So You Want to Vend at Markets: Tips & Tricks for Craft Market Success
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The craft market scene is busy as ever! Communities have been turning to supporting local artists and creatives with their shopping, vending at a craft market is a great way to share your art with your community and make some cash on the side. I’ve been vending at these local markets throughout Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego for about 3 years and am going to share with you all the tips and tricks I wish I’d known on day one.
Vending at The Good Gays Market in Los Angeles, CA
When it comes to being a vendor there are 3 main things to consider. Your inventory, display/setup, and which markets are the best for you.
Inventory
Inventory is the meat and potatoes (or tofu and potatoes) of vending. Everyone develops a different strategy over time, but here are some tips to help you get started.
“What am I going to sell?” This is probably the biggest question you’ll ask yourself when getting your start. The next best question to ask yourself is what do you enjoy making? What you build your inventory on will be somewhere at the intersection of what you enjoy making and what you can offer at a mid-range price point. For me, that includes a lot of small wearables (hats, bags, etc) and small accessories. I’ve noticed that my best-performing items tend to be somewhat functional. Sure, it’s a balaclava with bunny ears, but it’ll keep your head warm in the winter! My strategy is always to find something functional and find a way to give it a cute twist in my style.
Pricing is always the elephant in the room. What will you charge for these hand-crafted items to cover all your expenses and take home a nice cut? I’ve seen several different approaches to this and it’s something that you will need to make the final decision on. The “hourly pay” model is probably the most popular and my least favorite. In this model, you set an hourly price for your labor + cost of materials to determine the price of your item. This doesn’t work for me because of the way I craft. I take a lot of breaks and get easily distracted. I can make the same item in 45 min or 2 hours depending on the day. My preferred pricing model is determined by yardage, not hours. If it takes me 100 yards of yarn to make something, I’ll charge based on that yardage. I also charge slightly differently for knit vs crochet pieces because crochet generally uses more yarn but is quicker to make. This is handy because it helps me set a price point that I can easily apply to different kinds of items.
Something I recently incorporated into my markets is sliding scale pricing. Sliding scale allows you to set a range of acceptable prices, giving your customers more flexibility (ex. selling a beanie and allowing people to pay anything between $30-$40). This makes things less cost-prohibitive for your customers, discourages haggling, and provides you a chance to interact with your customers! I’ve noticed that most people tend to pay in the middle range with a few outliers on both sides that even out.
Building an inventory can be a daunting task, especially when you’re prepping for your first market. Make sure to start simple. Try out a few things you think will perform well in your area and focus on building a stock of those. Throw in a few other things to gauge interest levels in those. At my first market, I mostly brought coasters, bucket hats, pillows, and some tops. I sold out of hats and coasters and realized I wanted to focus more on headwear and home accessories and focus less on clothing/higher-priced items. Your inventory will become more diverse over time, so spend your first few markets narrowing down your “anchor” products and diversify from there.
Display
The display was always one of the most daunting parts to me. It was so important to me to put together a table that reflected myself. Nowadays, I like to keep things simple and flexible. Market days can be hectic! Keeping your setup streamlined is essential. Here’s how I plan my table to be simple, maximize space, and improve the experience for shoppers.
Vending at my first craft market in Long Beach :)
“What should I bring?” Your vendor space will determine your setup. Generally, vendor spaces are sold as “table space” or a 6x6 ft, 10x10 ft, etc, I recommend sticking to a table space at first and then building out as you grow. For a table space, I bring…
6 ft table
Table cloth
1-2 chairs
Clothing rack
Table Mirror
Building your display will be a process you perfect over time. I like these fitted tablecloths, they’re always reliable and don't blow around in the wind. Stick with simple colors that won’t distract from the items you’re selling. If you want to incorporate a clothing rack, look for one that can break down into pieces so it’s easy to move and store.
The key thing to remember when displaying items is to bring things up. I do this by putting my table on bed risers, making shopping the tables much easier. I also found some grid organizers off Facebook marketplace and used them to build a display where I can hang things (eg. the first picture in this post). This brings your whole display to eye level, making it much more eye-catching for people walking by. It also creates much more display space between your verticle and flat spaces.
