Dealer's Room

Synonyms:	Huckster Room, Vendor's Room
See also:	Artist's Alley, Fanart, Art Show Karen Eaton's dealer's room sign. One of the characters from the show (The Professionals) is holding a bundle of zines, including circuit stories, Harlequin Airs, and Unprofessional Conduct
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The Dealer's Room is the area of a convention where dealers set up tables or booths to sell things.

Fan Art

While fan art may have been shown in the dealer's room (often in connection with an upcoming art auction), most fan art sold in the dealer's room came in the form of prints, not originals. At some events, the dealers room hosted a print shop where artists could sell art prints through the convention minus a small commission. At other conventions, art prints had to be sold by the artist directly or through the help of a friendly fanzine dealer.

Zines

A 1992 letter sent by Bill Hupe and Peg Kennedy to dealers regarding costs and rules for three cons: MediaWest*Con (adult material can be displayed discreetly), Michigan Star Trek Festival (adult material can be sold but must be hidden), and Weekend in Sherwood (no adult material could be sold at the guest of honor's request).

When zines were more common, slash zines were sold literally 'under the table' at some cons. Slash fans would wander around the dealer's room looking for zine sellers, and then ask them quietly if they had slash zines as well, or they would gently pull aside the convention-hotel supplied long tablecloths of dealer's tables to see if there were boxes of slash zines hidden beneath.

Being required by concoms to keep slash under the table was aggravating, because het zines with relatively explicit covers were generally not hidden, even at all-age cons and actor cons. (There is a famous story of Mark Lenard, the actor who played Spock's father, wandering the Dealer's room with some handlers at a con. He came across a copy of the gen zine Spock Enslaved!, with its cover of a nearly naked Spock in chains, and stopped and stared long enough to worry his handlers, before sighing dramatically and mock whispering, "Oh my son, my son".) Note: This may be a retelling of something that happened at IsisCon.

However, at fan-run cons current and past, without celebrity guests (such as MediaWest*Con, ZebraCon, IDICon, etc.), slash zines and slash art could and can be sold openly, in the Dealers Rooms and by "room dealers" or "hall dealers" (fans who sell their wares out of their hotel rooms instead of in the Dealers Room).

Fan Comments

1995

Going to a convention on your own can be a nerve-racking experience. Over the years the N/L has given out some good tips on how to meet people and make new friends eg by volunteering to be a steward or first aider, donning fancy dress or flaunting your IDIC badge. These are all very sound suggestions and I have tried them but I found that by far the most successful scheme was to follow the Rules of Acquisition and engage in that most despised of activities - trade.

Renting a stall in the Dealers' Room is surprisingly easy and cheap - only £20 for the weekend at Contagion. With any luck you can recoup your outlay on the first day and then you can sit back, relax and wait for people to come to you. Because all of my merchandise (second-hand books, zines, dolls, photos and badges) was TNG related, I soon found myself talking to fans with similar interests.

Being stuck at the 'shop’ you might think you'd miss out on a lot, but at Contagion the Dealers' room closed tor John de Lancie's talk and I found that I was able to catch up with the videos in the evenings. Of course, as a dealer, you are free to come and go as you please and, unlike the punters, you can eat, drink and even smoke (something I didn't agree with) while you are at your stall. The other major advantage of being a dealer is that you get a preview of what's on offer at all the other tables and you can browse and buy in peace and quiet after the room is closed to the public.

I realise that this 'scheme' would be restricted to those fans who have access to a car, and it’s also nice if you have a helper, but if, like me, you have a lot ot stuff you'd like to get rid of, then I say - go on, take the plunge, you'll have a ball!

Gallery

• 
  fanzine dealer's table selling new fanzines, Agent With Style (2010)
• 
  fanzine dealer's table selling used fanzines, Jim Rondeau (2010)
• 
  other types of items sold in dealer's rooms (2010)
• 
  the dealers' room at Space-Con #2 in 1976
• 
  a somewhat blurry photo of a 'room dealer' taken at MediaWest 2006. The door has been decorated as part of the MediaWest Door Decoration contest

Meta

• Ancillary Merchandising: The Selling of Other Products to Defray Costs (1986)