Somewhere between the first person who said "you should sell these" and your first stall, there is a stretch of admin nobody warns you about. Application forms, insurance certificates, a card reader that will not pair with your phone, and the sudden realisation that you have no idea how many £5 notes to bring as a float. None of it is difficult, but most of it is easier to sort before the morning of the fair.
What follows is the practical route through it: choosing events that suit your work, applying properly, setting up a stall that people actually stop at, pricing without underselling yourself, and getting the paperwork and payments in order.
British fairs come in several species. Village hall events, school Christmas fairs and church fêtes are usually cheap to book, friendly, and full of people spending modest amounts. Farmers' markets reward food and consumables more than ceramics or prints. Curated designer-maker markets charge more but tend to attract customers who have come specifically to buy handmade work.
Before you apply, visit if you can. Walk round, count the stalls, and watch where people stop. Ask the organiser a few direct questions:
There is no shame in starting small. Two or three low-cost local fairs will teach you more than one expensive one, and if the day goes badly you have lost an afternoon rather than a large booking fee.
Curated fairs often jury months in advance, so keep a simple spreadsheet of event names, deadlines, fees and application links. When you apply, give the organiser exactly what makes their job easy: clear photographs of your work in daylight against a plain background, one shot showing a full range, and a short plain description of what you make and what it is made from. Avoid a long story about your creative journey at this stage.
Have these ready to hand over when asked: a price range, your public liability insurance details, a website or social account so they can see you are active, and a note of your stall footprint if you need more than a standard table. Be honest about what you sell. Turning up with a table of candles when you applied as a jewellery maker annoys organisers and looks careless to the makers beside you.
A flat table of items at the same height is hard to read from three metres away. Use crates, boxes or folded boards under a plain cloth to create two or three levels, then leave gaps. Empty space makes individual pieces look considered rather than crowded.
Customers who have to ask the price often walk on rather than start a conversation. A clear price list near the front, plus small tags on individual items, removes that friction. Put your best-selling, lower-priced pieces within easy reach, and your statement pieces where they can be seen.
Take a spare cloth, tape, scissors, cable ties, and weights for outdoor pitches — a folded cloth pinned down is worth more than a beautiful display that ends up in the next field. A mirror helps if you sell anything wearable, and a small notebook for a mailing list is useful if you ask permission and store the details securely.
If you remember one thing: stand beside your stall, not behind it. Say hello to people, and let them look.
Add up what the piece actually costs you: materials, packaging, a realistic hourly rate for the making, and a share of the stall fee, travel and card charges. Then look at what comparable makers charge locally. The awkward part is holding your nerve when someone says "that seems a lot" — you can explain the material or process warmly without dropping the price on the spot.
Most organisers will not confirm your place without public liability insurance, and they may ask for the certificate in advance. Craft-specific policies are widely available, and cover levels vary, so read what is actually included — product liability, for instance, is often bundled in but not always. If you sell higher-risk categories such as food, skincare, candles, cosmetics or children's toys, there are additional rules on labelling, safety assessment and hygiene registration. Check with your local council's environmental health or trading standards team, and take professional advice where the requirements apply to you.
If you are trading regularly rather than occasionally, look at HMRC's current guidance on registering as self-employed and how the trading allowance works. Keep receipts for materials and stall fees from the start; a shoebox works in January, but a folder of dated receipts is far easier in April.
Card is now the default for most shoppers, and a stall that only takes cash will lose sales. Several providers offer small readers that pair with a phone, charging a percentage per transaction, and most accept contactless, chip and PIN and phone wallet payments. Test the reader at home the week before, take a charged power bank, and check your signal at the venue — some readers will queue transactions offline, but not all.
Keep a QR code or bank details as a fallback for the customer who has forgotten a card, and still carry cash for the people who prefer it. Never leave a cash box unattended, take a friend if you can, and check whether your insurance covers stock in transit and on site.
Do two small local fairs before booking anything ambitious. After each one, write down three things: what sold best, what customers asked for that you did not have, and how long setup actually took. Photograph your finished stall so you can rebuild it faster next time. Talk to the makers on either side of you — they are the best source of honest advice about which events are worth the fee. Expect at least one slow, quiet day; it happens to everyone, and it is not a verdict on your work.
Photo: ofoff / Pixabay
