I was so excited for my first market, and I spent a month preparing the products and the display.

anddddd it was a huge flop :(

To give some context, it was a community market so I feel like it was not a “shopping” event. But the crochet vendor beside me was making consistent sales all night. I was also near the end of the market so the foot traffic was not as high as some of the other sections

I got compliments all night, but sadly not many buyers.

I don’t know if I have a viable product, but I love making these bows and I feel like there could be a market for it.

Any advice or feedback would be so appreciated, so I don’t quit 🫶🥹

A photo of my booth from over the weekend! I feel like I struggle a lot with a clear display because I do have a lot of inventory from this year, and I also do prefer leaning into a maximalist setup. I've also upgraded my color scheme to match my signage (red, pink, white, and toadstool aesthetic), and this is the first time I got to use my banner!

With this in mind, how could I go about making my products 'pop' more? My next event is in two weeks under a 10x10 tent with two 6ft tables and a hanging rack for bags. Would love to hear comments and suggestions!

I know I know, I need a banner & a sidewall for the back
That one’s already in the works!

I sell my handmade clothes at local markets. I display my most eye catching and market-themed pieces on the smaller rack (left in first pic) and have the rest on a circle rack. I am worried about over crowding the rack being overwhelming to shoppers. But also I want to have as much of a variety of pieces because I am consistently the only vendor with exclusively plus sized options.

Anyone have any thoughts about how much to display?

Also I'd love to hear any feedback from plus size shoppers about their market shopping experiences. I know we rarely see clothes for us at these events, and that is why I love doing this!

Any and all feedback welcome. Thanks again y'all 😊

How do you guys figure out what and how much inventory of each thing to bring? Also I am Canadian and I wanted to buy some stuff like a table and those tables with table clothes, signs and stuff. Where have you guys bought your things like that.

Is it worth the price to vend at this event?

So we primarily do Renaissance Festivals with our patchwork being at the 100+ dollar range. WE are trying to move out of just Ren faire to conventions. They seem like they have their heads together but I was wondering anyone have vended for them before. What was it like? Is my product going to be to expensive? Is there a good amount of people that show up? Thanks in advance for advice. Pictures are of things we sell (mostly my staff wearing them).

I want to run this by others to see if this is as good an idea as I think it is.

I'm a fiber artist, I crochet, knit, spin, etc. my general problem is that I tend to generate very few items at high prices. Also my hands hurt so making the same small thing over and over again is hard.

I'm trying something new this year, which is making notions. So far I've been making buttons, stitch markers, needle minders, and pin cushions. My polymer clay skills are perhaps not quite as good as some, but it's also stuff I would love seeing as someone who makes art. But I'm me and I keep thinking if that's what the average craft fair goer wants?

I'll still probably be spinning yarn in the corner trying to convince people they want a scarf that took 2 months to make.

Greetings,

I'm someone who runs events for a non profit organization. We have a car show coming up, which typically doesn't align with craft fairs. However, because we have a large empty space and we're right dab smack in the middle of a family-dense neighbrhood, I'm trying to increase attendance by also setting up a vendor section, that doesn't have to be related to cars at all. Just something for the community to come and enjoy. It's a five hour event (six if you include setup/breakdown) and because I cannot guarantee success, we aren't charging any fees.

My question is, how viable is my idea from the side of a potential vendor? Is it something that would be of interest because of the little to no risk? Or is it just not something that's worth the time since the audience may not match what you're trying to sell.

Thanks.

I’m in MA, if it makes a difference.

I’m looking to host my first craft fair, and am curious what folks do for insurance.

I checked eventsured and it’s not bad: $123 for a single event. I’m looking to host maybe a few events a year if the first one is successful.

Am I better doing the single event insurance, or is there an option to get affordable monthly/annual coverage if I plan on hosting more?

Thanks to anyone with any insight!!

I’m no longer planning to sell at craft fairs, but I still have a large amount of crochet inventory left. Everything was handmade by my mom, and the items are already finished and ready to sell.

For those who have stopped doing craft fairs, how did you clear out your remaining inventory? Did you sell everything as one bulk lot, discount items individually, use Facebook Marketplace, sell to another vendor, or donate part of it?

I would prefer to sell the inventory in bulk rather than list every item separately, but I’m not sure where craft fair vendors usually look for this kind of inventory. I’d appreciate hearing what worked for others.

New to craft fairs, just got invited to one in a month trying to build up some inventory to sell. Made a few sets of these quilted-esque coasters that I figured I could bundle and sell as a group but I'm not sure where to start on pricing...

Also, should I be looking to make a bunch of little, low price items or should I be focused on the middle to high ticket stuff?

Any help whatsoever would be appreciated, I don't really know what I'm doing and will take ALL feedback and suggestions on anything related to starting out!

Thank you in advance!!!

This will be my first market, but I have a decently successful Etsy shop that has really picked up steam this year. 

I’m an illustrator selling a mix of things that ship from me and things that are print on demand. I ship greeting cards and stickers, while my tees and calendars are POD for the sake of not holding inventory. It’s worked wonderfully online and I’m wondering if I can translate that to in-person. 

My idea:

Have my cards, stickers, some hand painted totes/zip pouches available. On display I’ll have samples of my 4 bestselling shirts and 3 calendar designs (for 2027). I’ll have QR codes direct to my etsy, where they can purchase either of those items (lots of sizes and colors, plus more designs) and they get a free sticker so they aren’t walking away empty-handed. The ordered items will ship directly to their house. 

Does this sound like a crazy idea or is it doable? I love shopping at markets and I would totally do this as a buyer, but I’m not sure others would.

