Wares
The Wares Blog
Running a craft business, simply.
Practical, no-nonsense writing for solo makers, growers, and market vendors: pricing your work, surviving tax season, packing for market day, and choosing tools that respect your time and your data.
How to lay out a market stall that pulls people in
Two makers can sell the same thing at the same market, and one table stays busy while the other watches people drift past. Here's how to use height, a power zone, and a little breathing room to draw a crowd and get them talking, without ever pouncing.
Read the guide → Market dayWhat to say to a booth browser (and what kills the sale)
"Can I help you?" almost always earns "just looking." Here are the openers, the reading of body language, and the gentle goodbye that turn a passerby into a customer, without a hint of a hard sell.
Read the guide → PlanningNever sell out, never overstock: lead-time math for makers
Bring too little and you sell out by noon; bring too much and you drive it all home. Both come from the same gap. Here's the backward-from-the-date math that lands you the right amount, every time.
Read the guide → PlanningRead your own sales data to decide what to make next
Most makers make what they love, not what sells, and your bestseller may be your worst earner. Three simple numbers tell you what to make more of, and what to quietly retire.
Read the guide → MoneyHow much can you actually make at a craft fair? The real math
Not the clickbait number. A day's revenue is four numbers multiplied, and a "$600 Saturday" is closer to $230 in your pocket. Here's how to build the figure and which levers actually move it.
Read the math → PricingHow to price handmade goods by working backward from your paycheck
Materials times three isn't wrong, it's incomplete. Booth fees, card fees, and taxes quietly eat the price. Here's how to price from the wage you actually want to keep, with the math worked out.
Read the guide → PricingGood, better, best: pricing tiers that raise your average sale
The same shoppers and the same stock, but a bigger average sale. How a premium anchor, a sensible middle, and one smart add-on lift every transaction without raising a single price.
Read the guide → MoneyThe true cost of taking cards at a tiny scale
The percentage isn't the part that hurts. The fixed per-sale fee and the sales you lose going cash-only are. Here's the math, and why taking cards almost always pays for itself.
Read the math → PlanningWhich markets are worth applying to? The economics
A cheap booth at the wrong market can cost more than a pricey booth at the right one. The break-even math, why audience fit beats raw foot traffic, and how to build a roster that actually pays.
Read the guide → Taxes · USSales tax at craft fairs: the parts that actually confuse people
For US sellers. Not "do I need a permit," but the four things even experienced vendors get wrong: when the platform already collects for you, temporary permits, why the rate changes by location, and crossing state lines.
Read the guide → Taxes · USSchedule C for crafters: the deductions and the one timing mistake
For US sellers. The part the listicles skip: when you actually get to deduct your materials. Plus the deductions makers forget, the home-studio rules, and when the IRS calls your craft a business at all.
Read the guide → ToolsThe best apps for craft-fair sellers: a buyer's guide
Less "here's a top ten," more "here's how to tell which fits you." The tool categories makers actually use, and the five questions that cut through the marketing.
Read the guide → ComparisonBuilt for makers, not managers: finding a tool that actually fits
We build for the maker at the stall, not the manager at the desk. Here's an honest look at what the bigger tools do well, who they're really for, and the simpler way we chose for a business of one.
Read the comparison →