Possible craft show and retail sales

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Woodchipper

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The wife and I were going to Crossville, TN to attend the retirement party for a close friend. We stopped at the little museum in Homesteads, TN which is a community built by the WPA. Here is the deal- crafts are on consignment and they take 20% commission on anything sold. I thought this was a decent deal compared to others I have seen. Also, the community is having an Apple Festival, September 22nd and 23rd. It costs $65 for a space around the museum site. Your thoughts on the deal. Obviously, theft wouldn't be covered as it is consignment only. My next question is getting Square One for my Android phone. We stopped at a place nearby and the lady had the card scanner for Square One. She liked it as you only paid for transactions. If I understood her, there were no monthly fees. Your recommendations and dealings with Square One are appreciated. Where do you get the scanner? I understand there is a chip reader as well. Many thanks!
FWIW, I belong to a local shooting club and feel that related pens will sell good. Square One would be handy for these sales.
 
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JimB

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The 20% to them Is a fair/good deal. However, the theft risk is not. Even with consignment they should have some responsibility for theft. If they don't then they have zero incentive to prevent it and you will see too many of your items disappear. No responsibility for theft also means they don't need to accurately track sales because they can just say they don't know where it went. The 80% you should receive is 80% of anything you gave them that they don't still have.
 

larryc

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Been a user of Square for six or seven years and have had excellent results. The scanner is free but there is a charge for the chip reader. I know many still use just the scanner.
 

Gregory Hardy

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I just use the scanner (free from Square).

However - the advice from Jim is sound. "Leave it with us but we won't be responsible?" Do the booth for the show if the spirit moves, but the consignment deal sounds like "no deal" at all. Be carful.
 

mecompco

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This will be my third year using a Square reader at shows. It works great, and payment is received quickly. The customer can opt to receive an email or text receipt. I paid the $49.95 for the chip reader (also comes with a swipe reader).

I've only done consignments once. I sold a few items, but it really was more hassle than it was worth. And the lady who owned the shop actually tracked me down on Etsy, wanted to know all about custom pens so she could talk knowledgeably about them, spent her own funds on some displays, and took very good care of them.

Now I just sell on Etsy and five or six local craft shows in the fall/early winter.
 

Woodchipper

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Thanks to all. I have the contact name and number to inquire about the theft concern. My question would be if they have had a problem in the past with theft. I need to make this inquiry as a standard question! The museum where the items for sale are kept. Not much bigger than my living room and dining room/kitchen. The director has a desk in the retail sales part where the entrance fee is collected. Might be a deterrent to theft. I have been figuring the mileage and gas for two round trips to the festival. Might pay to get a room in Crossville. Need to check on it. Deductible?????
JimB, would an inventory list be an advantage- one for me and one for the museum? As items are sold, they are crossed off the list, I am notified so future stocking of items could be adjusted to what sells, and I get paid.
 
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vtgaryw

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I've had pens at many different consignment shops over the years. I had one item stolen. The store was a non-profit benefiting a historical society, so I let it go.

All of the shops I'm in take good care of my pens and display them in areas where they won't wander off too easily. You won't find many shops that take as little as 20%. Give it a try.

Gary
 

JimB

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Thanks to all. I have the contact name and number to inquire about the theft concern. My question would be if they have had a problem in the past with theft. I need to make this inquiry as a standard question! The museum where the items for sale are kept. Not much bigger than my living room and dining room/kitchen. The director has a desk in the retail sales part where the entrance fee is collected. Might be a deterrent to theft. I have been figuring the mileage and gas for two round trips to the festival. Might pay to get a room in Crossville. Need to check on it. Deductible?????
JimB, would an inventory list be an advantage- one for me and one for the museum? As items are sold, they are crossed off the list, I am notified so future stocking of items could be adjusted to what sells, and I get paid.

