The Money Side of Craft Shows
© Barbara Massie
Money is our form of payment for merchandize and services. An interesting site Origins of Money and of Banking gives you historical facts about money.
CHANGE:
You must have a box or bag with change at your booth. A small fishing tackle box works well. Keep your eye on the money box while at a show. Put it in a place where a customer would have a difficult getting to it. Don't take the risk of someone walking off with the money. Write down the amount of money you put into the box initially. You will need dollar bills, quarters, nickels, and pennies if you are adding tax to the price.
Many people know how to correctly make change; many don't. How frustrating it is to go into a show, pay for a purchase and be handed the change in a pile. If a customer is savvy, he must stand there and count the change to make certain it is correct. Go to How to Count Money and Make Change for a refresher course. It's a kids' site, but aren't most of us kids at heart?
Many people start out shopping with twenty dollar bills, so if you can afford it, take a few fives. Otherwise start with $25.00 in ones, $10.00 in quarters, and $4.00 in nickels. This is a good mix and allows you to make many kinds of change. Most show producers do not have change for you, so try to be careful about using up all of your ones right at the beginning. Ask the customer if s/he has a smaller bill; many do, it's just easier to give you a twenty.
ALWAYS, keep the bill given to you by the customer in plain sight, on top of the other money, until you have given out the change. It's possible for you to put away a ten dollar bill, give out change and the customer will say, "But I gave you a twenty dollar bill, my change is wrong." What do you do? You'd have to call the customer a liar or give the person another ten. Be careful and protect your profits.
Count the change out to your customer. It will be appreciated and it's a way to double check yourself. Another kids' site (amazing there doesn't seem to be any for adults!) is Money Experience for Kids. It has some games that might be fun to try.
TAKING CHECKS:
You will have to make the decision before you do any show as to whether or not you will accept checks. During the years that I did craft
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