Craft Vending is not Easy

Craft Vending is Not Easy for anyone involve except maybe the customers. The event coordinators have to get people to fill out applications to attend and pay their fees on time. The vendors have to get their early set up their tent and tables as well as make their displays pleasing to the customers and easy to maneuver for both the seller and the buyers. You have to be ready for any kind of weather. The customers just need to show up with some money and find something they wish to buy. Of course, looking is most of the fun as well as speaking to the many creators about their process and their products.

Several years ago learned a hard lesson when it came to being vendors at one particular festival in Florida. It may have been our biggest vending opportunity that year. We applied the day after we received the email and submitted it electronically per instructions. We waited a week for the confirmation email but didn’t get it so emailed again and asked for an update. I received a response from the assistant stating that she would check on it. And I promptly forgot about it assuming that the person would get back to me if there was a problem. Since our company name showed up on the website as craft vendors after Christmas I again assumed everything was okay. I even ran into the assistant last month to remind her we were planning on coming and she stated that as far as she knew everything was fine.

When we went to check in we were told that our application was never received. Lord have mercy I really wanted to lose it right then and there. I mean I had respected the coordinator and did not bug her with emails or phone messages and assumed that the assistant would do her job. Well, lesson learned people I will always bug the mess out of any future festival coordinators until I receive a confirmation email or letter for all of our craft vendor applications. Now, we are just really sad and disappointed as well as angry at all the money, time and effort we have put into getting ready for that event. We were really looking forward to meeting some of the volunteers that we knew from previous events or have worked with all over the state as that event brings people in from all over Florida. Of course, we were really looking forward to selling lots of handcrafted items as well.

To sum it up please save yourself future high-blood pressure episodes and make sure you follow up weekly with the coordinators of any major event(s) you want to participate in. In the mean time, we will be looking for fall festivals in our area we can participate in and have better luck. Sadly, this is the only event we know of that doesn’t charge a fee upfront to participate in. They charge a percentage of gross sales. That way if you don’t make money they don’t make money. So, if you are a fellow craft vendor in the North Florida area and know of any fall and winter events that charge a percentage of gross sales let us know!

Till next time, keep working on your special crafts and we wish you much luck in your future sales. If you want to share any festivals in this region please use our CONTACT US</strong> form and let us know. PLEASE visit our online store and see what we have been creating to sell lately.