How much should a craft fair booth cost?
The price to paricipate in a vendor event will vary greatly. After participating and organizing a ton of events, I’ve come to realize that there are important aspects to look at, far more important than price. Lets jump right in and I’ll show you what I mean.
Event booths can vary from $20-$200 so how do you pick?!
When I first started out, I was very keen to find inexpensive tables at markets. What I quickly realized was that many of the cheaper events had little to no marketing budget. This is not always the case and sometimes well established events that are under the branch of a local farmers market or downtown association will have a lot of press and foot traffic. But generally, if the market is being organized by an individual or a very small organization they may not have a grasp on marketing that is needed.
Before signing up as a vendor for any event, ask yourself or the organizer:
a) Is the event well established?
b) Is the venue in a good location for vendors and customers?
c) Where is the event being advertised and how is it being marketed? When I organize events, I have this information clearly displayed on my website or vendor sign up form. W
When I organize events, I base the amount I charged vendors on the cost of the venue, marketing budget, staff budget, insurance and desired profit. So if my venue was $1000 plus another $500 for posters and paid social media ads, plus another $500 for staff my cost is now around $2000. If I had 40 vendors I would charge them around $75 (and include tables if the venue supplied them). This would bring in $3000, minus $2000 of costs. If I then charged $5 at the door and had 700 customers I would roughly make: $3500 plus $1000 extra from vendors bringing me up to $4500. For several months of part time work, I felt this was fair. And if less customers attend I of course will make less money. But by having a strong marketing budget, you will do the most valuable service for your vendors, which is bring customers to your event!
Charging too much:
Another issue that came up for me was charging my vendors too much money that they simply found difficult to recoup. This can happen if you get in over your head in a pricey venue and don’t do the market research to understand if your vendors can actually afford. Depending on the type of event or trade show you organize, $250 for a day will either sound very cheap (perhaps to a construction or concrete supplies or prohibitly expensive to a flea market dealer)!
At my events, I would profit more at the expensive venue, yet I found it much more difficult to find vendors and secure vendors. In fact, this took up months of my time trying to convince vendors that the high price tag was worth it! And is it worth it for you? Really crunch your numbers and think about it!
To conclude, there is no right cost for a booth at an event. As a participator, really look at how the event is being marketed and how well established it is! And for the organizer, crunch your numbers and research if your targeted vendors can afford the prices you are considering!
