This is a description of how such an auction and consignment store works for the Gen Con auction. If you are attending another convention’s auction please read the description from the website that hosts that specific auction to see how that will differ from Gen Con’s procedures.
The Gen Con auction is run by a group of long-term volunteers and a core of three managers known as “The Partnership”. We are sub-contracted by Gen Con each year to host the game auction and a separate Charity Auction segment.
In order to sell games at the Gen Con auction, all the items (aka Lots) must be pre-registered on this website. You print the auction tags, that include an identifying barcode, and attach them to the items. Live Auction items are subject to approval by auction staff.
There is a registration fee for each Lot. A lot may consist of more than one item provided they are securely attached to each other so they don’t become separated. There is a different fee for registering your item depending upon whether you want it to be auctioned on stage (the Live auction) or placed in the consignment store.
The consignment store allows you, the seller, to put a fixed price for each day of the convention that you would like to sell your item for. So you can put a fairly high price for Thursday and lower prices on Friday and Saturday to try and minimize your having to take the item home! A buyer can pick any item or items up in the consignment store, take them to the purchasing stations, and pay for them, like in a retail store.
For items accepted into the Live Auction, they are organized for the stage along with other similar items. A tentative schedule will be posted breaking out the various categories into timeslots. Be sure to check the schedules onsite as updates may be made to the schedule during the show. Items will be auctioned over three days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The categories in each time slot vary year to year but typically there is a section of rare or valuable items on Friday night, and the Charity segment on Saturday night. Check out this year’s tentative schedule.