Marketplace Rules

All sellers in the MAGFest marketplace must abide by the marketplace rules listed below. In general:

  • Be kind to your neighbors and respectful of space.

  • No taking tables, even unused ones. You get the number of tables that you paid for. Also, you may not use the hotel carts as an addition to your table.

  • Your displays and products cannot block the aisles or walkways.

  • You can set up and leave anytime - there are no set seller hours. We run 24 hours, but it is up to if you want to be open that long.

  • No refunds are provided at anytime should you decide to leave MAGFest and stop selling before the event is over. We reserved your space on a per-event basis, not a per-day basis, so even partial refunds are not possible.

  • No selling out of a hotel room (this is against state law), away from the seller, or away from your table; i.e. no peddling.

  • Only people with seller ribbons or guest badges are allowed behind the table - no regular attendee badges.

  • Electricity is free but not provided. You will need your own power strips, extension cords, and tape. However, we will help tape down the power cords.

  • There is no security provided for tables in the Marketplace. Have a lockdown plan for when you leave or take your stuff with you. MAGFest is not responsible for lost or stolen property. There is minimal storage available on a first-come first-serve basis. A staffer will be required to access storage. Also, if you need a table watcher for a few minutes (e.g. for a bathroom break or run to the car), then we can get one for you.

  • If you catch a shoplifter, then notify us and we will handle it.

  • Do not leave trash in your seller area once you pack up to leave. There will be a fine if MAGFest has to pick up the trash once you leave -- there are several trash bins provided for you to use.

  • If you would like to donate any prizes to our treasure chests (which are chests we place randomly throughout the festival for attendees to get prizes from) or tournaments, then we will mention that the item came from your table for some advertising. If you want to do this, then you can give the item to staff, who will make sure it gets to the right people.

  • These rules are subject to change before MAGFest, but you will receive the most up to date rules at the start of the festival, which you will sign at that time.

Applications & Table Space

Applications

  • REMINDER FOR 2024: PORTFOLIOS CANNOT SOLELY BE A TWITTER OR INSTAGRAM PAGE DUE TO ACCOUNT LOGIN RESTRICTIONS FOR THESE SITES.

    • Twitter/Instagram links can be included as supplemental links, but cannot be the primary source.

    • If no suitable portfolio link is provided, your application will automatically be denied.

  • All Sellers must show a government-issued photo ID that matches the name of the table leader to Check-In at Marketplace

Sharing Space

Sellers may share table space with another Seller under the following conditions.

  • The overall table must conform to the stated display rules but the person sharing the table may not occupy more than 50% of the available display space.

  • Marketplace staff must be notified in advance and again at check-in of any additional Sellers taking in personal sales. Those additional Sellers will be required to fill out a Maryland Temporary Sales License prior to the event and their information will be shared with the Maryland Comptroller after the convention is over. Sales permits are not handled through MAGFest and must be sought out from the MD website by Sellers individually.

  • Any Sellers planning on sharing a table must follow the same rules as that of the primary table occupant including but not limited to: submitting their name, business name, and a website or portfolio of the items they intend to sell, signing the Marketplace Seller Agreement, submitting the appropriate sales tax license paperwork, meeting hourly minimums and space requirements, and behaving in accordance with the stated rules and guidelines of both the event as well as the Marketplace area.

  • It is the responsibility of the primary Seller assigned to a given table to ensure that agreements, guidelines, and codes of conduct are followed for all persons at that table, and will be held responsible for any infractions.

Any Sellers caught sharing table space without pre-authorization from the Marketplace department or acting contrary to the rules and guidelines of the event or the Marketplace area while sharing may be removed from the event and may be asked not to return, or face a potential ban. 

Subletting Space

At no time may a Seller sell or rent their space to another Seller or guest within the Marketplace area. If a Seller is found subletting at any time, both the Seller who registered the space and the person occupying the space will be evicted from the space immediately with no refund. This includes taking empty tables for which a Seller has not paid. No Sellers or guests are allowed to claim empty tables.

Proxy Selling    

Marketplace spaces can only be registered by the Seller who created the artwork. Proxy selling is strictly prohibited.  

  • If you are a Seller who operates as part of a studio or business as well as an individual Seller you may only apply and register for a space as either the studio/business or the individual. Affiliated businesses may not display concurrently at the event without special approval by the Marketplace Department Head.

  • If you are the organizer of a studio who does not actively take part in the creation of artwork and would like to exhibit at MAGFest you may only register using 1 application.

  • Any person or business found to be misrepresenting themselves as someone they are not will be evicted immediately and may be banned from exhibiting in future years.

Transfer of Tables

Each table is registered to a Seller at purchase. No purchased table may be moved to the ownership of another Seller. If you need to opt out of your table, please notify the Marketplace staff to make the table available to the wait-list. Also, please note that all table costs are non-refundable.

