Craft fair and farmers market selling

Each event is its own application: some run through directories such as VendorsMap, others through the organizer's own form, and you bring your own tent, tables and inventory.

Median booth fees in VendorsMap listings are $75 for craft fairs and $30 a day for farmers markets, and Square keeps 2.6% + 15¢ of each in-person card sale. Assume $300 of card sales, $25 for travel and supplies, and 4 hours of loading and setup around an 8-hour day, with the $75 median as the booth fee, and you'd keep roughly $16 an hour before the cost of making your goods. The sales, travel and time figures are assumptions, and your own fee, sales and costs will differ.

The catch is the booth fee: VendorsMap says it is paid by card on acceptance, so it leaves your pocket before the first customer arrives. This suits people who already make something to sell and can give up weekend days, not anyone who needs pay known in advance.

How craft fair booth fees work

You sell to shoppers at your booth and pay the organizer a booth fee for each event. Some farmers markets take a percentage of sales instead of a fixed fee.

VendorsMap adds no vendor fee. Eventeny bills organizers, who can pass its fees to you, split them or absorb them. Card processing takes a percentage too.

You set your own prices, and Colorado State University Extension warns that vendors often underprice because they don't know their costs. Add booth fee, travel, supplies and materials per item before you settle on a price.

What craft fair vendors earn

No published source measures what vendors typically sell in a day, so the published numbers are what a booth costs. Your sales minus those fees is what you keep.

The two craft fair medians differ because VendorsMap and Canopy Season draw on different sets of events, and VendorsMap's only include events that state a fee.

Sales are not profit: what two markets left farms

A University of Minnesota Extension analysis of 10 commercial vegetable farms found they retained 76% of gross sales after marketing costs at one farmers market and 42% at another (2016 data). The figures count marketing costs but not all labor or materials.

Startup costs: tent, tables, insurance and fees

FLIP bills vendor liability coverage monthly, so insurance is the recurring cost if an event asks for it.

Booth fees range widely by event. Charlottesville's city market charges $25 per market day for a 10x10 space plus a $35 seasonal registration. At the top end, the Smithsonian Craft Show charges $1,605 to $2,300 per booth, plus a non-refundable $50 jury fee.

Where to find events and how to apply

• VendorsMap if you want one place to browse events: browsing, messaging organizers and applying need no membership, and some events apply there while others link to the organizer's form.
• Eventeny if an event you want runs on it: the event sets the application fee, and at one event your card is collected at application and charged on approval.
• Square is for taking cards once you're in, not for finding events.

Choosing events worth entering and keeping shoppers

Check an event's shoppers and history before you pay for a booth.

Vetting an event

Maine SBDC advises looking at shopper demographics, how the event is marketed, and past attendance and exhibitor lists, and choosing events that match your products and target shopper. Shoppers differ from market to market, so Colorado State University Extension advises tailoring product selection and pricing to each one.

Keeping shoppers after the day

Maine SBDC also suggests an email list or social account to update customers after an event ends.

Seller's permits, cottage food and insurance rules

Sales tax, food and insurance rules depend on your state and sometimes on the event, so check your state revenue department and your state agriculture or health department before the first sale.

Sales tax permits

Iowa issues no temporary tax permits: vendors at a craft show use a permanent permit, and the event sponsor gets the permit number. In Maine, the state's SBDC says vendors may need insurance certificates, a resale certificate and a sales tax ID; that is Maine guidance, and other states differ.

Homemade food

In California, Class A cottage food registration covers direct sales including certified farmers' markets, with no inspection. Products must be shelf stable and on the state-approved list, the registration lasts one year, and a farmers market or fair needs an additional permit. For produce, eggs and meat, ask your state agriculture department.

Liability insurance

FLIP says typical farmers market limits are $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. A Washington association requires its member markets, not vendors, to hold general liability insurance, and one holiday market lists a liability insurance requirement. Ask each organizer what it wants to see.

The IRS says income from selling goods is taxable even without a 1099, and business versus hobby turns on factors such as keeping businesslike records; see taxes on side income.

Fake events, fake checks and lost fees

Application fees are often non-refundable, as the $25 fee at one holiday market is. Ask the organizer in writing what happens to your fee if an event is cancelled.

Who should sell at fairs, and who should skip it

Suits you if:

• You make shelf-stable food, crafts or produce and can hold a full day's inventory in a car or van.
• You can give up weekend days and stand at a booth for most of one.
• You can absorb a lost booth fee at an untested event while you learn which ones sell.

Skip it if:

• You need pay known in advance, since the fee comes first. Dog walking pays per walk with no inventory.
• You'd rather sell without staffing a booth. Print on demand sells your designs online, and thrift store flipping and retail arbitrage resell goods online, and the reselling category has more.
• You have no vehicle for a tent, tables and stock. The ecommerce category has ways to sell products online instead.

Your first week: from application to first booth

1. Pick two or three events and vet them with the checks above. Browse VendorsMap, where applying needs no membership.
2. Check your state's sales tax and food rules. In California, cottage food registration lasts one year and must be renewed.
3. Ask each organizer what insurance it requires and get a quote before you apply. FLIP's vendor coverage starts at $25.92 a month.
4. Apply early. At one holiday market, the deadline for a December event is June 30, with notifications in early August.
5. Buy gear: TheCraftMap lists budget tents at $120–180 and tables at $50–70. Set up Square, which sends next-business-day transfers but not on Saturdays, and note that offline payments expire if not reconnected within 24 hours.
6. Price every item to cover booth fee, travel, supplies and materials, and put prices on signs.
7. Record every sale and cost from day one, since businesslike records count toward business rather than hobby status.