The 2013 Flea Market Thread- Page 6

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 4:51pm

You're right, Kelly. Please let me know where I can return the items that I purchased before 10am. It was very unfair and someone else should have gotten them and not me because I'm a bad person.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 4:58pm

It's also a simple matter of "rights." Does Jordan have the right to purchase something before 10:00am? According to some on here, absolutely not. But at the end of the day, Jordan was there early and the vendor permitted a purchase. That's it. Is it fair? Eh. Maybe not. But nothing in the world is completely fair.

To me, though, the real issue is about enforcement. If vendors followed the rules set forth by the group organizing the event, Kelly2 wouldn't even be on here all bent out of shape. Again, that's all on the vendors. You can't put any "blame" on the buyer. In my opinion

[Kelly2]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 5:04pm

I don't put blame on the buyer, and I'm sorry if Jordan felt like I was, but it seemed to me that he was being deliberately obtuse in not understanding the other side of this issue. That's probably still true so I'm going to stop wasting my time. It is 100% the vendors fault, the point I was making is that if you could take five seconds and put yourself in the shoes of someone who might've felt disappointed or upset because they lost out on an item maybe you'd understand why "tough luck, I beat 'em to it!" is kind of a sh*tty attitude to have.

Enjoy your purchases but please, Jordan et. al, don't assign motive or judgment to my comments that wasn't there. I don't appreciate it. We can disagree and it doesn't have to turn into petty, sarcastic, name-calling stupidity. Discussions are cool.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 5:26pm

I just figured it was a question worth pondering. If it really does add to your life, please, don't let me stop you from pursuing your happiness. I'm just going to remove myself as your target since pursuing my happiness involves different things at this moment in time. :)

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 6:15pm

I think the argument is getting a little ridiculous. Can't we all be happy about the bigger picture? This is a charity event. Seems like most people had great finds at all times of the day. Sure, it was advertised as 10 am, but honestly, given the circumstances, I'm not going to complain about early buyers. It is what it is.

Someone on here posted that Kinky Boots started selling before 12 pm. Considering the box office doesn't open till 12 on Sundays, is that considered "fair"? What if shows started selling rush tickets before the specified time?

That I could understand someone being upset about. But we are talking about a charity event that doesn't heavily enforce rules and is run by volunteers. The advertised time was 10 am, but do you really expect people to hold off and stop browsing/buying stuff if a table is already set up before the designated time? The flea market is in a high traffic area.

Yeah, it's all fun and games to buy stuff, but go with the intention of putting money towards a good cause. Not complain because some shoppers got there early and lucked out on some purchases. I can see Kelly's point to an extent, but I'd be more compelled to fully agree in a different context.

Updated On: 9/23/13 at 06:15 PM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 6:17pm

Did anyone get a signed Bountiful windowcard? How much were they? They are rare since it hard to see Cicely.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 6:18pm

They were $100

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 6:32pm

OKBroadwayFan, congratulations, that is the buy of the day! And kills me more than a little...I probably woulda done $250, def $150. I went back a few times to see if they were reducing it but was told noooo. Maybe they thought they could get the $500 outta me.
For the poster who asked about the Pippin stuff, it was like ghetto silent auction. Seriously. They had a spiral bound notebook, as the first person would ask about a specific tambourine, they would write that star's name down, then you wrote your name, phone number and amount bid. It was almost like they decided day of, "Hey, instead of pricing these let's see what we can get out of people." When I asked them what time the "auction" would close, that seemed to take them by surprise. Originally they said 5, I said, half-jokingly, "D*mn, I probably won't be here that late to help run the price up." So they changed the time to 4. True story.

Posted: 9/23/13 at 6:45pm

I went this year for the second time. My favorite purchases were the 2004-05 Broadway Yearbook for $1 and an All Shook Up playbill signed by the OBC for $15. I agree that things seemed more overpriced this year. Last year we'd had so much fun picking out $1 cups, but now they were five times as much. I also wish that people (including my mom) wouldn't waste so much time on that wheel. Even the people who won tickets didn't seem very enthused.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:04pm

JBC2 (or anyone else who knows), have any idea what the "Conduct the Phantom Orchestra" went for? Was thinking about that one for a friend...thank you!

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:17pm

JBC2 (or anyone else who knows), have any idea what the "Conduct the Phantom Orchestra" went for? Was thinking about that one for a friend...thank you!

$1200. I wrote down the totals for all the lots if anyone is curious about something else.

[MaddieBB12]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:17pm

"Someone on here posted that Kinky Boots started selling SRO at 9:30 am. Considering the box office doesn't open till 12 on Sundays, is that considered "fair"? What if shows started selling rush tickets before the specified time?"

