--- title: "Is this craft fair worth it? Work out your break-even before you book" description: "How to tell whether a market or craft fair pays off: work out how much you need to sell to cover the pitch, travel and materials, with and without your time." url: https://www.mercader.app/en/blog/is-this-craft-fair-worth-it-break-even language: en date: 2026-11-01 updated: 2026-11-01 author: "Mercader team" tags: ["local markets", "finance", "pricing", "craft fairs"] --- # Is this craft fair worth it? Work out your break-even before you book > How to tell whether a market or craft fair pays off: work out how much you need to sell to cover the pitch, travel and materials, with and without your time. You're offered a pitch at a big fair: £150 for the weekend. Is that expensive? It depends on how much you'll sell and what your products cost you. There's a simple sum that answers the question before you pay: your **break-even point**, the amount you need to sell not to lose money. ## Step 1: add up the market's fixed costs These are the costs you pay however much you sell: - Pitch or fair fee. - Travel: fuel, tolls, public transport. - Parking. - Food and drink for the day. - Accommodation, if the fair is far away or runs for several days. - Other: gazebo, table or lighting hire. For a one-day market it might look like this (example figures): pitch £40, fuel and parking £25, food £12. **Fixed costs: £77.** ## Step 2: work out your margin per sale Part of every pound you take goes on the materials for what you sold. What's left is your margin. If a mug you sell for £20 costs you £7 in clay, glaze and kiln time, your margin is £13, or 65% of the price. If you sell lots of different products, use an average: add up what the materials for everything you sold last month cost and divide it by what you sold. If materials are 35% of your sales, your margin is 65%. ## Step 3: divide > Minimum sales = fixed costs ÷ margin In the example: £77 ÷ 0.65 = **£118.50**. Below that, the market costs you money; above it, you start earning. ## What about your time? The sum above tells you when you stop losing money, not when it's worth it. A market is a lot of hours: loading, setting up, selling, packing down and unloading. Put a price on your hour and add it to the fixed costs. If the day takes 10 hours and you want to earn at least £10 an hour: (£77 + £100) ÷ 0.65 = **£272**. That's the number you need for the day to have been worth it. ## How to use it before you book Compare your break-even with what you expect to sell. To estimate it: - Look at what you sold at similar markets (in size, crowd and time of year). - Ask other stallholders who've done it in previous years. - Ask the organiser how many visitors they expect and how many stalls there'll be. If a weekend fair costs £150 for the pitch, £60 for travel and £40 for food, your fixed costs are £250. With a 65% margin, you need to sell £385 just to cover them, and a good deal more if you count two days of your time. If you usually sell around £300 a day at similar markets, it's probably worth it; if you sell £150, it isn't. To find markets with dates and contacts, see our [market guides by city](/en/mercados). ## How to use it afterwards When you pack up, compare what you sold with your break-even. Redo the sum with the real costs: sometimes the pitch was cheap but the trip wasn't. After a few markets you'll have a clear list of which ones to do again. Mercader's [cash book](/en/productos/caja) does this sum for you: open the market when you set up, log sales and costs even with no signal and, when you close it, see that day's sales, costs and net. Reports list the period's markets with what each one left you. If you want to try it with your last market, you can enter the figures on that page and see the result when you create your account. ## When a break-even fair is still worth it Not everything shows up on the day. A fair that barely covers its costs can bring you commissions, shop contacts or followers who buy later. Write it down: if a quiet fair brought you three commissions the following month, add them to its result. What matters is deciding with data, not just the feel of the cash bag. If you also want to review your prices so the margin works better, read [how to price products with confidence](/en/blog/how-to-price-products-with-confidence), and to prepare the day itself, our [market day checklist](/en/blog/market-day-checklist-for-artisans). ## Summary 1. Add up the market's fixed costs. 2. Work out your margin as a percentage of the price. 3. Divide costs by margin: that's your minimum sales. 4. Add your hours if you want to know when it's really worth it. 5. Compare with what you usually sell and decide. ## For your craft If this article matches what you make, see what a storefront built for your craft looks like. - [A digital storefront for natural cosmetics and soap makers](https://www.mercader.app/en/for/natural-cosmetics): Ingredients, small batches and workshops in a link that answers for you. [Start 14-day trial](https://app.mercader.app/auth?mode=signup&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=llms&utm_campaign=market-break-even) · No card · 14-day free trial · Cancel anytime --- Mercader: https://www.mercader.app/en.md · Blog: https://www.mercader.app/en/blog.md Translations: [Español](https://www.mercader.app/es/blog/es-rentable-esta-feria-punto-de-equilibrio.md) · [Português](https://www.mercader.app/pt/blog/essa-feira-vale-a-pena-ponto-de-equilibrio.md) · [Français](https://www.mercader.app/fr/blog/ce-marche-est-il-rentable-seuil-de-rentabilite.md) · [Deutsch](https://www.mercader.app/de/blog/lohnt-sich-der-markt-break-even.md) · [Italiano](https://www.mercader.app/it/blog/questa-fiera-conviene-punto-di-pareggio.md) · [Nederlands](https://www.mercader.app/nl/blog/is-deze-markt-rendabel-break-even.md)