Anyone sell at craft fairs?

[dolphinrescuegirl]

Thanks for all the suggestions!! I have a tent but no sides. Can I buy those somewhere and somehow attach them? It's the standard pop-up tent.

 

[Sugar Jones]

I do a couple of shows a year and do pretty well. I make little girl hair accessories. My stuff is pretty inexpensive so it sells well. Some shows are better than others. You will figure out after the first year which shows are worth it and which are not.

I use Vista print for all my signage and printing needs. It's cheap

I do sell on Etsy, but you have to be willing to be constantly adding things in order to sell and keep active. I haven't had much success with Etsy. I am just about to list all my leftover inventory from last year, we'll see how it goes.


Just make sure you make your booth look nice. People are more apt to stop at you booth if it looks professional and your product is displayed in a neat and easy to see display.

I don't have a picture on this computer of what my booth looks like, but you can google craftshow booths and you'll get an idea

Good luck!

 

[marthachick]

My niece decided she wanted to make crafts for our local craft fair. She didn't have the money to buy supplies so my sister bought them. Then "we" made the items. My sister already had a tent.

They had to pay rent for their space. The tent had to be fireproof or treated to be fireproof. They had to have a fire extinguisher. They had to have tie-downs for the tent. They bought table covers. (and when I say "they" bought, I mean my sister)

The items we made were very pretty but not many sold. Our local economy is bad and unemployment is high. Sooo, most of the people buying stuff were buying food. Not many crafts were sold by us or anyone else.

So it's important to know your customers and honestly assess if they would actually let go of their money for what you have to sell. In the long run, I think with being at the craft fair all day & buying food from other vendors, she actually ended up losing money. It was a lot of work and my sister said, never again.

 

[Sandy61]

My sister has done crafts for about 10 years. She will make both small inexpensive things and larger more expensive things. Make sure your colors are in style right now...don't paint or sew things with outdated colors. She figures what it cost to make an object and then triples it so the cost will cover her time, booth rental etc. She refuses to do outdoor shows because of the weather. Pay attention to what the show rules are because some will allow made in China items that you can buy to resell and some shows say it all has to be hand made. Many people wonder where they would put the craft or how they would use it so she displays some things as they would be used. Like a long time ago she made little tiny drawers with cute handles and put a lace doily and other things peeking out. Good luck.

 

[timmac]

Though I'm not very crafty myself, I've know a few people over the years who are, and just wanted to add a few thoughts, particularly about the price issue.

The cost of hand crafted items is obviously going to be far higher than manufactured goods. Not only are you using the raw materials in far smaller volumes (and hence more expensive per finished product), but the cost of the time involved adds up very quickly. I'd be surprised if a majority of craft-fair type goods, at full sticker price, even equal out to minimum wage for the person assembling them. I get that, and it's the reason I'd usually advise against selling crafts as anything more than a hobby.

With that said, it's also important to consider the potential buyers. By the very nature, many crafty items are a fairly niche interest. Most people who pass the booth simply aren't going to be interested in what you're selling. It's easy to write this off as people simply being "cheap cheap cheap", but that is kind of short sighted. Other than not saying it out loud, I don't see how that's much better than the non-buyer offering insulting comments in front of a seller... why can the seller insult someone who doesn't feel an item is worth the pricetag? Keeping in mind the niche market of the items, pricetag is what it is, but value is only in what someone is willing to pay. The same people who refuse to purchase at your booth may be the same ones who happily drop a pretty penny at another booth for something that catches their fancy, and vice versa.

More importantly, when people aren't interested in buying the product (at the posted price tag), it would be far more productive to ask oneself why that is. Part of the issue, no doubt, is that money spent at a craft fair is pretty high on the pyramid of discretionary spending... well after things like coffee on the way to work in the morning, etc. Most customers don't have unlimited funds to spend, and may tend to be more careful in their purchase selection. That in mind, what makes your product special or unique? What makes it 'better' than the generic mass produced equivalent at Walmart? Who is the likely audience that might be interested to purchase? If the answers are "anyone would love this" (said with naive cynicism), "it's special because it's hand made", or even "I really don't know", then that might be part of the problem. If the goal is to make any money by selling items, that makes it a business, and as such, you have to think about it like a business.

I would highly recommend the PP suggestions of using etsy... unlike a local craft fair, it has two main advantages: it provides a much larger target audience, which helps overcome the limited appeal and "niche" factor. It also tends to attract more people who are actively looking for a specific kind of item, rather than just those who are browsing in the hopes of finding something that looks interesting.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I've done a few church and school craft faires to sell my knitted scarves and my dad's woodworking items. He makes beautiful clocks and jewelry boxes. What got me is the lack of respect that people show for your items. They would open the boxes and let the lids slam shut. Kids would come by and start spinning the hands on the clocks and their parents would say nothing. When I asked a child to please stop, his mom remarked that he wasn't hurting anything, like a handmade clock worth over $100 that she wasn't intending to purchase was a suitable toy for her child! I had all of my scarves laid out so you could clearly see the colors and patterns. I don't mind if someone picks one up to take a closer look or see the length, but people would come and run their hands over every scarf, pick them all up and leave them in a heap. It just seemed so disrespectful and rude. I did sell quite a few things, mostly my dad's items. But I decided sitting there for hours just to see our nice things manhandled and played with wasn't worth it.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

In addition to etsy, there is a site called yardsellr where you can list craft items. I have a friend who makes jewelry and does caricatures and she actually prefers the yardsellr site because the fees are lower.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

Thank you to everyone with their comments! My stuff caters to little girls and their moms. I also plan to take custom orders. I def plan to use etsy and just do a couple of shows a yr just to see how it is. I'm only doing the cheap ones which is why I will be outside. The inside ones are $200 a weekend and my stuff will be listed pretty inexpensive. I figure at the shows I can hand out business cards, take some custom orders, and hopefully have my business spread by word of mouth. I am only doing local shows.

 

[Swan4Me]

. My favorite thing to make is fake spilled things-soda in cans, coffee, paint brushes, milk, orange juice, nail polish, melted ice cream, etc. Everyone gets such a kick out of them, especially the men. You can just see the gleam in their eyes when they think of someone they can pull a joke on.

This sounds SO cute! and i have NEVER seen it -ever!

 

[KigerKat]

I have made hand made soaps and sold them at small craft fairs. I'm not that artistic, but I can follow a recipe! Soaping is very similar to cooking, and the supplies are fairly inexpensive and can be found locally.

I also sell on Etsy, but I've been so busy with school lately that I've fallen behind. Maybe now that I'm thinking about it again, I'll get back on the ball and start making more soap!