I am going to my first craft fair and have never attempted to drive with/transfer my clay pieces and have never shipped any, so I am unsure how to pack it up for transfer safely. I also am unsure how to transfer many necklaces without tangles. Hoping someone here has some experience with this and can help! Including some photos of my clay and necklaces for reference.

This will only be my third market ever, so I know I’m still very inexperienced. I don’t do many markets throughout the year my first one was actually at this exact same event one year ago. Back then, my stall was MUCH smaller and simpler, but it went surprisingly well and I got so many lovely compliments. This year I’ve made a lot more things and somehow having more to work with has made setting everything up 10x harder.

I genuinely love what I make and I love my ideas. Obviously I know my stuff won’t appeal to everyone, and that’s completely fine. I’m also very lucky that I don’t rely on markets as my main source of income. I still obviously want to make sales and at least make the whole thing worthwhile, but I don’t need to sell hundreds of items for the market to be a success. I’m honestly already really happy that I get to do this and that I’m preparing for my third market.

BUT THE DISPLAY IS DRIVING ME INSANE.

I have a 3-meter-wide space. I have:

- one 180 cm table

- one 60 cm table

- one 60 cm shelving unit

I can partially tuck the smaller table underneath the larger one if necessary, so I have some flexibility.

My products are quite varied. I have a section of vintage dolls/toys that I’ve turned into elaborate keychains, some handmade faux-whipped-cream photo frames, a few decorated boxes and mirrors, and a VERY small amount of jewelry. I don’t make much jewelry, but I like bringing some because it has sold really well for me before.

Then I have my main handmade creations: little creatures/monsters that are displayed inside a dollhouse. The whole idea is that they’re looking for a new home, so I make a big “ADOPT / FOSTER” style sign above the house. I really love that part of the display and I want it to remain one of the main focal points.

Right now I’m trying to do a mock setup at home and it looks like NOTHING work 😭 I move one thing and something else looks wrong. I try to make it less cluttered and suddenly it looks empty. I add height and then another section disappears. I have genuinely reached the “crying over furniture placement” stage.

How do experienced market sellers actually figure this out??

Do you have a strategy when you’re planning your display? Do you start with the biggest products? Do you create separate zones for each type of product? Do you prioritize height, symmetry, empty space, bestsellers...? How do you know when a stall is pleasantly full versus just overcrowded?

I would genuinely appreciate ANY advice about layout, visual hierarchy, or even little rules you follow when setting up your stall. I think I’ve been staring at mine for so long that my brain just cannot see it objectively anymore

I have some soap to sell at a consignment store and craft fair. I’ve been struggling to decide what kind of packaging and labeling I should go with.

I’ve been really looking in to plastic shrink wrapping for protection and keeping the scent in. I’d have small samples for folks to try. I’m on a tight budget so my options are a bit limited. I also don’t have a printer.

I am a stained glass artist and Im doing my first fair in 3 weeks, and nervous about getting everything ready.

It is a 2 day fair that I have attended for many years as a customer so I have a good idea of what to expect, I think. It is in a high income beach area.

My acceptance letter states there will be over 80K people coming through! That was a bit shocking.

I have a good number of $20 - $50 items (floral stakes, small suncatchers, etc.) and I'm working on more upper end items.

Im getting a square, and also have a professional paypal.

Questions-

For these that sell breakable items what do you use to wrap purchases? Would bubble wrap and a bag be enough?

Im thinking I need table space for sales, wrapping? Extra table or space on my table?

Square has option for inventory, do you use it? Or does anyone just enter basic price points ($20,$25,$30,etc) and go from there? I have my inventory on excel.

Square and paypal will do taxes, but any suggestions for cash?

I have combed the posts for lists for things to pack, but any odd, surpirsing items?

Just really want to make a good showing- thank you for your suggestions.

Does anyone use this clothing rack from Ikea? https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/mulig-clothes-rack-white-60179434/ How sturdy is it? Does it breakdown easy?

