Gyrogami Blog - Precious Metals, Jewelry, Artwork

Craft Fair Financials

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Categories: Instruction and information; Commerce and business

Word count/read time: 463 words; 2 minutes

How do you know if a craft fair was "worth" it? Numbers, and they don't magically materialize. Some vendors don't care about them though it seems counterproductive since that determines profitability and ultimately, sustainability.

Here is a breakdown using realistic figures:

$150 vendor fee
100 miles round trip (2 to 2-1/2 hours driving time)
Three hours minimum for loading, unloading, setting up, and tearing down
Seven hours long
An hour updating inventory and doing paperwork

That's 13 hours so far. Manufacturing time for sold goods adds an additional 15 hours. I didn't include time searching for shows, filling out applications, phoning or emailing the promoter, updating the website, or specific preparation for the show.

The mileage cost per IRS rates is $67; mine is closer to $80 using my monstrous SUV. With $1000 in gross sales, cost of goods sold is $200. Take away the entry fee and it's reduced to $570.

The expenses of running a business take a chunk: depreciation, rent, insurance, utilities, phone, internet, website fees, marketing materials, advertising, displays, theft, damaged goods, hallmarks and trademarks, etc. I didn't include those in COGS as they are not show-specific. Several thousand dollars annually is nothing to sneeze at!

Therefore, my gross hourly rate would be less than $20, or about $13/hr after taxes. In other words, a failure in this context. I could make more money working anywhere doing anything.

However, craft fairs are a long-term investment. Exponentially more people will see me than visit my website. They will talk and business will increase. Is there an effective way to measure it? Those numbers could be depressing so maybe ignorance is bliss.

Up to 2% of attendees will buy something from me. With items as low as $10 (imagine that, handmade precious metal jewelry for $10!), total sales can add up slowly. Or there could be a whopper purchase of $3k. Or there could be one negligible purchase for the entire show.

People take business cards and other literature conceivably because they liked something. Perhaps they were being polite and wanted to appear interested. Among them, the conversion rate is south of 0.2%. Yep, give out a thousand cards and maybe get one sale.

How many vendors are doing it to pass time, entertain their hobby, or socialize, their only concern is breaking even? By "break even" I mean they cover entry fee, COGS, and maybe actual gas cost but receive nothing for their time!

Having no vested interest in being financially sound and pricing items accordingly is troubling. They explicitly state their time is worthless; most likely their items are inferior in every aspect, too. It weakens the market because potential buyers expect the same (price) from all sellers. Like it isn't challenging enough already.

Posted by M: May 3, 2025

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