I attended the Cincinnati Reefkeepers swap today and was very disappointed. I paid my $5 entry fee, and immediately noticed that there appeared to be no area for hobbyists. I asked the gentleman taking the entry fee, and was referred to the man selling raffle tickets, who indicated that it would be okay to set my frags out on the corner earlybird/vendor table that remained unoccupied as that vendor had not shown up.
As soon as I had my things laid out, I was aggressively approached by a man claiming to be the president of the group, demanding to know who I was and what I was doing there. He claimed I owed $45 to sell in that area. After explaining the situation, he insisted the raffle ticket salesman didn’t know what he was doing, and that I must pay or go.
In the meantime several other hobbyists had shown up and tables were set out for them. When the man approached me again for my money, I asked if it would be more appropriate for me to move to the hobbyist tables and not pay the $45. He replied that those hobbyists had listed their stuff on Fragswapper, to which I answered that I had as well. At that point he claimed that anything that wasn’t requested via Fragswapper and “didn’t have a name on it” couldn’t be set out for sale. Having driven two hours for this swap, I wasn’t excited about packing up and leaving, so I paid the $45.
After spending three hours watching the other hobbies set out and sell items that obviously had no name on them and were not requested on Fragswapper, I approached “the president”, explained the situation again, and expressed how displeased I was what had happened. I explained that I attend most of the swaps in Ohio and the neighboring area, and this was the only one with these “rules”, and that obviously no one else was expected to follow them. His response was that I could buy a premium membership and it would be cheaper next year! Obviously I will not be attending this swap next year or any other year, so I told him as such, declined, and went on my way.
Hobbyists considering attending this group’s functions for more than just purchasing from vendors, please beware, it may not be for you.
As a side note: handling things like this cost both the club and the vendors. I would typically spend a couple to several hundred dollars at a swap. After the issue described above I did not spend $1. He would have got more than $45 from me in the raffle alone had things been handled like they should have been. As things were, I could not justify supporting this event, or this club, whatsoever.
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