A certain craft show which I participated in last October is coming up again. I'm debating whether I should try it again this year.
Pros:
if I sign up right now I'll get a spot inside which should be better than outside, and might even get a good spot as far as inside spots go. if people come to the craft fair I'll get a lot more exposure if I sign up now.
the inside spot costs the same amount as the outside spot.
it's generally a good idea to be in craft shows whenever I can.
I'll have lots of time to invite and promote the craft fair. also I can get a banner for it from VistaPrint and I have display things that I didn't have before.
If I sell a couple of handflowers or byzantine bracelets it will at least pay for the space.
Cons:
there are no refunds so if I pay for the spot now and then I'm unable to go I'll have lost $35, or $40 if I rent a table from the church. also it's a little early to tell if I should rent a table or if I'll be able to borrow one from a friend.
something else that I care about wants some money from me right now. I really want to give something for that and I need to decide how much.
it's hard to tell right now what I'll be doing or how my car will be behaving in October.
last year I didn't sell anything; mostly because almost no people came by.
I need to get some kind of job and when I do that I'm afraid I won't get the necessary time off.
last year most or all of the people inside had credit card machines and I don't have one. I don't know if I'll really need one or not. Also the other craft companies seemed to be a lot bigger than me.
Well, I think I'll just continue thinking about it for a day or two.
Those are definitely great points of concern for attending craft shows. Because you just never know how the crowd turns out. But then again, the exposure doesn't hurt. If you do decide to accept credit cards, I would recommend opening up a propay account at a small annual fee, you can also process charges by phone. You will likely get more sales by accepting credit cards at the show. Other than that Good Luck!
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