Check out at IFAM quickly with the Concierge Service

The 2018 International Folk Art Market has two programs aimed at smoothing out the market checkout process for the thousands who buy from market artists. After undergoing “beta testing” in 2017 with a few dozen shoppers, IFAM’s Concierge Service has sold out this year.

About 125 participants will be able to forego the regular check-out lines, according to IFAM marketing and communications director Gabe Gomez.

For $150, the service also eliminates the standard process in which guests take receipts to the cashier, pay and take validated tickets back to the artist booths to pick up the goods.

“It essentially aggregates that into one swoop,” said Gomez. He added that designated runners do all the work and then the shoppers go to a separate area near the front of the market to pay.

These shoppers also have the option of bringing their cars up to load their purchases.

A free service designed to expedite the regular purchasing line is called ExpressPay.

It allows visitors with U.S. credit cards to pre-load their card, name and billing address information online. Gomez said it eliminates the process of a cashier taking down that information on site.

ExpressPay users will have a special line at checkout and just have enter a four-digit pin they create with their account and show their ID to complete purchases.

If users don’t want to enter their card information for ExpressPay, they can preload their name and address, and show their card and ID on site.

“You’re talking about five minutes just run(ning) through the line at that point,” said Gomez.

At the point of purchase, shoppers are asked to provide address information for mailings. ExpressPay bypasses that process on site.

This system started in 2016, but Gomez said the goal this year is to make more visitors aware of it, so it’s better utilized. Accounts can be created at folkartmarket.org/shopifam.