#1 Mistake that Gets Vendors Banned from Future Craft Fairs
Organizers put a ton of work into planning and executing a craft fair and are relying on their vendors to help make it great. You’ve helped spread the word, created tons of amazing stock, showed up on time and were a peach to deal with.
But one big mistake at the end of the craft fair can put you on an organizer’s naughty list and ensure your application is rejected the next time around.
#1 Mistake that will get you banned from future craft shows:
Leaving a craft show early is a vendor mistake craft show organizers don’t take lightly.
When you pack up your handmade goods before the craft fair closes, it creates a whole slew of negative effects.
You may think that you’re just losing a couple of sales but it’s much more than that; it affects your business’s reputation, other vendors’ sales, and of course the organizer.
4 acceptable reasons to leave a craft show early
Under most circumstances, you should stick to your commitment to sell at a craft fair until the end.
Here are a few examples of situations that would be considered acceptable and unacceptable to cancel last minute on a show or leave early.
1 – An emergency
No one can argue that certain situations require no questioning and if it’s an emergency involving you, a family member, or someone you love, don’t let a craft fair get in your way.
If something has unexpectedly come up, be sure to explain it to the craft fair organizer and let them know you understand this puts them in an awkward situation but there’s just no way around it for you.
Clearly communicating that you know this isn’t ideal may help your application from being rejected in the future.
2 – Being sick
It’s a likely scenario, especially around the winter months and busy holiday craft fair season that can leave you run down. If you’ve got the flu and can’t even imagine having to pull it together for an entire show, first see if there’s someone who can cover for you; a family member you’ll pay back in home-cooked meals for the rest of the month or a friend you can pay in commission.
If that’s not an option you may have to cancel. If the organizer knows you’re truly sick and you’d be there if you could, they’re likely to understand and not hold it against you when you apply to next year’s craft fair.
3 – Nightmare organizer
If the craft show organizer has grossly misrepresented the event and it’s clear, after several hours or days, you’re not going to make any money and you never want to work with the organizer again, it may be okay to pack up early.
One event comes to mind; there are many reviews from shoppers and vendors about an organizer who sold the event as a one-of-a-kind craft show not to be missed but ended up delivering empty stalls (some with garbage in them), vendors selling imported goods, moving vendors around mid-show, giving some who paid half the price for a smaller booth, a larger one at no cost (which wasn’t fair to those who paid full price) and a real lack of shoppers.
THIS event sounded like a nightmare and I wouldn’t blame a vendor for packing up early or not returning for the second or third day.
If an event is going to hurt your brand and you feel like you’ve been misled, use your discretion and decide whether it’s worth it for you to hang around. Being rejected from their future events isn’t really a biggie if you have no interest in them.
4 – Roads that make it dangerous to travel
If you’re attending a craft fair out of town and road conditions are going to make it dangerous to travel, this may be an acceptable situation to cancel an event or head out early so you beat the weather.
If your Monday to Friday job is what pays the bills and selling at a craft fair on Sunday while a snowstorm brews is going to make it difficult to get home, you may want to explain to the organizer that you need to pack up Sunday morning (before the show starts) and head home. Craft fairs are awesome but there isn’t one worth risking your life for.
If you do have a valid reason for needing to leave a craft fair early, be sure you do so in a proper manner. Here are some tips: How To Leave a Craft Show Early (without burning bridges)
Hey, I’m Erin 🙂 I write about small business and craft show techniques I’ve learned from being a small business owner for almost 2 decades, selling at dozens of craft shows, and earning a diploma in Visual Communication Design. I hope you find my advice helpful!
Thank you for posting this – I think etiquette at shows (as well as in life) is so important.
I would also like to point out that poor Vendor-to-Vendor behaviour is also a good way of getting kicked out of, or never being allowed to book a show.
I attended one show last spring where a lady pranced in to “visit her friend” and unrolled a bunch of her boot jewelry in the corner. She didn’t have a booth, was supposed to do a home show but it got cancelled, so she crashed this one.