  • If you are a registered corporation at the time of your application to the Marketplace you may transfer your table to another employee of your corporation. This person must not have been accepted for a different table in the Marketplace previously. Additionally, you must also provide 2 out of 3 of the following information: 

    • The State in which you have incorporated

    • Your incorporation ID (This is not your Federal Tax ID) or Your Federal Tax ID

    • Date of incorporation (Your date of incorporation must be prior to submitting an application to the Marketplace)

TABLES AND DISPLAYS

Display Space

  • Live DJs are not permitted to perform at tables in the Marketplace area.

  • If other Sellers or staff complain about the volume, lights, sounds, or other aspects of your display, you may be asked to stop or remove the offending aspects at the discretion of the Marketplace Department Head.

  • All Marketplace Sellers must keep their display to the boundaries of their table.     

    • If your display must sit on the floor, such as a photo or backdrop stand, the base’s legs may not be more than 3 feet from the back of your table and must not disrupt the common walking space behind or to the sides of your space.

    • No displays or Seller materials may obstruct the aisles in any way. Aisles must be kept clear at all times due to fire safety codes. If a display is found to be encroaching upon an aisleway, Marketplace staff will ask the Seller to remove the materials. If a Seller receives a request to remove display items more than once, they may be subject to removal at the discretion of the Marketplace Department Head or the Fire Marshall.

Structures

  • Any structure brought to display artwork must be of sound construction. 

  • If any structure falls down, appears unstable, or extends outside the space limitations, the Seller to whom it belongs will be asked to remove it by the Marketplace staff.

  • In addition, all displays must reside within the confines of your area.     

    • Displays behind your table may not impede upon other Sellers' areas nor disrupt traffic flow in case of emergency.

    • The space extending 3 feet from the tables, including their corners, are considered to be an emergency egress for Sellers; as such you may not use any portion of that 3 foot space for your display.

Number of Tables

  • A single Seller, studio, or business is allowed an absolute maximum of four tables.

  • Sellers are limited to the table space allotted to them at the conclusion of the application selection process, and may not attempt to exceed that space by claiming empty tables or bringing their own tables or structures.

Table Size

  • All space types come with ONE TABLE SPACE measuring 6ft by 3ft. These dimensions are subject to change depending on what is supplied by the venue, and are at no time available for request. Please plan accordingly.

Table Signage

  • All table signage should match the information that you registered with. Ex: If you put down on your application that you are "Studio A" but all your signs say that you are "Studio B" this will be seen as a table transfer. Signage that does not match your registration must be removed. 

  • You may change the Studio Name we have on file ONCE. To do so you must contact us at least 14 days before the Thursday of the start of MAGFest. A change is only allowed for Studio Name, no other information on the application may be changed at any time. Any attempts to exploit this as a table transfer will result in a non-refundable eviction from Marketplace and a permanent ban.

    • The ONLY EXCEPTION is a LEGAL NAME CHANGE. Please provide any relevant paperwork showing both the original registered name and the new legal name.     

      • Due to certain sensitive circumstances, we understand that it may be necessary to effectuate a name change. Any request for name adjustments will be kept confidential within the Marketplace Department.

Refunds

Tables are not refundable.

ARTWORK AND SALES

Everyone knows that copying someone else's work is wrong, but there is no "magic rule" about how much must be changed to make it a Seller’s own work. The Seller bears ALL responsibility and risk for the items brought for sale at the MAGFest Marketplace. Any questions regarding this policy will be resolved by the Department Head of Marketplace, in consultation with MAGFest Inc.'s lawyer when needed. If a piece of art appears to be very similar to a licensed, copyrighted, etc. piece of art, the Seller may be asked to remove it from display and cease selling at the discretion of the Department Head. The Seller may also be asked to remove the piece from the Marketplace area entirely and store it outside of the MAGFest event space. The Department Head's decision is final. If a seller is found selling an item after they are explicitly told not to, then they may be evicted immediately from the Marketplace.

  • Fan art may be displayed within your display space regardless of mediums. To foster the creation of original content, we also request that you include some original pieces in your display as well. Please be prepared to point out original pieces upon request.     

    • When displaying fan art, Sellers must respect the source's trademarks. This includes but is not limited to avoiding things such as use of logos in their display, signage referring to the artwork by its series or signage referring to the character's name. There are no exceptions to this rule.

    • If trademark infringement is a problem or Marketplace staff feel the room is too heavily saturated in fan art a more formal fan art to original art ratio policy may be implemented in the future.

