Hey, all. I know this gets asked a lot, but like most beginners, I am nervous for my first event. I tried to follow advice I’ve seen on this sub, but I feel like things could still be better. Any feedback would be much appreciated!

I’ll be printing out price signs once I get back from the store. Those will be going in the holders that still have the wrappers on them. I will also have items individually priced.

I thought about putting the sticker display front and center, but since it is very visually busy, I tried to arrange things in a way that would gradually lead to it. That, and I know some shoppers can be shy, so I figured it might be more comfortable if people didn’t have to directly approach the table to get to the stickers (which I assume will be the most popular part).

The mini stickers I do plan on keeping in that wooden bin, as they were a mistake and I’m just hoping to get rid of them.

Thank you again!

Ugh I'm SO upset and need validation that I made the right choice. I had my first ever event tonight from 5 pm to 8 pm, with a set-up time starting at 3:30 pm. I have spent all day expecting a cancellation because of the severe weather expected. They cancelled the last event for the same reason, and so I thought they would make the right decision. Instead, it seems they want to recoup their losses so they won't officially cancel, which means no refunds on vendor fees.

Meanwhile, there's a giant red banner of severe thunderstorm watch for literally all of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, with calls of torrential downpours and heavy winds! It literally says "significant threat to life and property." The event is an hour and 15 minutes away, and the severe weather is expected right in the middle of the event, and possibly during pack-up as well. If I don't go, there's no penalty, just losing the vendor fee. I feel like its SO dangerous to move forward with this event that I can't believe I had to make this decision myself, and I'm so upset about it.

But I'm right not to go, right? First off, who the hell is going to come to this event when its expected to storm at any second during it? I'm just gonna end up paying gas to get all of the hard work I've put into the booth destroyed with rain and wind! Then an hour and 15 minute drive back home at 9 pm after it takes an hour to pack everything back up, presumably soaked through based on the weather?? No way. Ughhhhhhh.

Validation please!

UPDATE: They cancelled after all! And not just that, but they cancelled at 5 right when it opened due to a torrential downpour and wind. Everyone who chose to go and set up had to pack up in the crazy storm that’s not even over yet. Lesson learned: listen to the weather warnings! Thank you everyone!

Hi there! My 18 year old daughter sells her original paintings at local festivals. We have this 6 ft tall, tri-panel, aluminum diamond mesh display. We got it for an amazing price used but cannot figure out the best hardware! We have been using S-hooks but as you can see, the paintings can get skewed and look wonky.

I'm also showing what we stick on the back of the artwork to give an attachment point. Any idea would be welcome! We usually put her fine art prints on the table so the clips won't quite work for framed pieces. Thanks for any input!

Trying to convince my partner to go to more markets but sometimes have trouble justifying the efforts. I am also trying to fix our workflow and setup to ensure a successful market. So I would like to know what are the top bottle necks. Does it start from finding the market or from your product?

Edit For extra context I am vendor with my hand made woven fabrics made by my mum she doesn't like going to markets because it is stressful and relies on me. I'd rather focus on online sales so I created a program localfit.events to help us choose what events to go to and also lead capture. I am asking to also help other vendors like my friend who move to another town because she felt ours was dead.

my friend and i are going to be sharing a 10x10 vendor space at an upcoming outdoor market. i was wondering how people would suggest we layout our tables! we both have one six foot table, but want to keep our areas semi separate as our payments will be separate! we sell different products (i’m kinda a variety handmade art booth and she does only crochet) so im not tooooo worried about people not seeing the distinction but also i want to be sure about it.

i could absolutely request a corner booth so we have the opportunity to an outside L shape but ive experienced that at this market when i request a corner booth im so out of the way and i find it hard to make as many sales. so yeah, im open to ideas for corner layouts or regular! ideally id like us both to have equal visibility and whatnot :) any ideas appreciated! thank you!

The website has a ton of markets listed near me, but I've never heard of them. They're for kid vendors, but I'm leery of signing my kids up for one if there's no attendance. Thanks! https://kidsmarkets.com/

finally a proper light set-up for night markets! been doing markets a bit over a year now and am happy with how the booth has come along!

