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Dealer Tip: Inventory Control Sheet
I've been a dealer at conventions since abot 1994 and before that I was a dealer at hobby meets as well. Keeping track of what you have sold and what is yet available is always tricky. You look at your products out on the table and wonder how many you have left- how are sales doing?
For smaller cons where I have a limted inventory, I make up inventory control sheets. Usually it's just the product name and I'll do hash marks after each item for each one that is sold. But where I have very fixed quanities such as the comic titles in the photo, I'll make up boxes that I fill in for each one sold. At an instant I know how many copies I have sold and how many should be left of any title.
For badges where I have 70+ designs, I just go with hash marks.
For variable picing commissions, I'll track by dollar amount. $20, $40, $45, etc.
All of this is just printed out in color with a nice graphic on top to make it easy to spot, but even then paper is easily cluttered and stacked upon at a con. Your dealer table is a busy place. My trick is to tape / glue it to a piece of foam core board to give it some thickness and difference from all other paperwork on the table. Trimmed with some black masking tape, it presents a nice professional look and is easy to spot.
There are a lot of dealer tricks and tips out there. What do you do as a dealer to help set yourself apart from the others?
For smaller cons where I have a limted inventory, I make up inventory control sheets. Usually it's just the product name and I'll do hash marks after each item for each one that is sold. But where I have very fixed quanities such as the comic titles in the photo, I'll make up boxes that I fill in for each one sold. At an instant I know how many copies I have sold and how many should be left of any title.
For badges where I have 70+ designs, I just go with hash marks.
For variable picing commissions, I'll track by dollar amount. $20, $40, $45, etc.
All of this is just printed out in color with a nice graphic on top to make it easy to spot, but even then paper is easily cluttered and stacked upon at a con. Your dealer table is a busy place. My trick is to tape / glue it to a piece of foam core board to give it some thickness and difference from all other paperwork on the table. Trimmed with some black masking tape, it presents a nice professional look and is easy to spot.
There are a lot of dealer tricks and tips out there. What do you do as a dealer to help set yourself apart from the others?
Category Designs / Miscellaneous
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 600 x 835px
File Size 98 kB
I've started doing watercolor as my color media at my table at cons. It's fast and people seem to get a kick out of watching me paint. I know I got commissioned at MFF last year based solely on the fact that I was doing (and offering) paintings and not just sketches and marker work. There are only a couple other folks I've seen who do similar things, so it's nice to be able to do something most other people aren't. =)
I keep a notebook with all my sales totals, what was sold, whether the payment was cash or credit, etc, so I can reconcile everything at the end of the con and file my taxes properly.
I keep a notebook with all my sales totals, what was sold, whether the payment was cash or credit, etc, so I can reconcile everything at the end of the con and file my taxes properly.
They really do. =) Most people seem to think that all paint is messy and too much trouble, but watercolor's pretty forgiving so long as you pay attention, and you don't need much. I also don't have anxiety attacks over whether or not I have enough juice left to finish putting color in a background, for example, like I tend to worry over with markers.
My tricks and tips:
- Hide under the table and steal people's wallets while they're distracted by porn
- Wear a hat with a brim and attach a sign to the brim with whatever message you want people to see without disturbing you, like "Get lost", "Yes, I draw tentacle rape", or "Your goddess demands coffee sacrifice"
- Cheap wire mesh cubbies can be reassembled to hold foam core with binder clips that you can tack stuff onto like signs, finished badges, and death threats. If you have enough, you can make a giant cage to keep the freaks at bay.
- Hide under the table and steal people's wallets while they're distracted by porn
- Wear a hat with a brim and attach a sign to the brim with whatever message you want people to see without disturbing you, like "Get lost", "Yes, I draw tentacle rape", or "Your goddess demands coffee sacrifice"
- Cheap wire mesh cubbies can be reassembled to hold foam core with binder clips that you can tack stuff onto like signs, finished badges, and death threats. If you have enough, you can make a giant cage to keep the freaks at bay.
Drat, I put too many things under the table to sneak out under there to pickpocket. That's a good idea though.
I DO have a pair of signs I put on the hat I wear at cons that are only visible when I have my head down in a book or sketchpad. They read:
Yes, I'm THAT Flinters. As Seen on FA.
Artist is not ignoring you. He's just stupid. Please speak up.
I love the wire mesh cubbies. I use those at every con now to hold the badge stock. They are easy to transport and make a quick vertical display which helps in making your table look larger than it really is.
I DO have a pair of signs I put on the hat I wear at cons that are only visible when I have my head down in a book or sketchpad. They read:
Yes, I'm THAT Flinters. As Seen on FA.
Artist is not ignoring you. He's just stupid. Please speak up.
I love the wire mesh cubbies. I use those at every con now to hold the badge stock. They are easy to transport and make a quick vertical display which helps in making your table look larger than it really is.
I used to do these things, or keep an excel spreadsheet that I printed out and could check off boxes. I often would have them spiral-bound with a couple blank pages and a tally/reconcilliation page so all my records could be kept static for one con. This was important back in the days when prints sold pretty well.
One thing I do now is buy a cheap notebook for writing down commission info and keep one of those per con. You have scrap paper that way and it reduces the artist's ability to misplace commission descriptions (important for those 5am drawing sessions).
One thing I do now is buy a cheap notebook for writing down commission info and keep one of those per con. You have scrap paper that way and it reduces the artist's ability to misplace commission descriptions (important for those 5am drawing sessions).
I have another binder with commission order forms, protective sheets, and logs for commission work. I use the same one for between events as well for commissions online. It's about the only way I can keep track of the darn things.
I love organizing stuff like this. I'm not so good at actually USING them.
I love organizing stuff like this. I'm not so good at actually USING them.
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