SDCC General Sale – How Did You Do?

Now that the dust has (mostly) settled on the 2014 general sale for SDCC badges, how did everyone do?

Of the eight people, including myself, that attempted the general sale, only two of them made it in. When days started selling out, most who hadn’t gotten in abandoned the waiting room because those were the days we were looking for. I stayed in until the bitter end and was never even taken out of the waiting room in the hour and a half it took for all of the badges to sell out.

Using the same random method that we talked about when we covered pre-registration, on a larger scale, Comic Con International does seem to avoid the dreaded crashing and lagging of years past, as well as putting everyone with a Member ID on equal footing regardless of it being your first year attending SDCC or your fifteenth.

The part of me that wants everyone to experience Comic Con loves the new lottery system, based on the luck of the draw and not because I can click .00003 seconds faster than you. The selfish part of me that wants to guarantee I get to go is horrified that my own destiny has mostly been taken out of my hands. I also foresee a future where I would considering signing my sister, my mom, my best friend, anyone who did or did not want to go themselves, up for a Member ID just for another chance at even getting onto the buying page next year. I’m still holding out hope that there wasn’t an influx of dummy accounts this year and that CCI will figure out a way to balance those concerns in the years to come.

Last year, I was in and out of the buying process in about an hour – with four 4-day badges successfully purchased. You knew in a matter of minutes whether you were in the running or not. This year… I sat around for an hour and a half, biding my time to see if I’d even get a chance at buying badges. Let’s take a look at the timeline of events from our Twitter (and groan at any bad jokes Sam made):

“Everyone has secured a spot in the line!” And yet not all will get badges. Let the 2014 #SDCC Hunger Games commence!

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

One person is in and that’s two of the badges I was trying for taken care of already! Holy shit! #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

Two friends are going to #SDCC for the first time. I hate the random lottery but sometimes I love it. Congrats all first timers! #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

Preview Night and Saturday are running low – crap! #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

Friday badges are also running low. #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

“Preview Night and Saturday has sold out.” And you may not be able to purchase Friday badges. Sorry everyone! That sucks. #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

“The option to purchase Preview Night, Friday and Saturday has sold out.” In less than an hour. Crazy as always. #SDCC #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

“.. there are still three other fabulous days of Comic-Con International to attend!” I think you mean two, @Comic_Con. #SDCC2014

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

“Comic-Con International 2014 badges have sold out! We thank all of your for your patronage and support!” Congrats & condolences all. #SDCC

— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 15, 2014

There is the Nerdophiles SDCC ticket buying saga from beginning to end. Unfortunately, we were only after Friday/Saturday badges for most of our friends, so once those went, we were less focused on tracking Thursday/Sunday badge sales, but everything was gone in just a little over an hour.

We’re interested to hear how everyone else’s buying experience panned out! And we’re wishing everyone luck if there ends up being one final resale after the refund period ends. See you all at San Diego Comic Con 2014!