How To Keep Cas At Show/sale

[PotterGrl]

This is my first post, or at least first question, on the site. This seemed like the right place for it.

 

I'm selling at my second vendor fair this weekend. It's a one day, 3 hour event and should be attracting a lot of shoppers. I'm just wondering about the best way to keep my cash at these events. In a box? A bag? Also, how much money do you all bring to start off with, so you can give change right away? 

 

Thanks all

[Mark C.]

If you are a small sales person you can carry it all in a money belly bag

The back  compartment carries spare bills 1-5-10s

I wear mine always at show and thats where the money goes

I also have a 12 volt cash register on my sales table staring with 130 dolars in it

30$ in 1s 40$ in 5s rest in 10s-I count all my coin change as 10$ and never count it.

Mark

[TJR]

I have been at craft fairs where the potter selling her work kept the money in a cute little wooden box. This was a four day sale. On the second day[saturday], the box went missing. Loss of 50

5 of her sales.

I also now keep all my cash on my person, in my front pocket of my jeans. I never pull out a big wad of cash-too tempting for some people.

I also had $400.00 stolen out of my desk drawer at school. This was all the $20.00 art fee money that I had collected to pay for supplies. Now I turn the money in everyday to the office.

Best advice from Mark and Myself-keep your money with you at all times.

TJR.

[Denice]

If you wear a money belt you might try wearing a shirt or sweater over it, I had a friend who was crowded by several boys while one of them tried to get her belt off.   Her friend saw what was happening and started hitting them with her umbrella.       Denice

[GEP]

I sewed myself a "holster" like a shoulder bag that I wear across my body. It holds my cash plus my iPad for processing credit cards. Yes please wear your cash on your body somehow. Fanny pack, apron, holster, lots of ways to do it attractively and discreetly.

 

I start with $100 in ones and fives to make change. This is enough for a 3 day sale, so if your event is 3 hours I think $30 or $40 in small bills will be enough.

[oldlady]

fyi, if you are ever at a several day event and need change, walmart will give out  change money at all hours.  change those $20 bills into ones since you will be getting lots of $20s.  that is what ATM machines give everyone.

 

have fun and enjoy the event.  hope it is successful in all ways for you.  3 hours isn't long but it should get your feet wet.

[Guest JBaymore]

Expand your sales potential and get yourself the ability to take credit cards.  These days "plastic" is king.

 

The Potters Council merchant program is a good deal for our members....... very cheap monthly account fee, decent % on the transactions, and they also have a swipe card reader for your smartphone (if you own one).  Easy to set up an account.  There is also Square as another possibility if you already own a smartphone.  But with the Potters Council program you don't NEED a smartphone.

 

best,

 

.....................john

[PotterGrl]

Expand your sales potential and get yourself the ability to take credit cards.  These days "plastic" is king.

 

The Potters Council merchant program is a good deal for our members....... very cheap monthly account fee, decent % on the transactions, and they also have a swipe card reader for your smartphone (if you own one).  Easy to set up an account.  There is also Square as another possibility if you already own a smartphone.  But with the Potters Council program you don't NEED a smartphone.

 

best,

 

.....................john

John, what is this and where do I learn more about it?  I do have the Paypal Here device for my Android and hope to use it for the first time this weekend. I think they get something like 2.7% though. But if it will give me a sale when otherwise a person would walk away due to lack of cash, I think it's good. I've seen people use the Paypal Here and the Square at shows.

 

Everyone else, thank you for the advise! I will find a way to keep it on my body for sure now. If anyone has a link to share to show me the one you use, even if it's homemade, I'd love to see it!

[Guest JBaymore]

Here's some more info.

 

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council-members/glazed-over-by-the-cost-of-payment-processing/

 

best,

 

....................john

[PotterGrl]

Thank you!

 

Also, I just ordered an apron off of Etsy (I really love supporting other artists whenever possible!). For the women out there (I say this because I only saw very feminine fabrics), if you search "vendor apron" on Etsy, you will find many adorable half aprons. I chose one with several pockets, PLUS a zippered pocket for cash. I'm excited! On Amazon, there were a few half aprons (also called waist aprons) that men could wear, and I saw one or two with a zippered pocket.

[Mark C.]

I sewed myself a "holster" like a shoulder bag that I wear across my body. It holds my cash plus my iPad for processing credit cards. Yes please wear your cash on your body somehow. Fanny pack, apron, holster, lots of ways to do it attractively and discreetly.

 

I start with $100 in ones and fives to make change. This is enough for a 3 day sale, so if your event is 3 hours I think $30 or $40 in small bills will be enough.

 

This isn't Mark, it's Min, the glitch in the server is back, I did send Sherman a message since when I tried posting on the Potters council page there was no option for starting a new thread. So, apologies for being a Mark imposter but could you post a picture of your shoulder bag? (I use an ipad for cc also, your shoulder bag sounds like a good idea). 

 

I did try logging out several times but I got the "oops something went wrong" message so if you read this Mark, sorry. I also came up as Ayessa and bayswater I think it was.

 

Min

[baylights]

This is very strangee-I became baylights in my profile and there is spam posted by me (not really) in education.

Looks like the demon is back in the software?

