QPOCALYPSE 11/11 [$20 sliding scale]
Santa Clara University
First off, I LOVE that they offered a sliding scale for the vendor fee. I opted to pay the lower end because I wasn’t sure what to expect and I really wanted to make my money back.
We really lucked out with the weather, it was so sunny and warm. The organizers were all super helpful, nice, and well organized. Snacks were provided for all vendors. There were multiple musical acts as well as a couple dance acts. It was such a fun event to vend at!
We did $300 in sales, our I <3 adderall mugs being our best seller o.0. Otherwise sales were kinda all over the place; we sold 1 “I Identify As A Threat” crewneck, 1 Caffeinated Critters crewneck, 1 Florally Yours button-up, 1 Florally Yours fanny pack, 1 upcycled shirt, and a bunch of stickers. Since folks bought some of everything we had this definitely feels like our market. I hope to do more events at universities in the future.
Patchwork 11/18 [$165]
Oakland, CA
It was POURING down rain the day before this event and I told myself that if it was still pouring when I was supposed to leave I’d bail and forfeit my fee. The rain had let up a bit when it was time for me to head out at 830 so I went ahead with the event.
I kinda wish I’d bailed. It started dumping on me once I showed up and the wind was relentless. Trying to set up windwalls by myself in the wind and rain sucked. My box of shopping bags got wet along with a few stickers. Thankfully that was the extent of the water damage.
As you can imagine, there weren’t many people at this event. I barely scraped my vending fee back, I ended with $200 in sales.
I talked with some friends that did the Patchwork in Redwood City the following weekend and they said they barely made their fee back as well even though it was nice. Patchwork is well organized and seems like they get plenty of ads out there; I’ve heard that folks did really well at their events last year so I think I’ll give them a shot again. Everyone’s saying 2023 has been brutal for sales so here’s to hoping 2024 will be better.
PDX Pancakes & Booze 11/18 [$75]
Hawthorne Theater
We were so excited about this event but it ended up being a pretty big let down. We got there 15 minutes early to set up and knew we would have to wait outside to be let in. We ended up waiting outside for over an hour. Once we were inside there was no one directing people and it was chaos. We finally claimed a spot and began setting up. The spot was supposed to be 8’x6’ and it was 6’x6’ at most.
Once the event started it was PACKED. There were too many people to let folks move around and it was really claustrophobic. We’ve found that when things are packed like that we don’t tend to do much in sales which was true in this case, we only did $120 by the end of the night. We chatted with some other vendors in CA and found out this chaos is common for Pancakes & Booze events - we won’t be doing this event again.
SJ Made Holiday Fair 11/25 & 11/26 [$450]
Santa Clara, CA
I (KC) got so sick the night before the event, pretty sure it was the stomach flu. I was feeling alive somehow the morning of the event so I took some tums, masked up, and put on a brave face. I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to make it very long so I decided to do something crazy. 3 hours into the event I put up a sign with my venmo asking folks to pay whatever they think is fair, then I left.
We ended up doing over 1k in sales while I was home resting. I am so endlessly thankful to everyone that bought something and helped us recoup the $450 fee. I am also so thankful that everyone was trustworthy, it appears that nothing was stolen from our booth while we were gone. I’m not sure I could’ve been comfortable doing this at an outdoor event without much staff but thankfully this event was indoors, had security, and a ton of staff walking around at all times.
I know folks that did really well at this event but I don’t think we were one of them. Nor do I think we would’ve made many more sales if I was there. If we had done the same in sales as we did in the 3 hours I was there we would’ve made about as much as we did make. I think location was a huge part of us not doing better and I will definitely spring for a corner booth if we decide to do this event again.