FWA Vendor Policies
Last Updated : September 13, 2023
While unlikely, all policies are subject to change without advance notice. Policy changes may occur in response to venue requirements, state or local law, or convention function requirements.
Any questions concerning these policies can be sent to :
By purchasing space in the FWA Vendor Hall, or participating in the FWA Vendor Hall, you agree that you have read and understand these policies.
Furry Weekend Atlanta General Attendee Convention Policies
https://www.furryweekend.com/attendee-policies/
Furry Weekend Atlanta Privacy Policies
https://www.furryweekend.com/privacy-policy/
As of 2023, the current coordinators for vendor spaces are as follows:
Kay Drac0rex – Vendor Hall Director ([email protected])
Tyr Wulfhard- Vendor Hall Coordinator ([email protected])
FWA Vendor Space Definitions
Starting in 2023, the Vendor Hall vendor spaces at Furry Weekend Atlanta have been organized into two categories in order to best meet the needs of individual vendors.
These definitions do NOT necessarily mean separated vendor spaces. The location of each space will be determined in accordance to venue availability. Each vendor space will have clear signage and labeling on all FWA Maps and Applications, and will be announced at least 5 months before the convention.
- Dealers Den : This is the general vendor hall including furry businesses, publishers, and product makers who focus on goods such as fursuits, merchandise, plushies, prints, posters, books, etc. This space also includes the Adult Dealers Den.
- Artists Alley : This space functions similar to the Dealers Den just with a focus on artist accessibility. These tables and booths are built to be functional for commission artists who are creating art at-con as well as a focus on prints and individual made works that may want a clearer space with freelancer emphasis.
Dealers Den and Artist Reserved Tables
These are the pre-paid tables and booths offered in the Vendor Hall. Vendors must apply for these spots using the Vendor Application (link)
Vendor Applications are open from September 14th to October 22nd. Links will be posted to the Furry Weekend website as well as all social media platforms.
Vendor Booth/Table Sizes and Prices
| Booth Size | Space | Price | Includes |
| Artist Reserved Table | 8’ x 7’ | $150 | 1 Table, 2 Chairs |
| Small | 10′ x 10 ‘ | $250 | 1 Table, 2 Chairs |
| Medium | 20′ x 10′ | $450 | 2 Tables, 4 Chairs |
| Large | 30′ x 10′ | $650 | 3 Tables, 6 Chairs |
| Extra Large | 20′ x 20′ | $900 | 4 Tables, 8 Chairs |
Electricity availability is currently in-progress. More information will come from our venue vendor.
Applications for Vendor Spaces
Applications are OPEN from September 14th to October 22nd 2023:
https://forms.gle/k82eJUxMP5atDrro8
Applications require contact information, samples of works and products, and visual samples of potential setups. We strongly suggest using a non-permission protected Google drive for this, as it is easier to view and distribute than a social media gallery.
As of FWA 2018, vendors for prepaid Vendor Hall tables and booths are selected via a juried application system. A diverse group of FWA Staff from multiple departments, demographics, and professions assist in the selection process. The goal of this system is to ensure a diverse array of goods and services for our attendees while also making it easier for new vendors to secure vending space.
Vendors as well as Waitlist Vendors will be selected in October 2023.
The Waitlist is NOT in any particular order. Vendors will be pulled from the Waitlist and offered vendor spaces based on diversity and product needs of the vendor areas. We are unable to provide an estimate as to if or when a vendor on the Waitlist may be offered space.
Portfolio
We are asking that every prospective dealer or artist submit a portfolio showcasing a selection of their goods or services. The portfolio could be pictures that show your work or links to a website that displays your work.
Adult content in portfolios is acceptable. All members of the jury are of legal age and are comfortable viewing adult material for selection.
What We Look For:
- Quality: We want to offer the best to our attendees, so we will look at the overall quality of your product.
