Why You're Measuring Market Success All Wrong (And What to Track Instead)
Let me guess. You did a market last weekend. You paid your booth fee, hauled your inventory, smiled at customers for 4+ hours, and at the end of the day you counted what was in your cash box, subtracted your costs, and decided whether the market was "worth it."
And if the number wasn't what you hoped? You probably blamed the organizer, the weather, the economy, or the other vendors.
If you're measuring market ROI purely by same-day sales, you're running your business with one eye closed.
I say this as someone who has been on both sides–as a vendor and as a market organizer. I've been doing markets since 2011, and I can tell you that the best markets I've ever done weren't necessarily the ones where I walked away with the most sales revenue. They were the ones that led to $2,000 in private bookings and orders over the following month, grew my email list by 100+ engaged subscribers, or connected me with opportunities to collaborate with more established businesses.
Markets Are Marketing—And Marketing Is Always a Bet
When you apply to a market, you're making a marketing investment. Just like running a Facebook ad, sending a direct mail campaign, or investing in professional product photography, there's inherent risk involved.
You don't know if it'll rain. You don't know if there's a competing event across town. You don't know if the economy is going to make people tighten their wallets that particular season. Neither does the organizer.
That's business. That's what it means to invest in growing your company.
When you run an Instagram ad and it doesn't convert, do you demand your money back from Meta? When you send postcards to potential wholesale accounts and don't get responses, do you call the printing company and complain? No. You evaluate what worked, what didn't, and adjust your strategy.
Markets are no different. They're a marketing channel, not a guaranteed sales engine. And if you're treating them purely as transactional opportunities rather than multi-layered marketing investments, you're fundamentally misunderstanding what you're paying for.
Where Did the "10x Your Booth Fee" Expectation Come From?
I need to address this directly because it's become pervasive and it's making everyone miserable and a little delusional. The expectation that you should make 10 times your booth fee in same-day sales is not based in reality. Now, can it happen? Absolutely! But it should not be your standard as it will likely be an outlier event when it does happen. Your ability to make sales also has a lot to do with you—not just the market.
This wasn't the standard when I started doing markets in 2011. It became a thing around the pandemic when a perfect storm of circumstances created temporarily inflated results. Stimulus checks, people spending more time at home with disposable income burning holes in their pockets, explosive growth in online shopping for handmade goods, and then a massive surge when people were finally able to leave their houses and were thrilled to support local makers in person.
Those conditions were anomalous. It’s not reasonable to expect that to sustain. And if you're building your business model around replicating 2021-2022 market sales, you're setting yourself up for constant disappointment.
Let's get realistic about what reasonable returns look like, and why the organizer's booth fee actually represents them absorbing a significant portion of the risk for you.
What You're Actually Buying With That Booth Fee
Think about it this way, if you wanted to open your own retail storefront for a day, what would that cost?
Rent on a commercial space in a high-traffic area
Marketing and advertising to drive foot traffic
Permits and insurance
Staff time for setup, management, and breakdown
Infrastructure (displays, furniture, electricity, restrooms, parking)
Even for a single day, you'd be looking at thousands of dollars minimum. And that's assuming you could even attract customers–because nobody knows who you are or that you're there.
When you pay a booth fee at a well-organized market, the organizer is absorbing most of that risk and cost for you by:
1. Leveraging an Audience They Spent Years Building
Established markets with higher booth fees didn't pull those prices out of thin air. They've spent years - sometimes decades - building their brand, cultivating their audience, creating trust with shoppers, and proving they curate quality experiences. When a market can pull 5,000-10,000 attendees, that organizer has invested countless hours and often tens of thousands of dollars in marketing, press outreach, social media growth, email list building, and reputation management.
You're paying to tap into an audience that already trusts the organizer to deliver a certain caliber of event and vendors.
If you tried to get 10,000 people to show up somewhere just to see your work? What would that cost you in advertising, venue rental, promotion, and time? Exponentially more than a $150-300 booth fee.
