Show Vending - Customer Perspective

[Prognathodon]

My husband and I went to our local show on Saturday (and came home with two new snakes), and afterwards I was thinking about the good, the bad, and the ugly of herp show vendors. I've only been a customer at herp shows, but I have we have been selling leather goods at historical reenactment events, SF/F, anime, and steampunk conventions for over 20 years, from the time our merchandise fit into a couple copier-paper boxes on one baby banquet table, until now when we pretty much need a 10' x 20' booth and three people in it.

So, my thoughts on how to impress potential customers:

Tablecloths! Hide those ugly venue tables. Go to the fabric store and get a couple yards of light- to medium-weight woven (not stretchy) cotton fabric and, get somebody with a sewing machine to zig-zag or hem the edges. For bonus points, get enough to skirt the front of the table so people don't see what you've got shoved underneath. If you know somebody in the hotel industry, white fabric shower curtains are great.

Displaying your animals individually: Those locking clear acrylic tiered displays do look nice, but there's nothing wrong with simple deli cups. Please don't be that guy who has a grungy old fish tank with a bunch of animals of different ages/sizes/sexes jumbled up together.

Height variation in your display will help people see everything easier, catch their attention, and doesn't have to be expensive - a piece of plywood with feet to hold it up at an angle, cleats on the front to support deli cups, painted or stained. Or make stair-steps out of boards and bricks (under a tablecloth), or whatever. I'd probably do something with gridwall, but I've got Stoopid Amounts of gridwall.

Label your animals: at least sex and morph. I prefer to see prices when I'm shopping, but that's your call.

Single-sided business cards are cheap. Get some, even if they just have your name and phone number. You want people to be able to identify you and find you again.

Smile, be friendly. You can't always tell the tire-kickers from the potential buyers.

Know something about your animals. Be able to tell us when they last were fed, and what they ate. Are they mellow, or kind of flighty? This one is about to shed, so his colors will be even brighter after that.

You aren't tied to your table permanently, but make sure you either won't be gone long, or the person watching your table has a way to call you back.

A sign, that you can hang on the front of your table. My first one was 2' x 4', vinyl. I still have it, and have added an updated fabric version, a 2' x 2' version, and a little 1' x 2' one with just our business name (Digital printing, not just for paper any more!).

In my business, I don't have to worry about my merchandise coming home with diseases, so I can have a showpiece or two out for sale or just display. Only you can decide if you want to risk your really special morph that's for sale or NFS breeder. If you don't want to risk it, how about bringing pictures, especially when you have youngsters of species whose color improves as they age - hard copy or electronic, on your phone is ok, a tablet is even better, because its bigger. Show me how pretty the parents are.

Cash box/envelope, receipts, pens, CC reader, blah blah blah office-supply stuff. And no matter how many shows you've done, you're going to forget to bring something sooner or later. Like the cash box. Several hours from home.

My several cents worth. I've bought happily from people with fancy displays, and from people with deli cups neatly arranged on the table, but in all cases the animals looked good, there was information on them, and the people were pleasant to deal with - in short, professional presentation.




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[Lizardlicks]

This is really great info and I 100% agree. It will always be drawn to a table with a nice display, and clear information.

[DennisM]

...I prefer to see prices when I'm shopping, but that's your call.

if I don't see an asking price, I don't even ask and move on. You've got something for sale, you should know what you want for it. I might be totally off base, but to me no asking price seems like a shady attempt to get more than you really hope to get.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

if I don't see an asking price, I don't even ask and move on. You've got something for sale, you should know what you want for it. I might be totally off base, but to me no asking price seems like a shady attempt to get more than you really hope to get.

People not putting a price are not shady some may be but there is actually a very good reason to do this for some, over the years small local shows have become nothing more than petting zoo, by not putting a price it really tells you if someone is only interested in holding a snake just to hold a snake or if they have a genuine interest in purchasing the animal.

Shows are not petting zoo there is risk every time someone hold the animal especially in small shows that allow guest to bring their own reptiles with them, breeders simply want to minimize exposure so discerning who is a potential buyer and who wants to hold a certain snake (usually the most expensive one) just to say they did is not a bad thing.

[AntTheDestroyer]

This is a very useful post thanks OP.