I like using these small letterboards to display pricing. This makes it easy for me to make quick changes as needed! I always bring some extra letters and numbers with me in case I need to make last-minute changes.
For your first few markets, I’d recommend seeing what you can borrow/use from friends/family, etc. Does your uncle have some 6ft folding tables in the garage? Borrow one! Do you have a table mirror at your desk that you can use? Bring it! Check local secondhand markets (thrift stores, facebook marketplace, offerup, etc) before buying new.
Choosing the Best Markets for You
Let’s talk about finding and picking the markets that are worth your time and money. Make no mistake, working in a market is a full day’s work. If you’re going to spend the 9+ hours at your time to vend, make it count! If you’re like me, in an area with countless markets, finding your customers and criteria takes time and is found through trial and error. Even if your options are limited, it’s good to know what your requirements are.
Price is one of the first things I consider. If a market space is priced high and I’m not confident I can either bring enough product or sell enough, then it’s a no-go. In the Southern California area, you can expect to pay around $100 for a 10x10 ft vendor space or around $75 for a table space. Popular markets can charge more for their name recognition or access to a specific group of shoppers. Up-and-coming markets are usually more affordable, but may not have as high of an attendance.
Location will tell you two things - who will be at the market, and how much work you’re going to do to get there. For example, I love vending in San Diego. I always sell well in San Diego and have a lot of fun connecting with customers there! It’s also over an hour's drive with no traffic (and there’s usually traffic). So the added expenses of my time, wear and tear on my car, and gas all have to play a part in the decision. This also works the other way, if there were a market down the street from me that would be amazing but if the demographic just doesn’t match my average customer, then it might not be worth it.
Who else has been a vendor at the market is another tool to gauge whether people may be interested in your products. Since I sell handmade objects at a higher price point, a market with 99% antique dealers, or primarily secondhand clothing sellers may not be right for me. When choosing markets I like to see events that have a good mix of handmade goods vendors as well as other vendors. This way I know that customers at this event are happy to pay a higher price for unique handmade goods.
As you keep vending and get to know other people, word of mouth is a fantastic way to gauge which markets will work best for you.
Event organizers can make or break an event. A great event organizer will help direct vendors through the setup and tear-down process. They’ll be responsible for advertising the market and bringing in shoppers. You will also go to them with any issues or questions you have throughout the event. I have markets I no longer feel comfortable vending at due to poor management and I have ones I will always do because of fantastic organizers.
How do I pick the markets I do? Ideally, they are…
Within an hour’s drive
Art/queer focused
Small-medium in size
Around $100 for a 10x10 ft space
Market Day Must-Haves
There are a few things I don’t leave home without on market days, they make the process so smooth that I highly recommend you invest in/put these together.
Rolling/Collapsable Cart - With one of these I’m able to fully unpack and pack the car in just 2 trips without injuring myself or needing tons of helping hands. They’re also super handy to have around the house! I use them to carry my groceries to/from the car or bring it to beach days. Mine has been through 3 years of hard use and its still holding up strong.
Self Care Kit - A self-care kit is something you put together to keep yourself good to go on market days. I keep bandaids, water/Gatorade, ibuprofen/Midol, tampons/pads, and a few alcohol wipes with me at all times. You never know when your period will start a couple of days early or get a random headache. Better safe than sorry! Pop these in any random drawstring or tote bag you have laying around. Along those lines, make sure you have a set of jumper cables in your car, I’ve had to jumpstart a car or two on market days.
Market Essentials Kit - This kit will have all the random little things you may need. We’re talking scissors, tape, glue, sharpies/pens, a notepad, or anything else you might need. I like to keep this kit as “market only”, meaning that if I’m hanging out at home and need scissors, I don’t touch my market scissors in case I forget to put them back.
Any questions you want to ask? Fire away in the comments! Or if you’re a vendor, share a tip or two you wish you’d known!
xo Dani
