Here are instructions to help you with your iPhone App, Craft Fair

Craft Pricing

Use this form to automatically calculate the price of your craft product. It is very simple and useful.

Step-by-step instructions:

2.              Calculate how many pieces you can make in a day. Put that number in the first box. If you take two days to make a piece, put .5 in this box. If you can make 50 pieces from start to finish in one day, put 50 in this box. The spreadsheet will divide this number by 8 to determine how many you make in an hour.

3.              Next you enter the salary you want to make a year. Be realistic here. Somewhere between a teacher and a doctor, depending on what you really expect to be able to make. If you have been doing this for a while, enter the amount you made last year. The spreadsheet will divide this number by 1920, which is the number of working hours in a year with 40 hour weeks and 4 weeks off for vacation as a basis.

4.              Now you enter the total cost of the materials in each piece.

The spreadsheet will now calculate your hourly rate, divide it by the pieces per hour, and add materials cost. It will add 15% for overhead, 10% for profit, and show the results in the box next to Distributor price. This is your absolute minimum price for the craft product, out the door of your shop.

The wholesale price is the distributor price plus 15% for a sales rep or other costs of getting your work into a retail store, such as mailing brochures or selling at  a wholesale trade show.

The retail price is the wholesale price times 2, which would be the price you sell it at a craft show or the price a store would normally sell it for.  

Enter your yearly salary without a comma.

Equipment List

Use this list to keep track of what to bring to a craft fair. It will certainly dampen your spirits to drive 500 miles to do a fair and discover that you have left something important behind. Glance over this list just before leaving for every fair. 

Step-by-step instructions:

1.              Change or delete any of the items by selecting the edit button. Add other items as needed, such as different displays, kinds of stock, etc.

2.      Put a check by items you need to get, or that you have loaded.

Profit

This form will show you how much you really make at a craft fair.  

Step-by-step instructions:

1.              Enter all expenses for the show as shown. Enter booth fee , and put commission paid (if any) in the Misc. boxes.

2.              Profit is equal to show income minus expenses and show fees.

3.              If you have a 4 day fair, just put the first two days in the first column.

4.      When putting in data for a new show, put the name of the city in the first box and the state abbreviation (in caps CA NY, etc) in the second box for the save function to work correctly.

5.      Press or put data or a zero in every blank, or some rows may be lost.

 Top Craft Fairs and Art Shows

The following list consist of the best shows around the country. Exact show dates and deadline dates are not shown, because these change yearly.  When you write or call any of these shows and ask for information, they will send you an application with the correct dates at no charge.  Then you will have the exact dates of the show every year, and much more information than any guide can give you.

How to keep track of shows.

1.              Get 12 file folders. Write the name of a month on each one. 12 folders, 12 months.

2.              Get 50 stamps at the post office.

3.              Get a box of 50 envelopes. A return address label or stamp is handy but not essential.

4.              Write a letter by hand or with your word processor asking for an application.  Make sure your name and address is on the letter in big, clear letters.  Make 50 copies of this letter.

5.              Put the letters in the envelopes and put stamps on them.

6.              Address the envelopes with shows on this list you might want to do.

7.              Mail them.

8.              When you get each application, write down the show name, show date, and deadline date on a craft fair organizer spreadsheet.

9.              File the applications in the file folder for the month the show is held.

 We do not guarantee any of the shows on this list.  The inclusion of specific shows on this list is based on attendance, years show has been in business, word of mouth, magazine articles, and personal experience.