Today was the first event of the year - a Toy, Sportscard, and NASCAR collectibles show. We netted a little over a hundred and a half after table fees. The promoter invited us to his other shows and told us we had the best looking set-up at the show. Thanks Don, Seth, and everyone else for sharing the information on earlier posts about "joints" and "flash". The info really helped us be successful.

LeoH

Congrats!

Good going LeoH...get thoses grosses up next time...I'm sure you can do it.

Don

Congrats to you! As you become more experienced in pitching, your grosses should rise as you become more efficient in drawing and turning tips. What were you pitching?

Don't forget to talk to your neighbor vendors at these events for hints about good upcoming events, as well as ones that should be avoided. But also remember the sources on these comments --- just because a jewelry or a jelly vendor didn't do well at an event, doesn't mean that you won't. Was the event well publicized and well attended, and were there lots of families and kids, are the important questions to ask. SETH

Seth:

I was pitching sven decks and squirmel worms. I was looking around at one point and realized we had sold to every kid at the show except 2 brothers, and they were bugging their dad like mad to buy them a deck. Attendance was around 500 people for the whole day. Our table was next to the "Klingon Attack Group" in full costume. One said the squirmels looked like a gak, supposedly a small critter that Klingons eat. He bought one to use as a prop in a photo shoot!

Of course, it's not my biz to tell anyone what to do, but I hope you're selling the cards for $10. While the # of sales wll go down, if you only sell about 48% of what you usually do @ $5, you net more, because you're only paying for 1 deck instead of 2.

And I can tell you, I actually sell about the same # as I did BEFORE I raised the price.

PLUS, now, if they hesitate and there are more than one kid in a family, I can say, "Tell ya what. Buy RIGHT now, I'll give each kid one of the TCM." So I spend an extra 10 cents or so per sale. At least it's a sale instead of a be-back.

Good luck!

Jon

The trick is to price your items so that they aren't perceived as being too cheap or too expensive. In my neck of the woods, $10 is about the limit for impulse items like these.

And I agree with Jon from another aspect -- if you sell the stuff too cheaply, people will think it's junk and not worth it. Strange but true! At $10, it sounds like you are selling a great mystery (which it is!), yet it's not going to break Dad's bank. SETH