how much money have you made selling at craft fairs?
im doing my first show in april most of stuff i purchased wholesale but some is homemade……..everything is priced from $2.00 to $12.00 how much should I expect to make?
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There are a few factors: Geographic location and local economy; Need for the items; How well crafted or unusual the handmade items are; How attractive the display; Your personality (interact with the shoppers and don’t just sit there reading or playing games).
Have plenty of small bills for making change. Practice making change; if the sale is $14.00 and the customer gives you a twenty and four ones, the change is $10.00 – many people glaze over when handed a combination like this.
It also helps if you are a local.
Another factor is the show itself. I used to run craft fairs and found that people who want hand crafted items don’t buy things if there are vendors or mass produced items also for sale. Many will leave as soon as they see a Mary Kay lady. I would check my crafters’ tables before the show opened, and a couple times each day to look for contraband. I had to send one lady home (boy was she mad!) because she had a bunch of wooden ornaments she bought already painted. She didn’t even put a piece of ribbon on them, no value added at all.
Traffic is important. People have to show up to buy stuff. And your own location is critical. If you’re at a school, for instance, you want to be in the main gym, or the first major space when they come in the door. The closer to the door you are, the better. Craft fairs are big places and people get tired and kids get bored. Or they spend all their money in the beginning and just walk around the rest of the booths. The dead end of a hall way is the worst place to be. You’re space is probably already assigned, so if you like it and want it next year, sign up as soon as you can. I always had my next show almost filled by the end of the first day. I could only take a dozen or so new crafters each year. After I left, the next show allowed vendors and they killed my craft fair.
I thought I would do pretty well as a crafter myself, but I didn’t. I was lucky to make table money (the cost of your space, that is) and once I spent more buying chocolate from the lady next to me than I made. I sold my own stuff at work much more than at craft fairs. I think that I may have priced my things too low so people thought they were “junk”. I sell handmade greeting cards and now I charge more than twice what I did when I was doing shows, and people buy as many as I can make here at work, and at church. The trick is to have what people are buying that day.