question: craft fair pricing

Hi all,

I bit the bullet and signed up for 2 craft fairs.
Now I'm wondering about pricing. At the Farmer's Market
where I sell some jewelry, some plants and some produce
everything is even dollars, or sometimes 0.50 in the end,
so it doesn't require lots of small change.
In contrast to that, conventional business wisdom has it
that things sell better if the prices end in 0.95 or
0.99 or something.
What's the way to go for a craft fair?

Another question: and how much inventory do I need for a
3 day craft fair? - total of 4 cruise ships in port over
the 3 days of the first one, Fri-Sun 10/28-10/30, mall
location, the second one is 6 weeks later so that I have
some time to recover, either from the setback of not having
sold anything or from the lack of inventory if I do ...

Thanks in advance for any tips ...

Maren
Tropical seeds - Job's Tears Jewelry - Plants & Lilikoi
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~maren/palms_etc/

Hi Maren,


I looked at your website. Your pricing looks good there. How about
using that as a starting point? I would use both $ .50 and whole
dollars as selling points. You will know your market, the people
represented who would possibly buy; go with this hunch when considering
final markup.

Anyhow, I am certainly not an expert, but I hope my thoughts help.

CC

I agree that simple prices (round dollars or prices ending in 50 cents) are
best. I just had a huge garage sale, and I noticed that for the some folks
would select a second item to round out the $n.50 prices to even dollars
because they didn't want to hassle with change, even though I had lots of
quarters handy.

Good luck with your crafts fair, Maren!!!

I always price everything in whole dollars because I don't want to mess
with change. I try to price things so if the customer gives me a $10 or
a $20, he will get back some dollars. So, if something is priced at
$9.00 or $19.00, 29.00, 35.00, 49.00, etc, psychologically they think
"well, it's not $10, $20, etc. If in doubt, price higher, you can
always come down (lots of people think craft fairs are like a flea
market and try to negotiate a deal), but you can't price up. If I've
had something in inventory for awhile, I always price it higher and it
will sell. (I've tried pricing it lower & it just sits there).
My uncle, who is a portrait artist, told me "if you don't value your
work, you cannot expect anyone else to value it either." It's good
advice.
Good luck. Walk around the show and look at comparable pieces and
prices, that will give you an idea of what your competition is doing.
I've found there is a tremendous difference in mark-up from one
craftsperson to another.
Patti

wrote:
I always price everything in whole dollars because I don't want to mess
with change.

this is the exact thing I was debating with myself.
And then I didn't want to change the jewelry prices which
are in whole dollars because I don't want to mess with change
at the Farmer's market, but I still have to figure out the price
for my clove jars and I didn't want to mix whole dollar prices
with one item being priced at, say 5.95.

I try to price things so if the customer gives me a $10 or
a $20, he will get back some dollars. So, if something is priced at
$9.00 or $19.00, 29.00, 35.00, 49.00, etc, psychologically they think
"well, it's not $10, $20, etc.

Good idea, didn't think of that, only thought in terms of nickels
or pennyes.

If in doubt, price higher, you can
always come down (lots of people think craft fairs are like a flea
market and try to negotiate a deal), but you can't price up. If I've
had something in inventory for awhile, I always price it higher and it
will sell. (I've tried pricing it lower & it just sits there).

Will think about raising some of the prices ...

My uncle, who is a portrait artist, told me "if you don't value your
work, you cannot expect anyone else to value it either." It's good
advice.

I have read that tip here before. It has changed my outlook quite a
bit. Not just for my jewelry, but for my other work as well.
This is a very nice and helpful group!

Good luck. Walk around the show and look at comparable pieces and

I'll be largely by myself, not much of a chance at walking around,
and they did assure me that they weren't going to have a lot of
competition between craft fair venros - of course you still have to
compete with the mall vendors, but while the stuff at Claire's or
Hot Topic my look similar at first glance it is a whole different
thing. There aren't going to be a whole lot of craft fair stands
from what I was told (and 4 cruise ships in 3 days - the have a
shuttle from the port to the mall).

prices, that will give you an idea of what your competition is doing.
I've found there is a tremendous difference in mark-up from one
craftsperson to another.

I see that on some people's web sites ...
I remember the last thread that discussed pricing. I went back
to the person's web site later and found that she had upped her
prices quite a bit (but still had plastic beads in some pieces).

Patti

Thanks to all who have replied so far!

(Still no idea whether I have to spend the next week making
jewelry in any spare minute or whether I'm fine with what
I have now)

Aloha,

Maren
Tropical seeds - Job's Tears Jewelry - Plants & Lilikoi
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~maren/palms_etc/