Write down the costs before the event
List what the event costs before you arrive: the booth or table fee, any deposit, insurance or permit the organizer requires, travel and parking, food for the day, and packaging and display items you bought just for it. Putting these on paper before the event keeps you honest about what you needed to sell to break even.
Break-even is the cost of the event divided by the margin on what you sell, not by the price. If your goods carry a 50 percent margin and the event costs $300, you must sell $600 before you have earned anything.
Count what happens on the day
Track sales by payment type, because cash, cards and payment apps reach your books in different ways. Count the cash at the start and end of the day so the number you record matches what is in the drawer. Note how many people stopped, how many bought and what the average sale was.
Take photos of the sold-out and left-over tables. They are a memory aid for the next event, when you will ask yourself what to bring more of.
The scorecard
Event profit equals sales, minus the cost of the goods sold, minus the event costs. Divide by the hours you worked, including setup, travel and teardown, to get an hourly figure. An event that earns $240 over a ten hour day pays $24 an hour before your own tax, which may beat a shift job or may not, depending on your goal.
Compare events with the same formula and the same hours rule. The best event is rarely the biggest one. It is often a small market with low fees and the right crowd.
Unsold stock is a cost too
Goods that come home are not lost, but they are tied up. If an event leaves you with a lot of seasonal items that will not sell for a year, record that. Many sellers discount at the end of the day for this reason, and that discount belongs in the event's numbers.
If your inventory is large, ask your CPA how to track it for tax, since the method affects when the cost counts.
Decide with a rule, then follow it
Pick a rule before the season starts, such as booking again only if the event beat a target profit per hour, or if it brought new repeat customers. Rules are easier to follow when you wrote them before your feelings about the event.
A tracker that holds each event as a row, with its costs and results, shows the pattern over a season. The Sales-Channel Profit Tracker on this site has a per-event tab for exactly this.
Common questions
Does the booth fee count as a business expense?
Booth fees are generally a normal business cost, but how and when to deduct anything is for your CPA to confirm.
How do I count a gift or sample I gave away?
Record it as a marketing or sample cost at what it cost you, not at its retail price.
Should I collect sales tax at events?
Rules depend on the state and the goods. Check with the state's tax agency or your CPA before the event.
This guide is general information, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Rules, fees and due dates change; check with the IRS, the NJ Division of Taxation or a licensed professional for your situation.