Blah.

[bladespark]

Looks like I won't be able to be a Windstone dealer.

And DAMN THEM for not having their rules and policies clearly stated! It was a very unpleasant experience having surprise restrictions sprung on me, and if I'd ordered and wiped out my savings to buy Windstones to sell and then found them out, I think I'd be tempted to forget about my hatred of lawsuits!

The Windstone people may be "nice folks" most of the time, and I'm sure they didn't do this on purpose to try and "lure" me in, but on purpose or not, it's horrible business practice.

Comments

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I am curious. what was the catch?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

The catch was that I would be restricted to selling solely at conventions. I couldn't sell on my website, I couldln't sell on e-bay, I couldn't sell on the forums, nothing but in person, at my booth, at a con. Oh, and that the returns policy, that Windstone would buy back an item that doesn't sell, applies only to storefronts, and that con dealers cannot return unsaleable items.

So if it turned out that they didn't sell well at the con, I'd just be stuck with them, with no way to get rid of them, let alone a way to profit from them.

[rimspace.livejournal.com]

All I can do is strongly suggest that you do not allow this to remain undocumented.

If they are not willing to state this up front, make the information avilable online. That way anyone else who is interested might stand a chance of finding out first. This probably wouldn't make you too popular with windstone, but frankly I suspect that isn't too high on your worries right now.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

It's not a case of them deliberately decieveing me. It's a case of them just being disorganized. Windstone as an entity consists of two artists, a dozen or so assembly line painters, two office people and a lawyer. Apparently nobody has gotten together a single definitive list of guidelines for convention sellers, because they don't have very many of them, most of their literature is aimed at stores.

I've asked them to put together such a list, and have also posted this information on their forum.

[euphoriel.livejournal.com]

Alas. :(

Still, it'll be nice to see you at FC anyway. I'll just look for the pile of fox tails with the SPark behind them. :)

[keplilly.livejournal.com]

Yuck, I'm sorry to hear that it is not working out.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

The only thing I could suggest, were you to go through with it, would be to take a small sampling of pieces (one each of the ones you favour to sell), plus some order forms to take orders and pre-payment. You could then order exactly what people wanted. Shipping would be a pain for the buyers perhaps, and might make it less viable for you in that regard, but it would be the only way I could see you making a profit (and not having unsold items) in this type of arrangement.