Money

[Memphis]

How much miney do we to bring if we want to attend EXPO this year?
That will be my first event in life, so I'm not as assured about that as others, so could someone tell me how much products like; posters, badges etc. cost?
Cheers for help ^.^

[Reser]

Prices are usually always around the following : -

Posters - 3 for £5, or £2 each?
Wall Scrolls - £13-£18
Bags - £12-£20
Plushies - £5-£20 - Depends on size
Figures - £5-£7 for the small collection type ones £18-£30 for the normal sized figures £30+ for the bigger ones
Manga - around £5, sometimes a buy one get one free deal going on
DVD's - £20-40 per series, also sometimes a buy one series get another free deal going.
Pocky - £1-£2 per box

How much you should bring depends on how much you think you want to buy, everyone is differnt. I generally spend around £150-£220. However this time I am aiming to keep it down to £100.

[fks-102]

This is my first expo aswel Memphis, so your not alone. I plan on taking as much money as i can (hoping to take around £200) which should be enough to see whats on offer and get some things i want with money to spare (lol, doubt it) when i come home.

[AmyAnn]

I'm gonna take as much as I can. I'm terrible with spending money though, I'd take about £200 and only spend about £50 XD

[Adziu]

I tend to spend very little, but there are people who spend hundreds.

It depends how much you want to buy!

[Raymatt Havoc]

My first expo I spent £70 on manga

My second one i spent only £20 so don't plan too much but its always better to take extra than not take enough.

[Lady Bahamut]

I think I spent about £100+ overall ^^;

[CrystalNeko]

At my first few times I spend around £70-120!! Now I only really spend about £15-40 depending what there is [if there's a few DVDs I want then it tends to be more... otherwise I don't really buy much apart from a few mangas!]

P.S. Try to bring more than you think you'll need. You never know when there's a one-off product you might want! [In my case, I really wanted the Tactics DVD sets a while ago but was out by £10 - luckily my dad was about so I borrowed some money and paid him back at home ^_^ - I've learnt my lesson now and bring quite a bit with me even though I'm unlikely going to spend it all!]

[Scribbles93]

Ay ay ay X.X

People are crazy walking around with hundreds.

I only take around £50-70 (£30 on hand, £40 in bank) but i dont buy much merchandise since they tend to fall apart ;/

[fks-102]

What i plan on doing is taking half in my normal wallet and the other half in an "emergency wallet" or just a backup wallet
So if my first one get sstolen of i run out, i can go onto the second one.

[Reser]

For the first timers who might not know, there is plenty of cash machines all over the place at Expo, about 2 or 3 on top floor and 2 down by the toilets.

The Cash machines on top floor usually from what I have seen are queue less, I think it is because they are less noticeable.

The 2 machines down by the toilets always has massive queues(around 10-15 min wait ) when expo is well under way, so best to get your money towards the start of the day, also sometimes one breaks or runs out of cash, however there will always be a way to get your money out of the bank.

If you are getting there an hour early all the machines will be queue less.

So if you do not like carrying lots of money to expo, like me, just leave most of it in the bank and get it out before the expo. Even better pop down the night before if you are in one of the close hotels (Ibis/Novotel) .

Basically you do not have to worry about not taking enough money with you since you can always pop back to the ATM for some more money if you run out.

[CrystalNeko]

The 2 machines down by the toilets always has massive queues(around 5-10 min wait at most) when expo is well under way

Really? It only takes 5-10mins? That's super fast actually! The queues look horrendous which is exactly why I went to my dad rather than queue up for the cash machine X_X If I had known you'd be able to get there in just 5-10mins I would have happily queued up xD [Was expecting a 30min wait with so many people!!!]

[Ryoko]

take as much as you can afford, but theres no need to spend a fortune (or anything!) to have a good time.
I spent most of my money in May on food and travel, other than my hotel they were my biggest expenses, I didnt spend nearly as much as I expected at the Expo because almost everything there I knew I could buy somewhere else.

[Reser]

The 2 machines down by the toilets always has massive queues(around 5-10 min wait at most) when expo is well under way

Really? It only takes 5-10mins? That's super fast actually! The queues look horrendous which is exactly why I went to my dad rather than queue up for the cash machine X_X If I had known you'd be able to get there in just 5-10mins I would have happily queued up xD [Was expecting a 30min wait with so many people!!!]

Well depends I guess, the Expo where one was broken it took a very long time since everyone was crowding around one machine. However longest I have been in the queue is around 10 minutes, maybe just over. I usually look over every now and again and if its like totally massive I will come back in 10 minutes and join the queue once it has gone down a bit.

If you are fast at using the ATM you can get your money and be gone in about 30-40 seconds, so I guess good way to work out how long you will be waiting is count how many people there are and divide by 2, since there is 2 machines. so with 20 people in the queue will be around 10 mins.

However near the doors of Excel on the main floor is one of those portable cash machines and there is also one or two further up near the centre, and those are quite surprisingly not usually as busy.

[Ryoko]

the one by the main entrance was free when we walked in at about 9.30/9.45 so we used that, I dont think I saw much of a que for it all day, but some traders in the hall were accepting card payments.

[Lloyd_Irving]

My expenditure has slowly increased since my first expo in 2007. I only spent £45 that May, in October I spent £95, and since I have a job, I'll be bringing about £150 this time xD

[Hellastar]

This is my second time, I went last october.
Im going to take about £50 (if i can get my hands on it)
But i know ill have at least £30

But im going to take as much as i can.
I just need to find a bag to go with my outfit!

[hello1652]

i am going to take about £30 to £50 pound i mostly buy manga/figs lol

[Yatak]

20-30 for merch... 10000000< for booze... I don't have a problem .

[issabella_mottman]

Usually I travel up separately both days, and take £60 ish the first day and then the second day take anything I didn't spend plus enough to make it up to another £60. However since I'm staying in a hotel, I plan to just take about £120 assuming I have enough. Most of it goes on manga and hi-chews, and then i buy posters (which are £3 or 2 for £5 now, the prices went up >.<) and anything else i randomly see. I try not to spend over £100, but I sometimes go over.

[sunny1r]

I tend to spend £20 on getting there buying food and for the actual ticket. then i have a spare £20-30 for stuff; nowadays i just go for the fun of it all, so i don't spend as much. btw you can save loads of money by not spending a fiver on pizza which costs a pound everywhere else. so buy some stuff on your way .

[diphenhydramine]

I hardly spend any money at expo now, at least the majority of it goes onto the hotel and cosplay instead of actual merchandise. At expo, I try to only buy things I couldn't get somewhere else, hence last time I left with a Sanji plushie, since they're pretty rare in comparison to other things. I also got a poster. But I can't remember anything else I got xD spent some money on cider at the party as well.

[diphenhydramine]

Oh and not to shamelessly promote other threads, but for those who are sick of the ridiculous food prices in the excel building, I organise a breakfast meetup to a cafe nearby that's so wonderfully cheap, and a nice big breakfast can fill you up for the entire day, as well as being way better for you than surviving on sweets/pocky.

[Reicheru]

I'm terrible when it comes to spending money XD I don't even notice I'm doing it half the time, so I'm going to end up having to save and bring over £200 to last me while I'm there, plus some spare for food...so maybe £250 altogether? I gotta start saving DDD:

[animefan]

Pocky - £1-£2 per box

Thats a tad OTT, tbh if you want it cheaper eg. 59p ish, go to China town prior, other than that £300 is usually a good solid amount