We received a tip from one of our readers regarding the SDCC 2013 open registration policy, which may have an impact to both pre-registration folks and those waiting to participate in open registration.
SDCCBlog reader Shirley posted that her friend had contacted CCI about upgrading or buying additional badges during open registration which were purchased during the pre-registration sale in early August. CCI’s response is as follows:
Thank you for your email and feedback. We understand that you were not able to purchase your desired badge(s) during the preregistration event and would like an opportunity to purchase additional badges or upgrade your existing badge during open online registration in early 2013.
At this time, Comic-Con International has not yet reached a decision regarding the eligibility of attendees that were able to purchase a badge during online preregistration to participate in open online registration.
Please accept our apology for the delayed response as we discuss this matter internally with the hopes of reaching an outcome that will simultaneously meet the needs of our dedicated fans and our organization.
This seems to be somewhat in conflict with the 2013 Attendee Registration Terms & Conditions we wrote about last week. We can only wonder if CCI is only allowing those folks who didn’t participate in the pre-registration to get an exclusive first crack at available badges when open registration occurs in early 2013. This would make sense from the standpoint CCI is trying to ensure that everyone has a chance to attend SDCC, both previous attendees and those who weren’t able to attend in the prior year. In that case, we suspect that the terms and conditions mentioned earlier would indeed apply regarding the sale of any remaining unclaimed or cancelled badges, which generally go on sale in late spring.
We’ve reached out to CCI for comment on the email, and we’ll let everyone know as soon as we’ve received any information or clarification.