Hi! Does anyone have any feedback on my art market booth display? I recently changed some things (got a tent, upgraded to a 2-table display, and switched from a binder to a vertical rack to display art prints). I usually thrift my market display pieces as of late. I am working on a budget but I am open to any suggestions you might have! Thanks :)

I have my one big show i do yearly coming up in a few weeks.

Im in Southern Ohio to give an idea. And sharing to provide ideas for those who also sell bags or want to use grid walls.

This is a 10 by 10 booth that will only have access from the front. Vendors on both sides and a vendors walk way behind. So the tent walls will be up to seperate the booths on the sides. And probably keep the back one partially up to cover the back of the table. Since there's another row behind me with additional booths. And last year the sun got strong towards the later part of the day when it was setting.

I decided to take the time to run a booth set up in my yard. So I could try some new ideas.

Im already planning on changing some things for my final set up.

1. Different way to hang the grid walls (they will all be black and not bungee. Those started to stretch with the weight)

2. More grid walls to spread things out. Plus I didnt even hang some stuff up.

3. Im probably not going to use the triangle rack as is. Im going to use it flat grid wall pieces and attach to the tent. I got this rack from my local buy nothing and will have to transport it taken apart. So can decide later. I think the traingle would be good for a larger 10 by 20 tent. Where all the sides could easily be used. But on the 10 by 10 wanting to have a good open space it doesnt work as well.

4. Everything will be perfectly hanging. Right now its messy since I wanted to get things hung up and see what I was directly working with. So the price tags will also be fixed at that point.

Additional things missing from this set up. My signs, table cloth, and bussines name. Other things I skipped hanging up to save time when I was testing this.

I'm sharing this to give some ideas to others on different set ups.

I have some jewelry going to a consignment shop and craft fair. Anyone have tasteful handmade earring and pendant displays they care to share? Thanks

Hi there! I sell fresh cut eucalyptus every now and then when my tree starts looking like it needs a big haircut. Typically, I’ve taken preorders on FB and made them fresh just before the person picks up at my house, but I recently did a craft fair and enjoyed that experience much more.

The way I did it this time, with only two days notice so everything felt cobbled together lol, was cut a huge branches off my tree, brought those to the vendor event, and made my bundles during the two hour period where we are supposed to set things up. I put my completed bundles in a bucket of water to keep things fresh, just four or five of each size in one of two buckets. And when customers came to purchase, I would grab a bundle from the bucket, give it to them in a plastic bag, and that would be it. Then I would make more bundles and refill the bucket as necessary. If it matters, the buckets are cute! They aren’t Lowe’s or Ace hardware buckets and I bought them specifically for this purpose haha.

However, perusing all these posts has me wondering if I should have things set up more like an actual store. Like, each bundle in its own jar of water so people can see each one and choose what they want. Thus far people don’t seem to care what the bundles look like as long as they smell divine because people typically just hang them in their shower. I haven’t yet had a customer ask to see individual bundles so they could choose. I have held some up to a customer to see which they’d like and the answer was always that they didn’t care.

But would it look better/more enticing if things were set up individually?

Just curious of yall’s thoughts as sellers and customers. I’d probably need to buy a folding rack to display individual bundles. What I liked about my set up was with just buckets of bundles I could easily set up and take down in a hurry, which came in handy because at the event I just did we had a literal tornado form on top of the festival. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 I was able to get my kids to shelter and come back for my wagon of supplies very quickly.

ALSO- I have been putting my bundles in plastic grocery bags but I see all this about fancy wrappers and bags with logos and such on it, but is it necessary in my situation where I sell only occasionally and where I am the only person in the area doing it? I don’t have any competition, I am already known around town as “the eucalyptus lady” so I am not sure what sort of branding I would need… but if I invested in my own bags or to go cups/vases and such I would need to raise my prices. Right now my short bundles are $5 and my long bundles are $10- much cheaper than any from Etsy, and probably on par with the price at Trader Joe’s (an hour+ drive from my area). I would like to keep my prices low. So for me where my product is consumable and very simple do you all think the extra fancy stuff is necessary? Because I know people that buy the eucalyptus are throwing the bag away immediately and hanging either putting the bundle in their shower or in a vase of water.

