First art show

[elvenhome21]

Well the first art show was a complete flop, rain in the morning and a bad spot was a double whammy. Sold one item all day and my girlfriend was the buyer. I definitely need to change the layout of the booth and make more stands, but it was only 1 day notice for the show so I did what I could. The only thing that seemed to be of any interest was the peace bomber, But I never coated the back side of it so it had some flash rust in a spot so they lost interest in it.

I wound up with more damage than anything by a mother of 5 ungodly undisciplined kids walking thru. They were banging the pieces on other pieces like drum sticks, and one kid was doing like pushups on my butterflies bending them almost flat and putting a nasty kink wave in them.

[weldor2005]

Well for those pesky kids, maybe a if you break it you buy it sign would be appropriate. Sorry to hear it was a flop. Lessons learned and then there is always next time. Did you have a canopy?

[kbenz]

I never had any luck at the art/craft shows either

[elvenhome21]

Yeah I had a canopy. I dont think my pricing was all that far out of reasonable. Everything on the table was between 15-30 except harley and bucky badger. But going off of the spreadsheet thats floating around on here I still have everything less than half of what book rate is.

[weldor2005]

Yes, it does seem very reasonable.

I would be interested in this said spreadsheet? I dont beleive I've come across it yet.

[elvenhome21]

http://plasmaspider.com/viewtopic.php?f ... eet#p44416
The first post is the one I normally use because I can enter all the info then then use 50-60% of the total as my sticker price to get me close to a starting point. I think I would die of a heart attack if I could sell anything for 100% of what the spreadsheet gives me for a number.

[beefy]

Wow, I'm getting the impression that this market game can be an exercise in time, expense & frustration.

You make up a bunch of stuff and HOPE someone likes something that you have.

Where is everyone finding the money is made in this game, is it mainly custom design. Does having a bunch of designs listed on online markets (Ebay, etc) bring sales. Good thing about online sales is you can make them on demand, and not actually have parts already made. Take at least a deposit THEN make the part.

I feel for anyone who goes to all that expense and hassle to set up a market stall for a day, and doesn't even break even.

Keith.

[drakus]

I have just one piece of advice, WATCH THE HARLEY STUFF.

to make a long story short, the state welcome center where my brother worked, had shirts ordered and designed by some one else, HD caught wind of it and sent a letter of cease and desist and to ship all items to them immediately. They then sent a letter to the person/company that designed the shirts as well.

Personally, I do not sell HD stuff at any show or on site due to the HD licensing being so expensive.

But just watch out, you never know.

[JJsCustomDesigns]

I feel for anyone who goes to all that expense and hassle to set up a market stall for a day, and doesn't even break even.

Keith.

That why i quit doing craft/vendor shows. I have made some good money at some shows and others i couldnt give anything away at. Its a hard market to play in. But if it was easy, wouldnt everyone be doing it?

[AnotherDano]

My only outlet is a local farmers market and I agree that a day with no retail sales is depressing. But I've found that it's something I can't NOT do. I've had three large orders that took a year to come together but was well worth the four hours spent at the market with no business. If I hadn't been there, these big contracts wouldn't have happened.

[drakus]

My only outlet is a local farmers market and I agree that a day with no retail sales is depressing. But I've found that it's something I can't NOT do. I've had three large orders that took a year to come together but was well worth the four hours spent at the market with no business. If I hadn't been there, these big contracts wouldn't have happened.

Some times the worse shows are the best shows. I had a crappy show last weekend, just barely made enough for rental, but i picked up a huge order for the local mills to cut there blast furnace warning plates.

[beefy]

Well that's a very good way to approach the market side of things.

If I do a market some day I might get lots of glossy photo books for people to view, and hang up items which won't actually sell but show what can be done. If all that's displayed is thin arty stuff then a potential "engineering" client could just walk by. Might need a heavy duty stand.

It will be more of an investment in advertising, and if I make some money from bits I sell, then all the better.

Keith.

[bhamer62]

I just did my first show 2 weeks ago. A lady told me she seen my sh.... at walmart for half the price I handed her my business card and told her if she finds my things there to buy them and call me, I will buy them from her at twice the price That quieted her down a bit, as she chewed her cigar and strolled down the park Other than her entertainment, things went really well. Try again soon and learn more. Gotta turn inventory!