What do you think a good show is money wise

[smellywax]

I am curious money wise what people think is "doing good" at a 1 day 8 hr show. I don't do many so when I do, I subtract my fees for the show, then the cost of materials for the items sold and then cost for my time to make the products. What is left I consider profit. Another candle/bath and body person I spoke to that does lots of shows told me that after taking all those cost away, she was happy making $100 for the 8 hrs and as long as she profited at least that much she would do the show again. I know money is relative and we all have our opinions on what is a good amount but please tell me this is not the norm for those of you that do lots of shows. I have been doing this for 9 years but maybe 1 or 2 shows a year and was thinking about increasing now that I have more time but are profit margins that low out there?

[Faerywren]

$100 in 8 hours comes to 12 bucks and some change an hour. Some folks make less than that at a "real" job.

[ksranch]

Of coarse, I'd like it to be better than that, but in this economy I'd do it for that no problem.

[Kitn]

I would be happy with $100.00 for 8 hours. Better would be great..

[NaturallyTru]

For me, anything under $100 is a crappy show. I consider a good show at $250+. Ideally holiday time should be more; but in this economy...?

I was told by other vendors when I started that your sales should be 10x the booth fee. My highest show was $700. I used to average $250; but the past 2 years $100.

[IwantItgreen]

For me, anything under $100 is a crappy show. I consider a good show at $250+. Ideally holiday time should be more; but in this economy...?

I was told by other vendors when I started that your sales should be 10x the booth fee. My highest show was $700. I used to average $250; but the past 2 years $100.

Is that what you earned free and clear, or do still have to deduct supplies, time, gas, etc off that?

[TraciS]

Depends on the type of show. Little office show - any profit is good, they are mainly for exposure. Real, actual, organized one day craft show with fees less than $100 I can live with $500 in sales and return but that's the lowest. It is a lot of work loading in and out in one day. Weekend shows with higher fees, I need profit of $100/hr to make it worth returning.

[NaturallyTru]

Is that what you earned free and clear, or do still have to deduct supplies, time, gas, etc off that?

That does not include my booth, gas and time. It's sales.

[IwantItgreen]

Thanks,NaturallyTru. My first two fairs that were 1-day fairs I sold about $300 at each. Guess I better be happy! Sold mostly tarts and soap. Not too many candles.

[001]

I go by the 10x system. Whatever the table cost I want at least 10x that much in sales. $15 table - 150. $500 table $5,000. For higher price shows I like to get 10 but will settle for 6-7x depending on the distance from my home.

[smellywax]

Depends on the type of show. Little office show - any profit is good, they are mainly for exposure. Real, actual, organized one day craft show with fees less than $100 I can live with $500 in sales and return but that's the lowest. It is a lot of work loading in and out in one day. Weekend shows with higher fees, I need profit of $100/hr to make it worth returning.

Is the $100/hr after deducting all your costs?

Thanks everyone for your feedback so far. This is very interesting....especially the 10 x the booth amount since some shows are $50 to enter and others $200 and up.

[TraciS]

Hmm, typed out a long reply and it disappeared. The answer is yes, after all costs. Some shows are more per hr but we have really done a ton of different shows before deciding on the shows we go back to each year. You have to try them all to know what works for you. Wine Festivals-yes, chili cookoffs-fun, filling but not much money, they are all different. Our worst show was a baby fest where we didn't even make back our booth fee, and a 1-day show where we made just enough to cover expenses and have fajitas & a margarita and laugh at what a crappy day it had been. Even the crappy shows are a learning experience and a chance to reel in a few repeat customers :-)

[deb426]

Remember that you cannot always just go by sales on that date. I attended a rainy, yucky show a few weeks ago and barely made stand rent. Regreted doing it. But since then I have been contacted by at least two different people who attended that event and bought product who now are ordering $100 worth of stuff. So sometimes you do it for the connections.

