A few weeks ago we
decided to expand this little online business of ours to our first market
offline. Now, I have been to plenty of markets to buy goodies, but I had never
actually been a seller before. Needless to say, I was super excited, but also a
tiny bit scared. What if we wouldn't sell anything? What if people don't
actually like my beautiful vintage goodies?
The weeks before the
fair we went through all the inventory we have, sorting what we wanted to take, deciding on the perfect mix between Fat Lava pottery and other Mid Century items, making price lists, and packing everything carefully. In addition to that there
were a million of little things that needed to be arranged, like arranging
carrier bags, getting chairs to sit on, assemble enough change, etc., etc.
We decided to go to
a special collector's fair near our home town, as we figured we would have a
better chance of selling mid century items here than on a general antique fair.
I tried very hard to
make my stand as pretty as possible, grouping certain items together, based on
era and color. And I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the result!
So how was the
experience? Did we sell some beautiful vintage goodies? Of course we did! We
had two very good days on Friday (build-up & early bird day) and Saturday,
but Sunday was pretty slow for us. We sold more glass than Fat Lava, especially
Dutch glass was popular (but that makes sense, as it was a Dutch market).
Some things we
learned:
- If your fair has a build-up
day, use it. We actually sold the most to early visitors and fellow
dealers on this day. And I also scored one very nice bargain myself.
- In addition to that, come
early in the morning to the fair. It'll give you some time to re-arrange
stuff, and the people looking for the best stuff will be there early as
well.
- Don't forget to arrange
change, it sucks if you have to ask fellow dealers for it.
- Bring business cards with the
address of your online venue.
- Smile!
- Try to make a chat to
everyone that stops for your stand, and give people your business card.
You brought them with a purpose , and even if people didn't buy something,
if they are interested, they might purchase something later.
- Talk to your fellow dealers.
It's nice to have a chat, and most of the dealers are willing to share
valuable tips & tricks.
- If possible, bring someone to
help you. Lugging all these boxes to the stand is heavy work, and you'll
need that restroom break at some point during the day.
We'll definitely do
this again, as it was a great experience. I still have many, many things to
learn, so if you have any more tips, let me know! For now, if you want to check out my goodies, go have a look at
www.vaseomania.etsy.com.
