Many woodworkers find craft fairs the best way to start selling the things they make. A booth or table at a local fair may rent for as little as $ 10, and a weekend of exposure to the public is at least educational-even if nothing sells. Some professionals make their entire living producing multiples of small designs to sell at such fairs.
One
of
the oldest and largest fairs in the country is held the last week in June at Rhinebeck, N.Y. Last year the Rhinebeck jury culled 500 exhibitors, 86 of them woodworkers, from 1 ,600 applicants for the five-day show. About 40,000 people attended the fair ; its to tal retail and wholesale sales were about $2 million,' or $4 ,000 per exhibitor. 54The first two days of the Rhinebeck show are for wholesale buyers who stock gift stores for the following Christmas. The final three days are for retail sales-the fair draws from the lucrative New York City market . Craftsmen pay a booth rental ranging from $60 to $90 and must apply for admission about six months ahead to Northeast Craft Fair Ltd. (an arm of the American Craft Council-ACC) at 1 2 N . Chestnut St. , New Paltz, N.Y. 1256 1 .
The work a craftsman brings to such a fair will be sold at retail and should be priced accordingly. Wholesale buyers don't want to take the goods away with them-they study what is on display
wages, $25 a month ($300 a year) ; miscellaneous, which includes the business share of one's car or truck payment and repair and maintenance of equipment, $70 a month ($840 a year) .
These figures total $4, 140 a year. Dividing by 1 ,800 working hours produces an overhead rate of $2.30 an hour. Thus a person must charge $8.97 ($2 . 30 plus $6.67 for wages) for every hour he works just to break even . On top of that still must come material costs, and a percentage for business profit. Profit is not the same as wages-the share put aside as business profit will be used to expand, to replace worn-out equipment or buy new machines, and so forth .
I personally use this formula for both retail and wholesale pricing. The hourly figure I come up with is my basis for pricing wholesale items, which are 70 percent of my busines� volume. The remaining 30 percent of my production I sell myself at retail, at double the wholesale price, so that an item bringing $20 wholesale sells for $40 retail. The difference, the retail markup, is my business profit. I have found that this 70 : 30 ratio works well for me and leaves enough capital in the business to keep it going. I would love to sell everything retail but I don' t have the market for that or the time to find it.
After arriving at an hourly rate, pricing becomes a matter of keeping accurate records of raw materials and of hours in each crafted piece. The important thing is to make sure one works the hours that are recorded, and also to be sure those hours were on the particular piece being priced. Never guess at the number of hours already worked. The 80 hours that one might guess were in a finished piece, instead of the 60 actually worked, could make the difference between selling it or keeping it in one's own collection.
The time to start pricing is after an item is designed and jigged for production, not when it is still an idea or: a prototype. This is also the time to settle on the number of pieces to be made. Making only five of an item does not cut the costs very much, but making 20 will probably bring the
price down to what the market will bear. Thirty might not be as easy to sell, but the remainder can go into inventory and one will not have to rerun that piece for some time. This will help keep you sane.
Production items selling for less than $ 100 are impulse purchases. There is a fine line between what is profitable and what is not, what will sell and what won't. That is why it is so important to know exactly what each item costs to make. My formula has uncovered a couple of items on which I was actually losing money.
For wholesale craft fairs, I have found that a starter kit is an excellent way to get into new galleries. Before the show, I pack a selection of all my production items into a carton . The wholesale total might be $32 5 , but I'll sell the whole kit to a gallery for $275. That way the gallery buyer can get samples of my whole line, and I don' t have to work out dozens of complicated orders and go home with lists of this and that to pack up and ship. I save money and headaches because I can just hand them the box and send them a bill.
When a gallery buys my starter kit, I tell the buyer to return items that don't sell, and I'll exchange them for more of the things that do sell. I've found that what won' t sell in one gallery will sell somewhere else. I've always exchanged goods for goods, but never for cash, and I've very rarely finished with unsold work.
A craftsman can apply the same pricing approach to individual commissions, if his records are complete enough to allow him to estimate his time accurately. Since the client is buying the design, he usually is not so concerned about price and the maker has a lot more flexibility-it often comes down to what the market will bear. Sometimes commissioned work sells for high prices because the craftsman is not eager to get rid of the piece. And sometimes the price is scaled down because, however much fun it was to make, it won't sell for what it cost. In any event, accurate records of time and materials are essential.
Wood·N'-Things sells toys through Rhine· beck and its own gallery. Car above is $15.
Geoff Miller makes about 95
%
of his living /rom fairs. He sells mostly wholesale.MzJler's backgammon sets sell better than the turned, laminated bowls.
wholesale discount is half the retail price. Most buyers expect to be billed when the goods are delivered, and the craftsman should guarantee a delivery date. Accurate order-taking is essential . Some woodworkers at these fairs are furniture makers who don' t want to produce multiples, but still need access to markets. They aim their displays at
the retail public and use the fair as a showroom. Just one buyer wanting a complete living-dining room could provide work for six months.
The Rhinebeck fair accepts craftsmen from 1 2 Northeast states. The ACC also sponsors a February wholesale fair In Baltimore for craftsmen living east of the Mississippi and an August fair In
San Francisco drawing from nine Pacific states. Other major annual fairs include the Ann Arbor (Mich.) street fair and the Old Town fair in Chicago.
The best way to find out about fairs in your state is to join the local craft organizations-you can track them down through the ACC at 44 West 53rd St. , New York, N.Y. 10019, and 5 5