[lsbennis]

Remember that you cannot always just go by sales on that date. I attended a rainy, yucky show a few weeks ago and barely made stand rent. Regreted doing it. But since then I have been contacted by at least two different people who attended that event and bought product who now are ordering $100 worth of stuff. So sometimes you do it for the connections.

Very true, I did a show last week like that, not such a great show but ended up with a couple big orders later that week, you never know until you do the show if it is worth it or not.

[PAgirl89]

The shows that I've been doing have table fees $15 to $25, I don't see paying more than that for 8ft or 10ft of space to bring in only $150 for an 8 hour day. The two day shows I do are 3x a year and normally Saturday is better than Sunday. Soaps and tarts are selling better than candles, I sell more candles at the consignment shop than I do at the craft shows. I had a show yesterday, 13 vendors, 6 of them were jewelry, 1 Scentsy, and I was the only one who had 'handmade' products. I think I sold $20 of product but had a few who seem promising for future orders. It was a church craft show and I paid $15 for an 8ft table. The show I did last weekend, 65 vendors, and I brought in $150 and paid $25 for a 12x12 space. I just don't know what the show will bring until I do the show, and many of them I am doing are my first time at the shows, so it's going in blind and not knowing what to expect. I hate not knowing what to take and how much of it, but I learned yesterday if I don't bring it, I can't sell it. Yesterday, I had some who wanted something that I make but couldn't bring it with me cause of lack of table space.

I try to cover my cost for the space fee and anything over that makes me happy.

[mindy5140]

I think that it would depend on what products you sell.. I expect to make at least $150 per show but when I make more then it was a Great show.. I only sell tarts and warmers though. Tarts are my main seller they sell for $1 or less depending on the sale I'm offering.

[mparadise]

I think it depends on where you are in your business too. When I first started I was THRILLED with any profit made, now 6 years later I want to see $150++ after all expenses or I get frustrated. Remember....the show might be 8 hrs long but you have loading time, travel time, set up time, breakdown time, unloading time. Most show days I am away from my family 12-14 hrs. Anything less than $150 just isn't worth my time, and even then it isn't great. I know that sounds snobby of me but I work 2 other jobs that pay me really well so any time I am spending at shows is often time I could be working at one of them for double the $ I make at shows. At some point it just isn't worth doing the little shows to me. Most of mine are $50-125 per spot but I usually bring in $500-1000 in sales a day, sometimes more. I don't usually do too many $25 spot shows anymore because most of those end up being "vendor" fairs with buy/sell vendors and home party people. Those shows just don't bring in the sales for me like true juried craft fairs can. I do agree that sometimes it is all about the connections you make. My biggest account is a relay for life team that I met the team leader at what is still my worst event $ wise ever, but what I have sold the team over the years has MORE than made up for it. I have done a couple of the inexpensive shows this year to fill up open dates because I am trying to sell down stock and use up my "extra" supplies that I am not going to use to bring in as much $$ before I close down my business at the end of year. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered but at this point any sale is a good sale because all stock that I sell is supplies that I am recovering the $ from at retail prices rather than selling the supplies off in the classies at a loss.

Edited November 14, 2011 by mparadise

[SherriLynn]

I vend at only juried, hand crafted shows. Booth rent runs from $80 - $140 and I book in double booth size. I dumped any type of show at churches, expos, vendor fairs, summer festivals, etc because the money is NOT there.

For me a good day is to retail (at the very least) $1000.00,,, less expenses I typically make about $500 - $600

Great shows are like deer hunting widow weekend which was 2 Saturdays ago, we brought in $2167 for the day,,, less cost of product and expenses my profit is about $1300. The next 3 weekends are all high sales shows in the 2K bracket or so. I love this time of year... Usually we drive in a day early, set up the evening before.. and spend the night at a hotel, eating pizza and basking. It adds more to the expenses, but we need some down time with big shows, so that's where we take it.

