightmare.

All in all my takeaway - the hobby is VERY healthy!

Howard