Hi so every first and last day of school I like to make these for my girls. Would this be something you or someone may be interested in purchasing ?

Sometimes I use canvas. This time around I used poster board.. paint markers.. sometimes paint.. markers... stickers and little doodles sometimes.

I was thinking maybe $15 dollars if I did do something like this maybe a little more if they want a specific sticker/decor and if it is on canvas. If i did make a post online Id cap it at around 5 orders. Ive never done anything like this before but I think I do an okay job. And with some notice/ planning 5 doesnt seem that bad.

While im pretty happy with my setup, im always opened to feed back on what can be improved. In a quiet season for markets here and it would be nice to be in tip top shape for the holiday season!

Hi, as a newcomer to the craft fair scene, I have struggled with keeping inventory straight, losing track of what've sold, scrambling to restock, that whole mess. For me, low ticket items like stickers, or buttons have been the hardest to inventory. I'm also a software developer who would like to figure out a solution. Before I try to build anything to fix this, I want to actually understand what's broken for other people who do this regularly, not just assume my experience is universal.

A few things I'm curious about:

• How do you currently track inventory at a fair (spreadsheet, notebook, apps like square/stripe, nothing)?
• What's the most annoying part — before the show (prepping stock), during (ringing people up, tracking what sold), or after (reconciling everything)?
• Have you tried any tools for this and given up? What made you stop?

Not selling anything, genuinely just want to hear the messy real version of how this goes for people. Thanks in advance!

Hello fellow craft peeps!

I had a question for people that do outdoor events, do you find that having floor coverings is helpful? And if so what kinds do you do? I have seen some people do tarps but seems like it wouldn't look very nice and the sound of walking on it is unpleasant to me but I get it's good for moisture

And then I have seen people use both indoor and outdoor washable rugs and I wonder do they hold up well? Or would it be good to do those overtop of the tarp?

Just new to the outdoor vending world and trying to see what ideas the vendor veterans have

Thank you!

At the beginning of July I was notified that I was accepted as a vendor to my city's pride parade. There tends to be an average of 200,000 to 300,000 people. Since then I've been prepping as much as I can. I sell stationery items like stickers, bookmarks, notepads, sticker sheets, and a couple other items featuring artwork that I draw.

I also hand make all my items so I print and cut everything out. Since I'm about 2 weeks out I want to put more of my energy towards making sure that I have enough of my best seller items, which are my stickers.

Currently I'm aiming to have about 100 or so stickers of my best seller pride design. I sold 4 at my first craft fair that had about 1,000 people (which wasn't a pride specific event) and 20 at my artisan shelf in a store at the mall.

Do you think 100 stickers of 1 design is enough, not enough, or way too much?

Edit - The event is one day and about 8 hours. I was thinking of having 100 just for my best sellers and then dropping inventory numbers for less popular designs. Basically I'm trying to figure out what the max I should be making and then working down from there.

I also totally forgot to mention that I'm doing two other craft fairs (non pride events) at the end of August that would see about 1,000 to 3,000 people. I'm hoping to have enough left over to cover those two events as well so that I can take a break in the middle of August.

After a few years of bare bonesing my display and not putting a lot of money into my set up, I finally invested in my business. I made the earring holders from a sheet of plywood, designed my own logo, etc. I'm very proud of my booth now, where I used to be proud of my product, but not super stoked on the presentation. I also have noticed an increase in sales just over the two markets I have had the new look. Could be coincidental, but I don't know. Anywho would love feedback or thoughts! Thanks for reading!

Last couple shows I didn’t barely make my vendor fee back would love some advice — my theme is junk art and using trash to make treasure but I also make photography and art prints, stickers, and clothing

Edit: to the kind and constructive feedback thank you- to the ones who just wanted to hurt me, I’m sorry your mom did not hug you enough!

My stuff is weird yes, I will definitely be leaning more into the witchy/ oddity type shows more next year. I got lots of Good ideas among the hatred!

Got several art shows coming up that’s more witchy/oddity/queer themed and I should do much better at those. Mostly I’m confused because last year I was selling these like hot cakes making at least 100-$200 every art show with the same setup and product types I think everyone’s just struggling with money this year especially here in America.

I've just started doing outdoor events this spring/summer. I have a secondhand tent that had a dark green top and walls. I bought a new white top to keep things brighter but haven't purchased new walls. I'm thinking of using sheer curtains instead, so there's more light and possibly a breeze, but I'm curious about others' experience using curtains instead of proper tent walls. What did you like/not like? How did you hang them? Did you anchor the bottom to keep them from blowing around?

While I wasn't at the Blakes Lavender Festival yesterday, it's a terrifying reminder of how scary the weather can be at an outdoor market. Many vendors lost tents and product, the only saving grace was no one was hurt. There was a Severe Thunderstorm Watch an hour ahead and warnings issued 35 min and 10 min prior to the storm hitting, but many vendor complained about poor cell signal.

Check the weather multiple days in advance and day-of, keep an eye on the radar and NWS when possible, bring plenty of tent weights, and drop your tent as low as possible. Feel terrible for everyone involved. Was anyone in here at this festival?

📷The UnBaked Cookie Co.

I’ve been getting into water colors and painting cartoonish animals has been so much fun. I’m thinking of keeping it going, and then at the end of the summer setting up at a small vendor event. Would you buy one and what would seem like a good deal? I also thought about getting frames from goodwill to place them in. Thoughts? Suggestions?

The humans that i made portraits of were awesome and interesting - such a hilarious time behind the scenes 😂