Craft Shows & Making Money

Well we just did a 3 day craft show at a local mall. This was a very expensive adventure and I learned a lot.

Basically I learned that just because a show is at a craft mall does not mean you will have high sales. I also learned that malls will greatly exaggerate their foot traffic to get you to sign the contract and pay their extremely high fee.

Luckily we made out okay. We didn't lose money like most of the other crafters did but we certainly did not make enough to work 3 12 hour days plus the fees.

It is odd to me that we can make more at a one day craft show than 12 hours at a mall show. This is a new show for that mall and I would venture a guess to say they will be hard pressed to get crafters next year unless they greatly lower the table fee.

The good thing is I met a lot of new crafters and got a list of the better selling shows to attend for 2012. That was a bonus for sure.

Still saw a lot of new crafters over pricing their items. Like I have posted elsewhere in this blog price is everything! And you will not ever make an "hourly" wage. You can price it high and take it all home with you, or you can price it just a bit lower (in most cases) and not have to pack it all back up at the end of the day.