Craft fairs are a great place to showcase an incredible amount of your fine crafts. Once you get people into your craft show booth, whether you make a sale or not will depend largely on the experience you offer your customer. By setting a vibe, activating senses, or offering helpful displays, you can motivate and move a shopper towards making a purchase. If this is a new to you, visit art and craft festivals and observe sellers, their booths, and the shopper-flow and traffic. Be curious about what booths seem to attract shoppers who might appear captivated and eager to buy.

Craft fairs are not just a hub of creativity and culture; they are also a fantastic opportunity for artisans and entrepreneurs to turn their passion into profit. With the right approach, you can make your craft fair experience not only enjoyable but also financially rewarding. In this article, we will guide you through the essential steps to make money at craft fairs, drawing from the extensive experience of FestivalNet.com, a leading resource in fair and festival information.

Understanding Your Market

Before diving into the world of craft fairs, it's crucial to understand your target market. Research the demographics of the fair attendees and tailor your products to meet their preferences. Are they looking for unique, handmade items, or are they more inclined towards practical, everyday goods? Knowing your audience is the first step to sales success. Ask the event organizers about their show's demographics; they should have this information available!

Navigating the world of craft shows can be thrilling. However, the smallest details can sometimes trip us up. One such area where many may stumble is setting up an enticing stall. It's essential to understand common craft show display mistakes to avoid, ensuring your crafts shine and attract plenty of buyers.

Not Testing Your Setup

Diving headfirst into a craft show without prior preparation can be a recipe for disaster. Every artist needs a game plan. Start by conducting a mock set-up at home. This practice will give you an invaluable preview of how your display looks and feels, allowing for tweaks. During this test run, it's crucial to pack your art properly. Proper packaging prevents potential damage and streamlines the setting up process at the show, saving you valuable time.

Craft fairs are bustling arenas for artisans to showcase their creative prowess and sell unique handcrafted goods. For vendors, these events offer lucrative opportunities, but competition can be fierce. Standing out and making the most of your experience requires a strategic approach. From booth presentation to customer interaction, every detail matters. We've compiled a list of Craft Fair Vendor Tips to ensure you have the edge.

According to the '7x' rule, makers should aim to sell seven times what they pay for a booth fee at a craft fair. While this can be intimidating and even stressful — especially for those who are just starting out — it's important to note that turning a profit is just one of several financial aspects to keep in mind. From increasing your sales (and curating the right prices) to properly navigating taxes, here are just three important financial tips for vendors who plan to sell at a craft fair. 

If you are new to craft shows and art markets, this checklist will be very helpful for you use as you prepare. This list is courtesy of Artisan Joy Magazine whose mission is to guide and inspire artists, designers, crafters, makers and other creative entrepreneurs aiming to grow and develop their creative businesses.

Find this list in the March 2023 digital copy of Artisan Joy Magazine for free or continue here for the list!


MARKET CHECKLIST

Business/Sales

Products
Smartphone/Cell Phone
License/Sales Permit
Email Signup Form
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I’ve vended at craft fairs for 10 years, and I have one consistent observation: 90% of vendors are not engaged with their public. What do I mean? I observe vendors seated; seated and talking or playing games on their mobiles; or talking with another vendor. I observe vendors who are tired, not present, and in a grumble mood because the fair is not well attended, or sales are low or non-existent. You see the emerging visual to customers?

The solution? As much as you can advertise or promote an event, it’s the main responsibility of the organizer to do this. So what is your responsibility once you are at the event? Three things: a) love your product; b) engage anyone who approaches your table; c) demonstrate what’s unique or different about your product.

Craft fairs can be a great way for artisans and crafters to showcase and sell their work. But with so many vendors and customers, it can be difficult to stand out and make a profit. Here are some tips to help you make money at your next craft fair:

• Plan ahead. Before the fair, make sure you have enough inventory to last the entire event. This will help you avoid running out of popular items and losing potential sales.

The 2022 holiday shopping season is early here in the United States. Already, back-to-school is off the shelf, and holiday-themed items are everywhere in retail stores. It's time to get your stuff together and make the most of the holiday selling season. There are a lot of steps that you need to take to prepare for this important time of year. For many artisans, it is their main selling season! 

The steps include:

• booking your events, lodging, and travel
• getting your inventory in order
• marketing the events
• ordering packaging
• display booth management

Displaying your work well is critical to drawing people into your craft show booth. If potential customers don’t walk into your booth, you can’t make a sale. Many artists lose sight of this and rely on their work alone to do the heavy lifting. The last few shows I attended had some great examples of this.

Visiting the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA recently, two booths stood out for their marketing efforts. One for presentation and the other for graphics.