    • Any artwork containing a protected license created by the copyright holder, under commission of the copyright holder, or within the terms of a license agreement will be considered original artwork. If your work falls under one of these categories please be sure to have copies of all appropriate contracts and paperwork on hand so the Marketplace staff may view the documents if requested. If you cannot produce proof of these agreements when requested it will be treated as fan art and must comply with all rules relating to fan art.

  • You may have portfolios, flip books, or bins/boxes to display on your table. These displays must also conform to the fan art display rules. Any portfolios, flip books, bins, or boxes must correctly censor any adult imagery to conform to the PG-13 rating of the Marketplace.

  • Examples of the published work shown in the application process must be wholly representative of and included in the works offered for sale at MAGFest. Old artwork that you no longer create or offer for sale are not acceptable examples of your work for the purposes of the application and acceptance process to take part in the MAGFest Marketplace.

Adult Materials

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of minors and families attending MAGFest, Inc. events such as MAGFest. Therefore, MAGFest, Inc. asks that all exhibitors keep this in mind when setting up their displays. The acceptability of displays of adult material is at the sole discretion of the Department Head of the Marketplace. Any materials which are sexually explicit, extremely graphically violent, or otherwise unsuitable for children must be displayed in a manner that keeps minors from seeing them. If any of these materials are found left out in the open, or the Marketplace staff receives complaints, the Seller will be asked to censor the material appropriately. If it continues to be a problem Marketplace staff will ask that the Seller remove the material in question from the Marketplace entirely. Please request ID from customers when making sales of adult materials. If any Seller sells inappropriate materials to minors, they will be removed from the Marketplace and banned from MAGFest. They may also be held accountable under Maryland laws.

A.I. Generated Art

A.I. Generated Art (artwork generated via the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, or similar algorithms) is strictly prohibited in the MAGFest Marketplace and will be considered a form of bootleg/counterfeit merchandise. 

Anyone found to have A.I. generated art will be asked to remove it and/or have their table closed down entirely and the seller will be removed from the show without a refund. Finally, any seller caught selling these prohibited items will not be permitted to sell at future MAGFest events. 

3D Printed Products

Anyone selling 3D printed items will need to prove they either 

1. created the models and hold the rights to said models or 

2. have procured the rights to sell said printed models from the original creator and provide said approval to Marketplace Staff; or 

3. the model is covered under a for commercial use license to be printed and sold. 

Painting or minor manipulations do not qualify as transformative for the models to be sold without the proper rights and licensing to sell. 

The following items may be sold:

  • Any product featuring a Seller's original character.

  • Commissioned and hand-drawn works made during the convention, provided that they do not violate any other rule including copyright and trademark rules

  • Unique, individual, hand-made items

  • Fan art which clearly shows that the work is produced by the Seller, rather than by the license holder and does not violate copyright as explained below.

  • Props that are clearly made by the Seller that are original rather than of a licensed nature.

  • Any prop weapons sold must be immediately taken to security for peace-bonding. Sellers must inform customers this is a requirement.

The following items are prohibited from sale within the Marketplace at all table types:

  • Any work with copyrighted materials and/or trademarked logos (official art), regardless of whether or not the work is original.

    • Copyrighted material may be sold where Seller is able to produce a valid contract in English signed by the owner of the copyright and giving Seller license to display and offer for sale any of their copyrighted works. Proof of said agreement must be available to Marketplace staff upon request.

  • Bootleg products

    • This includes any unlicensed goods and art and any non-licensed versions of games and shows or movies which include fan-created, subtitled, or dubbed works in addition to roms which are not officially licensed and sold copies of any work.

  • Copyright-violating traced, photoshopped, or transferred art. This includes but is not limited to work from "redraw" projects, and pixel artwork, such as perler or other forms of sprites, which directly copy a licensed work.

  • 2nd or 3rd party art/sales.

  • Props that are a direct replication of a copyrighted and/or licensed nature.

  • No metal weapons or weapons with a sharpened edge that would otherwise violate the MAGFest safety codes

  • No smoking paraphernalia 

At Con/Pre-Con Commissions

Commissions taken for delivery at the convention, regardless if the commission was taken pre-convention for delivery or at the convention for delivery are between the Seller and commissioner, MAGFest is not a party in these dealings. As such MAGFest and the Marketplace staff cannot assist you in locating either the commissioner or the Seller you commissioned. Please make sure you get contact information for one another as part of your dealings.

Giveaways

Giveaways of any type are not allowed. This includes but is not limited to raffles or drawings of any kind.

CONDUCT

While in the Marketplace, all convention, local, state, and federal rules, policies and laws apply. Convention rules can be found online on the MAGFest website and in Guidebook.

Badges

MAGFest, Inc. badges must be worn at all times. ONLY people with a shopkeep ribbon, band ribbon, guest ribbons or badges, and staff badges will be allowed behind tables within the Marketplace. People behind tables within the Marketplace without these ribbons or badges are subject to removal from the convention without a refund.