2. Providing Marketing That Extends Far Beyond Event Day
Here's where the quality of the market really differentiates. Some organizers do the bare minimum. They rent a space (or even get one for free), accept vendors, maybe throw up a Facebook post the week before. Those markets? Yeah, they probably aren't worth premium booth fees.
The good ones, though. The ones that charge more and are worth it are promoting you for weeks or months.
Vendor spotlights on social media highlighting your work to thousands of followers
Dedicated pages on their website featuring your business
Email campaigns to their subscriber base (which they built over years)
Press releases and media outreach that include vendor names and categories
Professionally designed marketing materials distributed across the region
Consistent branding and messaging that builds anticipation and drives attendance
When an organizer runs a campaign that reaches 100,000+ people in your region, and your business is featured as part of that campaign, you're getting visibility and third-party credibility you couldn't afford to buy on your own.
This is why higher-tier, established markets cost more. You're not just paying for a 10 X 10 space. You're paying for brand equity that took years to build, marketing infrastructure you don't have, and promotional reach that extends your visibility far beyond what you could achieve alone.
3. Curating the Right Audience and Protecting Market Integrity
A well-organized market does the work of pre-qualifying customers for you. They're attracting people who are specifically seeking out handmade, local, independent goods. They're setting expectations about quality and price points. They're creating an environment that puts shoppers in the right mindset to invest in your work.
When organizers are selective about vendor acceptance–yes, even when that means rejecting applications–they're protecting the experience for everyone. A market full of poorly presented booths, mass-produced resale items, or work that doesn't match the event's aesthetic and standards? That market fails. Attendees don't return. Vendors suffer across the board.
Curation matters. When you get accepted to a competitive, well-curated market, you're benefiting from the organizer's commitment to maintaining standards that keep the event valuable for both vendors and attendees.
What to Measure Instead of Just Sales
Of course it's great when you make strong same-day sales AND set yourself up for future growth. That's the ideal outcome, and it happens. But it's not the only measure of success.
If you're trying to run a sustainable business (not just looking for a fun weekend hobby where you drink mimosas outdoors and occasionally sell something), you need to track multiple metrics.
Immediate Marketing Wins
Email signups and new social media followers
Business cards distributed and collected
Quality booth photography and content captured
Direct customer feedback on products, pricing, and presentation
Assessment of crowd quality and fit with your target market
Short-Term Conversion Opportunities
Custom order inquiries and bookings in the 30 days following the market
Website traffic spikes around the event dates
Social media engagement from event-related posts
Follow-up messages from people who wanted to "think about it"
Gift registry or wishlist additions if you offer them
Long-Term Business Development
Wholesale inquiries from shop owners who attended
Partnership or collaboration opportunities with other vendors
Commissions or bookings that originated from market connections
Media coverage, press mentions, or blogger features
Invitations to participate in other curated events or opportunities
Strategic Brand Growth
Association with respected market brands in your portfolio/application materials
Learning tips and tricks from observing other vendors' strategies
Professional development in merchandising, customer engagement, and sales
Community relationships that lead to future opportunities
Credibility markers that strengthen future market applications
Want to dive deeper into building a sustainable business? Join the Magick Makers community for vendor tips, market strategies, and upcoming opportunities in the Triangle NC region and beyond. Get notified about future markets →
The Markets I "Lost Money" On That Actually Made Me the Most
I've returned to certain markets where my same-day sales barely covered costs. Why would I do that? Because those markets consistently delivered:
High-value bookings in the weeks and months following
Connections with other established, local businesses
Media coverage and press features that elevated my brand
Relationships with event planners who became repeat clients
Brand association with a well-respected market that opened other doors
If I had only measured success by cash in hand at 4pm, I would have written these off as failures and missed out on thousands of dollars in downstream revenue.
When It’s Time to Walk Away
Not every market is worth it. There are absolutely organizers who don't do the work. Who under-promote, under-deliver, miscommunicate, or fail to maintain standards.