I sent a pm tp Sherman-I need to get back to trimming wares-I'll look at this later-hopefully it will get sorted

Hey Min now that you are me can you make the next show drive to AZ for me??only kidding.

Mark

[Guest Sherman]

Yep, we're looking into this now to see if one or both accounts were hacked, and if so how to prevent it.

 

In the meantime---CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD. This is the first and easiest thing to do (if you can get into your own account). Send me a PM with your email from any account you happen to be logged into, and I can change your password and send the new one to you directly via email.

 

Note that this is very different from the malware redirect issue we were having, so it should only be a new-forum-update issue that the software company should be able to help us with---and it seems to be about posting spam.

 

PotterGrl, sorry about the thread hijack---seemed easier to respond here than move to a new topic.

 

Sherman

[cracked pot]

This is very strangee-I became baylights in my profile and there is spam posted by me (not really) in education.

Looks like the demon is back in the software?

I sent a pm tp Sherman-I need to get back to trimming wares-I'll look at this later-hopefully it will get sorted

Hey Min now that you are me can you make the next show drive to AZ for me??only kidding.

Mark

 

I would be happy to drive to AZ rather than do the workload I have for the next while!!! Problem is I'm now cracked pots and no longer you. Dissociative Identity Disorder could get one into a lot of trouble : )

[PotterGrl]

No problem, Sherman. I may be a newbie here, but am FAR from a forum newbie ;o) 

 

I'd love to see a pic of that handmade bag. Here is what I bought for myself https://www.etsy.com/listing/96676388/carnival-bloom-turquoise-zipperkey-clasp

[PSC]

I use a waist pouch(cuter than the traditional fanny pack). As i get too many larger bills I tuck them in the bottom so they aren't in the viewable money when giving change. I also use square and my ipad to process credit cards, i have a cross body bag to keep it in and a little locking and alarmed ipad safe to tuck it in during set up and breakdown that cable locks to table legs or vehicle steering wheels, this is where my cash goes during breakdown.

[Mark C.]

I have two fanny bags both custom made for vendors from some leather makers I know. The back pock has a zipper and I keep the larger take back there.

The front zip holds smaller bills and a check book and phone. Lots of oldtimers use these bags.

Another note onsmart phones and squares or whatever device. Two weeks ago in the desert park show my I phone /square worked for a few hors untill the server/phone system got overloaded and then all artists suares stoped working. This can happen when everyone isusing them and the phone service is limited as well. I had another wireless charge device and kept taking cards but those with phones only where dead in the water.

My iphone/square works most places but every now and again its toast like the desert show past few years.

Mark

[Chris Throws Pots]

Hi PotterGrl and All,

 

As JBaymore mentioned, plastic is king. I start with a beginning till of $50-$100 (depending on the size of the show) in 1s, 5s, and 10s in a bank envelope in my front pocket... good luck with taking that. But at least 1/2 of my transactions are completed with credit cards. Local farmers' market to large weekend shows... plastic always accounts for at least half.

 

An option that hasn't been mentioned is ProPay. I used a Square reader to accept credit cards for a few years, but recently registed for some weekend shows in rural areas without data/wireless service. Square is great if you always have a connection, but if you're off the grid you're SOL unless you keep a knuckle buster with you to process those separately through a processising service... even though you can physically punch in a card's information into Square and process payment it is technically in violation of the Square contract. It was not something I was willing to gamble with. I've also been at shows where the signal is spotty, and I've had to trod around with my phone in the air hoping to catch a wave of 3G for a transaction to go through... awkward/embarrassing for me, annoying for the customer. MarkC also mentioned being in situations where the Square server gets overloaded.

 

So I recently switched over to ProPay's JAK Reader ($20 hardware), which just like Square, uses an app supported by Android or iOS. I use an iPhone5, but any Driod phone or tablet or iPad will work as well. The real advantage to ProPay is that you can run it in "Suspended Mode" when you're in an area without service. This stores your swipes to process later. In this mode, everything looks the same: card get's swiped, customer signs and provides and email for receipt. Once you have data or wireless service you open the app and process the stored transactions. The risk of a declined card is still present, but no more so than with a knucklebuster and you only have one (modern, clean, quick) system to navigate. When operating in an area that has spotty service I've found it helpful to run my phone in Airplane Mode so the card reader doesn't get confused by the in-and-out signal.

 

The annual cost of the service is $50 and the percentage (2.7% for MC, Visa and Disco - 3.4% for AMEX) per swipe is comprable to Square. Transfers to your checking account cost $0.35 whether you are sending the funds from one transaction or a whole weekend's (or year's) worth... I do this once at the end of a show.  There is no flat rate "per-swipe" cost in addtion to the percentage.

 

Cash is a must. Security of your cash is as important as the cash itself. But not having the option to take a credit card is a recipe for lost sales. If you're only showing/vending in areas with consistent service, Square is great. But if you're like me and sometimes show in more rural settings (or don't want to rely on 3G/wireless service at every show) ProPay is definitely worth considering.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[Tarheeler]

My wife and sell weekly at our local farmer's market, and we just use our pockets. 1 and 5's on one side, 10 and 20's on the other; all taxes and fees (for Square) are already included and all prices are even dollar. Our first week we hadn't even thought about debit/credit, and watched a lot of potential sales walk away; you definitely need some way to take plastic.