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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1788015" data-attributes="member: 177">I find it annoying, but it's also generally a necessary evil.The thing you have to remember is that conventions are insanely expensive to run.  Local conventions generally don't make any profit to speak of.  They are run by volunteers, and squeak by making just barely enough money to bootstrap another con the next year.  The budgets are tight, and every dollar counts.That being said - the con makes exactly zero money off of you if you walk in and buy something in the dealer's room.  The con has a reason to offer up dealers to it's members.  It has exactly zero reason to offer them up to a non-member.  Allowing you to come in and shop without paying is allowing you to take advantage of resources that other folks payed for.Now, you may think, "I'm only one guy!  How much of their resources am I really taking up?"  Not much, true.  But the policy isn't designed to prevent one person from taking advantage.  It's designed to make sure they don't get a whole mess of people coming in, clogging up the halls, posing security and liability risks, and buying up stuff that the paying con-members may want to buy.What possible motive does the con have for allowing you to shop on the cheap?As for paying higher than retail price - consider that if you're going to a con to buy a book, you're dumb.  You can get a book on Amazon for less than retail price.  Same goes for a number of other common items you might find at the dealer's room.  The only reasons to buy at a con are to buy items that you cannot get elsewhere, or for the sake of convenience.If you aren't already going to the con, it isn't convenience to shop there.  So, you're there to buy hard-to-get items.  And you ought to expect to pay high prices for rare or hard-to-get items.Edit addition:$175 bucks for a 10-foot table isn't all that much.  That 10 foot table is usually part of a very large hall.  Large spaces are expensive and the con has typically rented that hall for the entire weekend.</blockquote>

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