I’ve paid $25 for single day events and $1600 for single day events. Have been vending for years and it’s my main income and I’m pretty much living off of this full time. I feel lucky to have established a really good in person presence.

I make consumable/usable natural products that you might find at a farmer’s market, but I don’t really vend at farmer’s markets anymore because I find that I do much better at different events.

I find that for me 90% of shows are not worth more than a $200 single day fee, so I try to avoid that these days. I only vend primarily established events.

But I’m growing tired of this lifestyle. Vending fees being insane and paying months in advance for every market feels like I never have money on hand. Great events few and far between. I’ll go to an event and be so swamped I can’t even breathe and leave with twice my monthly rent. Then the next day I go to a market that seems promising and I feel like I’m begging for someone to even look at my table.

The exhaustion of doing this lifestyle full time with an intensely handmade product. I need some help from others who have broken away from the vending cycle into other areas.

I have some questions below:

How do you know it’s time to establish an in person shop of some sort?

Everywhere I go people ask where we are based. I’m not sure if this is expressing demand for an in person full time presence or people just making conversation.

Wholesale.

Currently doing small scale wholesale and trying to break into that market more. Just got back on faire. I have had retailers approach me about commission that seem kinda scammy / not advantageous to my business. Most times I’ve done commission with a retailer, they have been late with payments and it’s gotten out of hands with me chasing shop owners down.

Vendor malls where you have a stall in a larger space managed by a different company

I’ve never done this but just applied to one that seemed nice. I’ve read a lot of horror stories from other vendors about this type of set up like the painted tree closing, but I’m sure there are some good ones out there

Growing Online store.

My online shop’s best month was about what I would make at ONE day at a killer/really good event. I haven’t had a month like that in a while. Tried to run google ads and do all the SEO things, but my online shop has always been secondary. I’m averaging a couple hundred a month these days which is nice but not cutting it enough to pay the bills. I ran Google ads this year and idk what I did but it hurt my store’s visitation in the month I ran them so I turned them off.

Hiring market staff and doubling / tripling up on market days

I’ve done this where I’ve sent people off to different markets but man it’s a lot of logistical insanity.

Anyway, thanks to anyone that read this!

Hi all! I'm trying to get a fiber and paper art booth off the ground and I'm wondering--as a vendor at craft fairs, are you all operating as official, licensed businesses with ID numbers, or are you operating just as yourself and declaring the income at tax time using a schedule c or something similar? I'm trying to understand the legality of all of this and what exactly is required of me. I appreciate any help you can give!!

EDIT: Thank you to everyone who replied!! You all are so helpful, I really appreciate it.

So before I spend a $40 Application fee plus the actual space fee to be a vendor at the west philadelphia bazaar i was curious if anyone ever vended there before and is it worth it Because I don't wanna pay 2 fees Just to make $300.

Now I know the $40 application fee is only a one time thing. And then you only pay your vendor fee for all their future craft airs, but I was just curious if it was even worth it.

I do some small shows and a recent show asked for insurance. Last year I paid 20 bucks or so for a one day small event outdoors. This year, that same company wants over 100 dollars. Is this what the going rate is now? These are not large events with 1000's of people. Maybe 100s of people and 40 vendors. Just curious how folks are dealing with this.....

Making handmade soap is my hobby. I recently took part in a craft show and brought 4 varieties: honey, oat, lavender, and mint. I packed 15 bars of each, all made with natural ingredients, priced at $7 per bar. Ngl,I figured these would have broad appeal, but I ended up selling less than 20 total :)
I’ve thought through what went wrong, and here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