Yes, you will Need an inventory list (aka Packing List) when you drop off your pens so they know what you gave them and you need to keep a copy for yourself. They probably have their own system for tracking what sell but they may use your Packing List.
 

mmayo

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Square is great, I use the chip reader. If you use the chip reader and the card ends up phony or stolen, Square eats the loss not me. If I swipe a chip card and it turns South I eat the loss. My swipe readers are now just fir backup. All sales at recent craft fairs are with chip cards.
 

jttheclockman

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First question is are you a business??? Tax time is something you can not take lightly. Pens are very easy to steal and put in a pocket. If they have security cameras can be of help but if one person operates the shop not very good. Deductions only come into play if you file as a business. Can not take against homeowners.

Did consignment back in late 90's and early 2000. I scroll and make many more things than pens. At first was very lucrative and was in 6 stores in 3 huge malls. Management changed hands and things changed drastically with broken items and stolen items and they did not stand good for. Got out quickly. Know nothing about readers. Was thinking of trying this year at my craft shows but still undecided because I would need some sort of link. I work off a flip phone and have only taken checks or cash. Worked well for years but today more and more people are pure lazy and want to use plastic for everything. When you go to a craft show not all vendors can afford the expense of taking credit cards and shoppers should be aware and stop at an ATM beforehand but no freakin lazy. Todays society and kids are brought up this way.
 

thewishman

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Consignment was not for me. 80% is a great rate!

Square is awesome! Practice on your own cards, if you pay yourself $1, you'll get most of it back in your bank account in a couple of days. The few cents they charge for processing is really a good investment in practicing, so you are ready to go when the customers come. I always do tests in the venue so I can see that everything is working properly.

Customers like to have the convenience of tracking their purchases and not having to carry money around. I use Square, PayPal Here, and Intuit. Sometimes one will not go through, but at least one always does. The 3%-ish fee has been really cheap for me, as most buyers are comfortable with the process, and nobody has to go away empty handed.

Cash was king, but debit/credit just adds an entire new swath of opportunity for buyers and sellers.
 
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Monty

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Maybe I missed something, but if your items are on consignment and you are not there to make the sale, why would you need Square? However, if you are there making the sales and they want an additional 20% of what you sell, then that is just a commission and you wouldn't have to worry about theft anymore than at a regular show.

If that is the case, 20% is not unreasonable with a $65 booth fee.
As for Square, I have used it for years with no problems. Never had a problem connecting with them that wasn't wifi related in which case none of the other card reader wouldn't work either.
 
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JimB

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Maybe I missed something, but if your items are on consignment and you are not there to make the sale, why would you need Square? However, if you are there making the sales and they want an additional 20% of what you sell, then that is just a commission and you wouldn't have to worry about theft anymore than at a regular show.

If that is the case, 20% is not unreasonable with a $65 booth fee.
As for Square, I have used it for years with no problems. Never had a problem connecting with them that wasn't wifi related in which case none of the other card reader wouldn't work either.

He is asking about 2 different things. One is consignment in the museum shop and the other is a festival he is considering. It wasn't very obvious he was asking about two different things.
 

Chief TomaToe

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There are a couple of other benefits of using Square other than being able to just swipe cards. One of them is being able to send invoices. For instance, if I have a customer that would like to make a custom order, I could send them an invoice via square which is a little more formal than merely sending money via paypal, in my opinion. Also, if you have an Etsy shop, you can link your Etsy stock with square so that whenever you make an in-person sale it automatically removes your listing on Etsy. I've used it many times - no hassle.
 

Woodchipper

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1. Consignment at the museum. Thinking about building a closed display that the museum staff would have to remove the pens to show or at least have it by the desk. Will ask about security cameras but really didn't look for any. I could put a rattlesnake in the display cabinet.
2. Craft show on the grounds of the museum in September. Hope to expand the craft shows more in the future. We have a young lady at church that hits some craft shows and does quite well. This is the reason for the inquiry about Square. A lot of people don't carry a lot of cash. I don't as it is easy for me to get into a buying mode. A local gas station used to give a discount of 2-3 cents for cash but how many people carry 30-40 dollars cash?
Familiar with the business aspect- built custom fishing rods for 7 years and jumped through all the hoops with the state and the IRS. Have some info from my CPA about a home business that could carry over to wood crafts- pens and turnings.
 
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