Where Should I Sell My Art In-Person?

As an artist or creative professional, you have several options for where to sell your art and other products.

As with most product and business strategy decisions, you’ll want to keep your ideal customer in mind—where do they shop? Where do they turn to when looking for the solution you offer?

The answers to these questions should guide your decisions on where to offer your products, to ensure you’re getting in front of the right people.

In my hand lettering business, I’ve sold my art through different in-person methods as well as several online platforms. Below are my thoughts on in-person sales methods, based on my experience with each.

You can also see my take on online platforms for selling your art products in this post.

Selling Products In-Person as an Artist

Craft Fairs

WHO IT’S GOOD FOR: Artists with physical products who enjoy connecting with their community and customers

FEES: Show entrance fee (I’ve done shows ranging from $40-90), plus credit card processing fees (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction)

What can I sell at craft fairs as an artist?

It depends on the craft fair, but many fairs attract customers looking for small, unique products in categories like home goods, apparel, art prints, cards, jewelry, ceramics, and other crafts.

What are the advantages of selling art at craft fairs?

Craft fairs put your ideal customers literally right in front of you. The fair does a lot of promotion to get the right people to show up and buy from you and the other vendors.

You have an opportunity to see people’s reactions to your products and get live, in-person feedback on your goods, prices, and more.

Craft fairs also open the doors to opportunities down the road, in addition to the sales you make that day.

I’ve gotten commissioned design projects, offers to teach lettering workshops, and offers to sell my products in local stores, all from people who originally found me at craft fairs.

What are the challenges of selling art at craft fairs?

It’s hard work!

As a vendor, you typically need to bring not only your inventory to sell, but also all the pieces of your booth: tables, display pieces, packaging materials, change and something to take credit card payments, and a big 8x8 or 10x10 tent if you’re outdoors.

You’ll get to the fair early to set everything up, then man your booth for 4-8 hours, engaging with customers the whole time. Weather can affect your day as well—as someone who sold mostly paper goods at craft fairs, wind was always a big stressor 😅

If you can, I highly recommend having a partner or friend help you out for easier set up/tear down, and so you can more easily take some bathroom and refreshment breaks throughout the day!

Additionally, many craft fairs have some sort of application process. More established, popular fairs may be more selective and harder to get into.

Pop-Ups

WHO IT’S GOOD FOR: Artists with physical products who enjoy connecting with their community and customers

FEES: Depends on the event. I’ve done pop ups for free, as well as places that charged a small fee.

What can I sell at pop-ups as an artist?

A “pop-up” can mean a lot of different things, so it really depends on the event.

In my personal experience, I’ve done a pop up where I sold goods like cards and mugs at a small table in the entrance of a local restaurant during the holidays.

I’ve seen others do pop up events where they provide a live service (like engraving bottles or writing calligraphy on gifts), or wrap presents with custom designed wrapping paper.

What are the advantages of selling art products at pop-ups?

Like craft fairs, pop up events are another way to get in front of more people who may be interested in using your services or buying your products later on as well. It’s a good way to get your name out there in the community and start making connections.

What are the challenges of selling art products at pop-ups?

Again, any kind of live or in-person event is going to be hard work 🙂

You’ll be at your table, booth, or station for several hours likely, and engaging with customers most of the time. While this can be thrilling and fulfilling, it can also be tiring!

Wholesale (Selling in Stores)

WHO IT’S GOOD FOR: Artists with physical products who have the capacity to handle large inventories

FEES: Not technically a “fee,” but typically you sell products wholesale at 50% of their retail price. This means you need to ensure that you’re pricing your products appropriately to sell make a profit when you cut their retail price in half.

What can I sell wholesale as an artist?

You can sell wholesale any products that you can produce at large quantities, so that the stores you sell to can stock their shelves with them. Personally, when I sold wholesale, I sold greeting cards, art prints, stickers, and mugs.

What are the advantages of selling wholesale as an artist?

There are 2 main advantages of selling wholesale—one is that you get your products in front of a new, potentially bigger audience, which could then bring people to your own website/social media and develop repeat sales from there.

Secondly, you’re selling a MUCH larger quantity in one sale than you ever would to an individual.

Although the profit margin is lower because you’re typically selling at 50% of your retail price, this can still be a huge boost for your business. In my years of running my hand lettering business, selling to stores made up about 37% of my total income, the largest single income stream I had.

Side note: honestly, seeing your work in an actual store is also just really exhilarating as an artist.

It was a surreal experience for me to see my products lining the shelves of a big bookstore I’d grown up with in my hometown, and definitely made me feel more “legit” as a professional artist, whatever that’s worth 😂

What are the challenges of selling wholesale as an artist?

Selling wholesale requires a good amount of outreach work on your end. You need to create a product catalog and order sheet with all the specs and details your potential customers may want to know about your offerings, then reach out to stores and pitch yourself and why your products would be a good fit.

Once you do get customers, you then have to manage all the inventory, packaging, and shipping that their large orders require.

For me, this sometimes looked like a long night spent in front of Netflix, stuffing cards, envelopes, and branded inserts into plastic sleeves, and constructing plastic boxes for printed mugs.

Since I got my mugs printed through a third party, if there were any misprints or broken mugs upon delivery, I had to deal with those issues and manage expectations or provide discounts to my customers when necessary too.

Additionally, many of these orders are done on “Net 30” terms—which means you won’t get paid until 30 days after their order—so you’ll need to prepare for that financially.

Your Own Brick and Mortar Store

WHO IT’S GOOD FOR: Artists with physical products who are ready to go all in on their business

FEES: Rent (!), employees, and credit card processing fees for each sale

What can I sell at my own store as an artist?

Anything you want, pretty much! Opening your own brick and mortar is a huge investment, but it obviously gives you the most flexibility in what you can offer for sale.

What are the advantages of selling art at my own store?

You’ll be an established presence in the community, and benefit from the foot traffic in the area where you set up your store.

You’ll be able to carry much more inventory, and potentially attract loyal long-term customers in your community.

What are the challenges of selling art at my own store?

Obviously, setting up your own store is a HUGE investment. You’ll be paying rent to whoever owns the building your shop is in, and you may need to hire employees to tend the store if you’re not able to physically be there full time.

Opening up a shop also requires a good amount of research to make sure there’s an interest or a need for your goods in the area, that you’re in a great location, and so on.

Where Should I Sell Products In-Person as an Artist?

The in-person venues where you sell products really depends on what you’re interested in doing in your business, and what point you’re at.

If you love an exciting day of meeting and connecting with people in your community, craft fairs can be a ton of fun and a great way to bring in income without too much of a commitment/investment.

If you prefer to stay behind the scenes, packaging up orders and leveraging others’ stores to reach a bigger audience, you may want to go all in on wholesale.

If you’ve established a name for yourself and a following through community events like craft fairs and you’re ready to take the next step, it may be time to invest in a storefront!

For those just starting out, I’d recommend starting with craft fairs. The experience and feedback you can get from direct interaction with customers is invaluable, and the connections you make can lead to other opportunities down the road.

After honing your craft and your marketing skills through experience at craft fairs, it’ll be easier to take the next step into other avenues for selling, like wholesale or opening up your own shop.

Get Help Selling Your Art Products In-Person

If you want help making sure you’re selling the right art products and positioning them to attract the right people to generate income from your creative side hustle, I encourage you to look into my 1:1 coaching program for creative business owners.

In this program, I help artists turn their artistic hobby or skills into a profitable business.

We define a strategy that makes business sense, while also is designed for a human being who wants to enjoy their life and not burn out. Sound useful? Get more info and apply for the program:

Learn more about coaching