Shopper now a days. I used to sell. I don't shop with people that don't seem to be interested in seeing me. But honest, I don't go to many shows anymore.

I will go if it in on my way somewhere. The local ones always seem to be heavy into the jewelry. Also, same things every year.

I like to find handcrafted unusual items. One year I found hand painted eyeglass holders. They had faux glasses panted on them. (It was a eyeglass shaped tray) Everyone loved them.

I've been both (though sold supplies rather than handwork--that's where the money is). Jewelry is over-represented, as Ellendi6161 said, because it sells well and even with heavy cases, is easily portable and set up, compared to many other items. It also has a higher perceived value, and more profit.

I'm surprised to hear that there are so many sourpusses at consumer shows! Even at trade shows, the people who are happy and bright and engaging get more sales.

The number one rule of sales is to engage people and keep them talking. Make yourself be like them so that they identify with you, but even if they're quiet or sour you have to engage or you can't make a sale.

The number two rule is that crowds attract crowds. If you don't have any other customers, keep the lookiloos talking. If you sit reading a book with no customers in sight, the passersby will assume you don't have anything good.

The number three rule is standing is best because it is a bigger visual presence (and moving makes it bigger yet) and you can engage better when you're eye to eye. If you have to sit, do something busy, including making new product, so long as that isn't tiny and fiddly. Put on a show. And talk to people! Even if they're not buyers, they might tell someone else to check out your booth, or look you up on the web in six months because they remember you.

The number one rule of crafts shows is put a cat on it. You can sell anything with a cat on it, even if it's hokey or ugly. You can sell a lot with dogs on, but cats sell twice as fast.

A lot of people get into crafts sales undervaluing their time and undercosting their materials. Or they make what they want to make regardless of whether anyone wants to pay what the time and materials are worth, let alone any profit. They're basically losing money six ways and it isn't fun anymore because they have so much tied up in the old stock that no one wants to buy at the price they want to get, that they can't buy materials to make new stuff. And even if their stuff sells, it's boring making what sells over and over again, but you can't underpay employees the way you can underpay yourself, so you just have to keep doing it. So they get sour and bored and show it when they should be selling. It's a hard hard business, and if you're not good at business, it's also not a good one.

Most crafts vendors barely make minimum wage. If that. Many think they're making more because they don't account for all their time.
My problem as both a vendor and a shopper is the physical toll and the crowds.

Etsy rocks!

I have never been to a craft show. Lots of other kinds of shows but not that. I have not been a vendor either to a craft show.

Sue

A friend of my wife came to our area last year to attend a local higher-end craft show named Martha's Market. Her business primarily sells gardening gloves she has designed to fit well enough that you can feel what you are doing, and therefore can actually keep them on while doing gardening.

After being here for the weekend she said she wouldn't be back to the show again. Many of her complaints were related to how the show was run. She knew the cost for a booth, and the fact that the show would take 15% of her sales to support the "charity"* the show supports, but other things about the show were unwelcome surprises.

IIRC she needed either an extension code or a power strip for her booth, and the show would rent one to her for $50 for the 4 days. She felt misled about how many people would be expected to attend the show, since the show charges admission for shoppers to enter the show most local people I know have never been to the show.

The worst though was that since the show would take15% of her sales, a show worker would come around and demand to see her receipts and one day (when she had only sold two pairs of gloves and a gardening hat) they essentially accused her of lying and hiding sales.

Given that she was staying with us for free she only lost a little money over the weekend.

Note: I put charity in quotes above because while the show supports a local hospital that is part of a non-profit regional healthcare organization, given that the organization generates a net surplus of $350M to $600M worth of "non-profit" each year, it doesn't seem much like a needy charity to me or many locals.

Many of p-logs comments regarding sales tactics apply equally to farmers markets. They seem to be spreading and becoming increasingly popular (and common) in my area. Except with food, probably not a good idea to put cats on it.

I've stopped paying attention to craft stands, whether at fairs for that purpose or (indeed) at farmers markets. Too often it seems like untalented people selling what to me appears to be junky goods.

