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| | From:  Shadez6 (Original Message) | Sent: 4/19/2003 1:54 PM |
Hello all~ I am about to do my first ever craft show and I have a mountain of questions.... however two of the biggest ones are #1 do any of you acept checks as payment? I know there is always the risk of getting a bad one, but I am wondering if the convienience of not having the cash in your pocket could lead to extra sales.... #2 How do you guys package your portraits.... where can you get these materials? Thanks up front. You guys are great! Happy Scrolling! Shadez |
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Shadez
Go ahead and take the checks.
And NEVER prejudge the customer. The Sunday school
teacher in her finest outfit is just as likely to write a bad check as the
leather-jacketed biker-lokking guy.
Unless you are a grocery store or Walmart taking
1,000s of checks a week, don't worry about it.
In my real life (photography) I take 50-200 checks
a week. Maybe get 5-10 bad checks a year.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 7:54
AM
Subject: craft show help
craft
show help
Reply
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| From: shadez |
Hello all~ I am about to do my first ever craft show and I
have a mountain of questions.... however two of the biggest ones
are #1 do any of you acept checks as payment? I know there is
always the risk of getting a bad one, but I am wondering if the
convienience of not having the cash in your pocket could lead to
extra sales.... #2 How do you guys package your portraits....
where can you get these materials? Thanks up front. You guys are
great!
Happy Scrolling!
Shadez
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Reply
| | | From: OldGriz | Sent: 4/19/2003 3:27 PM |
Did 3 shows last summer outdoors and 2 months (Nov & Dec) of Saturdays last year and did not get one back check....Like Marvin said you can't prejudge a customer by their looks.... I had one guy come to my booth looking like he couldn't afford a free glass of water... He looked at my stuff, asked a load of questions and I treated him like any other customer... the following day he came by in a suit I couldn't afford in my best single days... and bought over $300 of stuff... all cash.... You never know.... Treat them all kind and answer all questions even, and if you need to deal with another customer who came in just excuse yourself for a minute and then get back to them... Remember that you are not only selling your art, but yourself... If the customer takes a dislike to way they are being treated no matter how beautiful your stuff is they are going to walk away.... Tom |
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| You asked how we packaged our materials. What do you mean? Are the portraits framed? or Do we put them in a bag? |
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| | | From: Termite | Sent: 4/20/2003 2:43 AM |
I recently attended a craftsman guild meeting and had an introduction to why I should join. With a craft show planned for the next month several of the members went over some things that could make a few more sales and one of them being packaging of the items you sell. Do not use plastic grocery bags or brown paper bags! Even if you may not be able to afford printed with your business name on them at this time at least get plain white the size of what you are selling! Source is a good question, since I have not yet been able to get ahead enough to consider a show but I would imagine somewhere like Staples or maybe wallyworld should have something suitable. Also recommended is tissue paper wrapping for items that may scratch again white and not newspapers! As Tom and Marvin stressed, customer, customer, customer, and you sell yourself was another one of the things that was discussed! If any of you are members of a craftsman guild I am sure you could add more, for those who are not familiar with what a guild is check and see if you have such a thing in your area and if so try to attend one of their meetings, it may be worth looking into. Pappy John Muncy, Pa. |
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Yes Termite is right on the money, Been doing craft fairs for 11 years now and right from the start I bought large white and small pink plastic bags that either said Thank You or had a rose on them. When I started making large pieces with black walnut I spent days on the inter net looking for Pizza boxes with no writing, just plain white. Had no luck searching but found them across town at a pizza shop. Had to buy them by the bundle of 25 each size @ 50 cents a piece but it works real well.If you have a costco near you, they sell white tissue paper at a good price.Packaging is the key to many sales. |
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| | | From: Linster | Sent: 4/20/2003 5:56 AM |
A lot of customers attending craft fairs don't carry much cash on them (at least in my neck of the woods). They often will pay with either check or credit card. I would just make sure the phone number is on the check. If not, ask the customer what it is and write in on there. If the check is from out of state, you may also want to ask for a drivers lisence and write that number on the check as well as the state abbreviation. If you find you are going to do a lot of craft fairs, you might consider checking with your local bank to set up a merchant account where you can accept credit cards. As for packaging, I purchased plain newsprint from Staples which I use to wrap my portraits. For smaller items, I use tissue paper. For bags, I purchased the brown kraft paper bags with handles for portraits and made a 5 x 7" logo sticker with my name, addy, web site, etc... on it. For smaller items I use either plain white plastic bags with handles or the ones that say Thank You on them. (Also purchased at Staples.) The brown handled kraft bags I got at a local party/paper dealer. I try to remember to put a business card in each bag if a customer hasn't already taken one from the table. If you have other craft fairs lined up, you should print up some small flyers with dates and locations of your upcoming fairs. Put a copy in each customers bag. Some craft fairs won't allow you to put them out in plain site on your table. Be sure to read all their rules and follow them or else you run the risk of not being invited back next time or in worse case senario's being asked to leave. Do Not sit and read the newspaper or a book. This tell the customer you're not very interested in their business. It's okay to have a seat during slow periods but if a customer enters your booth, be sure to greet them and stand up when you talk to them. Get to know your crafting neighbors. Often times they will give you some good tips, let you know of other shows, etc... Good luck on your first show. Let us know how things went. Linster |
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| On accepting checks. Do, but make it a practice to I.D. the check writer with a picture I.D. You should write some documentation from the I.D. on the check like the DOB, DRIVER liscense No. etc. to have as evidence that you did I.D. the writer. In most TX towns, the D.A. will not prosecute a bad check writer unless you positively I.D.ed them. A defense on their part would be that someone stole their check b ook. People in the know appreciate your getting an I.D. Its for their protection too. |
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| A clear plastic bag work`s well, as there walking thru the show they are advertising for you, and people will ask where they got that, works for us.Pat |
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hi-------many thanks to all for your good suggestions-------I sell 90 per cent of my work by word of mouth and don't go to craft places--------but I have decided to try and expand my horizions and have made arrangements with a local hospital to use one of their main floor rooms to set up my material and have photo albums there for the customer to glance through--------they get 10 per cent of sales-------if that works I will be visiting 3 more hospitals in my area---------just a thought for others to investigate --------happy scrolling--------Tom |
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