That was me. Sorry if it wasn't clear, but I GOT TO THE THEATRE at 9:30am. Tickets went on sale early--my phone said 11:39am when I reached into my bag to get my wallet. They went on sale early-ish, but not two and a half hours early. Sorry if what I wrote was confusing.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 7:48pm

Maddie, thanks. I just updated my post.

[DivaBrigader]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 8:27pm

This thread became gross. Is the flea market about getting the best items and deals or is it about spending a fun day in the glow of Broadway for charity? This is one of the only threads I religiously post in because I like to relish in everyone's finds and learn about interesting merch that the day hath wrought.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 9:05pm

I'm spending the night at Jordan;s next year

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 9:14pm

Come on over!

[CapnHook]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 10:11pm

The Flea Market is a truly fantastic event for many reasons. First and foremost, it removes Broadway-branded items from landfills. Instead of those in the Broadway community throwing away their Broadway-branded swag, they stockpile it until the Flea Market. It turns trash into dollars for BC/EFA.

Same for show-related items that were used at the production or theater. Props, costumes, marquees, and unsold merchandise from closed shows don't go into the dumpster, they go into storage until the Flea Market.

Broadway fans get the opportunity to buy these items once a year. It's a win-win-win.

Over the years, more and more from the Broadway community put in more and more effort to make the Flea Market an even more profitable experience for theatregoers. They make baked goods, arts and crafts, and donate their time for photos and autographs.

I think BC/EFA should assign their volunteers to the table organizers a week before to help them get organized, make signage, provide bins & boxes, etc. They should also provide table organizers with a flyer on "tips to help coordinate lines and traffic at your booth."

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 11:26pm

Capn, those suggestions all sound fantastic and I'd be all for them.

Sometimes, volunteers didn't know what other volunteers had decided. This almost caused a problem for me at the photo booth:
I got in line for the first hour (to see the Matildas) at about 10:15 or 10:20. I got in line and was at the very end of the roped area where it zig-zags to get to the cash box/credit card payment table. Eventually, a volunteer came around and helped everyone get into specific lines/holding areas depending on which celeb you wanted a picture with. We asked about 3 times where the Matildas line should be, and eventually he moved us to just outside the roped area across from the cash box/credit card table, so we waited there. Since we'd been first in the big long line to see the Matildas, we stood directly across from the cash box table and other people looking to get photos with the Matildas sort of formed a blob-line going down the alley towards the auction stage.

At about 11:30, a woman came by and told someone who had gotten on line about 40 minutes after me that she would be "the first one" to do the Matildas. Then she wanted the little group of people waiting for the Matildas to curve the line inside the rope area. The way she was directing it, we would've been last even though we had been the first ones in line to see the Matildas. We had heard the people organizing it that the Matildas were on a very tight schedule and could not stay at all past noon and they were discussing where they would have to cut off the line.

There was a silent auction item that I really wanted (the only one I had really, really wanted) that was finishing at 12 noon and I didn't want to be last and potentially miss the auction item. I went up to this volunteer who had started to direct Matilda hopefuls and told her we'd been directed to stand in a certain spot, and had been there since about 10:20 and were, from what we were able to tell, the first in line. She hadn't in any way meant to have the rest of the people go in front of us, and she was very apologetic, but if I hadn't been a little pushy and gone up to her to say something, I could have potentially been shut out of the only people I'd wanted photos with. (In the end there were 16 people/groups interested in photos with the Matildas, and they agreed to make just enough time for all 16, but no more.)

PS - I won the auction item! :)

But, if the volunteers were all organized and in-the-know, these sorts of misunderstandings and little issues wouldn't happen - so great idea, Capn!

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 11:36pm

Thank you Cape Twirl (now second guessing that decision to nap before the evening show rather than staying for the live auction, but what the hey)

[mikem]

Posted: 9/23/13 at 11:41pm

How much did the opening night for Glass Menagerie and the meet and greet for that show go for during the live auction?

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 12:28am

How much did the opening night for Glass Menagerie and the meet and greet for that show go for during the live auction?

Glass Menagerie opening night went for $1800 and the meet & greet went for $1100.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 1:42am

I want to know about all those promo cds they seem to have a lot of every year. I got a copy of one for Catch Me if You Can, and it seems like it is the full cast recording. There are 16 songs. I saw the on a bunch of tables as well. What was the original purpose for them?

[broadwaygal3]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 2:47am

Does anyone know how much the Hugh Jackman tank top went for?

Thanks!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 6:30am

Marianne2, promo CDs are for what they say they are: promotional purposes. So they'll be sent to members of the press, magazine writers, bloggers, etc.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 9/24/13 at 9:58am

Interesting. I've gotten a few before that only had 3 or 4 songs on it. Catch Me If You Can and actually my How to Succeed one are full copies, it seems.