Inspiration is all around us. It is easy to believe that when everything we see and everyone we meet seems to trigger some new and exciting creative idea, so that, as dedicated crafters, we can scarcely wait to hurry back to our homes, studios or workshops to make a start on our latest project. However, sometimes the ideas just don't seem to flow quite so easily. Or perhaps they just feel a little too much like the ideas that everyone else seems to have and you wish you could come up with something new and different.

Festival season is one of the best times of the year to diversify your style and delve into alternative fashion and body art. This year, Style Caster is predicting that knitted bucket hats, ombre dresses, denim, and sheer dresses will be all the rage but one staple of festival looks will never be out of trend: henna tattoos. If you are keen to create your own henna looks this season and build up your design abilities with every new festival or outdoor concert, keep the following tips in mind.

While many small farmers markets allow for homegrown products only, some larger markets also permit local craftspeople to participate. In fact, most popular farmers markets offer holiday markets specific to offering folks the chance to buy and sell local arts and crafts!

There’s a small amount of controversy about crafters selling their creations at the local farmers’ market.

On one side, people say that crafters may not earn enough to make it worth their time.

What’s the best thing about winter if you’re a crafter?

Preparing for spring craft shows, of course.

And Spring 2021 will be a season like no other.

With a COVID vaccine at last on its way, the long dark winter of social distancing seems poised to come to an end. And that’s great news for crafters and for all those who love crafting events and shows.

Here are a few pointers to help you prepare for the spring 2021 craft show season.

Keep Up Your Virtual Game

Fingers crossed that the Covid-19 period of history draws to a close very soon.

Even so, many of your customers will still be cautious.

For these folks, maintaining a strong online presence is key.

Fortunately, we have all had plenty of practice during 2020. Now you can get even more creative.

Consider posting a virtual craft show on Facebook Live. You can also ship kits of materials to prepare for a video tutorial on your website or social media page.

Do Your Homework

We know you already get this, but it’s more important than ever to read up thoroughly on craft shows and events that you attend as a vendor.

Besides the usual concerns about space, cost and time, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with any new rules established at the venue in the wake of Covid-19.

Sanitation and social distancing protocols are major concerns in the post-Covid era, and you’ll want to be well-prepared for these so they don’t take you by surprise.

Make Visitors Feel Safe

It’s been a long time since we mingled in close quarters at a craft show, and your customers are bound to feel a bit skittish.

Put them at ease by offering masks and hand sanitizer and limiting the number of people visiting your tent.

Give Special Attention To Your Display

The display at the entrance of your space has always been an essential component of success, and that’s even more true in 2021.

If you have to put a limit on the number of people who enter, they should still be able to get a good view of what you offer just from standing outside.

Try to set up your area so that as much merchandise as possible can be viewed from outside your tent.

Offer Unique Products For Unique Times

As a crafter, you are creative by nature, and never has that quality been more important.

Put your creativity to work in consideration of the ways people's lives have changed.

Can you create any items to make a home office space feel safe and cozy? How about gifts especially for frontline workers, or memorial items for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one? And don’t forget our pets; as we spend more time at home, items geared to pet owners are more appealing than ever.

And of course, cleaning products, hand sanitizer, and fun cloth face coverings are bound to be popular for a while yet.

Are you ready to conquer the post-Covid world of craft shows?

With a little caution and creativity, you’ll be able to take your craft show game to a whole new level in the spring of 2021.

Got the COVID-crazy Craft Fair Vendor Blues? Stay Busy! Here are some tips on using this downtime to drum up business, expand your reach, and help keep your business going.

#2 Do the Social Media Thing! Many Craft Fairs might be closed this summer, but the internet is open 24/7. If you want your craft business to survive during social distancing, participating in social media as a business is simply unavoidable. There’s no way around it. People are on social media more often than individual websites or even reading their email. You want to be where the people are. Using hashtags to let folks find what you do, using strong photography and helpful descriptions, and offering sales and discounts are ways to bring in business. There are endless resources online with guidance for being effective in social media. Invest in yourself by learning and putting what you learn into action! Here’s an article about using Instagram for your Business. Don’t stop there, look and see what other craft fair vendors are doing to drum up business with social media. 

Thanks for reading and wishing you all the best!

1. Ask around. Crafters are friendly folks and love to give advice about what shows rock and which do not. Don't be shy to email your peers or just approach them at festivals and shows

Overpricing

Many years ago, a certain art professor showed his portfolio slides to a class I attended, as a sample of how to put together a body of work for presentation. His beautiful ceramic perfume bottles were quite impressive and skillfully made.  Along with the images were prices for each item, which averaged in the range of $600 each, which was his example of pricing to the class.

Not long ago, I happened to speak with an artist who by chance got the same talk from the same art professor with the same slides. She, however, had the presence of mind to raise her hand and ask "How many of these perfume bottles have you sold?"  The answer: Zero.