The Downside of Crafts Shows

First the positives:

1. I have always done well at crafts shows
2.  I have only been in three (all good)
3. Almost never hear nasty things from shoppers
4.  Many transactions are cash, allowing you to avoid excessive credit card processing fees!
5.  Lots of great opportunity to network and meet others in the crafts show circuit
6.  Even if you break even, or show little profit, there is ALWAYS benefit to crafts shows.  You  network, you hone your set-up / take-down skills, you see how others set up their booths.

Now the negatives.

1. Weather can kill it.
2. Be prepared to spend a good 8 hours setting up, selling, tearing down.
3. If you are not prepared, it will not be a good experience.
4. Don't start by selling at over-priced venues!
5. People can try to pass off counterfeit money.
6. There ARE shoplifters at crafts shows, BEWARE!
7. f you go it alone, you leave yourself vulnerable (how to go to the bathroom?  how to look at other booths?)
8. Pay attention to your vicinty/area.  If you are in a farming community or urban community, will your type of item have any appeal to the locals?  For example:  Selling kitsch-y and oftentimes bizarre shrink plastic jewelry may not appeal to farmer Brown, or his wife.

So what really sparked this post was the realization that one of my items that I had listed on my ETSY account was purchased, but I no longer had it and had to refund then cancel the sale.  Wow!  That is the FIRST time that has ever happened to me and man was that embarrassing!

I keep very careful records when at crafts show as to what was sold and for how much so that I am sure to make another identical item and/or remove the active listing on ETSY.

Sure I have noticed suspicious shoppers.  They pick up many items in rapid succession, never putting them back in the correct place, they move around a lot, and sometimes, they'll take your item(s) out of the booth to supposedly see how it looks under daylight (as opposed to your canopy), which is flooded with daylight!

Really there is little you can do.  I have literally 100's of items in my booth and it's impossible to know what item(s) may have been purloined.  I always go with 1 or 2 other people, my daughter is a great sales woman and is in the booth, showing items to potential buyers, which helps.  However, if the thief is good at what he/she does, you'll never catch it.  Even while tending to a sale, a shopper of ill repute can take something because you are not paying attention to them.

So that's it.  It's of little help, I know.  I guess this is just a heads-up.  Know that theft can happen and because these are crafts shows, I think it happens quite a bit.