So it was my very first craft fair outing on Thursday and for a first time, I thought it went pretty well. I didn’t sell many things but it was really useful to have the experience of being there, seeing the set up, other people’s stalls, the people coming through the door. And to have the kick up the rear to produce enough stuff to sell.
Here’s the stall in all its disarray – I mean, artfully arranged goods…
Like an album, here’s side one:
And here’s side two:
Given that I had absolutely zero in hand two weeks previous to this, I am mightily glad to have managed to make enough to cover the table. And what have I learned?
Positive things first: meeting the other sellers, who were universally lovely; lots of nice comments from passers-by, even if they didn’t become passers stop-and-buy; the look on people’s faces when they saw the notebooks and reminisced about the titles they’d owned as children; and the people who bought things and liked what I was doing, of course!
Odd things: people who stopped and looked, then turned around and started a 15 minute conversation with friends while standing immediately front and centre of my table, without leaving room for anyone else to get in and see. What do you do? I tried moving around to get in line of vision, make eye contact, but it had no effect. Is it awfully rude to go to the front of your table to do a bit of light re-arranging? Is there a time limit on this?
What I’d do differently next time: bring a bigger variety of goods, which I can forgive myself for considering my time limit, and with a wider range of prices; some stuff for kids to buy - this was a PTA fair, so probably more kids than usual, but it’s still worth doing; the girl on the table beside me did a roaring trade at her tombola – £1.50 for three tickets or £2 for 5, with immediate prizes from the table. The kids loved all the sparkly stuff she had, jewellery and charms, and that was the level of prize mostly. Some won, but plenty lost. I think I might feel a bit guilty about that though…
I’ll start listing the stock on folksy over the next week or so, and hopefully make a sale there, and in the meantime, start thinking about what I’ll add to my range.
