# Rule of Thumb



## ntucker (May 7, 2009)

What is the rule of thumb as for setting up a booth and handling cash? How much change should you have on you?


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## EnMartian (Feb 14, 2008)

We don't sell garments, we sell embroidery supplies, but we do sell at trade shows. Standard start up cash for a show is $250.00. We do a lot of credit card sales though. If you're thinking your sales might be mostly cash and maybe smaller amounts, you might want to have more starting cash available.


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

You can avoid coinage by including tax in everything, and price up accordingly. Be absolutely sure you indicate "tax included" and avoid the appearance that you're not collecting tax.

Otherwise, it depends on the per-ticket average. In most cases, consider at least $100 in bills and coins. One roll for each coin, the rest in singles, fives, and tens. (I often just do singles and fives.) Unless you carry a cash register, keep the bills on you. The coins can go in a cash box.

If your average ticket is at least $7-$10, consider the use of a wireless credit card terminal. If you have a smart phone you can get credit card readers for these, often for free. PayPal currently has a program for using one.


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## ntucker (May 7, 2009)

well, as for the flea market, how much change do you need to have on hand?


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## GordonM (May 21, 2012)

ntucker said:


> well, as for the flea market, how much change do you need to have on hand?


Didn't these two replies answer that?

To rephrase, the amount you'll need depends on many factors, like the average ticket amount (lots of small sales tend to put change in the kitty), and when in the day your sales occur. Expect to break some 20s in the early sales. If needed, put some additional 5s or 10s in your shoe in case someone comes in with a 50.

While on the subject, lots of counterfeit bills at some flea marts, as the crooks wait until your booth is super-busy, then buy something small and get your change. You're left trying to deposit fake bills at your bank. Be sure to know how to check for counterfeiting, and bring at least a marker pen or UV flashlight.


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## sdshirtman (Dec 27, 2010)

It will depend on how much demand you have for your products, how big the swap meet and if you're taking all cash or cash and credit cards. 
I've done shirt booths for events with large numbers of people and had to carry 400-500 in five dollar bills to change out peoples twenties. If you've never done it before you want to error on the side of having too much change than not enough. 
If you're carrying large amounts of cash in public I'd suggest using a fanny pack so you know exactly where your cash is at all times.


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## RickyJ702 (Jul 23, 2012)

when we set up a booth we have 300 in the cashbox. 100 1's 5's and 10's. i've noticed the last 4 years doing booths the "themed" booths are the ones with most traffic. be the one different from the others. here are some examples of themes.

1. holidays - halloween/st.patricks/christmas
2. Olympics
3. elections
4. newest shoes that come out to match the clothing
line
5. football
6. breast awareness
7. end of the world/illuminati

think outside the box and you'll find traffic come your way.


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## ryan barker (Jul 21, 2011)

the counterfeit-checking pens are useless. sure, they work on actual counterfeit bills, but that's not going to help you with good counterfeiters who know how to bleach bills and print over them. they're actual bills, so the pens mark on a real bill. you can simply hold a bill up to the lights or sun and look for the strip built into the bills which will have the denomination printed on it. 

what happens when you turn in a counterfeit bill into the bank is they keep it. they don't re-imburse you. i know of no bank that actually checks bills ~ i mean, where do you think fake bills come from most of the time? lol. i own a convenience store, the only bill i check is a 50 or a hundo. in seven years i only rejected one $5 bill. most fake bills feel different and/or have an odd tint to the green. 

like others have said, take plenty of change and build in the tax for convenience's sake. if you need extra change, other vendors are usually happy to help. we're all in it together, ya know?  i've done flea markets over and over and over again, and my 'neighbours' are invariably nice enough to watch my booth if i need to leave for a few minutes and vice versa. 

there's no formula. you'll know roughly how much you'll need after a couple of go-arounds. i'd start off with $200, five 10's, a hundred in 5's and the rest in 1's (except if you have prices that are like $12, then you'll need more 1's ~ duh, right?). that's a big enough wad unless you feel you'll need more. if you do, get some change. often, there are other vendors with too many 1's after a couple of hours and are more than happy to buy a 20.  i wouldn't mess with coins, those are a pain in this case.

if you have a smart phone, that's great, you can do credit card sales. in my experience, though, most people have enough common sense to come to these things with cash (talking from a flea market perspective). that's why they have ATMs all over the place. established indoor vendors might have CC processing, others don't, it depends. for shirts at a flea market, around $22 and under, i would expect cash from the vast majority of ppl, but it would be nice to have the CC processing just the same. if you offer that, i'm not sure what kind of receipt system you'll need, but it's something to think of. of course, *never* accept checks! i don't even like doing that from my trophy customers i've done work for for years. i just had to deal with a bounced check, and it's just an embarrassing situation all the way around. 

i've found sales in my store (not sure about the flea market, never tracked that) are better in the beginning of the month. towards the end, people are tapped out after bills and we start seeing a lot of fives and ones and coins. 

good luck  it's a lot of fun, but some work goes into it, too. hope you're ready to talk to people! lol. i've not sold shirts at a flea market, i used to sell toys. me mum does the antiques market thing, i help her out on every other rare occasion. we've sold shirts at the high school football game a couple of times. all in all, i'm comfortable with taking $200. you'll naturally want to take more just to be on the safe side your first couple of times, that's only natural, and who knows, i could be completely wrong. it *is* sales, after all, lol.


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