John McClure wrote in MMD 980814:

> I wish I could say the same for the response from my request as
> a member to attend the Mart at the MBSI convention in Charlotte.
> I am a florist with a 40-hour week who requested to attend Friday
>  and as a member I was informed that I would have to pay $190 to
> attend the Mart. ... GERRREAT >>>:>

To John and others,  I am not an official spokesman for the MBSI but
let me address your concern from my point of view.

The MBSI is a membership type organization and many of its functions
are for members only.  The Mart in question is specifically part of
the annual convention activities and is not meant to be a standalone
"flea market".

Since the purposes of the organization are education and preservation,
a trading mart has always been a sideline intended to benefit the
members.  Furthermore, while buying and trading among members is a
personal thing, opening a mart to non-participants, whether members
or not, would open the question of legality and sales tax collection
considerations.

The decision of the organization has generally been that a place is
being provided for participants to make individual trades and purchases
as a convenience to the attendees.  On one or two occasions a mart has
been opened to the public, and in those cases all vendors were respon-
sible for collecting and paying sales tax for the state in which they
took place.

Sponsoring such an open event has to be done very carefully in order
not to jeopardize the MBSI standing as a tax exempt educational and
historical society.  The large fee you quoted simply enrolled you as a
participant in the convention, assuming you are already an MBSI member,
and was not a "gate fee" to the mart.

There are other commercial shows and flea markets, such as the phono-
graph show in New Jersey, that are always open to the public, but these
are conducted like any other commercial venture.  There are also venues
such as Antique Trader classified ads, EBay on the Internet, and our
own MMD buy and sell items for people to exchange items outside the
organizations such as AMICA and MBSI.

I hope this clarifies the actions and policies of the MBSI and its
marts at meetings.

Bob Conant