How to Start a Card Show: A Promoter's Guide From Venue to Show Day
To start a card show, pick a date and a venue you can fill, work out your costs and table price, recruit dealers before you advertise to collectors, and take payment the moment a dealer commits to a table. Begin with a one day show of 20 to 40 tables, and run your table sales through software built for card shows rather than your inbox.
This guide on how to start a card show covers the decisions that are specific to cards: who your dealers are, what a room full of glass cases needs, the paperwork that catches new promoters out, and how to price a table. For the planning order that applies to any vendor event, our guide to organizing a vendor event walks through it from the first call to the venue.
How to start a card show: the basics
Starting a card show takes a venue, a date that doesn't clash with other shows nearby, a group of dealers willing to rent tables, and enough collectors through the door to make those dealers money. Dealers are the half to win first, because collectors come for what's on the tables.
Before you book anything, check the local calendar. If another card show runs within an hour's drive on the same weekend, you'll split both the dealers and the collectors, so pick a weekend nobody else holds.
How big should your first card show be?
Your first show should be small enough that you can fill every table with dealers you've already spoken to. We'd suggest 20 to 40 tables: enough choice that collectors feel the trip was worth it, and small enough for a community hall, VFW post or hotel meeting room. A half empty room of 100 tables looks worse to a collector than a full room of 30.
Run it as a single day. One day keeps the venue bill down and asks less of dealers while you learn what your area will support.
How do you choose a venue for a card show?
Choose the venue by its table count, its lighting and how easily dealers can carry heavy boxes in. Cards are small and dealers sell from glass cases, so bright, even light matters more here than at a craft fair, and a dim ballroom hurts every table. Ask for the usable floor dimensions, how many 6 or 8 foot tables and chairs are included, and where the outlets are for dealers who bring lights or card readers.
Parking and load in decide what dealers say about your show afterwards. They carry long boxes, display cases and graded cards worth real money, so a door close to the parking lot and a couple of carts will earn more goodwill than a nicer room up a flight of stairs.
Do you need a permit or insurance to run a card show?
Check both before you sell a single table, because the rules depend on your state and your venue. In California, the Department of Tax and Fee Administration's Publication 111 says the operator of a special event must keep written records of everyone who sells there and may not rent space to sellers until they provide the required documentation, with a penalty of up to $1,000 for each seller without records (checked October 2026). Other states set their own seller's permit rules, so call your state tax agency before you open sales.
Insurance is usually set by the venue, so ask whether it needs a general liability certificate from you naming the venue as an additional insured, and whether dealers need cover of their own. Write into your dealer terms that each dealer is responsible for their own inventory.
How much should you charge for a card show table?
Price tables from your costs first, then compare with the shows your dealers already attend. Add venue rent, table rental, insurance and advertising, then divide by the number of tables you expect to sell; for a first show we'd plan on 80 percent of capacity. If that beats what nearby shows charge, find a smaller room rather than charging a premium for an unproven show.
Card dealers often book two or three tables side by side to lay out their cases, so decide early whether a second table costs the same or less, and keep those runs together on the floor plan. Online card fees come out of every sale too: Stripe's standard US rate was 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card charge in October 2026, about $2.48 on a $75 table, so build that into the price.
How do you find dealers and collectors for a card show?
Find dealers first by walking the card shows already running near you and visiting local card shops, since those are the people with stock, cases and regular buyers. Give every dealer one link with the date, venue, table size, price, setup time and a map to pick their spot from.
Collectors follow dealers, so start advertising to them once most tables are sold. Post in local collector groups and on Instagram, list the show on card show calendars, and leave flyers in every card shop within driving distance, starting with the shops that agreed to take a table.
What's the easiest way to sell tables for your card show?
The easiest way is to let dealers pick a table on a live floor plan and pay for it in the same step, so a table can only sell once and nobody chases payments by text. It’s About The Fun began at real Los Angeles card shows to do exactly that. You draw the hall once, dealers choose and pay on their phone, receipts go out on their own, and the money lands in your own Stripe account for $299 a month with no cut of table sales. When you're ready to put your first show on the map, create your account and start drawing the hall today.