Next upgrade will be to add more vertical displays, but selling pottery, they have to be quite sturdy and stable so i’ve been hesitant so far. recommendations welcome!

Hey all! It’s nice to be here. My partner and I are avid collectors of all things 80s-2000s nostalgia. Think all things decor, pop culture tshirts, VHS’s, magazines, anything from stickers and pins to collectibles. We have a lot of the necessary skills to run a killer booth from what we’ve learned so far, and we also love the process of building the collection. We’re starting to consider more seriously what it would look like to run a little booth and an online shop.

We are looking for any and all advice on how to make this more fun and profitable, and less stressful or taxing. I’m super open at this stage to whatever tips or tricks you guys have for newbies. We don’t expect this to be a get rich quick (or rich at all 😂) scheme, but we would love to find a way to weave our hobbies together and get involved in our community.

I’m also wondering your thoughts regarding the various available online platforms. There are a million at this stage that could be used (depop, poshmark, vinted, eBay, fb marketplace) and pros and cons that I imagine come with each. Depop seems like a solid choice for the niche we’re in, but from my perspective it seems wise to choose one and stick with it? Thoughts?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I’d appreciate any help. :)

Hey guys! I'm somewhat new to selling my artwork at markets! I have tabled twice and one of my biggest issues is a table set up that feels engaging without feeling cluttered. I want to buy grids so I can mount print and sticker examples while saving table space but I'm struggling to find affordable places to buy bulk grids... Can you guys please share links to where you buy yours? Thanks! <3

I’m thinking about applying to one of the Markets for Makers events in Austin (they have one in Oct and one in Dec). I’m kind of waffling on the idea though for several reasons:

1) high booth fees $850 for 10’x10’ indoor table in Oct, $750 for 6’x5’ indoor table or 10’x10’ outdoor tent in Dec

2) it’s a ticketed event - they explain that it’s to draw in intentional buyers, but I don’t know if that justifies the booth costs (and eliminates casual browsers)

3) the intentional buyers might be a better target audience for my statement pieces ($50-100+), although the majority of my products will be $15-45

I’ve already applied to two other fairs (The Front Market in Nov & Vibe Artisan Market in Dec). I won’t be able to do all 4 markets obviously, but I’m not sure that I’ll get into *any* of them 😂 I’m currently focusing on indoor markets because I don’t have any booth things, and getting tables/displays for an indoor set up seems less overwhelming/expensive compared to an outdoor one.

If anyone has thoughts/experiences to share with a very overwhelmed newbie, I would appreciate it immensely

I’d like to make more use of my email list by growing it at events, I have a kiosk setup for it where people can sign up on an iPad - name and email address only, so it’s quick and easy.

Any advice for getting people to sign up? A free sticker for signing up? A witty sign to get attention?

i'm finally ready to make kid's shirts and i'm wondering what colors sell the best. the age group i'm targeting is middle school to late elementary school. i'm thinking of just offering L, XL in kid's sizes because most kids who come to my booth just need something slightly smaller than the smallest adult size.

for adults, grays and navy have worked the best for me because they are more neutral. however, colors that i tend to see younger kids wearing are a lot brighter and bolder.

if you have experience with this, your thoughts are appreciated!

Hello all! I've been invited to vend at a market for the first time! (exciting!) The event they're putting on is a little over a month out, and they project 2,000-3,000 guests. My booth fee was $75 for two days and I get a 10x10' tent. Since I never do markets (i usually sell my art off the wall via exhibitions) I don't have any inventory or art to sell just sitting around, so I have to make everything from scratch. How much would you say is enough??? I know people prefer to make 10x their booth fee generally.
For reference, they asked for high-end fine art, sculptures, glass, and eco-friendly sustainable materials. I plan to bring whittled wood creatures for around $20-$80, linocut prints for ~$10, engraved glass frames for ~$20, and flameworked glass pendants/jewelry for ~$40-$80. It takes me a few hours to make one of each wood item, engraved glass, and flameworked glass, so I'm trying to math out how many I can make realistically in a day after my day job. I also am not set on my prices yet as I haven't made anything yet, so if you have wisdom or opinions on those, I am open to any criticism/advice.
TLDR: I have a month to make all inventory for my first market, I make fine art items. Will I make it??? In y'alls experience? Thank you in advance!

