Selling Handmade Items at UK Craft Fairs

Get your paperwork sorted before you book a pitch

Before you hand over a stall fee, it is worth knowing exactly what a UK organiser will expect from you. Most established craft fairs and markets ask for public liability insurance, usually with cover of at least £5 million, and many will want a copy of the certificate before the day. Craft-specific policies are inexpensive and cover you if a customer trips over your table leg or a brooch pin causes an injury.

Licensing depends on where you are trading. An indoor venue — a village hall, church, school or shopping centre — is normally covered by the organiser's own arrangements, so you simply turn up and trade. If your pitch is on a public highway, pavement or in a council-run market, you may need a street trading licence or consent from the local authority. Always ask the organiser in writing who holds the licence for the site, and keep that reply.

Some crafts carry extra rules:

• Food and drink — jams, chutneys, cakes and fudge usually need registration with your local council's environmental health team, plus allergen information for anything prepacked for direct sale.
• Items for children — toys and items designed for under-14s must meet UKCA safety marking rules.
• Cosmetics — soaps, balms and lotions need a cosmetic safety assessment before they can be sold.
• Knitted and crocheted goods — soft furnishings, blankets and garments are straightforward, but any nightwear for children must meet flammability standards.

If your takings stay under the £1,000 trading allowance, you generally will not need to declare them, but keep records anyway. Above that, stall fees, materials, mileage and insurance are all allowable expenses.

Price everything and display those prices clearly

The single biggest mistake at a craft fair is a stall with no visible prices. Shoppers hate asking, and a queue at your table while you answer "how much is this one?" costs you sales. Label every item, or group items with a clear sign — a small framed card reading "Hand-knitted mittens, £18 a pair" works beautifully.

Price in whole pounds or simple figures where you can, because it makes mental arithmetic and change-giving quicker. Think about your structure before the day:

• Round up to cover your stall fee — a fair costing £40 means you need to sell roughly three pairs of mittens just to break even.
• Charge properly for your time. A jumper that took twenty hours should not be priced like a supermarket import.
• Offer a gentle bundle: "Any three baby hats for £25" lifts average spend without discounting your work.
• Keep a laminated price list behind the table for variations in size, colour or yarn.

Add a small card with each sale showing fibre content and washing instructions. It looks professional and saves you repeating yourself all day.

Take card payments as well as cash

Contactless is now the default for most shoppers, and a stall that only takes cash will lose sales. A pocket-sized card reader linked to your phone or with its own SIM is the practical answer. Test it the night before, check your mobile signal at the venue, and switch on offline mode if the reader supports it so you can still take payments when the signal drops.

Bring a sensible float: around £50 in coins and small notes, kept in a secure tin you can tuck out of sight. Display a clear sign showing that you accept card and cash — people often assume craft stalls are cash-only and walk past.

Record every sale as it happens, even if it is just a tally mark in a notebook. At the end of the day, add up card and cash totals separately so you can reconcile them against your reader statement.

Keep a simple stock list that does some of the work for you

A plain notebook or spreadsheet is all you need, but it pays for itself many times over. Before the fair, list each product with its unit price and how many you have packed. During the day, mark each sale. Afterwards, you will know exactly what sold, what did not, and what your takings should be.

Columns worth having:

• Item and colourway — "chunky beanie, oatmeal" tells you far more than "hat".
• Unit price and quantity sold — so you can spot your best sellers at a glance.
• Notes — what people asked for that you did not have, and which sizes ran out first.

Over three or four fairs, patterns appear. You may find that neutral baby blankets sell fast while brightly coloured adult scarves sit untouched. That is your making list for next season, sorted.

Set up the stall so people can browse comfortably

Bring a floor-length cloth in a plain colour — it hides your boxes and makes the stall look considered. Display at different heights using crates, boxes or a small tiered stand, and keep the back of the table for wrapping and your card reader. A mirror is essential if you sell wearable items, and a clip-on light transforms a dim hall.

Pack the practical things too: a chair, water, snacks, a spare layer, a tape measure, spare labels and a pen that works. For outdoor fairs, weight your gazebo down properly — sandbags or water containers, not just pegs — because a gust of wind can end your day quickly.

Smile, knit something simple between customers, and let people pick things up. A stall where making is visible invites conversation, and conversation is what turns a browser into a buyer.