Ideas, ideas, hmm...
The first idea that comes to mind would be contacting the owners/organizers of reptile-related conventions. In many (if not most) conventions, attendants get a "goodie bag" full of stuff from the sponsors - stuff like free samples, ads, coupons, and that sort of thing. The idea would be to have a brochure about Fauna placed into these goodie bags so that customers, most importantly the ones that are new to the industry and most vulnerable to be taken advantage of by scammers, can get some valuable information on how to protect themselves.
How do we convince these organizers to include a brochure, ideally for free? I think the answer to this is by stressing the public service that Fauna provides, and to tie it into the convention-goer's security and peace of mind. The more a convention-goer feels that they have the tools to make sure they aren't scammed (or the tools to lessen this possibility), the more money they are likely to spend in confidence, and the more money is made by venders in a convention due to this confidence in spending. When venders make more money, that makes the convention's tables more valuable commodities, and this is beneficial to the organizer.
Let's face it, the reptile hobby can be an expensive one. Not everyone feels comfortable dropping anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand for an animal. Additional peace of mind will be a positive influence on sales. The more hobbyists, especially new and vulnerable ones, have access to the valuable information Fauna provides, the less that these vulnerable individuals can be preyed upon by scammers as well, which is a benefit to the hobby. Higher anti-scammer information dispersal should hurt successful scammers and "Bad Guys" and hopefully force them out of the hobby faster.
The next topic would be what the brochure would include. Of course, first and foremost we would have information about the BOI, encouraging people -- convention goers too! -- that information about a seller is possibly one click away, especially when so many people have smart phones that can connect to the internet. All they have to do is look at the convention table seller's name, search it on Fauna, and they immediately get some results upon which they can make their decisions.
But that's not all it could include. BOI familiars could help write small articles or lists for the brochure on topics like the following: "What questions should I ask a breeder before I purchase an animal?" "What are the most common signs of a scammer?" "What are the most common signs of a flipper?" Anything that the reptile community feels would be beneficial for new herpers to know and information that will make new hobbyists less vulnerable to scammers.
There are ultimately going to be some conventions that require a sponsorship (e.g. money) to have content put in their goodie bag. Fauna can handle this cost by having brochure sponsorship slots, similar to the ones that are in the current marketplace forum areas. The sponsorship fees would cover the cost of having Fauna then become a sponsor of a particular convention (it could also help cover the cost of printing the brochures too). These sponsorship slots would, ideally, be only accepted from names that have proven their "Good Guy" status, and their logos could be placed on the back of the brochure with a page like "Here are some Good Guys that have sponsored this brochure for your benefit."
This could be enough to pay any sponsorship fees to have Fauna included in the sponsors for the convention, and thus included in the goodie bag. Though I do feel that there's a strong argument for including Fauna brochures in goodie bags due to it being a service to the community.
Regarding storage, brochures could be printed on demand according to any particular convention's needs. There's no need to have to store boxes of them in a warehouse or storage space if the needed amount are ordered and delivered directly to the convention organizer (or the convention location during set-up times -- whenever).
Convention organizers and owners, venders, and customers alike benefit from having "Bad Guys" exposed in the hobby. I don't think anyone truly wants to see someone get scammed in our hobby. And Fauna and its community will benefit from having a larger pool of people and their experiences to weigh in on Good Guys and Bad Guys. More data.
Fun fact: based on a cursory Google search, the cost of 45,000 8 x 9 brochures with a front, one page, second page, and back page is $4491.00, or about $0.09 per brochure.
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