What to Sell at Craft Shows to Make Money

You likely already know the types of products you can make and sell at craft shows. So this article isn’t going to be a list of obvious craft show products. 

But rather, what to consider if you want to make money at craft shows. 

Not all products are a fit for selling at craft shows, so you need to have an open mind and be flexible when deciding what you’ll sell in your booth.

1 – Profits First

Craft shows come with a lot of overhead expenses and costs. Booth fees can be hundreds of dollars, and you can easily spend hundreds of hours preparing for one event (which are hours your business must pay you for).

So you need to ensure that whatever you decide to sell will be profitable.

Before you decide on a product, determine:

• Production costs (materials + wages)
• Price you can sell it for
• Average craft show costs

You won’t know exact numbers at this point, but you can get a rough idea of whether a product will be profitable. 

For example, let’s say my production costs for a bag are $15 but I feel I can only charge $35 for it. That leaves me with $20 gross profit from each sale. 

And I estimate my average craft show costs will be $500. 

>> Here are 10 common costs of craft shows to consider (outside of booth fees)

I would need at least 25 sales to break even.

And if I wanted to earn $200 profit from a craft show, I would need another 10 sales. 

If selling 35 bags at a craft show sounded reasonable, it may be a good product to sell. If that seemed high based on the length of the craft show, how many shoppers the craft show tended to attract, etc. my profit margins may be too low and I would consider a different product. 

 

2 – Demand

You may find a product you can make that has high profit margins. But if no one wants to buy it, those high profit margins don’t matter.

Some items tend to be popular at most craft shows. For example:

• jewelry
• candles
• soap / bath & body products
• bags
• hats and scarves
• hair accessories
• etc.

But what’s most popular will vary throughout the year, based on your location, based on trends, etc.

Visit a few craft shows in your city/town to get an idea of what types of products people sell and which booths tend to be busier. 

You can also visit the websites of popular craft shows as they often share a list of their vendors. Social media pages can also give you a good idea of popular products or categories of products. 

For example, if a craft show’s Instagram page has a post for each vendor participating in an upcoming or past craft show, which posts have the most likes and comments? Which vendors tend to return year after year?

 

3 – Price points & transportation

It’s important to think about the logistics of craft show shoppers. 

Most aren’t heading to a craft show with a specific product in mind to buy.

They’re there to discover. 

And when you discover a new business or product, you’re not prepared to spend as much money as when you’re in the market for something specific and are buying from a brand you know and trust. 

Each craft show is different (e.g. an art-focused event will attract art buyers prepared to spend more) but on average, most craft show shoppers are prepared to spend under $50.

Keep that in mind when choosing your product. 

Also, go back to point #1. $5 items may fly off your craft show shelves, but you’ll likely need to sell hundreds to cover craft show costs and profit. 

Transporting your products should also be top of mind. 

If an item is big and bulky, and hard to carry around a craft show, shoppers may be less likely to buy. 

It also makes it hard for you to get your products back and forth to craft shows, which can become draining.

 

4 – Sales pitch

Is your product going to be easy for you to sell?

• Does it solve a problem?
• Does it make a great gift?
• Is it different from what your competitors are selling?

You may have a popular and profitable product that is easy for you and shoppers to transport and is a great price point. 

But if dozens of other vendors in your city are selling a similar product, it’s going to be hard to get sales. 

Jewelry can be a good example of this scenario. 

Craft show shoppers love to flock to jewelry booths. But every craft show is likely to have several jewelry vendors. 

So if you’re going to sell jewelry, there should be something about yours that stands out from your competitors and makes them feel like they have to buy from you.

If you don’t believe your product is better than others on the market or you’re not sure what to say to encourage people to buy your products, you may want to keep searching until you find something you’ll love to sell.

 

5 – Layering

Once you land on a product, think about how you can layer products around it to build a product line.

To make more money at craft shows, you need to be able to sell more than one item to each shopper. 

If I’m selling aprons and pyjamas, those two items don’t work together. Most craft show shoppers will only buy one item from me.

On the other hand, if I sell aprons, oven mitts, hot pads, and tea towels, that gives me lots of price variation so customers can layer onto their purchase. 

Consider other items you can make that your customers are likely to use/wear/display together. 

This will help ensure multi-item sales.

 

When your products align with how people actually shop at craft shows, popularity—and sales—tend to follow naturally.