Is this show worth it?

Answer a few questions about a market or event you’re considering. You’ll get a calm, honest read on the numbers — plus what would change the answer if they don’t work out.

About the show

The booth, the hours, the venue.

$

If you don't know, we'll assume 1,500.

Optional, e.g. “holiday market”

Your results will appear here.

Fill out the form and click “Evaluate”.

The costs most vendors forget

Booth fees are the obvious number. You see $150 on the application and that feels manageable. But the booth fee is rarely the whole story. By the time you add mileage, parking, a meal or two because the day got away from you, and the wear on your setup, the real cost of attending a market is often 40 to 60 percent higher than the fee alone.

Then there’s the cost that doesn’t show up on a receipt: your time. Packing the car, driving there, setting up, standing behind the table, tearing down, driving home, unpacking, and posting about it later. For a one-day event, you might invest 15 to 25 hours of total effort once you include the prep time to make the products you’re bringing.

None of this means a show isn’t worth doing. It means the decision deserves better math than “can I afford the booth fee.” That’s what this evaluator is for.

How to think about your time

Most event vendors track revenue and expenses but never calculate what they actually earned per hour. That number can be uncomfortable, but it’s the most honest measure of whether a market is working for you.

The evaluator computes your effective hourly wage by dividing your projected profit by every hour you’ll invest: prep, drive, setup, the event itself, teardown, and the admin work afterward. If you’d make more per hour doing something else, that’s worth knowing before you commit.

One reframe that helps: if the prep hours are inventory you’d build regardless of this event, your show-day wage is higher than the all-in number suggests. The evaluator shows both so you can decide which framing fits your situation.

When the math says no

Sometimes the numbers don’t work out and you should still go. Maybe it’s your first event and you need the experience. Maybe a vendor you admire will be there. Maybe it’s a community market in your neighborhood and the relationships matter more than the margin.

The point of running the numbers isn’t to make the decision for you. It’s to make sure you’re choosing with clear eyes. Going to an event that loses $50 because you wanted to is different from going to an event that loses $50 because you didn’t realize it would.

And when the math does work, you can commit with confidence. No second-guessing the booth fee. No anxiety about whether you’ll break even. Just a clear picture, a plan, and a show that’s worth your Saturday.

What the evaluator considers

The tool projects revenue using industry conversion rates: the percentage of attendees who typically buy from a vendor in your product category. Impulse categories like stickers and candles tend to convert higher. Considered purchases like original art and ceramics convert lower. Outdoor events convert about 20 percent lower than indoor ones.

On the cost side, it factors in mileage at the current IRS rate, setup and teardown time, a flat admin hour for the work you do before and after, and optional line items for meals and lodging. Processing fees are calculated at 2.9 percent of revenue, the standard rate for most card readers.

If you’ve logged three or more past events with attendance and customer data in MyEventPrep, the evaluator will use your personal conversion rate instead of industry averages. The more events you log, the more accurate the projections become.