- Variety: We want to offer a large selection of products to our attendees. We will look at diversity in your work as well as the overall diversity of products in the Dealers Den.
- Quantity: In order to supply the large number of attendees we have every year, it is important that our dealers be able to provide an appropriate amount of product.
- Previous dealer experience: While previous experience is not necessary, if you have been a dealer with FWA or another con please let us know. If you have photos of your previous tables available, please include them with your application.
- Prior violations of FWA policies will also be factored into the decision.
Acceptance and Payment for Vendor Spaces
When accepted, vendors will be contacted via email by FWA staff. There will be a period for vendors to pay for their respective spaces and fill out the FWA Vendor Survey, which contains questions about vendor needs. This survey is critical to ensuring vendors requiring accessibility assistance are properly accommodated.
Vendors are required to pay for their vending space no later than December 15th, 2023
Any vendors who do not respond to contact or deliver payment by the above date forfeit their acceptance.
Refunds
Refunds for vendor space are offered until February 15th, 2024.
The budget for the convention and the supplies, maps, and staffing of the vendor halls depend on vendor selection being consistent after this date. Thusly, FWA cannot offer refunds after February 15th, 2024.
For any questions regarding refunds, please contact [email protected]
Membership
Vendor tables do not include membership registrations. Please be advised that you will need to purchase registration separately! You will not be permitted to vend at FWA in any capacity without valid Registration.
https://www.furryweekend.com/registration/
The vendor areas will have exclusive registration at load-in, where vendors and their assistants can go to pick up badges during the set up hours. This is to save vendors from needing to wait in the general registration line. Vendors will also be provided a vendor tag and lanyard. Each vendor will have allocated vendor badges according to their staff count. These badges are tags that must be worn in addition to the convention wristbands in vendor areas.
General Vendor Information
Space
Each table will have a table cloth, skirt, and two chairs. Each booth has a number of tables acceptable for its floorspace. If you need additional cloths (to cover merchandise), it is advised to bring your own as there may be a limit to the number of cloths provided by the venue.
We have tried to maximize the number of dealers that can attend, and, as a result, we must ask that all dealers keep the aisles clear and passages open. Stored and displayed items must not impede traffic flow, both in front of and behind tables. We have a maximum limit of two people behind each table.
Display constraints depend on the vendor booth size and area. Vendors are not allowed to extend outside their booth or table space measure.
Prepaid vendors are permitted displays upwards of ten feet in height off the table. Tents, light displays, etc. are permitted in the Dealers Den areas.
The Artists Alley (including Reserved artist tables) are permitted displays up to six feet off the table. These displays are encouraged to emphasize the artist’s work and not to block or crowd surrounding artists.
Venue
Starting in 2024, Furry Weekend Atlanta will be expanding AGAIN! The convention will occur across multiple spaces, all connected by short skybridges. The Vendor Hall will be located in the Hilton Atlanta Hotel/ The main hotel room block will open before vendor selection in order to allow vendors to acquire boarding. Additional room blocks will open between November 2023 and the date of the event, with many diverse rooms available! Traversal from the furthest end of the event to the other is about a 10 minute walk, as confirmed by the Vendor Hall Director. All available space has accessibility access and recommendations.
The FWA Vendor Room Block will open in November 2023
More information about specific vendor space locations will be provided in accordance to venue policy.
Details about load in, load out, and at-con expectations will be given directly to vendors via the vendor newsletter. This is to protect the security of vendors as well as their materials.
If you have any questions or immediate concerns, please contact [email protected].
Any issues with your room reservations should be directed to the hotel with the note that you are navigating your FWA 2024 room block.
Hotel
It is strongly recommended that vendors aim to acquire a room via the Vendor room block openings, which will be announced directly to vendors after selection.
All rooms available for vendors will be within reasonable distance from the Vendor Hall. All convention areas are within five minutes from the main event hotel, the Marriott Marquis. There is effective disability access to and through all skybridges to all areas of the event.
