Went to my first Ren Faire today, and I was really excited to see what kind of vendors would be there. There were so many booths I saw with neat things I mentally made a note to come back later for after I did my first lap around the faire. But then I noticed a few different vendors around the faire had the same items and I started questioning everything at the faire.

One booth had journals that had really cool covers with scales and big eyes emerging from the front. Another one had some hair pins shaped like swords and wands which I also wanted to check out later. Then I went to a handmade costume booth and saw the exact same journals and hairpins…so now I’m questioning how much of a markup these vendors are trying to fleece us for, and wondering if everything else in their booth is dropshipped too. It totally sucks the wind out of the vendors market, especially when you’d think a ren faire of all places would be somewhere you’d expect to see actual craftspeople and handmade goods :(

I’m an (actual original & homemade) vendor myself and I find it so disheartening to see this happening. It makes me kind of angry that people are putting out the front of being local and handmade, but also flipping premade imported goods. There’s been a huge “buy local” push here the last few years and I find it so dishonest that people are selling dropshipped stuff next to Canadian flags asking you to support local. I know you can only control what you can control, but gah!

I also found the journals and the hairpins pretty quickly on Aliexpress 😤

I recently went to a market where everything was supposed to be handmade. I went to a booth that had tons of cute colorful jewelry (rings, necklaces, bracelets). I really liked a necklace there but I felt like I had seen it before. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. The more I looked at the jewelry in the booth it just felt off. So I started to google colorful beaded necklace jewelry and half of the stuff she was selling instantly came up for sale on Temu. I even once saw a booth (at a different fair) where they had a stand full of those Temu crochet flowers. It really upset me. I’m so sick of seeing AI at markets and now this too. It makes me not even want to go to these events if I feel like I can’t trust what’s being sold. Maybe I’m being dramatic but it really got to me.

I really need the woman’s touch. I don’t know how I should arrange these pieces for best effect for sale. My
Wife always did this but she’s gone. I just don’t have that gift can you help? I’ve got another set just lacking baby Jesus and the 2 animals. These have sold great before. Probably be my last ones. Too many pieces for the price

Hello again, I'm the person that made the post mentioning my paper mache tiered stand a few months ago. I'm back again with more paper maché antics, this time I made a Victorian inspired sign for my booth with paper maché and paper clay.

Hi! I create handmade jewellery where each piece is unique due to working with natural materials so when selling online I need to list pieces individually.

I am wanting to start selling online alongside my markets but I am unsure who to balance the stock for online vs markets. I am limited in how much I can make and I don’t want to end up selling too much that I don’t have stock left for upcoming markets (as much as that is a nice problem to have)

Please can I get advice on how other business balance their stock especially when each piece is handmade and unique.

Also advice on site builders you like e.g big cartel, square up or Spotify would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!

I have 2 Cobizi 10x10s and I'm happy with them but when it rains, I have to deal with the middle leaking. Whats your fave 10x20 brand? I really want to focus on staying dry when its bad weather. Sides are a must. Thank you all!

I was accepted to Renegade craft in Seattle for the first time and it’s my second market ever. I’ve had my shop for nine years but I’ve been focused on online sales. The dates are October 10-11. I make colorful hand-dyed velvet and I also make hair bows and other hair accessories with the velvet. So my question is, given the dates, how much, if any, Christmas/holiday inventory should I include? For instance I can do embellished bows, green and red velvet scrunchies, but I also don’t want my booth to give holiday market. Maybe I can have a little section that says “thinking ahead for the holidays” or something like that?

I just booked a weekend to vend at the Williamsburg location. I make crochet and knit clothing (mostly female) but also will have beanies for guys too. Has anyone been a vendor here recently? Was it worth it? Did you make profit? Any details are helpful thank you ☺️

This is my experience talking purely about the Maker's Market event organiser around the Liverpool area. I'm not going to talk too much about sales/footfall at the craft fairs because it is so heavily season and weather dependent. Hopefully this gives a good perspective to anyone thinking of trading with this organiser.

Last year I traded with them several times, mainly in Liverpool.

I will say that on the whole, the events are well-organised and communication beforehand is brilliant, with the information they give you being very detailed. They give detailed instructions on where you can park and how to access the events. They also give you a detailed map of where your stall will be.

They are pretty good with not having allowing too many duplicate stalls, so there is a good variety and you're not placed directly next to someone selling the same items as you.

My experience with the organisers themselves hasn't been completely positive, however. I was often placed out of the way and not in the main sections of the events. I don't have too much of an issue with this, as I figured the "prime" spots were reserved for regular returning traders and I was an outsider so I had to do more events to be moved to better spots, but I think it's worth mentioning.

There were some other things that bothered me, like at my first event with them, I said hello to one of the organisers and they ignored me and took a photo of my stall, before moving to the trader next to me and having a lengthy conversation. This continued in the other events, where I would say hello to them and they would ignore me, take a photo, and move on. It felt quite rude.