I'd always ask myself, "if this stuff is of such good quality, why is it being sold in a setting like this?" It's hard to think about that question too long before realizing that what's for sale often isn't worth buying.

SW, I don't doubt that's true for the ones you've seen. Re the cats, an example in a trade magazine a couple of decades ago was that people would fork over $7 for a baby food jar with felt cat ears, face and tail. Junk indeed. The kind of thing that's precious if a 7-year-old direct relative makes it specifically for you.

OTOH, there are many high quality crafts fairs which make no pretense about being for profit businesses, where artisans with excellent quality products sell their wares. It gives them exposure, unless it's a dismal outing the fee is much less than a gallery, etc. A problem is that, like a farmers' market, fairs are events that require event level commitment from the shoppers. If the weather is nice, there isn't a competing, more important event, the parking is easy, the admission/parking isn't too pricey, and the economy is good, people who are good at it, and know how to choose, price and sell their wares can make money. A lot of artists do artisan craft work as a more steady revenue stream or introductory exposure for new customers (a lot of the reason to do it nowadays is to meet the people who will then make repeat purchases on your website). Often the vendors will be given postcards to advertise the fair with complementary or discounted admission, so the vendors' clients and friends will be encouraged to attend.

The thing is, the internet has made fairs fairly obsolete. The weather is good (inside your home -- one assumes), the parking is free, you can take your time rather than fitting it between church and Sunday supper with the in-laws, etc. That makes going to the fairs an even bigger event from the shoppers perspective. The good organizers add peripheral attractions like (interesting, themed) play areas, food booths with less usual offerings (nobody comes to a crafts fair for a burger), shows and workshops to bring people in. The food is a big draw. You can't get a Willie Bird turkey leg by handing your oven $5 and holding out your hand. (That was an arbitrary price--I don't know how much they cost.)

I agree about the stands you usually see at farmers' markets. They're there because they pay the fee and the organizers need to sell booths. There's oversaturation of farmers' markets in California. The exception, for me, are the ones who are farm folks turning the produce into soaps and baskets and things like that. Even if it's not top quality, there's something charming about buying a basket from someone who grew and dried the straw herself. :)

Several Bay Area towns hold Art and Wine Festivals in the summer. They're basically street fairs, and frankly for many the wine and beer stands are a much bigger draw than the ones selling arts and crafts. Some towns also have Open Studio programs which are (in a way) the reverse of a street fair - people go to the "artist's" homes or other-located studios on designated days where such work is featured for sale. Maps and passes are made available.

We've been to Open Studio visits in a nearby town (Santa Cruz) that featured fine arts-type stuff - paintings and drawings, sculptures, etc. Frankly what we saw, even those in commercial studio spaces, seemed like busy-beaver hobbyists holding their breath that someone might actually pay them for something they produced. Many acted in a business-like manner but what we saw mostly wasn't very good.

"I'd always ask myself, "if this stuff is of such good quality, why is it being sold in a setting like this?"" I think this is somewhat false thinking; it may be that the maker cannot for some reason produce enough of the item to justify having a store front or selling to a retailer (who generally want large quantities per order). It may be that the maker has a full time job and makes these items in his/her spare time and is testing the water to see if they could sell enough to make a living from.

I used to have a stand in a permanent craft market where a couple had a stall across from me selling folk art decorated wooden items. They were an older couple, no kids; he was English and she was German. He did the wood work and she painted them. They were really lovely items and well priced, but they had few sales largely because, I felt, they would sit behind their table and fiercely glare at shoppers as if daring them to get in range. It was very off putting. When things were slow I tried not to catch their eye because at the least provocation they would come over and moan about how unappreciated their stuff was and what an awful country this was and how much better it had been in Canada, their previous home. Since I knew they had no ties to here in particular it was all I could do not to suggest they rack off back to Canada or wherever would make them happier and stop being such miserable gits here. I don't know where they are now as the market closed many years ago; perhaps they're in some other country moaning about how much better it was in Australia :-)