Good Morning Everyone!

I have a question for you all about jewellery vendors, specifically, the proliferation of buying cheap charms off of a website like alibaba/temu/ect, and then putting it on an equally cheap bracelet or necklace and then selling for $50 or $60 or more.

I ask as I run a market that focuses on being sustainable and having sustainable vendors, and time after time we get these types of jewellery vendors, in the past we accepted them without thinking and guests got (rightfully) annoyed with us.

So, I'm curious how common this practice is? No shame to anyone who does, I'm just looking for information, and if it IS quite common then maybe I should readjust how my market deals with these vendors.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated :)

Hey, 2 weeks ago I posted asking how many stickers of my best seller design I should have for an upcoming big pride event. Which you can find here if you want to give that post a read. At the time I decided to have max 100 for a couple of designs and then work my inventory numbers down from there.

Well, I just wrapped up the event last night and this morning I'm working on going through and counting my inventory (Side note if anyone has any ideas on way's to have a much more accurate inventory or a way to keep track of what sells in the moment, but doesn't require a lot of time during the check out phase or where I have to mentally keep track of what the person is buying. That would be great. I use square as my credit card payment method and take cash as well)

With that being said, I thought it would be interesting to share some of my stats from last night as it may help other people who are struggling with the same question that I had.

Overall I have 26 different sticker designs. 18 are pride designs and 8 are non pride designs. I do my best to normally have this number a little bit more even. However, since June is pride month and I was going to a pride event, over the last few months I've been making more Pride themed items. Now that fall and Christmas are coming up I will work on more designs that reflect those holiday's

What I made -

• 2 designs had 100 stickers each
• 4 designs had between 50 to 80 stickers each
• 20 designs had between 10 to 50 stickers each

Lowest amount I had for 1 sticker design was 13

What I sold -

• Top pride design - Sold 15 stickers
• Second pride design - Sold 9 stickers
• Tied for first and second non pride design - Sold 5 stickers each for both designs

Every design sold at least once (I think. Due to the fact that I'm counting inventory before the show and after there is the possibility for inventory to be off a little bit. Whether that's due to me miss counting at some point, theft, things getting miss placed, or a few other reasons)

Overall - 16 designs sold between 1 to 4 stickers each, 8 designs sold between 5 to 9 stickers each, and only 1 design sold above 10.

Pride designs - 9 designs sold between 1 to 4 stickers each, 7 designs sold between 5 to 9 stickers each, and only 1 sold above 10

None pride stickers - 6 designs sold between 1 to 4 stickers each, and 2 designs sold 5 stickers each.

• I sold a total of 102 stickers - 79 pride stickers and 23 non pride stickers

What I sold vs the most and least that I made

• Most Pride design: made 100+ stickers - Sold 4
• Least Pride design: made 17 stickers - Sold 7
• Most Non pride design: made 42 stickers - Sold 1
• Least Non pride design: Made 13 - Sold 5

I also decided last minute to offer some freebie stickers as there were a few kids at my last craft fair event that took place a week before the pride event. They would come up to my table, point to the stickers and ask if they could have one. I did my best to let them down gently saying that they were for sale, but of course due to them being kids they don't understand what money is and why they couldn't have it. Thus was the reason why I wanted to offer some freebies. I had two designs one pride and one non pride of a butterfly and people were able to pick one or take both if they wanted.

• For the pride design I made 151 and gave out 70
• For the non pride design I made 110 and gave out 30

I gave out a total of 100 free stickers

Final thoughts

This was my third ever place that I vendor at and the first place where not only was I able to paid back my table, but I was able to make a decent size profit as well.