Vendor Assistants
Vendors will be permitted to have assistants/staff to accompany them in managing their booths. Furry Weekend Atlanta asks that vendors confirm their assistants names and information no less than three weeks prior to the event. Surveys will be sent to gather this information from vendors. This is to maintain security in the vendor areas and ensure we provide the proper number of vendor badges to the correct people. Vendors are limited to “one assistant per chair”, so each table will allow for two people total. This also applies to Artists Alley Reserved and First come first serve tables.
Please contact [email protected] for any questions about assistants or if you need additional accessibility or alternating assistance during the event.
It is critical to security that Vendor Hall coordinators are aware of who is meant to be in vendor areas.
Example:
If WawaWolfy has purchased a small booth in the Dealers Den, they can invite their friend BoogleGoogleMcSmoogle to assist them at the table. They may NOT also invite Boogle’s partner JimJams to assist at the same time. If Wawa wants Boogle and Jim to alternate during the event (Boogle helping on Friday, Jim helping on Saturday), they MUST contact the Coordinator at least 3 weeks in advance.
Display Guidelines and Behavior in General Vendor Spaces
Please remember that not everyone may share your tastes, and that your behavior is representative of the entire fandom. In accordance with state law, we must require that any adult material must not be displayed openly; for example, art/print dealers we request, where applicable, that two separate binders (“general”, “adult”) be kept. Additionally, any “naughty” parts of art must be covered in some fashion (Post-It notes work well for this). This satisfies State requirements about underage viewing and is discreet for purchasers. Vendors are responsible for keeping unsuitable material out of the hands of minors in the vendor areas. Minors will be clearly identifiable according to their registration.
In addition to the above rule, we have several other regulations which we ask vendors to abide by:
- No space may be resold or transferred without permission from the Dealers Den Coordinator.
- No loud or annoying displays will be permitted. Any loud noises will be multiplied by the dynamics of the room, so please keep audio at a reasonable volume.
- No pirated works may be sold in the vendor areas. Anything that you sell that is not entirely your creation should have permission from all other parties before selling.
- Free standing displays or stands may not be used in any way that causes a safety issue or clogs the walkway. If you plan on using a stand or display with your table, please inform the Dealers Den Coordinator so it can be positioned in a way as to not cause problems.
- No weapons may be sold in the vendor spaces. Actual or replica weapons may not be sold in the vendor spaces. Prop weapons that comply with the FWA weapons policy may be sold. Please contact [email protected] if you have questions about our weapons policy.
- No more than two people may be behind a single table at any given time.
- Please keep your area clean and take your trash with you when you close up each night.
The Coordinators will have final say on all disputes in the vendor areas. You can appeal to a Director, but they will likely decide in favor of the Coordinator. All Furry Weekend Atlanta Policies apply.
Adult Dealers Den
The Adult Dealers Den will be contained in a separate area from general vending spaces. Staff and security will be posted to check both badges AND government issued IDs at entry. NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18 IS PERMITTED IN THE ADULT DEALERS DEN.
Vendors and buyers in the Adult Dealers Den are expected to behave professionally, follow state law, and be respectful of each other and general audiences. Products purchased in the Adult Dealers Den should be bagged when in general convention spaces. FWA is an all-ages event, and while Adult materials are welcome, they must be contained appropriately according to the law.
Booth Sharing
Single Booths and tables may be split between two individual dealers. However, the second dealer must go through the application process just as the first dealer. Once they have been approved, the second dealer will be listed on the Convention App with their own profile if desired. Each dealer will need to apply, and can request to be seated next to another dealer.
This also applies to Reserved Artists Alley tables. Both artists at a table must go through the application process in order to share a reserved table.
Hours
To be announced
Dealers Den and Artists Alley will all have the same hours.
Security and Safety
The most important part of Furry Weekend Atlanta is that everyone is safe at all times.
