[Nfb-krafters-korner] Selling at craft markets

Fri Mar 16 13:13:28 UTC 2012

Yes, this is how I do it, too. I was taught this way at my rehab. residency 
program. It works great. And, I even have a wallet with different 
compartments for the bills. I put the flat out $1. in the first; the 1/2 
folded $5. in the second; the doubled folded $10. in the third. Then, I have 
a zipper pocket following the three open ones, and I fold my $20s  three 
times - making them a very small square, and put those in the Zippered 
pocket.  Same with my change - I do not use pennies at all. My wallet has 
three sections for change so I put them from left to right, 5, 10, 25 cents. 
It is very easy for me to find what I need this way.

When someone gives me change, when I am shopping, I stop them and ask them 
to give me the bills individually and I do my folding and putting away right 
there. Otherwise, I do not know what I have.  I was also taught to do it 
this way at rehab. and it works well.

When I have done festivals, my money box is done the same way, too.  But, 
after a few years I discovered it was so much less stressful to not charge 
tax or to tack on any cents. I just price my wares to reflect the tax and 
roll the price UP. Then, at home, I can back up the taxes and figure it out 
from my total sales. And, since I roll my prices UP, I have no problems with 
trying to make change correctly if I am very busy. It really made my life a 
lot easier. This way, everything I sell will be paid in only bills and that 
is all I have to take care of.  I know that for those who have been blind a 
long time, making change is no problem. But that is not me! I try to 
eliminate the things that are not necessary to deal with whenever I can. 
And, I do not use Braille at all. I do everything with my electronic 
devices - and I mean everything! I am WIRED.  and sometimes even WEIRD.
haha

Lynda River Woman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kendra Schaber" <Baltimore777 at comcast.net>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Selling at craft markets

