Working document
The post show sheet that turns a weekend into a decision
Four short stages you fill in at teardown, in the van and on Monday, ending with a restock list and a written verdict on whether that fair earns your application again.
Free resources
Resources for makers who sell from a booth
Everything here is built for the aisle: what a booth weekend has to sell, whether you can restock in time, which tool fits, and how to close out a show properly.
A maker carries the whole operation in a van. Nobody sends you a report at the end of a season telling you which fairs paid for themselves and which ones you attended out of habit, so these pages exist to work that out with you and then act on it.
Start with the question you have. If the problem is whether a show is worth its fee, price the weekend first. If the problem is a booth that looks thin by Saturday afternoon, run the bench hours instead. Then take the post show sheet and use it at your next teardown, which is where the numbers for everything else come from.
Free tools
Calculators for makers who sell from a ten by ten booth
One calculator prices the weekend before you send the application, the other tells you whether three weeks at the bench can fill the booth you plan to set up.
Comparisons
How BoothInventory Compares to Other Craft Fair Tools
BoothInventory answers one question, which is what sold at each show and whether that booth fee was worth paying, so the honest comparison is whether you need that or something wider.
Main guide
What a Craft Fair Booth Costs: Fees, Travel, and Break Even
It settles what a craft fair weekend truly costs a maker, from jury fee and mileage to card fees and booth help, and the sales figure that makes the booth worth taking.
Magazine
Booth and Bench
Reporting on the working life of American craft fairs: booth economics, show rules, restock math, and display craft.
About
Who writes all of this
Who writes this: the maker behind BoothInventory, the craft fair seasons that produced the post show reconciliation sheet, and how to get hold of us.
One show at a time, then the whole circuit
The calculators and the reconciliation sheet handle a single weekend, which is where every maker starts. The harder question lands in February with eight applications open and last season stored in a stack of tote lids and receipts. Ask for a demo and we will show you what a ranked list of fairs looks like when the counts and the booth costs finally live together.