- What's Fair and what to bring? from Taxonomy Press.
- ANEMONE's personal packing checklist.
- Top 5 Ride-or-Die Items from BearBear.
- How to Art Book Fair by Shortt Editions.
Packing list for vending
A packing list with many ideas—these are some standards, but each artist and event will have their own needs. This can form the basis of a personal template which can serve as a packing checklist.
Inventory (things to sell)
- Books, zines, publications.
- Art prints, cards.
- Other merch (t-shirts, totes, sculptures, keychains, pins, pens/pencils, etc.). (Be sure to check the restrictions provided by fair organizers—many fests require some portion of each table's inventory be books/zines.)
- Freebies, either to display on the table, hand out to visitors, or slip into purchases.
- Business cards
- Publication catalog
- Project info sheets
- Free items with purchase (postcards, bookmarks, small art prints)
- Inventory count sheet/spreadsheet—a record of items to sell and cash on hand before and after events (as each item is sold, mark it off of the sheet or create a tally, etc.).
Vendors traveling for events should consider mailing boxes of books ahead of time, but there needs to be (A) LOTS of advance lead time, and (B) a safe mailing address to send things to.
Ways to accept money
- A phone and means of charging it (portable charging blocks are nice for when there is no access to outlets).
- Printed QR code(s) for any cashless payment methods (Venmo, PayPal, etc.)
- Cash with small bills to be able to make change.
- Point-of-Sale (POS) for accepting card payments—generally these have inventory listings set up on them.
- Some phones can accept tap-to-pay with an app, such as: Square, Shopify, SumUp, Zettle/PayPal, etc.
- There are also dedicated credit card readers (tap and/or chip and/or swipe), some of which work in coordination with a phone app, others are standalone.
- Most POS systems will require an internet connection of some kind.
Table display
- Tablecloth (check the table size ahead of time—a full size table cloth can be folded up for a half- or quarter-table).
- Display racks, stands, boxes/bins.
- For travel, collapsible displays are important—a common supplier in the US is Clear Solutions Displays.
- Print artists often will build a "house" with snap-together square grid pieces—prints can then be attached with tape or magnets. (Some fairs have restrictions around blocking line of sight—so assembled displays can't be too tall.)
- Clothespins or weights for outdoor fairs.
Signage
- Name of the project/press.
- Perhaps signs that answer any repeat questions in advance, i.e. "Cash, card, or tap to pay." "Everything risograph printed and assembled by us." "Feel free to pick up the books."
- If the work is hard to interpret from the cover, consider a one-line description for each piece.
- A system for displaying pricing. There are many different approaches for this:
- Price marked or stickered on a display copy—sometimes these are larger cards which include a title, artist, and blurb.
- Each item individually marked.
- A "menu" which lists everything on the table and its price.
- Alternately there could be no prices displayed and people must ask for pricing.
- Newsletter signup sheet or QR code.
Packaging
- Paper bags/sleeves.
- Plastic sleeves for prints (if packaging sets of prints from stock as buyer picks them out), potentially chipboard.
- Freebies to tuck in with purchases.
Extras that come in handy:
- Pens + pencils
- Scissors (if a local fair or checking a bag)
- Masking tape or washi tape
- Additional magnets (if building a house)
- Paper clips + binder clips
Self care
Staying fed and hydrated
- Water bottle and/or thermos for tea/coffee.
- Consider for a local event: going in with friends on a cooler full of ice and drinks to share.
- Electrolytes?
- Food to eat—snacks, lunch. Ideally something that’s easy to eat and won’t leave fingers or clothes messy.
Staying comfortable
- Cough drops or throat lozenges for after you've talked a lot.
- N-95 or KN-94 masks.
- Medicines (prescriptions, over the counter things, etc).
- Layers of clothing to adapt to temperatures.
- Hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, sunscreen chapstick (esp. if it is an outdoor event).
- Anti-fatigue standing mat (kneeling mats for gardening do well in a pinch and are easy to travel with).
- Earbuds, noise-reducing earplugs, other hearing aids. (e.g. Loop or Flare Audio calmer earplugs that don’t block sound, or noise canceling ones for listening to music on breaks).
- Face mist, moisturizer, hand salve, or lotion.