How this calculator works
Bring too little and you sell out at noon, spending the profitable afternoon apologising. Bring too much and you have tied up cash, filled the car and carried it all home again.
The number that matters is not what you expect to sell — it is that plus enough for the table to still look worth stopping at during the last hour. A depleted stall stops converting long before it is empty.
The formula
- Expected sales = visitors who stop × conversion rate
- Expected units = expected sales × units per sale
- Units to bring = ⌈ expected units × display multiplier ⌉
- Sell-through = expected units ÷ units brought
What to watch for
- The display multiplier is the whole point. A table that looks picked over stops attracting people well before it is empty, so the last hour of a sold-down stall converts far worse than the first.
- Unsold stock is not a loss — it goes to the next event. It is working capital, and the calculator reports it as cash tied up rather than money spent.
- A sell-through of 60–75% is a healthy target. Much higher and you probably ran short; much lower and you carried more than you needed.
- Bringing extra costs a box in the car. Selling out at noon costs the entire afternoon, which is why the asymmetry favours bringing more.
Common mistakes
- Bringing exactly what you expect to sell, guaranteeing a thin-looking table by mid-afternoon.
- Counting event attendance rather than people who actually stop at your booth.
- Treating unsold stock as wasted money rather than inventory for the next show.
- Bringing more than the table displays with no plan for restocking from boxes.
Frequently asked questions
How much stock should I bring to a craft fair?
Work out what you expect to sell — visitors who stop times your conversion rate times units per sale — then multiply by around 1.5 so the table still looks full at closing. For 400 visitors at 12% converting 1.4 units each, that is about 67 expected units and roughly 100 to bring.
Why bring more than I expect to sell?
Because a depleted display stops working. Shoppers walk past a table with gaps in it, so the last hours of a sold-down stall convert far worse than the first. The extra stock is not expected to sell; it is there so the stock that does sell keeps selling.
Is unsold inventory a loss?
No, for anything that carries over. It is working capital that goes to the next event, which is why this calculator reports it as cash tied up rather than as a cost. It only becomes a loss for dated, seasonal or perishable stock — and for those you should lower the display multiplier.
What sell-through should I aim for?
Around 60% to 75% of what you bring. Above 85% you almost certainly ran short at some point and left sales on the table. Below 50% you carried a lot of boxes for nothing and tied up cash that could have been stock for another event.