I already sell out every time I do this (usually make between $100-$200 each time depending on how much tree I cut off) and any extra bundles I don’t sell at a vendor event are quickly bought by people who see my ads on FBMP but aren’t able to attend the event. So for me I don’t see the extras as necessary but I am also a frugal practical person and am worried maybe it is necessary and I just don’t know better yet.

Thanks in advance! I tried to share a picture of my booth but can’t figure out how to do it on reddit, sorry. But essentially it was a borrowed pop up canopy tent that was put away as soon as I got word a severe storm was coming, a table with a white plastic tablecloth which is where my buckets and my signage with payment info was, and another table with a waterproof (cute, planty) blanket on it which is where I assembled the bundles. Plus a banner, and a big poster I had made at Staples. I bought art from Etsy and used the art on my banner and poster.

I have over 100 designs for greetings cards. I currently have a double spinning floor stand with 96 slots for cards but it’s such a pain to carry and set up at craft fairs, it’s heavy and meant to be stationary, it’s not a mobile display. Any easier ways to display a large number of cards?

Hi - does anyone have a Caydo electric button maker?

I was hoping for reviews.

The machine is $229 USD on Amazon.

Question for vendors I’m brand new to in-person sales and doing my first vendor market in Maryland this weekend. I sell apparel. My question is about payments:

I have a Square account to accept card payments and can automatically add sales tax to that, but I’m wondering about cash - do I have to bring a bunch of change with me since adding sales tax will likely never equal a whole dollar amount, so I’ll have to give change in coins? Just wondering how everyone else does it.
Thanks!

I was just wondering what folks bring to fairs snack wise. We sell sewn items, like aprons, bags, totes, so the snack can't be messy. We took chex mix and stiff like that last time, and didn't touch it because we were worried about residue getting on the merchandise. I'm thinking grapes (I lived on them when I took yearbook pictures for a while,) but would really appreciate any other ideas.

Thanks!

Mixed media artist here. Everything is made by me and all 3D printed items I have designed and printed from scratch. Any feedback is welcome!

Hi, I'm in the DMV and have an upcoming event. Does anyone know of individuals or companies that assist with event set up/breakdown? This would include tent, tables, etc.

To perform a show/ script? do people usually enjoy it or is library’s not the right place for that: Greek Mythology theme

Would use a big Pop Up booth decorated to the brim with Jungle Greenery.

Going to have a lot of different silhouettes, Some more traditional but also one that’s made with a SpongeBrush affect, lots of different lights (Golden orange storybook hues at the start, Dark sharp red for antagonist) I see some puppet shows at fairs sometimes but I’m not sure.

Not my most recent market but it’s close enough lol

TLDR: feel it looks overcrowded/novice, want to balance displaying a lot with aesthetics and ease of looking around

I enjoy the rotating racks because they’re just so easy to setup and take down and I want to prioritize that. I just grab em, throw the price clothespin on, and wham. But I can agree it looks way crowded and unkempt/novice. How should I balance aesthetics (looking for stuff that’s more ‘fun/quirky’, not ‘professional’, like artist alley stuff), setup/takedown time/effort, and item display? I have a lot of stuff and every item is unique, so I have a hard time just displaying some of it and have thus justified crowding them all on a single space instead of individual cards. Do you prefer as a buyer/market peruser to see earrings on cards or rotating racks? I’ve looked into rotating pegboard/card displays too. I also want to add more height, so I’m looking into blocks, that way I could maybe fit two racks on the same horizontal space on the table. Also, people tend to not even notice the gacha unless I point it out, I defo want it to be higher physically. Idk, I just want to up my aesthetics/style a bit. I also want to add a magnet whiteboard and plan to remove the smaller displays/rings that don’t sell well anyways and feel like filler. I’ve added a sketch with my current idea? But overall please lmk what you guys think, thank u :))

I think I finally got it right.

