Your Card Fair Vendor Rules: What To Put In Writing

A collector waves you over at 2pm. The Charizard he bought at table 14 is in a slab that looks wrong, the vendor says all sales are final, and both want you to decide. Your pinned Telegram message says "no fakes pls" and nothing else.

That's the moment your card fair vendor rules either exist or don't. Written down before the vendor call, they settle most arguments before they start. Made up on the spot, they look like you're taking sides.

This post covers what to put in writing, section by section. The worked example is a 30-table sports and Pokemon card meet in a hotel function room.

It sits under our wider guide on how to run a trading card fair, which covers venue, entry and layout. This is the rulebook part, in detail.

One note first: this is practical advice from organizers, not legal advice. If a rule touches money or liability and you're unsure, ask a lawyer.

What Should Your Card Fair Vendor Rules Cover?

Your card fair vendor rules should cover what can be sold, how it's described, how vendors deal with people, and what happens when a rule is broken. In practice that's eight short sections:

1. Authenticity, proxies and sealed product
2. Prices, slabs and condition
3. Buying from walk-ins and minors
4. Trading on the floor
5. Setup, footprint, signage and teardown
6. Payments and receipts at the table
7. Disputes you will and won't decide
8. Consequences and the table fee

Keep it to one page if you can. Vendors read one page. They skim three.

Authenticity, Proxies And Resealed Product

The authenticity rule is simple: every card and sealed item on the table is genuine, and anything that isn't is never offered as real. Your fair's reputation stands on it, so write it first.

Counterfeits And Proxies

A counterfeit is a fake card made to pass as real. A proxy is a stand-in card, often printed at home, that players use in casual games in place of a card they don't own.

We'd ban counterfeits outright, and either ban proxies or allow them only clearly marked and kept apart from real stock. If you'd rather not police the difference on the day, ban both.

Sealed Product And Resealing

A resealed box has been opened, searched or swapped, then wrapped again to look new. Write that sealed product must be factory sealed, and that selling a reseal as sealed is treated the same as selling a fake.

What Happens If Someone Reports A Fake

We'd write: the item comes off the table while it's checked, the vendor can show where it came from, and a vendor who knowingly sold a fake leaves the fair and isn't invited back.

Real shows publish rules like this. The vendor terms for Nostalgia Con, a US pop-culture convention, ban fake or altered trading cards meant to deceive buyers and say vendors may be removed without a refund Nostalgia Con Houston vendor terms on Eventeny.

There's a local reason too. The Singapore Police Force's February 2025 advisory on Pokemon card scams told buyers to transact in person and inspect products before paying Singapore Police Force advisory on e-commerce scams through the sale of Pokemon trading cards. A card fair is meant to be the safe place to do that. One fake on your floor undoes it.

The verdict: ban fakes, define proxies, and say what happens. Vague here means a shouting match at 2pm.

Prices, Graded Slabs And Condition

Vendors should price every item or post how they price, and describe condition honestly. Hidden prices slow every table down, and your buyers are checking prices on their phones anyway.

• Prices. A price on each single, slab and sealed item, or a sign like "market price, ask".
• Graded slabs. A slab is a card sealed in a plastic case by a grading company, with the grade on the label. Sell it as labelled, and never sell a cracked or altered slab as intact.
• Raw cards. Ungraded cards described by condition, in common terms like Near Mint or Lightly Played. Creases or whitening get mentioned before the sale, not after.
• Language and edition. A Japanese or reprint card is labelled as one.

You don't set prices. You only ask vendors to be honest about what they're selling.

Buying From Walk-Ins And Minors

Vendors buy from walk-ins all day, so your rules should cover how they buy, not just how they sell. The main rule is about kids.

We'd write: no buying or trading with anyone who looks under 16 unless a parent or guardian is there and agrees. One angry parent can sour a whole fair. Pick the age that suits your crowd.

For adults, keep it short: no pressure, no following people down the aisle, and an offer stands once the seller accepts it.