The vendor areas of FWA will be staffed at all open hours. When not open, vendor areas will be secured with hotel/event personnel patrol.
Do not, under any circumstances, leave cash or other valuables inside of the vendor areas that you may need after closing. This includes laptops, personal appliances, or medication. Once the vendor areas are closed and secured, it may not be possible to reopen them. FWA staff may not be available to assist you after hours, and hotel staff and security may not have the authority to allow you access. Please keep this in mind as you leave the vendor areas.
All vendor spaces will be required to comply with all security and safety policies of the convention. Violence, harassment, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of harmful behavior will not be tolerated. Products and behavior will apply and any violation of FWA policies may lead to vendor removal from the vendor spaces and convention without warning or refund.
Accessibility
All vendor spaces at Furry Weekend Atlanta are deliberately structured to be as accessible as possible for people of all shapes, sizes, needs, and backgrounds. It is important to us that vendors with any particular accessibility needs have those needs acknowledged and met as soon as possible. Please be sure to contact [email protected] if you have any particular needs in your vendor area.
We are happy to build these accommodations. No disability, need, or assistance is a hassle or a burden. The diversity of this fandom is what makes it beautiful and the vendor Coordinators are here to facilitate you.
If you have any questions concerning accessibility at the general convention, please contact
Communication
Starting for the 2023 event, Coordinators will use automated emails for frequent cadence to vendors as well as using the official FWA website (furryweekend.com) and Twitter (@furryweekend) to provide information, announcements, and collect feedback and vendor status. Please be sure that your email system does NOT block any furryweekend domain emails. You may receive information from the following sources:
FWA is a fully volunteer staff, and the Coordinators of the vendor spaces may not immediately respond to emails. If you do not hear back from them in three business days, please attempt to contact again before escalating. Twitter is not a reliable way to contact the vendor Coordinators. If you have an issue with any of the vendor processes for FWA 2024, please contact the Coordinators first to find an effective resolution.
Specialized Vendor Spaces
Furry business vendors of board games and video games may be considered for vendor spaces in other areas. Please contact [email protected] for questions and details.
Tattoo Artists are an exciting and welcome part of FWA each year. This year, Tattoo spaces will have strict state-specific policies and requirements.
All Tattoo Artists MUST adhere to the Fulton County Department of Health requirements for Rules and Regulations of Body Art, including area sanitation, floor and chair requirements, etc.
https://fultoncountyga.gov/-/media/Departments/Board-of-Health/Environmental-Health/Body-Art-Rules-_-Regulations.ashx
Taxes
According to the Georgia Department of Revenue, dealers at Furry Weekend Atlanta do not need to obtain Tax IDs or business licenses. Dealers at Furry Weekend Atlanta are classified as “Itinerant Vendors” under the Georgia Tax Code and will still need to deduct and report Georgia State and Fulton County sales taxes.
Vendors will need to fill and submit the FS-32 Tax Form at the tax rate of the event
https://dor.georgia.gov/fs-32-miscellaneous-events
At the time of this policy update, the tax rate for Fulton County is 8.9%
PLEASE VERIFY THIS TAX RATE BEFORE SUBMISSION OF THE FORM!
Vendor Coordinator staff do not have professional tax experience, and cannot provide additional feedback or assistance concerning the tax rate or forms required in Fulton County, Georgia.
Due to the fluctuating nature of a county sales tax rate in addition to a sales tax rate, it is prudent that vendors check the month of the event to ensure no additional forms or rates will be required. Forms will not be provided at the event at this time due to these possible fluctuations.
Adult Only Event Vendors
Additional information and policies for Adult Only Events will be available closer to the FWA 2024 event. Please email [email protected] with any questions.
Communication
Additional communication channels will be provided soon! This will include Telegram, Discord, and other avenues of communication.
Artists Alley Selections, Arrivals, Schedule, and Planning
More information concerning Artists Alley specifics will be provided soon.