# Questions for folks that have done craft shows



## kweinert (Sep 5, 2014)

OK, so tomorrow is the big day, my first foray into the world of selling to people I don't know. I've sold stuff to people at work before, but not to the general public.

So, the first question: do you take advantage of the early setup? This is a Saturday only event, but registration and setup is today. From the info sheet:

The Festival will provide some overnight security at the site on Friday night; however merchandise
left in your booth is at your own risk.

Clearly I will not be leaving any merchandise there, but since today is the only time available to unload near my site, should I put up the Easy-Up and tables today or just get there early tomorrow? The sale starts at 10. Today I can drop off at the site, tomorrow I have to carry everything from vendor parking.

How much cash/change do you take along? I plan on taking/using my Square reader for the phone/tablet and accept credit cards, but not everyone will want to do that. I do have to collect tax so unless I precompute what the tax would be on my asking price and round up to the next whole dollar, change will be involved. Just curious what a good mix of bills will be.

I'll have business cards and an email signup sheet available. Does it make sense to offer an incentive to get people to sign up? If so, what sort of value of a thing? My wife suggested this and I can see the value, but I can also see that if you offer something not everyone will like that thing. Would that discourage people from signing up?

Thanks for any thoughts on this. I probably should have asked before today :)


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## Mike1950 (Sep 5, 2014)

No input- Just good luck Ken!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodintyuuu (Sep 5, 2014)

man apprenticeships are always hard earned, ive been doing the art show gigs for 25 yrs im now a senior member of the crowd, as far as advice thats all on you now , good luck , you will certainly need it with all the pitfalls and pratfalls of this gig . cl


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## Schroedc (Sep 5, 2014)

I've been doing shows for about five years or so. 

Early setup- if weather looks fine and it is secured setting up canopy and tables not a bad idea but flukes can happen and I did lose a table once.

Cash on hand- I keep 150.00 in a mix of ones, fives, and tens. If you are in an area likely to have large bills I might keep a few twenties in my pocket but not always.

Pricing- I do sales tax included so I don't have to keep coins on hand. You can set up your card reader to do that also.

Incentive to sign up- I don't do that stuff at shows because the return is very small. You'll get a zillion email addresses but a large percentage are only immersed in whatever the free/giveaway item is.

There are just my observations, your neck of the country may be different and probably will be. Good luck at your show!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## kweinert (Sep 5, 2014)

Wasn't sure about security. They said they'd have someone around, but that wasn't quite enough of a warm fuzzy for me - so I'll be out of the house early tomorrow.

Cash on Hand: I guessed at $200 in ones, fives, and tens

Pricing: I also included tax and did a bit of rounding so I don't have to deal with pennies.

Haven't done an incentive to sign up. I do still have the signup sheets available.

Thanks for your response, it's much appreciated.

Reactions: Like 1


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## kweinert (Sep 6, 2014)

Here we are, all set up. That's my wife and son-in-law that are giving me a hand today.

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 3


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## SENC (Sep 6, 2014)

Good luck!


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## Tony (Sep 6, 2014)

Didn't see this until today, sorry. Booth looks great, good luck with it! I would suggest having plenty of business cards on hand; you will be amazed at the calls you get 2-3 years from now saying, " I bought this from you, I'd like 5 more to give my friends!" When they show their new found treasures around, others will want them. Tony


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## SENC (Sep 6, 2014)

How'd it go?


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## barry richardson (Sep 6, 2014)

kweinert said:


> Here we are, all set up. That's my wife and son-in-law that are giving me a hand today.
> 
> View attachment 58942


Man I thought that was a Wood Barter duck hunter

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Johnturner (Sep 6, 2014)

Let us know what sold for you. My first foray will be in Oct.


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## Mike1950 (Sep 7, 2014)

barry richardson said:


> Man I thought that was a Wood Barter duck hunter




I was thinkin -"they will have a bad show if they are expectin the water to get that deep" !!!

Reactions: Funny 1


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## kweinert (Sep 8, 2014)

First off, I'm somewhat challenged when it comes to relationships. I guess, properly speaking, that would be my step-son but it's a bit odd when you join lives later in life. He's not needing a Dad, but I'm a pretty good friend. That's my wife's son and he was a lot of help in getting stuff set up. He also did all the calls you see up front.

Well, I pretty much broke even when you consider the entry fee, the sales tax license (which I hadn't had up until now), the new sign (which I hadn't needed up until now :), etc. Next time should be more profitable since there were a lot of one time or up front costs that will carry over. There were a lot of folks that wandered through, not a lot of buyers. I think I only sold 7 or 8 things and Ken sold 5 or 6 calls.

On the other hand there were folks from a craft show coming up in November that were checking out the vendors here and we got invited to that one. I'm interpreting that as they liked what they saw :) I sold a couple of ice cream scoops, only one of the bolt action pens, a couple of plates, a couple of the BKP plates/bowls.

Also got some suggestions on what people were looking for, yarn bowls being asked about a couple of times. Met three people that asked us if we wanted wood. One said his family has 100 acres or so up in the mountains and he's supposed to be getting back to me with details on paying them a very small amount for us to go harvest wood. It gives them a business using their land so they can keep some sort of tax break. Another one was a violin maker who offered to give us his cut offs for calls or other smaller turnings. Another one said he's having a buckthorn tree taken down and wondered if we could use the wood.

I was really glad Ken was there because he's a much better bullshitter than I am and he was much better at getting people to come in to the booth. I still need to learn some of those salesman skills. Or most of them. Maybe all of them :)

Since we didn't set up on Friday we got in about 7:00 Saturday morning and it was still pretty wet. I wore my insulated steel toes because I knew if my feet got wet and cold I'd be miserable all day.

Oh, and it turned out I only needed $1s and $0.25s since only 2 sales were cash. The Square card worked pretty good. I had connected to some local wifi that wasn't very strong and that wasn't working but once I turned off the wifi and just went over the cell network the card reader worked just fine.

All in all a pretty good experience.

Reactions: Like 7


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## Johnturner (Sep 9, 2014)

Ken
Thanks for all for info -very helpful.
John


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## Schroedc (Sep 9, 2014)

A couple things to think about for the future- I cut my teeth on the same sort of local craft shows but pretty quick figured out the better money and the traffic that likes to part with their money seems to be found at Art shows as opposed to Craft shows. I try to avoid any show with resasle there (Tupperware, purses from china, I saw the direct TV booth in the background, etc. )vOne of the keywords you want to look for is that it is a "Juried" show, this varies from show to show on the level of art they allow in but usually keeps the low dollar trinkets out. Also, the bigger art shows usually do a better job on advertising and organization. I'll admit I don't know your part of the country so it might be different down there. Just my $0.02

Reactions: Like 1


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## kweinert (Sep 9, 2014)

That's pretty much what we figured out as well. Of the 5 surrounding booths there were three political, one doggie daycare and a reseller.

Reactions: Funny 1


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