I don't go very often because while I appreciate what it takes to make things, I'm not interested in having them. So I would have to say I don't buy anything.

I don't go to craft sales, but my cousin does. A lot. She doesn't sew or do crafts at all. She buys kitchen towels and hot pads, jewelry, scarves and for me anything with a dachshund on it. :D

That's usually what I do too.

When I lived in Missouri my speciality was soft sculpture items...dolls, sheep, pumpkins,chickens etc. Participated in many shops and shows. Really loved being in a shop in St. Charles, Mo because it was a tourist area and I know some of my little dolls have made it to Ireland, and Germany because they were small enough to fit in a suitcase and the shop owners would tell me where my dolls were going. But those people with sticky dirty hands at craft shows would make me cringe when they turned an item over to inspect how it was made and then set it back down and walk away. Yes, I wanted to say something to them but I simply removed the item to under the table and tried to clean it up again at home. Now I simply quilt.

Last fall I went to one and bought two sets of expensive handcrafted jewelry as gifts and a quilted purse for myself. I could have made the purse myself, but it would have taken me a week, the seller's workmanship was impeccable, and her price was about ten dollars over the cost of materials! A no brainer, right? I get compliments on that purse every time I go out with it, and have passed out her business card for them to copy her information every time. She's on facebook, sells purses for a living. It's a "winter only" purse---I really need to buy purses from her for other seasons.

Well, I am a buyer! I don’t go to many craft shows because there are not many near but there are a couple that I try not to miss. I buy things to add to Christmas gifts. I love the wooded animal puzzles, the miniature quilts, the door decorations, baskets, jewelry. I look for the same sort of things in the summer show and also find blown glass bird feeders there.

I try to do a couple craft shows a year because I want the feedback. I sell online and really need the personal feedback. I sometimes sell a lot and sometimes not much, but I always come away with so much information. I tend to make a lot of smaller, inexpensive gift items to sell and bring a sampling of my 'regular' items to talk to people about. Buyers at craft shows love to dig around in baskets of things. At a Christmas boutique, I always sell out of the little candy sleighs (4 candy bars with 2 canes wrapped like a sleigh) and the clear bags with tiny hershey bars with a paper tag on top. Seems silly, but it gets the folks into your booth and then it is up to you to get them talking! (I also bring a notebook of photos of some of the commission items I make, just in case a discussion goes that way.) The whole trick is to engage the customers, make them want to talk to you and spend time at your booth. Also, have a business card (you can print some out on your computer) so they can call you when they get home and wish they had purchased from you. I have my email on that card rather than my phone number.

When I go, I usually just buy the kinds of things I can't make... small paintings, soaps, and now I'm on the lookout for a yard spinner!

I don't mind people looking closely at my items, but I draw the line when they try to take pictures with their phones. That's the height of rudeness, and I won't hesitate to tell them so. :D

I haven't sold at a craft show in several years. I got tired of all the work setting up, only to have 99.9% gawkers and so few sales. As a buyer, I get tired of seeing the same old, same old everywhere. Painted wooden signs, decorated wooden crosses and the almighty fleur-de-lis! I don't see crosses as something to make pretty and decorate your home with. That's missing the point. And the fleur de lis must be the decorating staple of the South. Likewise, I miss all the jewelry sellers. I rarely wear it, so it's easy to pass by those stalls, tho they seem to do pretty well.

Guess I'm a craft show curmudgeon.

I don't buy too much. I just like to see what people make and how creative they are. I just like to look and get ideas.

I buy things that I don't make myself and admire all the others and the people who make those items. A friend of mine does participate in some of these shows and spends a great deal of time preparing for the show as well as the time spent at the show. I am just not a marketing person . . . I'd rather come and go than do all that work.