Drop Off Shows

Sandy Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler

This winter I  put some jewelry in 'drop off' shows.  As the name implies, you drop off your craft the night before the show and pick it up the day after the show closes.  You don't staff the show, but are welcome to visit and fill in your merchandise.

In many ways it was wonderful to simply drop off my jewelry, set it up and let someone else sell.  The drop off shows each lasted 10 days which is much longer than a vendor staffed craft fair.

Of course, there were drawbacks to not staffing the table.  A drop off show contains merchandise from a number of vendors.   There was someone staffing the cash register and someone walking the floor to keep an eye on things.  But no-one was there to talk knowledgably about my jewelry and help sell it.  Basically, the merchandise had to sell itself.

Another consideration is that jewelry is small and easily pilfered.  The shows  I did  covered major theft, fire, etc.  But I was responsible for any shoplifting of my items.  Since she was sensitive to  jewelry's small size, the show organizer positioned our table adjacent to the cash register table so the two tables formed an L.  In this way, she was able to keep an eye on jewelry browsers.  There was no shoplifting at any of the shows I attended, but that is definitely not always the case. 

As you might expect, the table fees reflect the fact that the show is providing the staff.  But fees were not unreasonable.  I did drop off shows with two different organizers.  One required a table fee of 95.00 plus 26% commission.  The other asked only for the 26% commission.  Considering the extended time exposure, I was comfortable paying the fees in both cases.  I was happy with the sales considering the fact that I wasn't working the show, but sales reflected the fact that there was no individual selling of the jewelry.  In the 10 day period, I brought in what I typically make at a weekend craft fair.  But I have to keep in mind that jewelry is a slow sell early in the year.

Considering the fact that these drop off shows took place during the winter months when there is a shortage of shows in the North East, I was very happy with my experiences and will definitely consider them again next year.

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