Why a good day at a fair can still pay badly
Ask a maker how a craft fair went and you'll usually hear the takings. Ask what it cost and you'll hear the booth fee. The gap between those two numbers is where the real answer lives, and it's mostly made of hours nobody counts.
A seven-hour fair is not a seven-hour day. There's packing the car the night before, driving there, unloading, setting up the table, the event itself, packing down while everyone else is packing down, driving home, and unloading again. Twelve hours is normal. Fourteen isn't unusual if the fair is an hour away.
Two very different breakeven numbers
The first is how many items cover the cash you laid out — booth fee, fuel, parking. That number is usually small and almost always cleared, which is why fairs feel fine.
The second is how many items cover the cash and pay you something for the day. That number is often three times the first one. On the worked example here it's the difference between 11 items and 35.
Neither number is the "right" one. They answer different questions. But sellers who only ever check the first are deciding to spend twelve hours based on whether they cleared eighty-five pounds of table fee.
The number that actually decides it
What matters most is the effective hourly rate: everything you cleared, divided by every hour it took. That's directly comparable to any other way you could have spent the day, including making stock to sell online without the driving.
Plenty of fairs come out below minimum wage on that measure while still feeling like a success, because a busy table is enjoyable and a quiet workshop isn't. That's a legitimate reason to do them. It just isn't a financial one, and it's worth knowing which reason you're acting on.
What actually moves the number
Selling more is the obvious lever and the hardest to control. The ones you can control are the price of what's on the table, the mix — a few higher-value pieces change the maths faster than more small ones — and picking fairs where the booth fee and the drive are proportionate to the crowd.
A fair an hour away with a $40 table can easily beat a prestigious one two hours away at $150, even if the second one takes more money on the day.
Common questions
Should I really count my own time?
If you want to know whether the day was worth doing, yes. If you only want to know whether it lost money, no.
Both are useful, which is why the calculator shows both numbers rather than picking one for you.
What about stock I don't sell?
Unsold stock isn't a loss — you still have it and can sell it later or at the next fair. That's why this counts the cost of items actually sold rather than everything you brought.
The exception is anything perishable or seasonal that won't sell afterwards. If that applies, add its cost into the parking and other field.
Are fairs worth doing at all?
Often, but not always for the money. Direct feedback on what people pick up, an email list, repeat customers and stockist enquiries are real value that doesn't show up in the day's takings.
Run the numbers so the decision is deliberate. A fair that pays $10 an hour but brings three wholesale enquiries may be an excellent use of a Saturday.
Are my numbers stored anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser, there's no account, and nothing is uploaded.