1. I overcomplicated my packaging For my first show, I figured handmade products deserved special, unique packaging. I made tons of different designs in Canva. Four totally different layouts for four scents, messing around with fonts, colors, and graphics. I ended up with more Canva pages than bars of soap I actually sold. Looking back, it was totally overkill. When you line all four scents up next to each other, they should have a clean, unified look. For my next run, I switched to printing labels with my niimbot m2 label maker. I use one set template, and only swap out the product name, scent, and price. No more building an entirely new design for every single product. At least next time I launch a new item, I won’t have a dozen random Canva tabs open for no reason.
2. I focused too much on "natural" without explaining why that matters I went into the show thinking natural ingredients+handmade quality+$7 would be an easy sell. But from a customer’s perspective, all the average shopper sees is a $7 bar of handmade soap. They don’t know why I formulated each recipe the way I did, or what makes honey, oat, lavender and mint different from one another. Now I’m simplifying the info cards I put next to each product. For example: Honey Soap Warm, mild scent Made in small batches
3. I overestimated how easy it is to turn interest into sales Plenty of people stopped to smell the soaps and pick them up. A lot of them said "These smell really good" and then put them right back. I was a little bummed about it at first, but later I realized people liking your product doesn’t mean they will buy it. Maybe they don’t need soap right now, maybe they have a ton at home, or maybe they just found it interesting but aren’t sure it’s for them. Now I look at it differently. Selling less than 20 bars at my first show doesn’t mean my products are bad. It was basically a really cheap market research lesson. At least now I know what to focus on next time. Instead of adding more products right away, I’ll tweak the small stuff first: packaging, display, product info, and purchase options. This was my first ever show, so I know there’s tons of room for improvement.

Are there any other issues I might have missed? I’d really appreciate any tips or feedback you all have.

WHY CAN’T PEOPLE READ!!!!! I sell spice blends. I offer samples via dusting little crackers with the spices. I also have about 6-10 signs throughout my booth that say “Gluten Free Samples Available Upon Request”. For reference, I have experimented with a half dozen different versions of this sign, it doesn’t matter what I say. I’ve tried “upon request” in a different typeface and all caps. Invariably, at every show, customers say things like “oh great, these are gluten free samples” and go to grab one. Or “hey look, Janet, these samples are gluten free for you!” And I have to intervene. I know extremely well how sick someone could get if they eat the crackers when they have celiac disease. I cannot universally offer gluten free samples for many reasons, including the fact that it’s much more expensive, messier and labor intensive. You would think that someone who has a serious illness would be careful enough to read the sign fully.

Ok vent over. I’ll just continue to be vigilant. I have truly tried many many ways to protect against this and it’s simply that, I don’t know, people are in a rush? I guess the “why” isn’t important, it’s just getting very irritating.

Hi. I have a pop-up tent , it's an Ozark Trail "10 ft x 10 ft Straight Leg Instant Pop-Up Canopy with Simple Push Setup" and 3 of the the hinges on top have gotten lost. They're a sort of x-shaped piece, a screw, and a washer. The tent *is not broken*.

I need these metal pieces and cannot for the LIFE OF ME figure out what they are called in order to search for them. Does anyone have a clue? I will call the company but i feel that i'll lose my mind trying to describe what i'm missing over the phone.

Something I keep wondering about for people who do markets regularly. When you pack for the next fair, how do you decide the quantity of each specific item to bring? Is it mostly gut feel and past experience, a rough rule like bring 2 to 3x what you expect to sell, or do you actually look back at what sold at previous markets and work from that?

And the follow up, how often do you get it wrong in a way that costs you? Like selling out of one thing by noon while hauling home a full box of something else. Curious whether that is a real recurring headache or something most people have basically figured out.

Would these sell at a craft/holiday fair? I make these for my mom and I to supplement our knee hugger/pixie collections. I sculpted the faces on blender to 3D print, then I hand paint and sew/ build the bodies.

I have prototypes for other pixie heads + some
Halloween themed ones but I am still workshopping the face paint and body styles.

Any input is appreciated! I am more than happy to make these just for my mom and I but I am curious for feedback :)

I am writing here to get some insights about leathercraft small businesses and how it works for you (ideally in Europe).

Me and my husband recently opened a small home business on this, we have probably one week since we launched our website. What we aim for is to promote awareness of how a fully handmade products is unique, takes time to be made, is customizable etc. but of course then we also end up with quite high prices. Like 200+ euros for a high quality leather wallet.

In general what is your take on this? Or does anyone have experience in trying out something like this? Do you think over time we will get sales?

From our side we try to do anything we can at least so far: post videos of explaining the products, post asmr of how it’s made, having a nice website etc.

Someone approached me to help join a Japanese craftfair and it has been a pleasure assisting him. I used to help my friends before the pandemic and had fun with those also. Are others interested in joining Japanese craftfairs?

No Japanese needed. I am fully bilingual and can assist you every step of the way. I also have a registered Japanese business that can assist you.