Otherwise it's all work and no fun,, and we definately want to have fun in marketing.

It took me many, many years to weed out the good shows from those not so good, shows that we don't make $1000 we kick to the curb... I've been on the road since 1999, but finally have a decent line up of shows that are very profitable. Even through tough economic times these shows have held well.

Edited November 15, 2011 by SherriLynn

[botanica]

All I have to say is, wow! I couldn't imagine making that much at shows. You must have LOTS of product! I've been selling mostly candles up until now, and I'd have to say that my average is about $150 a show. I've started to make tarts, b&b, & diffusers. I've only done one show this year so far, which was a 2 day, and I averaged about $170 a day before expenses. I was happy with that until reading this thread.....

[beekeeper_sd]

I totally agree with SherriLynn, we don't even mess with shows that are not juried. Some of our shows cost us upwards of $240 for booth fees but we come home with $1500-$1700 for a days' work. It does take some time to weed out the shows that are not going to make you anything but it also takes a lot of guts to go for that first $100+ booth fee!

[Debra Phelps]

I had a good line up for years. If I didn't have sales of 1,000 a day, I was mad. It took time to build these shows. But now, I don't do very many of them. They are terrible. I can not believe how bad the economy is these days. I am almost afraid to do a show, because I am afraid it will cost me money I do not have to do it. I can not afford to lose on them. If you are doing great shows, Praise the Lord. I am so happy to here it. You just never know until you get out there with your product and your ability to sell and see what you can do.

[jenn624]

... we brought in $2167 for the day... The next 3 weekends are all high sales shows in the 2K bracket or so.

If you don't mind me asking - Are these shows held in larger metropolitan areas? Or are they smaller town shows?

[SherriLynn]

I do one show in the Mpls/St Paul metro area it's about 200 vendors in a very large church and it has a great following,,,, all the rest of my shows are in smaller cities of about 8,000 to 10,000 and are held in the schools. Some of the schools offer a shuttle bus in between them,, the cities offer special rates at hotels, restaurants etc. It's sort of a city wide day of crafting and these shows have been very successful.

We also do one show in the convention center of a new hotel, again strictly juried and handcrafted. Shoppers come from miles around to shop for the day...there were close to 5000 that came through the door that Saturday. This show is held in a northern resort town of about 9,000 people. The YMCA, the convention rooms at hotels plus the city iteself is full of boutiques and craft shows for the weekend. The business women's association helps sponsor our show and raises money for scholarships, it's very well organized.

Edited November 21, 2011 by SherriLynn

[Candybee]

I've been doing shows for 6 years now and for me a good show is $500+ and really good shows are $1,000+. Shows under $500 I don't consider them very good and shows under $200-$300 are just not good enough. Even after 6 yrs I am still learning how to weed out the bad shows from the good. Its also sometimes cost prohibitive for me to get into the big shows or cash and carry shows I want to do because I don't always have the $300-$1000 or more vendor fee to get in. Most of the shows I do now are in the $50-$150 range.

I go to shows prepared to make in excess of $1000 but thats not how it works. It takes time to find the good ones and when you do you have to go to them for at least a year or two for a good number of repeat customers to come looking for you. Repeat customers are my bread and butter. If I can get a customer to buy a soap or a candle I know they will be back next year.

Lately thou due to the economy sales have been down a lot in my area. So I have been trying out new shows and getting my sales rep to do some of the regular shows I book so I can try out new ones. Always looking for that really great show that pays off!

The biggest show I did had an attendence of 70,000. It was my first show, I was a newbie, and didn't know what I was doing, had a gawd awful set up and only made $14.

One of my smallest shows I did recently had an attendance of about 500 and I made $600+. That was because I had two wholesale customers at that show. One just showed up looking for me and bought a boatload of candles. The other was a new wholesale customer I sold some cases of candles to for her new shop. So you never know who you might meet at these shows.

Edited November 21, 2011 by Candybee