Your market-day checklist
A simple place for the costs, counts and notes that are easy to forget.
Event:
Date:
Before the fair
- Add booth, travel and other fixed costs.
- Check product and packaging costs.
- Include the selling fees that apply.
- Write down your break-even sales target.
- List units packed for each product.
- Pack a way to record sales and keep receipts.
During the fair
- Record products and units sold.
- Record sales after refunds, excluding collected sales tax.
- Keep selling fees separate.
- Note extra event costs as they happen.
- Record damage, samples and giveaways separately.
- Keep records in one place.
After closing
- Count units left and check differences against your notes.
- Total actual sales, product costs, fees and event costs.
- Count prep, travel, setup, selling and cleanup hours.
- Write one thing to change before the next fair.
Quick totals
| Measure | Plan | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Event costs (booth, travel, other) | ||
| Units sold | ||
| Sales after refunds, excluding collected tax | ||
| Cost of items sold + selling fees | ||
| Total event hours |
Use one currency. Surplus is sales less cost of items sold, fees and listed event costs. It excludes owner pay, income tax and unlisted costs. It is not a cash-flow or take-home-pay figure.