Red flags that indicate a market might not be a good investment:
Little to no visible marketing or promotion leading up to the event
Disorganized or absent communication from organizers
No apparent curation or quality standards in vendor selection
Consistent pattern of severely under-delivering on promised attendance
No community-building or vendor support infrastructure
But here's what's NOT a red flag:
Bad weather that impacts attendance (nobody controls this)
Economic conditions that make shoppers more cautious
Competing events or circumstances you weren't aware of
Your booth underperforming compared to others (that's on your presentation, products, or pricing)
Not making 10x your booth fee in same-day sales (this was never a reasonable standard)
The Real Issue Most Vendors Don't Want to Hear
If you're consistently participating in good, well-organized, appropriately promoted markets and seeing zero return across ANY of the metrics above. Not just modest same-day sales, but no email growth, no future bookings, no connections, no visibility gains, no long-term conversions. Then the problem isn't the markets.
The problem is likely one of these:
Your booth presentation doesn't attract or hold attention
Your products don't match the market's audience or price expectations
Your branding and packaging don't communicate professionalism or quality
You have no system for capturing leads or maintaining contact post-event
You're not following up with interested prospects
Your customer engagement approach needs refinement
Your product-market fit needs reevaluation
This is hard feedback. But it's honest. A good organizer brings you a qualified, engaged audience. They cannot make that audience buy from you. That's your job.
A Word About the "Just for Fun" Crowd
Look, if you're doing markets because you enjoy the social aspect, you like being part of a community, it's a fun way to spend a Saturday, and you're not particularly concerned about profitability–that's completely fine. Do your thing.
But if that's your motivation, please don't join the chorus complaining about booth fees, sales, or ROI. You're participating in what is essentially a paid hobby activity which is different from running a business meant to provide a sustainable living. The calculus is completely different, and it's unfair to drag down organizers and other vendors with complaints about business metrics that aren't relevant to your goals.
This piece is for people who are trying to build and grow their businesses. If that's you, then you need to think like a business owner. Markets are a marketing channel that requires investment, strategic evaluation, and multi-dimensional measurement.
Reframe How You Think About Risk and Investment
Every business growth strategy carries risk. You can execute perfectly and still have external variables impact your results. That's not unique to markets. That's entrepreneurship.
The question isn't, "Will this definitely generate X dollars in immediate sales?" The question is, "Does this opportunity provide enough potential touchpoints, visibility, audience access, and conversion pathways that the investment makes strategic sense for where my business is right now?"
Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it's no. Sometimes you won't know until three months later when someone who took your card finally reaches out for a custom order.
But if you're only willing to invest in guaranteed, immediate returns, you're going to struggle to grow any kind of business. Invest in marketing your work. Take calculated risks. Track meaningful metrics across multiple timeframes. Build systems to convert interest into long-term customer relationships.
And for the love of all things holy, stop measuring success purely by what's in your cash box when you pack up your tent.
The best market you ever do might not look like it on paper that day. Give it time. Track what matters. And build a real business, not just a weekend hobby with sales.
About Erin
Erin Harker is the founder of Magick Makers and has been a vendor at makers markets since 2011. With over 20 years of marketing and business strategy experience—including time as a marketing executive—she brings a unique perspective that bridges practical business fundamentals with the realities of building a sustainable creative practice.
Since 2022, she has organized some of the Triangle region's most sought-after makers markets, including the annual Winter Solstice Faire which has grown from 30 to 60+ curated vendors. Her markets have drawn over 10,000 attendees from across the South. Her approach combines strategic marketing expertise with deep respect for the craft of making and the importance of genuine community building.
Erin has launched and grown two of her own businesses (a cottage bakery for 8 years and Magick Makers for 5+ years) and understands what it takes to create something sustainable—not just profitable for a season, but built to last. She writes about intentional entrepreneurship, market strategy, and building businesses that serve your life instead of consuming it.
Learn more about Magick Makers or explore upcoming vendor opportunities.
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