Event Coverage Attn car show vendors: I need your opinion?!?!?

I am hosting my first show & I had a couple local vendors say that I was over priced on my "Vendor Fee's" so I again turn to the power of the HAMB for some direction.

Here is what I am currently asking: A 10'x10' vendor space with a tent set up for you for $150 for the day & a 10'x20' vendor space with a tent for $200. The idea is that I wanted to have one set tent company set up & take down the tents so that it looked uniform rather than a gypsie camp out party.

I had a couple people tell me that typical fee's are $75 for a one day event? I have no idea considering this is my first gig, if you have any idea please let me know.

Thanks for your advice,
SN

 

All depends on your turnout. If you have a big crowd it might not be bad, if your crowd is small then thats a lot.
Vendors row usually isnt uniform looking, look at any big show. If you can cut the cost by not providing tents look into it.

Being your first show I'd say you want to start out with a low vendor fee, as you have no idea what turnout will be. Then adjust accordingly next year.

I do a few one day shows around here that are free for vendors, and i usually kick in a trophy or gift certificate if so. The only 200 dollar event I do is a weekend long bike swap meet, and its not always enough to get my cash back

 

Shouldn't your vendor fees be a function of your costs? No way to opine on your fees without knowing what your costs to host the event are.

 

Jalopy Showdown charges $40 for a 10x30 spot I think. For $200 I would expect a larger turnout like the Roundup which is what they charge. My thoughts are try not to gouge the vendors too much as they will be part of your show and will add to the atmosphere.

Once your show takes off you can up it a little within reason.

 

The tent guys are sure making $$,wow

 

Local one day show around here. For supporting a fire co. or other charity. $10 -$20. For 10x20 or 10x30

Hershey show 10x30 for 3 days $80 I think Carlisle is about the same.
I do an indoor show in the winter 10x10 $75 for 3 days. With no vehicle parked in your space that is really about what you have usable in an outdoor space.

 

Wow! Like I said I had no clue! Thanks guys for your input, I am used to doing music festivals & catering events so I'm super thankful for your advice. I think I might lower my pricing for the first year, I am praying for a great event as my lil town honestly never has this style event.

SN

 

Offer a discount for early/multiple registered vendors.

 

Seems kinda high to me. But as it was said before, it depends on the turnout. Im used to spending about $50 - $60 for a 10x10 but that also depends on how long the event is.

 

$150 for one day is steep, especially for a new event.
You need to draw a big crowd to stand a chance of your
vendors making anything at that rate.

Matching tents sounds good on paper.
But someone has to pay for it.

 

The way I look at it..If all the parts are used or If I am just cleaning out old parts from my shop. I try to sell as cheap as I can.. Cost to show fuel, food for a helper time cost to enter show.. at your price I will set at home.. I would need to sell a lot to recoup money that I have spent.. Now a lot of shows the swap meet bring a lot of traffic so the swap helps in attendance.. Most I go to range from Free or just admission fee to less than 50 dollars. High prices make potential vendors stay at home.

 

Most shows I go to, even small ones, the vendors have their own tents with their logos or company colors on them. It's called "branding" and something a lot of companies work hard to do.

Think hot rod show. Big purple/yellow tent. Did you think Speedway?

The point is, outside of swap meets, most companies try very hard to differentiate themselves from their competitors and want to be recognized by buyers from a distance. As a buyer I want to see who is set up without having to walk into each booth. I think you'll have pushback from at least 1/2 of your vendors over this.

Just my .02.

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

10x10 runs $40-$60 round here, and we bring our own EZ-UP

 

After reading all of y'alls (I'm from Texas so bare with me on the "Y'alls") replies we decided to allow them to bring their own tents & charge $75 for the 10x10. That is was the city said is a standard fee around these parts this morning. Cross your fingers & if you do so shoot us a little prayer, we are going to need it!

SN

 

The first two pile ups I did they let me in for free just to get some vendors to their new event. Once they were rolling they did charge, but it wasent much considering the mobs of people that showed up!

Most shows I set up at cost between $35 and $75 for a 10X10 or larger, if I pay $100 a day for a spot, i'd better make $1000 a day or it isent worth all the bullshit,gas money, feeding a helper and hotel.

Most vedors have their tents set up for their purpose, grid walls and all that good stuff, so having someone walk into a strange tent area probable isent going to fly.

Good Luck....and try not to rip all of your hair out!!!!

 

Holy shit!

The most I've ever paid is $95.00 p/space for my spot at Carlisle, but then, that's Carlisle. The Pittsburgh Parts-A-Rama that I've also vended at is another large event and only cost $70.00 p/space. All the rest of my swap meet spaces at other events are between FREE (yes, free) and $40.00.

You sir, are far from a Carlisle.

 

I could see that price for the commercial vendors, is that the type of vendors you are referring to?.....the ones with the big semi's taking up a large space. But for the average joe with a pickup load of parts it won't work.

 

Sam,I have been one of the promotors of our local show here for the past 11 years...
We do not charge vendors for space,,we usually draw around 300 cars..I dont think a vendor will make his investment back if you charge him anything..car show attendees are usually there for the show and not looking to buy...too many online businesses nowadays..

 

Truthfully, with Venders prices that high I would be surprised if you you have any.

This is your first show and you need to keep the prices sensible or you may not have the second annual show.

If you have enough space give them as much room as possible.

40 to 60 bucks would be fair..swap meet space 20 bucks. HRP

 

Wow, yall are making me feel bad about the $200 10x10 vendor spot I paid for for a show a couple weeks ago. Bad thing is due to some unfortunate circumstances on my end, I wasnt even able to set up a booth.