Substance Use

Smoking, including vapes or electronic cigarettes, or use of alcohol or drugs (including Marijuana) while in the Marketplace will not be tolerated. Violations will result in removal from the Marketplace and convention with no refund.

Behavior

Please refrain from running, screaming, yelling, horseplay, or obscene language; all Sellers are expected to be courteous and polite to one another, the staff, and other convention attendees. Sellers need to abide by attendee code of conduct at all times.

Noise

Overly loud music, videos, games, etc. will not be tolerated in the Marketplace. If the amount of sound coming from a table is found to be disruptive as determined by the Marketplace staff, the Seller will be asked to lower the volume. Further noise violations can result in the Seller being removed from the Marketplace.

Photography

Photography and video recordings are permitted within the Marketplace, provided that the person or Seller being recorded has given permission. Similarly, pictures or videos of art are allowed only with permission of the Seller. 

Signs

Sellers are requested not to move or tamper with MAGFest signage without staff permission.

 

RULES VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES

Most issues within the Marketplace are handled with a warning, but sometimes larger actions must be taken. Here is a general guideline for the consequences for the majority of offenses that may happen within the room.

FIRST OFFENSE - Verbal Warning

The Marketplace Department Head or staff will speak with you detailing any major concerns with regards to your display, merchandise or conduct. You will be given examples, conditions and a time frame with which you must comply. This may be, but is not limited to, removing all offending material from sight and not displaying it again for the rest of the convention. A note of this warning will be made for reference at any other time in the weekend.

SECOND OFFENSE – 2nd Verbal Warning

The Marketplace Department Head will speak with you and present you with a verbal warning detailing any concerns with regards to your display, merchandise or conduct. You will be given examples, conditions and must comply without any delay. This may include, but is not limited to, removing all offending material from sight and not displaying it again for the rest of the convention, or stopping any behaviors which have garnered complaints.

THIRD OFFENSE - Eviction from Marketplace

If you have already been given a verbal warning and have not complied in the time frame given, have put any offending material back on display, or broken any other rule, you may be evicted from the Marketplace without refund. Security will be stationed at your table(s) to prevent you from making any further sales while you close down your table(s).

FINAL OFFENSE - 1 Year Ban

If after being evicted from the room you are found trying to convince, or have convinced, another Seller (whether knowingly or not) to help you sell any merchandise (whether the offending merchandise or not), you will henceforth be banned from exhibiting in the MAGFest Marketplace for 1 year. Sellers found selling your artwork will get a warning and/or could also be evicted or banned. 

MARYLAND SALES TAX INFORMATION

Maryland Law requires that all Sellers charge and collect a 6% Maryland sales tax separate from the amount of the sale. Any collected sales tax must be given to the Maryland Comptroller within 30 days of the event. 

Sellers not currently holding a State of Maryland Sales and Use Tax License agree to file the proper forms with the state of Maryland to apply for a Temporary Sales and Use Tax License (COM/ST-203) pursuant to Maryland tax laws prior to the first day of the event. Seller hereby understands that a failure to file any legal or tax forms may result in a tax assessment against the Seller by the Maryland State Comptroller. MAGFest, Inc., and its subsidiaries and affiliated events, does not control tax licensing and has no ability to influence the issuing or timing of the issuance of any Maryland tax license. All licensing questions and comments should be directed towards the Maryland State Comptroller.

You can learn more about Sales and Use Tax licenses or fill out an application for either the temporary or regular Sales and Use Tax License online with the Maryland Comptroller at this website:
https://taxes.marylandtaxes.gov/Business_Taxes/Business_Tax_Types/Sales_and_Use_Tax/ 

Please ensure you follow up with the Maryland Comptroller prior to arriving at the event to ensure you have the proper paperwork in place.

MAGFest is required to provide the Maryland Comptroller with a list of all Sellers along with their business name, business address, business phone, and business email address. All of these must be current at the start of MAGFest. If any Seller’s information has changed since the application date, please notify the Marketplace Department staff upon signing this agreement.


CHANGES

Though MAGFest, Inc. and the Marketplace staff retain the right to make instantaneous changes to the Marketplace policies, every effort will be made to extend Sellers the courtesy to make announcements of any changes.

Any and all reported violations will be acted upon by Marketplace staff. A single violation of the convention and Marketplace rules and policies can potentially result in the Seller being removed from the Marketplace and the convention at the discretion of the Marketplace staff. If an individual is removed, they forfeit all fees and will receive no refund for their table or membership. Additionally, for the safety of the Marketplace staff, conversations between yourself and the Marketplace staff may be recorded.