People not putting a price are not shady some may be but there is actually a very good reason to do this for some, over the years small local shows have become nothing more than petting zoo, by not putting a price it really tells you if someone is only interested in holding a snake just to hold a snake or if they have a genuine interest in purchasing the animal.

Shows are not petting zoo there is risk every time someone hold the animal especially in small shows that allow guest to bring their own reptiles with them, breeders simply want to minimize exposure so discerning who is a potential buyer and who wants to hold a certain snake (usually the most expensive one) just to say they did is not a bad thing.

I have often worried about this. Do you just tell anyone who is not interested in buying that they can not hold your animal, even with children? Do you not worry about making a bad name for yourself? I agree with you but worry about the repercussions.

[DennisM]

People not putting a price are not shady some may be but there is actually a very good reason to do this for some, over the years small local shows have become nothing more than petting zoo, by not putting a price it really tells you if someone is only interested in holding a snake just to hold a snake or if they have a genuine interest in purchasing the animal.

Shows are not petting zoo there is risk every time someone hold the animal especially in small shows that allow guest to bring their own reptiles with them, breeders simply want to minimize exposure so discerning who is a potential buyer and who wants to hold a certain snake (usually the most expensive one) just to say they did is not a bad thing.

I didn't intend to imply all vendors who follow this practice are in fact shady, thus my "possibly off base comment". Nonetheless, it gives me pause and I choose not to do business with these vendors. Vendors have every right to not list a price and I have every right to move on to the next table.

Thanks for the explanation from the vendor point of view Deborah.

[DennisM]

People not putting a price are not shady some may be but there is actually a very good reason to do this for some, over the years small local shows have become nothing more than petting zoo, by not putting a price it really tells you if someone is only interested in holding a snake just to hold a snake or if they have a genuine interest in purchasing the animal.

Shows are not petting zoo there is risk every time someone hold the animal especially in small shows that allow guest to bring their own reptiles with them, breeders simply want to minimize exposure so discerning who is a potential buyer and who wants to hold a certain snake (usually the most expensive one) just to say they did is not a bad thing.

So, now you’ve got me thinking (which isn’t always a good thing). The reasons you give for this practice never occurred to me. I really just couldn’t understand offering something (anything, not just snakes) for sale without a sale price. Your point about a petting zoo is certainly understandable. I don’t attend small shows anymore, but I do attend Daytona every year. An overwhelming number of vendors there list a price (negotiable in most cases). And an overwhelming number of attendees have no intention of buying anything. I never leave empty handed, you can’t show me that many snakes and not have me buy something!

So, my question is this; how does the vendor decide who can handle the animal? Do they require a reasonable agreement on the price of the animal prior to handling? Not hard to weed out the folks who want the $500 snake for $100. But what about those who are aware of the market value of a particular animal, but still have no intention of buying?

The good news is that I have 6 months to mull this over before Daytona. Perhaps I’ll have a change of heart by then.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

This is a very useful post thanks OP.




I have often worried about this. Do you just tell anyone who is not interested in buying that they can not hold your animal, even with children? Do you not worry about making a bad name for yourself? I agree with you but worry about the repercussions.

When you explain nicely that you do not just let people hold snakes just for the sake of it and explain why people are actually understand.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

So, my question is this; how does the vendor decide who can handle the animal? Do they require a reasonable agreement on the price of the animal prior to handling? Not hard to weed out the folks who want the $500 snake for $100. But what about those who are aware of the market value of a particular animal, but still have no intention of buying?

You have to be able to read people I read people very well so usually I know who is genuinely interested, it all start with how the conversation goes, sure sometime I am wrong but it is rare, a lot has to do with the show itself too, for example the ATL, GA show is the worse all people want to do all day is hold snakes, take a show a few hundred miles away Columbia, NC people are strictly business when they want to hold a snake they are set to buy.

I think large shows are not as much of a problem it really seems that the small very frequent shows are more of an outing than a place where people want to buy.

[Tigerhawk]

I agree with what you have said. However I was vending at a show in which I had my banner up acyrlic cases on display with my snakes. The guy next to me had like sixety snakes in a dirty fish tank . People would stop and look at what he had and even buy from him. At the same time they would not even look at my display. That is until they wanted to use my hand sanatizer as this vendor didn't have any. That went over well with me.