A couple of weeks ago, Chris asked for your thoughts about selling projects at craft shows. Several readers share their experiences. – Editor
“I spent a couple of years involved with a relatively high-end craft fair where patrons paid a small sum to attend. The event lasted three days, so I spent most of my spare time during the year building my inventory. My primary offering was turned bowls. My biggest challenge was pricing my wares; I was told several times that I underpriced my bowls. Lessons learned: people gravitated to segmented bowls instead of solid-turned bowls. The most popular woods were walnut and cherry; little interest in maple except as accents in segmented bowls. People had to touch and feel the finish; a super-smooth glossy finish was preferred to a satin or more natural oil finish. And it had to be smooth; there was no interest in a more natural finish. People may not understand the intricacies and challenges of turning, but everyone understands smooth vs. rough. Finally, people were not impressed with exotic woods and were not willing to pay higher prices for the exotics. Making the bowls was fun, but a serious illness and the pressure to have enough inventory made it feel like work instead of an enjoyable hobby. That’s when I stopped participating. Probably the most enjoyable part of the entire process was talking about wood working to the patrons at the fair.” – Glenn Deuchler
“Our small town has an annual Christmas festival with craft vendors invited for a modest fee. The first year, I took snowmen and Christmas tree cutouts. Didn’t sell a thing! This past year, I took woodturnings and charcuterie boards and barely sold enough to cover the fee. Other vendors had similar results. People came for the festival, not the crafts. The lesson: Stick to craft fairs.” – Bob Weaver
“I retired four years ago and decided to keep myself busy by putting out a shingle on craft markets two years ago. We have been successful and tried a lot of things. We now market only in the fall, taking advantage of the holidays. My focus is on quality, so I only sell things I would give to family or friends. My items are cutting boards, charcuterie boards, boxes, bottle stoppers and pens. My biggest seller in quantity are the pens! They sell for an average of $40. The charcuterie boards range from $200 to $400. I try and provide a price point for all interests. We learned to buy a quality tent. Gone through two so far. I made my own display cabinets, since I am a woodworker. Also, a simple website is essential for after-sales and as a marketing tool. From the website sales, I sold a $350 board to a customer in Boston I never met!” – Tracy Novak
“I have attended one craft show in my life as a seller. It was at a church fall bazaar. I had a wide variety of turned and other wooden items for sale. I did not price things too high, considering the venue. I made my $25 dollar table fee and maybe $5 more. I also had to donate an item to the silent action. If I had a dollar for every person who stopped by my table and complimented my inventory but didn’t buy anything, I would have walked out of there rich. It’s hard for me to stop by someone’s setup who has nice woodworking items at shows. I get many good ideas and don’t buy because I know I can make the same thing or already make it, and I don’t want to be one of those people who say, ‘You have nice work!'” – Tim Lange
“I’m in rural east Tennessee, so my dollar figure may be lower than those in a metropolitan area. I’ll do about ten craft shows a year between September and May. I could do more, but I try to stay out of the summer heat. I sell mostly the kits that you can get from Penn State Industries, Wood Turningz and other similar companies (see photos, above). I also do some charcuterie and cutting boards. Booth fees are generally in the $50 range. My gross sales average about $400 per event.” – Paul Saladin
“A few years ago, I rented a booth at a very large and well-attended local craft show. My items were high-quality and fairly expensive, such as end-grain cutting boards. Most of the people were selling cheaper items. Some came with trailers full of merchandise. I only sold a couple of things and felt like my day was wasted. I’ll never do it again.” – ca.johnston