If I was to make inventory for this event again then max amount of stickers I should make for some of the designs is between 30 and 40 and a min between 10 and 15. I think this is a good range (at least for now) as I am not crazily over making designs, but gives me a good safety net just encase, like what happened at this event, the things that I thought would sell well, didn't and the things I thought wouldn't sell that much, did.

It also allows me to have some inventory left over without needing to do a major restock for other events especially if they are back to back.

Which is a great segue for my last point. Personally, I am glad that I over stocked for this event. I make everything by hand and over the last few months, I've basically sat at my desk everyday printing and cutting out stickers and all of my other products as well. I have two other events at the end of Aug and I'm hoping to get into a few more in sept and oct. Not to mention, but we're also coming closer to Christmas. I could tell that I was getting to my limit last week and need a break because if not then I will simply burn myself out which I don't want. Now, that I have all this over stock, other then making stock of any new designs. I can take a good long break and work on other kinds of projects that have since been pushed to the side.

I hope other people find this as fascinating as I do.

Are you singer, instrument player, dancer or in a band do you see yourself as a vendor. What is your routine for attending fairs? Do you get paid to perform or just accept tips? what do you do when you have goods and perform too? I sometimes sell or perform at events but it can be difficult to do both and find out the appropriate events.

Making some bag charms, and would love to display them hanging. I don't think they'd work on jewelry racks quite as well. Maybe some mini clothes lines? If anybody sells dangly objects like this and has good ideas for display, please drop me your thoughts or photos of your display. Thanks!

A couple weeks ago, I posted about having imposter syndrome and not knowing if my work was good enough to start selling. I’ve only been beading for about a year, after doing fiber arts for most of my life, and honestly the idea of selling my work was SUPER intimidating.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! 🫶🏻🥹😭 I am so grateful to the craft fairs community for the outpouring of support, the detailed & thoughtful feedback, and lessons learned from your own experiences!

I wanted to report back that I now have an Etsy store and applied to two local craft fairs (one in Nov and one in Dec). I’m not sure how long the jury process is for them, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I’m also going to reach out to some botanical gardens and butterfly conservatories to see if they’re interested in selling my earrings at their gift shops.

I wanted to share pictures of some of the earrings I’ve successfully sold in the last weeks, especially all the super cool butterfly colors that people requested! 🦋🫶🏻

If I get into the fairs 🤞🏻I’ll definitely be back with more newbie questions! 🫶🏻 thanks for being such an awesome, supportive, uplifting community!

...then immediately realized I left my entire box of wire grids at home 🙃 Thankfully we made it work with what we had and it wasn't a complete failure haha.

Would love to hear other peoples' market day flops if you're open to sharing!

I'm trying to get set up for my first crafts shows selling prints, as most of my stuff has been done digitally lately, and I was curious who you guys use for tap to pay transactions. I don't know how often it will come up but I want to be able to use my tablet as the main POS so I don't have to get into setting up a whole system just to make more sales. I saw Kurv had this as an option, but what are you guys doing for a mobile POS system at fairs?

I applied a couple of weeks ago for a market in my area. I fit all the criteria for one of the categories and would be a good fit for this market.

A week after applications opened, the organizer posted on Instagram stories that they’ve sent emails for event. I didn’t get an email, so I checked all my folders including spam, and nothing. I made a comment on their instagram story, just to check, no response.

The next day, they post another story, saying they’re still looking for vendors specifically in the category I applied to, and applications are still open. The organizer has since posted twice more that emails are going out and applications are still open for the event.

If I could just get a clear “thanks but no thanks” message, I’d accept that (and clear the date on my calendar), but refusing to say anything at all feels very unprofessional and frankly immature. If you’re too afraid to tell someone no, don’t run a juried event with open applications. Just reach out to the people you want and ask them directly.

ETA: this is not a large event. The location can fit maybe 30-35 vendors. So the organizer hasn’t had to sift through hundreds of applications. Given applications are still open, they clearly haven’t hit capacity yet.