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Going to Have a Small Comic book Show. Looking for ideas/thoughts
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147 posts in this topic

I haven't seen it mentioned, if it was I apologize.  You will need to reach out to your state revenue office and get sales tax forms for the dealers.  They will need to turn something in at the end of the show.  If the revenue office finds out there was a show and x number of dealers, they will come after you for sales tax. 

I ran 6 shows here, each show growing larger and larger until we filled out 100,000 square foot venue.  Revenue offices would each out to me before every show and ask if I had my tax forms for my vendors or if I was covering their tax.  

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On 12/30/2021 at 8:50 AM, sd2416 said:

I haven't seen it mentioned, if it was I apologize.  You will need to reach out to your state revenue office and get sales tax forms for the dealers.  They will need to turn something in at the end of the show.  If the revenue office finds out there was a show and x number of dealers, they will come after you for sales tax. 

I ran 6 shows here, each show growing larger and larger until we filled out 100,000 square foot venue.  Revenue offices would each out to me before every show and ask if I had my tax forms for my vendors or if I was covering their tax.  

Boy, that seems really weirdly aggressive by the revenue office.  Why would the Dealers have to fill out a separate form just for their show sales?  It seems like they would declare the Show sales as part of their regular reporting of sales for sales tax purposes.

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On 12/30/2021 at 11:51 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Boy, that seems really weirdly aggressive by the revenue office.  Why would the Dealers have to fill out a separate form just for their show sales?  It seems like they would declare the Show sales as part of their regular reporting of sales for sales tax purposes.

Store owners have the option to.  Regular joe's that want to setup at a show and be a dealer for a day, they have to pay sales tax as well.  

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Man, it got to be a full time job.  Fielding phone calls, emails all day, looking for the next guest, etc.  I got tired of it.  We outgrew the largest venue here.  Parking was a person_without_enough_empathy.  Im glad to be out of it at that scale.  
 

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On 12/29/2021 at 8:55 PM, fastballspecial said:

Just a quick update. I now have flyers in every local shop except Louisville, KY which I am heading
to tomorrow. Most of the shops have been very agreeable with this because honestly it helps them too
at least local ones. I think its 14 shops right now I covered in multiple cities. 

I am looking for anyone in STL, Terre Haute, or Southern Illinois I can send some flyers too as well. 
@WeR138

I will have a website up in a couple of weeks and a private Dealer FB page up in next few days. Holidays
have slowed me down a bit. 

Even my stuffy/crabby shops have embraced it which is really nice. Makes the hard work worth it. 
All try to update every few weeks.

 

PM sent.

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On 12/30/2021 at 10:50 AM, sd2416 said:

I haven't seen it mentioned, if it was I apologize.  You will need to reach out to your state revenue office and get sales tax forms for the dealers.  They will need to turn something in at the end of the show.  If the revenue office finds out there was a show and x number of dealers, they will come after you for sales tax. 

I ran 6 shows here, each show growing larger and larger until we filled out 100,000 square foot venue.  Revenue offices would each out to me before every show and ask if I had my tax forms for my vendors or if I was covering their tax.  

I am aware of this issue its down the list right now.
I have no desire to be anywhere near your size honestly. (Which I am sure attracted their interest.)

That being said dealers will be made aware of this regardless. 
 

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On 12/30/2021 at 6:06 AM, chrisco37 said:

 I like watching this come together and am looking forward to the final "results".  

Its definitely a learning curve. I was dumb enough to sign up for this so I am learning as I go. 
Right now I want to complete the above things first including a web page so I can get into
Google search and a dealer page for communication. 

The other stuff is secondary I can work on later. You have to prioritize what you think needs
to occur in order. Not saying I have it right, but I think this way to grow it slowly so I can 
control it or I would be overwhelmed like mentioned above. I have no desire for that size
ever. I will shut it down before I get any larger than what I have now.

I am contacting a few shops in Southern Illinois and Indy that will be it for flyers unless local
shop wants more. I have sent out well over 500 now and will probably pass out another 500
eventually. I dropped flyers with about 8 dealers and 3 shops in Louisville today as well as
a few customers as well. 

The suggestions have been very helpful, but I prioritize each as I can get to them. And honestly
some I have to decide its not either practical or cost efficient. 

Edited by fastballspecial
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On 12/30/2021 at 7:49 AM, spreads said:

Sounds like you're building up for quite a turnout!

Will see its hard to judge. The facebook page is growing slowly. I need to get the website up 
to drive traffic as well. Word of mouth is out in my area now so that won't be an issue. At local
shops I have done all I can do now. I am currently contacting Facebook sellers in my area
as well.

Instagram is more of a problem then I thought it would be, but that's on the back burner.
I much prefer right now tons of Facebook Comic groups which have a lot of members as
well. 