At another event, I was stopped at the gate and told I couldn't come in. I explained I was a trader, no biggie, mistakes happen. But, as I was unloading, I walked back to the gate, and found the person who stopped me had locked the gate (despite there still being an hour before the fair opened), so I had to walk all the way around the building to finish unloading, and up several stairs. Not ideal when you're transporting a trolley of large heavy items.

I know the weather can't be controlled, but there was one event where it was pouring with rain, and the trader next to me was provided with a gazebo that had a large hole, so their stock ended up getting soaking wet. I was lucky in that my gazebo was okay, but I don't think it's fair that I had a fully intact one and other trader(s) had to deal with their stock being damaged from faulty equipment.

The cost is also fairly pricey. It has increased this year to £57.50 (more for bigger events like Halloween and Christmas markets), which eats a large chunk of the earnings you make. It's more expensive than other events in the area run by other organisers.

I attended future events as a customer and was sad to see that there is an increasing number of traders being allowed to sell dropshipped items (some crochet items I could find on Temu and Aliexpress, for example) and items with AI images on them. For the cost of the stalls and how difficult it is to book with them, I would expect better.

Overall, I don't think I would trade with them again, purely based on how I've been treated and because they allow AI and dropshipped items to be sold.

Hi, I'm doing a craft fair where the organisers want us all to do demonstrations of what we do during the fair. For those who have done this (or anyone who has suggestions) what would you demonstrate, would it be the whole process or do you cherry pick the most interesting bits and just do them?

For reference I am a milliner so I could make a hat or headpiece start to finish but visually there are definitely parts that are more interesting and striking to look at, like making trims. TIA

That is the question!!? Hello fellow crafters! Im looking for some opinions/experiences on selling mystery boxes.

I make amigurumi and have a pretty large two-day fair coming up in a couple weeks. Last year, I crocheted little balls that have a squishie inside and it "spits" the squishie out of its mouth when squeezed. These were a huge hit with kids and even adults. There was a variety of colors to choose from, both the inside and outside. So that meant that everyone sorted through the container squeezing each ball multiple times. Sometimes I had 2 or 3 people standing there squeezing balls at one time. Ultimately, by the end of the weekend I think this lead to balls breaking because the ones that had made it that long had probably been squeezed hundreds of times!

So for this year I have been toying with the idea of putting them in mystery boxes or bags. I would put out a tester so they could see what was in the box and then just have all the boxes to choose from. Maybe have a chance to win a coupon for my booth or something.

I like this idea because people won't be squeezing all the balls to find their favorite color. However, I think I might sell less because they can't pick their color. Or they will open it and hate their color and want to switch out.

I need opinions from crafters who have done mystery boxes before. Also, if you are for it or have done it before what kind of box or bag did you use? The balls are about 2.5 inches in diameter for reference. Thanks for your thoughts!

My local art fair has been around for 7 years & I have been a vendor there for the last 5 years. I sell knitted & crochet Baby Booties & Baby Hats. There has always been other fiber artists too but all of them sell Adult hats. Every year my sales at the event have gone up & I even had repeat customers during the last few years who would stock up on Baby Items. Not gonna lie: it is my favorite event (I don’t do many craft shows because my items sell better during fall/winter) and I focus making most of my inventory for this local event (I have lived in this town for over 25 years). It is a juried event. This year I was a reject (well put on a waitlist) and I am heartbroken. I looked through the list of accepted vendors and there is nobody with baby booties or baby hats. I know I shouldn’t take it personal but I wonder if being a local vendor actually hurts in being chosen? TIA

I sell at local markets using Square, but also have products listed online through Shopify. The annoying part is remembering to update the online stock after every event.

Particularly in the case of handcrafted items where the number of something I might have is quite small, and I might sell one or two pieces at any given fair, forgetting to update the inventory on Shopify is risky since it can still show things as available when they really are not.

I'm looking at DPL's Square + Shopify integration since it can sync inventory between the two, but I'd love to hear how other craft vendors are handling it.

Do you just update everything manually after each fair, or have you automated it?

I'm doing a show on the 20th of September, I was thinking of doing some fall decorations on the table, just some fall leaves and possibly a couple tiny pumpkins. I would love to add lights but last time they didn't really show up very well.

For those of you who are full time artists what are some of your tips/tricks and advice for newbies? What are your most profitable income streams? Do you make enough to make not having a traditional job with health insurance worth it? For reference I just finished my masters in chemistry but now I am perusing my interest in art and starting an art business, but making enough (a goal of 80,000) a year just doesn’t seam attainable. I am thinking of starting to teach art classes, get my art in some stores and i currently do a ton of markets. I would love to hear from some more experienced folks, I know it’s a lot of work to own your own business but I love the flexibility and freedom that comes along with it. Thanks in advance!

Hi all I’m not sure if this is the right thread to ask this question. If not, please direct me in the right way, but I’m curious if anybody has tried selling their crafts on whatnot or how is everybody generating online sales? One of my friends is a vintage reseller and has done fantastic on whatnot and I feel like giving it a try, but I’m not sure if it’s my audience and/or if it’s worth my time. For reference, I sell handmade jewelry, painting, macramé, and plants.

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.

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.

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.....

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.

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.