She actually interrupted my sale to a customer and wrapped her boot charm around my customers boot. Distracting her and luring her to come to see her wares. I was floored! I didn’t say anything because I don’t feel that ANY confrontation with another vendor (registered or otherwise) is ever warranted when customers are in the area.
Keep to your both and never lure customers from another vendor!!
Thanks for reading ROMA! Wow, that person definitely needs to read up on her craft show etiquette. All the best to you at future shows!
My very first craft show ever I was astonished when most of the vendors started packing up early. If there was ever a reason to pack up, youd think it would be me as i never had one sale all day. The end was near and right at the last moment a young gal and her Dad came by and bought a pair of earrings from me. My first sale ever!
I look at it as a contract. I fulfill my part and I can feel proud about my own work ethics. I also look at it if I were in a position to pay someone to be there for me I would expect the full time committment to be honoured.
I agree – don’t pack up early unless a true emergency. It is really sweet when I stay open until the last second ticks while others pack up and make a sale. Sometimes there are those that want to grab a last second purchase. In fact, a few of my largest sales were last minute impulse buys when they used a card. Be honest, don’t sweat those last few minutes. You just might make that last impulse sale. Admittedly, I am one of the last to leave since I have a large display, but it’s worth it.
See, perfect example of never knowing what can happen and when 🙂 You have the right attitude!
I have been doing craft fairs for a few years now and have come across a few “pet peeves”. The one that bothers me the most are the vendors that sell scented candles. I had a vendor set up next to me that had a bunch of different scented candles burning and it was just way too overwhelming. One scent should be sufficient. I also had a vendor next to me at a show that kept having her friends visit behind her table. They were loud and kept bumping into my table. So annoying!
Would love to be a Vendor I make handcrafted Jewelry and ladies Bags
I love it when a vendor will have friends come and they gather right in front of my booth blocking my space from customers to come in. I also did a show where my booth was directly behind the stage where they were having children fashion show. For three hours I had parents blocking my booth to take pictures of their children and some stood inside my booth. I requested a different space the next time but I saw there was no stage this time. And our spaces were not cheap.
I was a vendor at an outside craft show last summer. The weather report was not looking good, but we went with hopes of the forecast being wrong. I sell notebooks, photo albums, planners, etc…all paper products. While we had a tent, it wouldn’t protect our products completely. We watched the weather radar closely. When it started to sprinkle, we decided to pack up some of our goods. Within minutes, it was windy and pouring rain. We HAD to finish packing up, or we would have lost everything. The organizer completely understood.
Brian: I’m a painter, but I sell matted prints in addition to my framed originals. I had an event that went a bit similar to your experience. After that I did some research into packaging to protect my prints and cards and found sturdy clear plastic bags with adhesive strips to seal them. It’s helped me keep my prints in better condition, and helps my work look more professional. I wonder if using something like that might help some of your product! Clearbags sells them in a wide variety of sizes with some bulk discounting, but I tend to get most of mine from Golden State Art on amazon when I don’t need anything really specific. If you decide to check out this sort of packaging, I’d recommend looking for the sleeves with the adhesive on the bag instead of on the flap, that way if you remove your product to show a customer you don’t risk damaging it if the adhesive on the flap sticks accidentally.
Hello I make Luxury Candles with hand painted decorative lids. Usually the unique high end look of my candles brings customers to my booth but when a good vendor is located next to me giving away free samples of cake all potential customers had a their hands and mouths full of cake as they walked past my booth. People who are in the process of eating are not going to stop to come smell a candle. Why a food vendor is right next to a candle vendor is a mystery to me poor placement by the event director if you ask me.
My friend and I have been doing craft shows for 25 years. One show really threw us for a loop. It was a school show in October and the weather was supposed to be nice and we opted for an outdoor space instead of an indoor one. Well the weather turned cold and we got freezing rain. Needless to say customers wouldn’t visit our tent. We asked the organizers if we could move inside and they said no. We decided to pack up and a woman came out and told us we wouldn’t be asked back if we left. We told her that would be fine. As we were leaving the same woman came back out and tried to give us an application for the next year’s show. We told her no thank you and left.