It was a 2 day show, and was the 3rd year for the show. But that also included my logo on the show flier along with all the other show sponsors and vendors.

 

By vendors I am talking about Food, Beer, Tattoos, Local Businesses, people selling purses, wallets, face painting for kids not car parts per say. Since it is more of a vintage festival with bands, rides for kids, contests for kids, pin-ups etc we wanted to try & make an entire day of it.

I was torn on doing a swap meet for the first year just because I did not want to overload myself. We picked up a couple vendors this morning with the $75 pricing so I guess we will run with that for now. The vendor part was really brought up because the street that it is on has antique shops & thrift stores down the street where locals go & shop around on the weekends so we wanted to try & get people to our event to do some shopping.

I will have the standard pin strippers, stylist, barbour, cool stuff you find at 95% of car shows as well.

Like I said, this is my first rodeo & I'm sure I will make some mistakes but I will learn from them & hopefully be able to bring this style event back year after year.

SN

 

The Pomona Swap meet, billed as "The West Coast's Largest Antique Auto, Corvette, Porsche, Street Rod, Volkswagen Swap Meet" charges $45-55 for a 20'x20' space.

Long Beach charges $40 for 22'x16'.

Both of these are big draw meets and admissions fees more than make up for the somewhat low vendors fees. You can't draw customers if you have nothing to sell...

 

For comparison - The LA Roadster show is one of the biggest in the country. For Commercial Vendors the spots range from $300.00 for an INDOOR 10 X 14 to $475.00 for a 20 X 20 outdoor. This is a 3 Day Show.
Swap Meet spaces, which many commercial vendors prefer to use (it's in a slightly different area) run $70.00 for the 3 days and are 15 X 25.
And remember that this show gets over 800 of the best roadsters in the country and around (if I remember correctly) 10,000 spectators!

 

30 Years striping at huge shows over charging big vendor fees and tiny shows for free or cheap spots...I better not say anything else since I started my striping biz Saam's town of TC in the 70's. I might make enemies.

 

Apparently I am not the only one that thought you were talking car parts dealers/swap meet stuff.
I thought food/beer was on a whole nother pricing tier than car parts vendors.

 

At the KKOA show in Wisconsin we're charging $50.00 for a 10' by 20' for the 3 day weekend for "hardware" vendors and for food vendors we charge 15% of the gross income at the end of the event. If electricity needs to supplied we charge an extra $25.00 for the weekend.

--- www.kkoanorthevent.yolasite.com ---

 

If you can do anything different, tell your food vendors to lower the price of their crap food to within reason or up the quality to match the price. Nothing I hate worse at a car show than having to drop $15-20 bucks for garbage level food. If they can get ask $6-7 for a Walmart hot dog on a soggy bun, then they can pay $200 for a spot.

 

Sam,We dont allow food vendors in our show..We want the show visitors to use the local eateries,,The city is behind us for bringing folks in to our city.providing us with all baracades ,trash recepticles,night watch,and street clean up afterwards..many local stores contribute door prizes also..and some of them the trophies.

 

There have been a number of good responses on here already .I have a couple of things to add .Food vendors and Merch vendors work very differently .I am a Mech
guy .i don't have the margine that food guys do .Usually food guys pay more because
they can make more .I will not pay hundreds for a one day show .Most shows i do are
about 200 or so cars . I can pay around 50 if its close to home and do OK . I think its
a matter of attidude about your vendors that is important . Do you want them as a revenue source or a compliment to your event .If the public can't get food or drink
they will leave because they are hungry or thirsty .If they can't take something fun
home at the end of the day that not cool either .This is a business situation here treat it as such.It is a win win deal .Let everybody do well and it works .If you try to
screw everybody you will wind up getting it in the end .That may sound harsh but its true.Talk to some local food vendors take an average .If they help you suceed they will come back next year if your vendors do well you get Free advertising .If they loose their ass you will get free advertising too.
I have done this for almost 30 years .Vendor is Not next to Whore in the dictionary .
Thanks for your time.
Brandon

 

Thanks for all of your input everyone, I really appreciate your views on this.

I would like to mention that the way we came up with the original fee (now cut in half) is because of my back ground in catering when I owned my own company. Paying $150 for a one day show with a tent space set up for me would be considered a great deal. As I stated in a previous post this is my first attempt @ a car show so I was just using the knowledge I had to get the price.

After speaking with a couple vendors & reading everyone's input I decided that $75 for the 10'x10' was a fair price for this event. The food & beverage companies are ALL locally owned & operated, none of these folks are the traveling food vendors from carnivals etc so I expect the food to be much better.

As for the "Craft Vendors" I was able to sign 4 different vendors today so I am excited! We have everything from a locally owned cigar vendor to a contractor that coats garage floors.

I am not trying to screw anyone on this deal at all, I am spending several thousand dollars on promotions, entertainment, security, rental of the facility & much more. I am gambling that our local folks & the area car folks support a new show that really is trying to showcase what I think is the best part of American Culture (Hot Rods & Music) & I stand a chance of losing everything so I am hoping my vendors understand that yes I am charging $75 but at the same time, I am not asking for any of their profits & I dont plan to raise the prices if its a huge success & they make a killing. Long story short, I want everyone including me to at least break even if not put a little money in their pockets.

Again thanks everyone for for your input. Hope to see you guys April 27th @ the first annual Lone Star Deluxe.

SN