Thousands of thousands of people show up to San Diego Comic-Con every year for the merchandise. Exclusive items, worth more than their asking price, are only available at the convention. Collectors, flippers, scalpers, and casuals alike have all been fighting over the limited quantities available. It’s not an easy task, nor is it for the faint of heart.
SDCC has eased some of the pain in the past couple of years by installing a raffle, which earned you a time slot to buy from specific vendors. There are only a few vendors to choose from, but it includes most of the high-demand retailers of the entire convention: Funko, Hasbro, Lego, and new to this year, Blue Fin Distribution.
Attendees now only need to log in to the attendee portal, click the exclusives tab, and submit entries for their desired vendor/time slots.
Here is the current list of this year’s vendors (more vendors/timeslots may be added later):
A new wrinkle to the system is the use of a credit system, first introduced during WonderCon.
Each day you are limited to the number of entries you can submit for. The system is pretty straight forward. The only annoying part is once you add a timeslot, you have to manage your selections on a smaller pop-up window, which can be a pain to scroll through.
No system is perfect, but this is a good system. There have been complaints, mainly attendees losing control of what they can get. In past years, if you committed to camping overnight, you would ensure yourself a chance for a ticket with a decent time slot, increasing your odds of obtaining those rare items. There have also been complaints of people winning time slots, only to be turned away at the booth due to line capacity. Daily allocations also work against you; for example, if you have a Funko appointment late in the day, you’re pretty much going to get scraps.
But in the end, I prefer this system because it’s fair. If I don’t get a timeslot, at least I know it’s not because of line cutters, people holding the line for 20 friends, poor line management, or convention security on a power trip. I can live with not getting my number called in a random drawing.
The deadline to submit is July 9, 2019, noon PDT.
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