 

Edited by fastballspecial
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On 12/30/2021 at 11:07 AM, sd2416 said:

Man, it got to be a full time job.  Fielding phone calls, emails all day, looking for the next guest, etc.  I got tired of it.  We outgrew the largest venue here.  Parking was a person_without_enough_empathy.  Im glad to be out of it at that scale.  
 

    I promoted two shows and happily left the field behind.  A lot of work and you end up getting all the blame and no credit.   It's so much easier to set up at a show than to set up a show.

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On 12/30/2021 at 5:09 PM, fastballspecial said:

I am aware of this issue its down the list right now.
I have no desire to be anywhere near your size honestly. (Which I am sure attracted their interest.)

That being said dealers will be made aware of this regardless. 
 

They started reaching out at our first show when it was in a 2000sf room.  They didn’t play.  

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On 12/30/2021 at 10:18 PM, shadroch said:

    I promoted two shows and happily left the field behind.  A lot of work and you end up getting all the blame and no credit.   It's so much easier to set up at a show than to set up a show.

Exactly.  
 

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On 12/30/2021 at 10:18 PM, shadroch said:

    I promoted two shows and happily left the field behind.  A lot of work and you end up getting all the blame and no credit.   It's so much easier to set up at a show than to set up a show.

I wouldnt disagree, but to me it's not worth driving 90 miles to set up at a show. Which is why I started this one. 
Will see how it lays out. I am enjoying the challenge so far gives me something to think about instead of work.
 

Edited by fastballspecial
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On 12/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, fastballspecial said:

Will see its hard to judge. The facebook page is growing slowly. I need to get the website up 
to drive traffic as well. Word of mouth is out in my area now so that won't be an issue. At local
shops I have done all I can do now. I am currently contacting Facebook sellers in my area
as well.

Instagram is more of a problem then I thought it would be, but that's on the back burner.
I much prefer right now tons of Facebook Comic groups which have a lot of members as
well. 

 

Well, just be lucky that you're allowed to operate...we're back down in lockdown mode here - no gyms, restaurants, and definitely no shows!

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On 1/4/2022 at 8:24 AM, spreads said:

Well, just be lucky that you're allowed to operate...we're back down in lockdown mode here - no gyms, restaurants, and definitely no shows!

Where are you at? 

Its definitely possible we might get shut down. My state IN is more open currently, but our governor just extended the emergency health declaration. Hard to forecast what 4 months from now will look like. The general viewpoint in my state is similar to Texas and Florida toward
the economy good or bad.

 

 

Edited by fastballspecial
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On 1/4/2022 at 12:02 PM, fastballspecial said:

Where are you at? 

Its definitely possible we might get shut down. My state IN is more open currently, but our governor just extended the emergency health declaration. Hard to forecast what 4 months from now will look like. The general viewpoint in my state is similar to Texas and Florida toward
the economy good or bad.

 

 

I live in Ontario, the provinces have taken a very different approach than the US states....

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Just a quick update. 

Finished up the website yesterday. Its cheap and cheesy, but it does the job.
I picked up another dealer last night 30 minutes after I put the site up. 
Link is below.  Last step I have is a FB dealer group which I have ready, but
will send out notices on it maybe this weekend. 

Spent last week at a large Flea market giving out flyers to comic dealers as well
in Louisville. Just need to cover STL and Terre Haute with some flyers and I will
call it saturated. I am up to 8 dealers currently with 3 sitting on the fence currently. 
Mailed some flyers to some boardies and I have another I need to send them too as well.

What will happen with Covid is my real last concern at this point. Mall has a nice large
LED board in front of shopping mall so I start putting up our show on it in a month or two.
It coming together nicely so far definitely happy to have put in alot of work earlier so as I get
closer I can focus on other issues.  

Southern Indiana Comic Book Show (godaddysites.com)

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On 1/10/2022 at 8:43 PM, fastballspecial said:

Just a quick update. 

Finished up the website yesterday. Its cheap and cheesy, but it does the job.
I picked up another dealer last night 30 minutes after I put the site up. 
Link is below.  Last step I have is a FB dealer group which I have ready, but
will send out notices on it maybe this weekend. 

Spent last week at a large Flea market giving out flyers to comic dealers as well
in Louisville. Just need to cover STL and Terre Haute with some flyers and I will
call it saturated. I am up to 8 dealers currently with 3 sitting on the fence currently. 
Mailed some flyers to some boardies and I have another I need to send them too as well.

What will happen with Covid is my real last concern at this point. Mall has a nice large
LED board in front of shopping mall so I start putting up our show on it in a month or two.
It coming together nicely so far definitely happy to have put in alot of work earlier so as I get
closer I can focus on other issues.  

Southern Indiana Comic Book Show (godaddysites.com)

Congrats and good luck. You've put in the work and I hope you have a great turn out! 

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