I am wondering if anybody makes money at craft fairs and if they do, where in the country they live and the type of prices they pay for a stall.
I just attempted what I thought would be a great family day out, which it was, at
Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex where there was a
Antique, craft fair plus boot sale along with kids rides and live bands
etc.
The Stall cost £40.00 and I made £28.00! With a loss of £12.00 before coffee and fuel. Three weeks ago I did a smaller craft fair for £20.00 where only 6 customers walked through the door, needless to say nobody made any money. And previous to that a very very large £150 two day stall in
Brentwood Essex I
made £25.00, with the loss of £150.00 plus fuel.
Talking to everybody else trying out all the different craft fairs or summer events, even food fairs are saying the same, nobody is covering their costs with the odd exception of the jewellery stalls just covering
their money. Most people seem to have tried 3 -4 fairs at the most, because I am guessing, the
crafter's cannot afford to keep on paying the money out with no return
I price my items
cheaper at the fairs in the hope of bagging a sale on something like a cushion, and today as of all the markets I have done, the
children want and love the skull n
cross bone cushions but the parents say at £10.00 they at too expensive. I would love for them to try and buy the infill, fabrics and have change of £10.00 before they have attempted to sew it together.
Maybe I have just hit a low point and have lost all faith in British people buying British,
especially as they seem to be banging on about it on the TV! People would rather go to
Tesco buy
their Matching aprons for under £5, made in India, (Baring in mind I put my half aprons down to £5). and then pop to Next for a £12.00 run of the mill cushion, made in China.
If British people don't support those
crafter's out there, then there will be no
crafter's, no craft markets, Christmas markets, no 'buying British' because people will just give up.
Moan over!!
Kx
