I realized that at my outdoor show a lot of the cardwork I do can be done
with a Svengali Deck, except without the signature on the cards.
Ambitious Card
Carlyle Homing Card
Card to Pocket
Prediction/mind-reading
whatever...

I brought a few Svengali decks with me and barely even mentioned them and sold 3 or 4 decks for $5 each. A nice markup. I bought another 24 decks for next time to do more experimenting. Maybe I'll watch Don Driver's video again for some pointers.

What do you real buskers think about this line of improving one's take for the day?

Hey Frank,
Nice one.Having worked on the streets for 3 or 4 years, just with the 'show' I am now selling dvd's of my show combined with my promo and moving a few a day. Have discovered filming and video editing and will be putting a fuller product together and charging more. Even my table will have advertising on it as well as a banner behind me attached to a TALL set of step ladders.(Edinburgh Festival coming up)
I have briefly struggled with the selling of product as I want folks to 'pay' for the show, and not product(I may as well get a peddlars license and move units)but having started I realise, for me, that the show (which pays) also acts as an advetisement for any product I have. Good idea...let us know how it goes...
James James
aka
vernon
ps This time next year we will all be milionaires...

You gotta watch the law, if you are "selling" something then it is expected that you have a licence ... and that you collect (and pay) sales tax.

Some areas are easier than others; ie: here in Myrtle Beach, there is an indoor flea market. If you want a booth there, you must get a Myrtle Beach business licence. But there is another market up the road a ways which is just outside the city limits. There, you don't need a business licence.

So just like busking itself, it all depends on the local area you are trying to do it. If you can do it, and you can get paid for doing it, then I say go for it.

JoeJoe

Looks like yet another fine magician has discovered the wonders of the Svengali Deck! <grin>

I can't speak as a busker, but from a pitch standpoint, I wonder if you aren't sending mixed messages. You are giving a free show and asking for tips, and also selling a product for a fee. Maybe there's a way to combine all of this, but if I was in the audience, I might be a little confused, especially if I happened to see the pitch first, then the rest of the show and the hat line.

As a pitchman, I have found that it's the demos that sell the decks. You need to perform in order to move the merchandise, but I always say "There's no charge for watching!" This often seems to make some people feel more comfortable, that they aren't obligated to buy anything (but they usually do anyway). I also occasionally perform one or two other tricks that I don't sell, just to draw a crowd for the pitch (Miser's Dream, Professor's Nightmare). But the "show" is primarily the product; I don't ask for tips, but that's because I don't busk. SETH

My good friend Zack in L.A. (he's in my building a tip DVD)pitches the Svengali decks in his busking show and it's working well.He said he still get's hat money but the selling of the decks is making him good money.

I'll see if I can get him to post here.

Later,Don