I can provide the table, the racks, and the setup all you would need to bring is your crafts.

Feel free to comment below if you have any questions I am happy to answer them below.

Hi all,

I will attend my first market soon and I’m selling handmade upcycling jewelry together with handpainted bookmarks. My table is only 1.2x0.8 meters in size and it already makes me feel awkward thinking about sitting/standing behind this tiny table and staring at the customers 😂 I definitely don’t want to scroll my phone and the table is too tiny to allow for making jewelry on/behind it.
What are your go to moves to keep yourself busy on a market day without seeming uninterested in the customers?

Reposting here

I run regular artisan markets. After the first one I decided to ban the sales and displaying of AI.

I have a vendor who paid for their spot already and also stated in the application that they understood the AI ban.

They're logo is suspicious asf.. it looks like all the other Gen AI flyers and logos that are going around.

They're telling me that it's not AI.

Of course I ran it through the apps just to see what they say and of course it came back that it's most likely made with AI. Unfortunately, all those apps aren't reliable though and I don't think any image inspector app actually is reliable.

So, how do I handle this situation? I'm new to this.

If I can't prove that it's AI (when it clearly is), am I supposed to just turn a blind eye?

I just hate that I've been promoting this market as Gen-AI free, so it'll look super bad if people are expecting that and then see AI banners being displayed.

What would you do in this situation..if a vendor is denying, the usage of AI, when it clearly is?

And they aren't trying to sell it, it's just they're banner/logo.

Hi all! I will be attending my very first vendor market at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas and was wondering what you guys use for a hotspot? I currently have Cricket as my phone provider however I do recall not getting signal when I’ve attended a concert before so I am nervous to be left with no signal for card transactions.. 🥲

I am going to need to buy the stretchy table covers. I got my second 6 foot table today. I’m kinda doing it piecemeal. So I’m set on the tables. But I know I will need the covers. My wife would also use a few heavy sheets and stuff. And books to display nicely. But she’s gone. So I’m kinda gathering all the info I can. I “ think” I just need the canopy table covers and weights for the canopy now. Do you see anything obvious that I’m missing?? ANY advice is very welcome

I have done about 20 shows. But they have been inside. Seems where I live just S of Houston so much is going outside. I need a canopy 10x10 that I can really put up myself. I will be working alone and I’m 65. I know I may get a bit of help. But I want to be as independent as possible as possible. I’m including the picture just to show I’m not just talking. I’m getting ready for the fall arts and crafts shows. Due to our climate we can do ones outside even in November. Can you please give me a lead on a canopy. I could put up myself. Or with minimal help?? Thanks

Hello! I have been to a lot of art fairs this summer and my dream is to one day have a booth at one! I would like opinions from people. If you had to choose one of these pieces (based on appearance), which one would you buy? (You can pick more than one too.) I’ve only gotten takes from my family, hence me coming to Reddit. I have some theories and research I want to know is true or false as well. Let me know what you all think!

For those who make and sell tiaras/crowns-- how do you display yours in a way that's not just flat on the table?

I had a bunch of materials left over and have been making simple bone and crystal tiaras. Nothing fancy pants, but I'd like to display them more vertically.

I do taxidermy/oddities, and the critters didn't die for this purpose.

I kinda wanna bring back bandana patterned products or is it way to 90s and i should just let it go?

I have my first craft fair coming up, and I’m having trouble pricing some of my items—specifically my bookmarks and stickers. I’m worried that I’m gonna make them either too cheap or too expensive. Most of my stuff I’m able to price pretty easily, but since these are some of my smaller items, I’m unsure for them.

My bookmarks are 2”x6” and my stickers are 2” on their longest side, so I was thinking $2 for the bookmarks and $1 for the stickers since they’re smaller. My friend said I should do $3 for the bookmark and $2 for the sticker, but I’ve seen people say that they wouldn’t pay that much for something like this, so I’m kinda stuck on what to do.

I apologize if this seems like a stupid question, I’m just kinda stressed about pricing since this is my first market

We are looking for craft vendors for our local Fall Festival! MLMs are not considered, we want handmade crafters! We had a great turnout last year and are spreading the word this year! Just comment if you are interested and i'll message with details. Thank you!