Over the years I've read with some interest the habit of the UK "B&B". It's kind of an interesting thing, as we don't usually tend to have that sort of thing here in the States. Almost all of our transactions tend to be face to face, buyer to seller. I'm an avid used buyer and I've found this is true with most of the methods I've seen over here.
The first is the traditional "rent a Table" Flea Market approach This is very common. It's usually only for a 2-3 hours that comprise a "Flea Market" session (Little Wars often has two sessions a day). This set number of hours means that a seller doesn't loose an entire day of participating in the convention. Also, the more limited number of hours for the Flea Market does help placate the actual dealers who have paid far 4-5x as much for each of the tables they are using and don't want the buyers continually distracted by the Flea Market. Some FLGS's also have Flea Market. Sometimes these are free and Sometimes they are not. Sometimes Sellers pay for the privilege and sometimes the sellers receive payment in store credit.
The Second is the Exchange format. It's also set for a certain amount of time, usually in the evening after most events are over. It was also the format for the "Bizzaire Bazzars" that the Local GW Battle bunker used to have before everything extra that was fun and customer centric about GW went belly up. In this format everyone shows up with stuff finds a place at a table and folks walk around and buy, trade, haggle, etc. Largely unregulated and without fees.
The only method that isn't really face to face is the auction format and it's a bit different. One of the Local FLGS's biggest events (and one of my favorite) is the twice annual Auction. It goes for 4 days and is split into various segments based on game type. Folks bring in their stuff, it gets auctioned and the seller gets store credit.
Anywho, a couple of questions for UK B&B participants who prefer the non-paid-table.
1) Is there really an intermediary who will check with a seller when a buyer makes an offer?
2) Does the B&B go on all day? If so, how do regular vendors feel about this?
3) Is the desire to not haggle directly with the owner a general cultural thing or a personal preference? Over here, this seems to be some of the appeal, that is, the ability to really haggle and deal because you're speaking directly to the owner. Each year I make some stupendous buys, simply by being able to address the owner with an immediate offer for "this stack of stuff".
4) Do most of the Rent-a-Table situations rent by the hour, by the day, or for a set number of hours?
5) Is the B&B section segregated from the rest of the dealers or near to them?
Thanks, folks. Don't know why I find this so interesting, but I really do.