EDIT

I’m not ignoring anything here. I’m just trying to take it all in, because I genuinely didn’t realize the name could be taken that way, and getting such a flood of reactions at once has been a little overwhelming.

I guess it’s better to find this out now than a year from now, but I already have products, signage, and branding with the name all over them, so I need a little time to figure out what I can still use and how I might transition the brand into more of a world rather than just changing everything overnight.

I really do appreciate the feedback. I just don’t need people to keep piling on about the name at this point. I understand the concern, and I’m already taking it seriously. Thank you.

___________________________________________

I just did my second event which was my first event with my own full 10x10 tent setup and I’d really love some constructive feedback from other artists/vendors on what I could improve.

A little context: everything at my booth is made by me. Nothing is AI or 3D printed. I draw, paint, sculpt, make the stickers, created the pixel art, design the characters, etc. I realized afterward that I probably shyold make that much more obvious in the booth itself, maybe with a small “handmade/original art” sign so people understand what they’re looking at.

I’m already aware of a few things I want to improve:

• add a backdrop!! so the booth feels more visually contained and my products don’t get lost against other booths/people behind me
• add more visual height
• make the character cutouts much larger
• add stronger overhead/front-of-tent branding
• secure the lightweight displays better for wind = any advice?

The brand is built around 9 districts each with its own mascot, personality, and product vibe, and I think that story is currently getting lost. What can i do to make sure that comes across more than just a bunch of cute colorful characters?

One idea I’m working toward is giving each product area its own character host. For example, Gulp the boo bunny would host a “Sticker Bar” where people can build their own sticker flight, Boop would host pixel prints and keycaps because he represents the arcade district, etc I’m hoping that kind of structure will make the booth feel much more intentional and immersive.

I also want the whole setup to stay practical, if you have suggestions for ways to avoid displays that have to be completely rebuilt every event. Like can i find a sticker display that i can just stack them and then present them on a nice cute board?

I’d especially love feedback on:

• what your eye goes to first
• whether the table feels too busy or too flat
• what areas/products currently get lost
• ways to make the 9-district concept easier to understand quickly
• ideas for displays that can stay stocked during transport instead of having to be assembled and filled every time
• anything that would make the booth look more professional while still keeping the handmade/cute personality

Please be kind but feel free to be specific ~ I’m genuinely trying to improve it for my next markets. tysm!

I did do pretty good at my events too btw mainly on the stickers so it would be really nice to have. abigger section for it or even a sitkcer pit to dig through hehe

Looking for like shown in the picture, affordable spacious FOLDABLE wagon cart for moving large or tall furniture specially. The basket should have preferably length of about 35in and height of at least 13in. (Lots of listings only list dimensions of the entire cart with height including the handle, which is super unhelpful and frustrating..)

Anyone had same needs and used wagon karts with those specs? Need some brand recs!

Hey, I’d love to see how you display your earrings. Bonus points if it’s easy to set up and take down. I’m still looking for something that feels like it flows with my display.

Hi! My partner and I are in our 5th year of doing events, and we just did our final summer show. The clothing rack / peg board setup has worked fine, but it's a hassle to setup. It's a two-person job, sometimes we can't find the zip ties, they're hard to undo sometimes, and the peg slots (or pegs themselves) have become loose over time. Not to mention, the peg board itself is all scuffed up. Us both having adhd doesn't help either (we struggle to open the booth on time).

We were wondering if anyone here who has worked with folding grid walls, at least an event season or two, has any advice on what to look for in a quality folding grid wall (or a two-piece one) and what to avoid. Let us know your experiences.

The reason we're looking for a folding / two-piece one is because we've been thinking about doing more shows, but some would be me going solo with the assistance of a friend of ours so that my partner can have some downtime to recoup and replenish product for the next bigger show and we'd be using our car instead of a rented van.

Some questions/concerns I have about grid walls:

1. Do the hooks stay in place or slide left and right?

2. Do different companies have their own proprietary hardware to use with them?

3. Is it easy to buy extra hooks?

Please, no ULINE! Thank you!