> Hi Lynda and all, I like to fold my bills. A $1.00 lays flat, a $5.00 is 
> folded in half with wise, a $10.00 gets folded hot dog style, a $20.00 
> gets folded in thirds withwise and bigger bills are rear but sometimes, 
> creativity goes a long way whenever you get them. Of course, you don't 
> have to go with my example. You can fold your bills in your own manor as 
> long as you don't distroy the bills. As for coins, a dime is the smallest 
> coin in usige in the United States with a ruff edge, a penny is bigger 
> than a dime but smaller than a nichol and has a smooth edge, a nichol is 
> bigger than a penny but smaller than a quorter also with a smooth edge and 
> a quorter is bigger than a nichol but has a ruf edge. That is how you tell 
> what coin is what without site. It's actually pretty easy. Just thought 
> that I'd pass along ideas for anyone who could benifit from them. I hope 
> that you find them useful!
> Kendra Schaber
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "River Woman" <riverwoman at zoominternet.net>
> To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 5:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Selling at craft markets
>
>
>>I sell jewelry and knitted accessories. I no longer do "craft shows" but I 
>>do some higher end "Holiday Markets."  The ones I do now are set up 
>>boutique style where the customers show the entire show, then bring the 
>>things they wish to purchase to the "check out" area where it is sold and 
>>bagged for them. This works perfect for a blind person because you do not 
>>stay at your area, other than to come in a replenish the stock.  A much 
>>better clientelle visites this type of market, and you get much better 
>>prices.
>>
>> I did do craft shows for quite a few years. I soon learned that shows 
>> held in churches, fire halls, and schools are typically very low end ones 
>> and flooded with tons of people there to have lunch and visit, but not to 
>> buy. And, they are not discriminate about how many vendors they have 
>> selling a particular thing. ie, they may have a dozen tables of jewelry 
>> vendors - which means very little sales for any of them.
>>
>>
>> I do only one show now in which I am there at my booth the whole time. It 
>> is in a museum, so again, the clientelle is much better and they are 
>> really there to buy nice things.
>>
>> I always have a family member at my booth with me.
>> I am alone at times when they take a bathroom break, and after doing this 
>> many times for the four years I have been without sight, I am always 
>> quite nervous.
>> There is no way anyone would know I am blind at all. Even after I say so, 
>> they are skeptical about it. I look them in the eye, and I engage with 
>> them through gestures as I always did before. There is nothing about me 
>> that reads "blind" unless they saw me walking in with my cane.
>>
>> Customers always say "over there" "that one" "this one" the "pink one" 
>> etc. That is the normal way for a person who can see to designate things 
>> and they have no idea that we cannot know what they mean. They are really 
>> clueless about blindness - I sure was! I understand this.
>>
>> Here is what I do that helps though:
>> I put a  clearly marked  price tag is on every item.
>> If they ask the price, I hand it to them and say, "Here, you can see the 
>> price on the tag." I also put any other pertinent information on the 
>> tag - I use large tags so it is very CLEAR to them.
>> Money? I have the bills put in an order that is always the same. I use 
>> only bills and never have any change. This eliminates a very big worry.
>>
>> I never price anything with "cents" involved. Everything with only 
>> "dollars" this way the item is $5. or $10. etc.  You can back the taxes 
>> off of the price after you get home.  When you do your pricing, just 
>> round it UP to the next dollar amount. This has saved me so much worries. 
>> This way you need never worry about making change with those coins.
>>
>> You can get a money ID thing for your bills. I have an ID PacMate that 
>> reads bar codes so you can even make bar codes for your items which is 
>> pretty cool.
>>
>> Any time I sell things that are different colors, I put them in "Roy G. 
>> Biv" order. In fact, everything I can put into that order in my own 
>> house - all my jewelry is in Roy G. Biv order. Roy G. Biv means Red, 
>> Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.  In my home I have plexiglas 
>> containers that are tall. Each one has a lid, and each one holds one 
>> color of necklaces. They are in Roy G. Biv order on my dresser. No 
>> worries about what color I am getting, if it is kept in order.
>> Another special container holds all my earrings in this order, too. I 
>> found a wonderful Earring Box on Home Shopping Network. It holds 72 pairs 
>> of earrings. All in order and easy for me to find just what I am looking 
>> for.
>>
>> I do know that some people will definitely cheat you if given the 
>> opportunity. If I had not had my daughter with me to watch the 
>> transactions, there were some times when I would have given a person 
>> change for a $20. when she really gave me a $10. and the person stood 
>> there waiting for the change. My daughter saw it happening and ran over 
>> to clue me in. Also, teen age girls come into your booth in groups and 
>> they are there to steal - one engages you in conversation while the 
>> firends are stealing. This happens a lot at outdoor festivals. I cannot 
>> imagine being in the booth alone without some watchful eyes to watch the 
>> crowd - especially when you sell jewelry. It is small and very easily 
>> slid off the table into a tote bag even when a person CAN see well.
>>
>> Those would be my most important tips after about 10 years of doing arts 
>> festivals, craft shows, and markets.
>>
>> Lynda River Woman
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Lindy van der Merwe" <stephlin at iafrica.com>
>> To: "List for blind crafters and artists" 
>> <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 3:03 AM
>> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Selling at craft markets
>>
>>
>>> Hi there,
>>> To those who sell at craft markets, I was wondering about a few things.
>>> 1 Do any of you manage a stall or a table on your own, or do you usually 
>>> have someone there to help?
>>> 2 If you do it on your own, how do you answer the questions: how much is 
>>> this? or I'd like to take this ... or Do you have change for this?
>>> 3 How do you handle sorting and exchanging paper money?
>>> I had my first experience with selling at a stall last Saturday and 
>>> these were some of the aspects I had to deal with.
>>> I don't think it is immediately obvious that I am blind, which did make 
>>> for some awkward situations, I thought.
>>> Perhaps there may be some obvious answers to some of these questions, or 
>>> perhaps I just need some practice with being more comfortable in dealing 
>>> with strangers in that type of setting?
>>> I know it will be most helpful to have prices on either the products or 
>>> on the containers they reside in, but it just felt like people related 
>>> to me using gestures a lot of the time, which obviously made 
>>> communication somewhat difficult and even though I wanted to respond in 
>>> a confident manner, I found it quite challenging at times.
>>> Any ideas and thoughts would be much appreciated.
>>> Lindy
>>>
>>>
>>> Find PRACTICAL PRODUCTS on FACEBOOK: 
>>> http://www.facebook.com/practicalproducts
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: <Blindhands at aol.com>
>>> To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 5:28 AM
>>> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Looking for volunteers
>>>
>>>
>>>>I am looking for teachers to teach the classes.  Do you know or are  you
>>>> interested in teaching any of these suggested classes?  I need 
>>>> volunteers to
>>>> teach.
>>>>
>>>> Heads up we hopefully will be having an email class with an Origami 
>>>> project
>>>> in  the near future.    I will do a soap class and a sewing  class, but 
>>>> I
>>>> am busy with kicking off my new craft business.   I am  not sure if I 
>>>> can
>>>> fit classes in that I will teach between now and middle of  July.  I 
>>>> have 4
>>>> holidays between now and then to fill orders.   Hopefully I am putting 
>>>> St.
>>>> Patty's Day Wild Irish Roses to bed maybe by  tomorrow.  I have 100 in 
>>>> reserve
>>>> for my Irish Bar that is selling soo many  of them.  I spent the last 2 
>>>> days
>>>> working on Easter ones to get a head  start.  I will know on Wednesday 
>>>> if
>>>> they need any more St. Patty's Day  ones.
>>>>
>>>> We need to wait for the Latch Hook class to be finished before we start 
>>>> a
>>>> new email class.  I want to only do one at a time email class for now,
>>>> until we work any problems out.
>>>>
>>>> So think about what you can teach, host a chat night  topic.    I will 
>>>> be
>>>> there to help with what YOU do.
>>>>
>>>> Krafters Korner is for everyone and everyone makes Krafters Korner what 
>>>> it
>>>> is!
>>>> Joyce  Kane
>>>> _www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/)
>>>> Blindhands at AOL.com
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> Nfb-krafters-korner:
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----
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>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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