Chicken & Egg....

[Lee]

do you mean people arent paying for a pitch, just turning up and selling?

[mrs maggot]

No, they normally pay a fraction of the price - its only a small gazebo after all !! is the organisers take on things, so they do pay for a pitch, at one event last year where i was paying £120 one of the GB's told me they had paid £15 - that hurts a bit when their gazebo is 3m x 3m with a car behind etc

when we ask the organisers to get them to show their public liability insurance they normally reply with - well its only a hobby isnt it !! we run our business out of a 6mtr x 4mtr gala tent, as do some other traders, or they use proper market type stalls, and all have liability insurance on display etc. hence we try to do alot of events where the GB's dont go lol

[jennywren]

The main thing is to focus on what you what out of the business, how you charge for what you do is your decision for what ever reason that suits you, even it is for hobby, building, or running a business. Everyone base line is different, the main thing is to forget what everybody else is doing and don't get sidetrack by who does what or for what ever business. It is your business and no body will really care if you fail, I always think one less about, whoopee. Get side tracked and your is gone and another whoopee from me All business have different profits margins or go two way, volume or a good margin, fruit and veg profit margin is anything between 7 and 17 percent, they obviously have volume. I'm past the stage about everybody else business ( I don't mean that in a mean way ) I have in the past, it gets you no where and I took my eye of the ball and they won in the end, because I more concerned about what they was doing and did't pay enough attention to mine. (mind you she was a right old cow copied everything I sold )

[Lee]

ah, Ive been advised to get market traders assoc licene that will vcover me whereever I trade (im told)

[pitkin2020]

You are correct in what you say Jenny and your main focus should be your own business. You also shouldn't base your prices on what others are doing as you may not be able to afford their low prices or offer the high service they are that commands a premium. That being said most generic items have an average market value, if you decide to price yourself well below that market value your not only devaluing your own service but your also devaluing the whole industry. Its not so bad with low value items as the differences are low but when you start talking about services/products that are priced say £50 and a competitor is doing it at £25 it devalues the whole trade.

As for pricing, just because someone works from home doesn't mean they should charge any less because they don't have a shop front and the expenses that go with it, they can if they choose to obviously as the lower over heads allow more flexibility on price. The only real difference is the shop front has a higher perceived value from a consumer point so the home start up can struggle to match on price like that, but it doesn't mean that you can't get to that price point whilst still working from home.

[Lee]

"That being said most generic items have an average market value,"

As for mugs though - there is such a wide range of prices, its bordering on the ridiculous!

[pitkin2020]

"That being said most generic items have an average market value,"

As for mugs though - there is such a wide range of prices, its bordering on the ridiculous!

Take out the part time traders though and look at the full time single unit sellers and you will get an average (i suspect will be around £6). Total guess not based on anything. You also have to consider the designs, a simple one word logo on a mug will have a lower perceived value than something with a full colour wrap.

[mrs maggot]

yet TPM market traders is the way to go, just over £100 a year for public liability insurance to trade outdoors

[jennywren]

yet TPM market traders is the way to go, just over £100 a year for public liability insurance to trade outdoors

That's what we have when we do out door shows.

[Lee]

...not forgetting any indoor market space also