Craft Fair DISASTER!

[silversmith76]

My fellow Crafties, I am in desperate need of your views/advice.

Last weekend I did my very first market at Kingston-Upon-Thames Christmas Craft & Gift Market. Like many of the exhibitors there I made the huge mistake of thinking that:

a) This was purely a craft fair (I didn't know that if you add 'gifts' in the title this means that bizarre sprung pillows and massage cushions)
b) The astronomical price of the pitch reflected the expected numbers coming to visit the fair
c) That there would not be SIX other jewellery stalls, all of which were cheaper than mine, and all but one was before mine in order from the entrance
d) That Kingston is a middle class area who will appreciate quality hand crafted good.

I did make sales, however most of the weekend was spent twiddling my thumbs as Saturday was the only busy day, and watching those people that did come buying tat for £2 from the other stalls, and lots of people picked up my jewellery (which indicates they like the desings) but freaked out at the price (which I think at an average of £30 for hand crafted solid silver is actually rather reasonable).

I did not make the money back I paid for the pitch, and neither did many other 'crafty' people who all vowed never to return this fair.

One other jewellery stall (who has their designs made cheaply in India) did rather well.

So far, so I've learned a lot. However I have already paid for another WEEK at the end of Nov/beginning of Dec and now I am truely alarmed. I am going to make some simple, cheaper items (about £10), but I will never be able to compete with those with mass produced Chinese/Indian items.

So do I slash my margins and reduce the price of all my items? My pride in the work I've put into each item really balks at this, but I do need to at least try and cover the cost of this market. I left it really late and so could not get into any other craft markets (I should have guessed if this market had free pitches something was wrong) so this is the only one I'm doing and if the coming week is the same as the weekend it couldd be my last :(

Any advice or views would most certainly be appreciated!

[Seahorse]

Its just my opinion but if your making hand crafted silver goodies you should stick to your prices, as you say £30 is more than reasonable.
I reckon you should make some smaller/cheaper pieces then people will have a choice.

[candles by lisa]

Have you already paid for your pitch? If not or just paid a deposit I would think about not going. It is so hard there is no way us genuine crafters can compete the the bought in tat. Having said that you do get the odd few people coming to the fair who appreciate quality when they see it and buy it.

Sorry but I learned the hard way that Gift attached to fair means any old rubbish.

Cheers.

Lisa

[craftymate]

Aww poor you you must be demoralised.
l agree with the above you shouldnt just slash your prices to an extreme, if you could make smaller items cheaper that is a good idea.
I do think some people set their prices to the place they are selling but we all have to make a living to be honest and there alot of hard work goes into making necklaces etc.
My friend makes soap and she done a fair in Battle nr Hastings and that wasnt great, she made a bit more than the cost of the stall but it still seemed a waste of time

[Apple Tree Crafts]

..I AM sorry.

We put 'gift' in in the title on our posters, but this doesn't mean that we allow cheap imports. Quite the opposite.

I added the word 'gift' because crafts tends to conjour up pictures of crocheted toilet roll holders etc. Basically I wanted to update the craft fair image. I still have great difficulty wording ads and posters to make them grab peoples' attention. I always mention 'handcrafted' though...there's an old thread somewhere about wording. We all had quite a discussion about it.

It's hard to believe you didn't do well in such a good area, but I firmly believe this is because there were imported goods and oddities for sale at this particular fair. This why we steer clear of that sort of thing as much as we possibly can. I have had to remove two crafters from my books this season because they didn't tell me about their imported goods.

You could go very carefully through the terms & conditions, and any other paperwork pertaining to the event. If you feel that the organisers haven't stuck to their side of the contract then you are perfectly within your rights to demand your money back. Worse case scenario might mean the small claims court, but if you've paid out an awful lot of money this could be worth it.

I'm sorry you had such a bad time, it's horrible when that happens.

What was the overall atmospere like? Even when we've had fairs where sales were dismal, we've all had fun chatting etc.

Jules

[Soapwitch]

I agree with previous posts that you should not reduce the price of your goods. You've priced them to reflect your skill and hard work. I find that at 'gift fairs' it's difficult for the customer to understand that some of the stalls have genuine handmade goods and some have not!

Don't let this horrible event put you off, craft fairs can be a great way to market yourself.

Leanna

[silversmith76]

Sadly I've already paid for the pitch in full :(

I've looked through the Ts&Cs although they state they are a 'quality crafts & gifts fair' but no where do they state that they can't be imported/have to be hand crafted. They also state they can allow exhibitors of 'goods & services'.

I understand that the organisers have doubled the space of the event each year for the past two years and it was originally very high quality hence why I was so happy to get space there, but now I think they are trying to fill space as several people got double exhibition spaces a few days before the market started.