Trading On The Floor Vs At Tables

Trading is two people swapping cards, sometimes with a little cash to even it up, and your rules should say where it happens. Without a rule, trades happen in the aisles and block them.

You can allow trades only at tables, set aside a trade zone of a few tables with chairs, or allow trading anywhere except the aisles and entrance. For a small fair we'd pick a trade zone. Whatever you choose, write that trades between visitors are between them, and that you're not a party to them.

Setup, Footprint, Signage And Teardown

Your setup rules say when vendors arrive, how much room they take, and when they can leave. It's the part the venue cares about most.

1. Setup window. When load-in opens, and when tables must be ready.
2. Teardown. No packing down before closing, and the room cleared by a set time.
3. Footprint. The exact table size, and stock, chairs and boxes kept behind the front edge.
4. Signage. Banners within the table width, nothing taped to walls unless the venue allows it.
5. Helpers. How many people per table.

Give early pack-down its own line. A vendor boxing up at 4pm makes the fair look finished.

Payments And Receipts At The Table

Payments between buyers and vendors are the vendor's business, but your rules should say what counts as paid. For PayNow, that's the money showing in the vendor's banking app, not a screenshot on the buyer's phone.

Ask vendors to state their payment methods on the table, and to give a written receipt for big sales, like a slab over S$200: the card, grade or condition, price, method and date. A photo of a handwritten note is enough, and it's what everyone will want if there's a dispute later.

Disputes: What You Will And Won't Decide

Your rules should say which disputes you'll step into and which stay between buyer and vendor. You can't grade or authenticate cards on the spot, so don't promise to.

The test is simple. If it's about how someone behaves at your fair, it's yours. If it's about a card's value or condition, it's theirs, unless someone lied.

Consequences, Bans And The Table Fee

Consequences should be short, in order, and the same for everyone: a warning, the item removed from sale, the vendor removed from the fair, then no invitation to the next one.

Serious breaches, like knowingly selling fakes or threatening anyone, skip straight to removal, and removal means no refund of the table fee. For cancellations and no-shows, put one line in your rules and point to your payment terms. Our guide on collecting booth fees covers deposits and refunds.

Walkthrough: A 30-Table Card Meet In A Hotel Function Room

Here's an invented example with illustrative numbers: a Sunday card meet, 30 tables in a hotel function room, mostly sports cards and Pokemon, doors 11am to 6pm, S$120 a table.

The hotel's events team has three rules of its own: nothing taped to the walls, no boxes left in the corridor, and the room cleared by 7:30pm. The organizer copies all three in, word for word.

The one-page rules sheet reads:

• Table: one 1.8m table, cloth and two chairs. Everything behind the front edge. Banners no wider than the table.
• Times: load-in 8:30am to 10:30am by the service lift, ready by 10:45am, no packing down before 6pm, room clear by 7:30pm.
• Helpers: two per table.
• Authenticity: no counterfeits, proxies or reseals. A reported item comes off the table while it's checked.
• Prices: on every item, or a sign saying how you price. Slabs as labelled, raw cards with condition.
• Buying: nothing bought from or traded with anyone under 16 without a parent there.
• Trading: in the trade corner by the windows, not the aisles.
• Payments: PayNow counts when it's in your banking app. Receipts over S$200.
• Disputes: we step in on conduct and fakes. Sales, returns and condition are between you and the buyer.
• Consequences: warning, item removed, vendor removed, not invited back. Removal means no refund.

Every vendor confirms the sheet when they book. If you're booking card fair tables through a form, add a tick box.

One page, ten lines, the hotel's rules copied in. That's enough for 30 tables.

What To Do Next

Write your rules this week, before the vendor call goes out. Start with the eight sections above, cut what doesn't apply, and copy in anything your venue insists on.

Then make confirming them part of booking. A Google Form with a tick box works, and so does a line in your vendor application form. For a 15-table meet of regulars, that and a pinned message are all you need.

BookASquare lets vendors pick their table on a map and answer your questions in one booking, with a required tick box for your rules. It doesn't settle disputes or take payments at the table: money at the fair stays between your vendors and their buyers.

See how it works for trading card fairs