I agree I'll have to make some smaller, cheaper items, I really don't want to slash prices, I think they are a fair reflection of the love and care I put into making each item no matter how small. Thankfully I did have a few customers who did totally appreciate my jewellery which was really heartening.

Actually Jules the other exhibitors were brilliant and they were the only thing keeping me sane! I was really impressed by the camraderie and quite a few people were quite concerned that I shouldn't give up after one bad experience and gave me names of craft fairs they thought I might do better at. I made lots of new friends :)

[Primmers]

Oh, I'm so sorry. I think this must have happened to evryone at some stage or another.I'm very new to the craft fair circuit, and competing in a market which appears to be saturated - cards and papercraft - so my last craft fair, I also didn't make my table rental back. There were six or eight card tables. There's a thread somewhere about it.

I had to smile at Apple Tree's crocheted toilet roll covers - at Pelsall there was a stand selling just those types of things! I honestly didn't believe they existed any more, but they do, and despite the image they conjure up, someone has still sat down and worked at that loo roll holder with some skill and dedication. And gone out and bought the little plastic dolly that pokes up out of the top.

That table also had beautifully hand-knitted baby clothes and dolls' clothes, and was manned - or womanned- exclusively by lovely elderly ladies, the ones who'd put all the work in.

I wouldn't cut your prices: I don't think that £30 for hand made, and probably unique, solid silver earrings is over the top. I bought a beautiful pair of silver-mounted, handmade earrings - they were glass teardrops - for £6.00 and thought they were a bargain. As the man who made them said, the material costs are small, but he had to make several teardrops till he got a matching pair. He even told me how he made them, by melting a glass rod and dribbling a tiny bit of coloured glass into it to get the very fine swirly lines. They look like jade, with a dark red, hair-thin swirl in them. There isn't another pair quite like it anywhere!

See if, by making some cheaper, smaller items, you can attract people to your table, and perhaps get the cost of the table rental back through those. It is disappointing though to find yourself plonked next to a table selling mass-produced stuff from India or China, which you know has been bought in for pence.

[silversurfer]

One thing is it's their loss good quality silver jewellery is hard to come by so don't be put off. Have you tried retail outlets like boutiques etc? You might have more luck there, especially in the South West area of London.

[Teddy(wantumwabbit)]

People do not appreciate that handmade means unique and better quality usually. And hand made silver items for £30 is a bargain with the price of silver.
I sold some items on a stall on saturday and was very fortunate to make a small profit. Some venues I have been too are the pits, and I have taken zero. So please keep crafting!
Hi soapy and the rest of the crew!

[colourart]

I am sorry to hear about your bad experience. £30 for an item of silver jewellery seems really reasonable. Don't cut your prices because I'm sure they sound just right. Someone told me some time ago that the price for some off my work was less than a tank of petrol. That to me puts things into perspective. Stick to your prices and like I think has been said someone will appreciate what you do. You wont sell volume but it will be worth it when you do sell something.

I firmly believe if craft fair organisers have to have gift sellers in who import their items they should give discounts to stallholders who genuinely make their items, so the importers are not at so much of an advantage with their prices.

Good luck with the next one.:)

[Pebbles]

Thats awful, I really feel for you, I have not done any fairs yet as I am scared of this happenning to me.

I think I have posted somewhere before with a rant about cheap rubbish at high street shops, when people can readily buy a pair of earrings/necklace for less than £5 they aren't likely to part with £30 for a piece of jewellery. Stand your ground though and don't drop your prices, I personally only make jewellery I ilke, if I don't like it it gets taken apart and made into something else, so when it gets to the customer it is usually as individual as it can be, that is worth paying for!

GGGrrrrr, makes me mad!

[thesoapycauldron]

Sorry to hear the fair was bad :(

I have learned the hard way that if you want your items to sell against the odds (like you say, in favour of cheap buy-ins lol) then you have to make your stall look exquisite :)

I have a really pretty bit of cloth for the table covering, some good lighting and nice, neat signage. Also psychological pricing mught work to your advantage if you don't use it already- instead of £30, use £29.99- it really does work!

Best of luck, I like to think of poor sales as an opportunity to advertise my company, I always force a card on a browsing customer just as they walk away ;)

Hi Wendy, Teddy et all

Soapy xxx

[silversmith76]

Thanks for the advice Soapy, I think I'll def do the psychological pricing and I'm already re-vamping my stall - the other jewellery stall that did really well had an incredible stall, with a real 'boudoir' feel.

It's certainly been a steep learning curve, I think I'm just going to have to re-vamp, make some cheaper items and go with no expectations what-so-ever!

[craftymate]

Nice to see you Soapy, see l said you would like it here :)

[Teddy(wantumwabbit)]

:jaw:THEY LET WENDY IN HERE????????????
WHEELS AWAY BEFORE I GET MALLETED.
SOAPY GLAD TO SEE YA ROUND! HOPE THE SOAP IS SELLING WELL!:sm: