Frequently Ask Questions (FAQ)

Popular Questions

How to become a stallholder?

To become a stallholder is easy! Source some products, approach markets, apply for markets, get your market stall gear ready, turn up at markets and start selling, and there you are a stallholder!

However, in reality, to be a successful stallholder, there are a lot more involved than this. If you are thinking of making a living with your stall, then be prepared to put in full time work, do lots of research, and to face the risks and difficulties of any retail business would.

COST

1. Stallholder Fees: Stallholder fees are like rent. You are 'renting' a stall space at the market. Local community markets are often privately run or run by Non For Profit organisations in the local community for raising money, which means, they are not free! Very rarely you would find markets where cost of running are entirely paid for by local council and hence free to trade in by local community.

2. Stall Set-up: As minimum, apart from stocking up cost, you will need to invest in display props or tables, and gazebos if you are doing outdoor markets. If you are using power, all your electrical equipment will need to be tested and tagged. Tags and signs are good add-ons. If you need more stall set-up ideas, check out the helpful links.

3. Business Set-up: Casual stallholders do not require ABN to trade. However, it would definitely help if you want to claim tax deductions on business expenses. If you are going to be regular stallholder, business materials such as cards, banners, signs, flyers etc are going to come in handy. A good social media business page can go a long way and you will be surprise how quickly you can get your name out there. Many stallholders are accepting cash only, however if your products are on a higher price range, a card machine can definitely help secure more purchases! Online stalls are great to help get a few more sales especially when you travel in a few different markets. You can set-up simple online stalls for free (see helpful links below).

4. Advertising: Whilst attending well advertised markets help, always take control of your own sales by doing your own marketing as well. Digital world is one of the biggest market and all you need to do is invest some time (or/and money) into it to boost your business.

5. Registrations and Permits: You are required to submit your details to either the local councils or to the market organisers to arrange your trade permit. The rates and fees schedule can varies a lot between different councils and sometimes also depends on the type of markets or events. If your products are for human consumption, you will be expecting to pay more than regular stallholders. Always check with the local councils and market organisers well in advance to avoid surprise costs.

STEP BY STEP

Step 1: Research and establish your business with a range of products be it food, handmade, or externally sourced. Being unique is important at a local market. Bear in mind that non essential products are always going to require more effort to bring in a good result.

Step 2: Design your stall set-up and work out your business marketing plan.

Step 3: Look into getting public liability insurance and product liability insurance. Public Liability insurance are compulsory to both markets and stallholders. Keep in mind that markets should not charge stallholders public liability insurance unless they have an insurance broker license. Markets can purchase public liability insurance that covers for both the market and also the stallholders.

Step 4: Find the markets that you want to trade and research the suitability of the markets to your products. Approach the market's organiser to get entry. OR if you are a food vendor, you will need to have proper food business registrations and permits beforehand. Markets in different suburbs and different set-up bring in different demographic which would affect the sale of your products. Ensure that the markets has proper Public Liability insurance and council approval. You may find that some privately run markets cost more than others. That can be due to the markets are run by legitimate market organisers with proper permits, insurances, advertising, and organisations. Going with legitimate market organisers would often result in better market experience. 

Step 5: Keep yourself updated of the current events and market trend. The internet is the quickest and easiest way to find information and also to obtain latest news. Invest a little time in social media and subscribe to markets and events websites can never hurt.

Finally step: Keep an open mind, be creative, and be positive.

Recently Asked Questions

Q: Please can you let me know the reasonable cost of a stall and why are some so expensive?

R: The cost of stall ranges anywhere from FREE to $200 or more! It all depends on the type of markets and whether it is sponsored. The cost of organising a market event can be very costly, especially when the markets are providing facilities such as power, lighting, securities, traffic controls, staffs, entertainments, bins and clean up crews, toilets, and advertising, not to mention the compulsory insurances, licenses, hire of ground, and permits for stallholders.Most markets in Perth average around $50 to $100 per stall space at a 4 to 5 hours market. When choosing a market, you would want to assess whether your products are more suitable for a more expensive special event market such as an Expo or a regular weekly market such as a farmers market. You might find that you do better at a more expensive specialty market or vice versa. The best way to figure this out is to pay attention the next time you visit a market!

Q: Hello Grace, can you please tell if and how I could become a " Stall Holder " I would be selling hand made and imported costume jewellery along with my own natural bush wood creations, thank you

R: Thank you for getting in contact and it is my honour to welcome you as a new handmade stallholder to the local market world! First of all, anybody can become a stallholder when you have something to offer! For starters, you don't need to register ABN as a casual stallholder, although I would recommend a good business name and brand for your stall and a nice business card to hand to your customers. Social media such as Facebook and Instagram are great place to connect to the market scene. If you have not already done so, I would highly recommend creating a new business page for your new stall with some pretty pictures! You can join groups on Facebook and find out the latest updates and discussions about markets and events. *Do a search on 'market' or 'stallholders' and you will find many. You might also want to think about getting public liability insurance if you are thinking of becoming a regular stallholder, as many markets requires their stallholders to have their own public liability insurance. When you are ready, approach the organisers of the markets that you are interested to trade at, pick out your market dates, and put in your applications! I've always advised my stallholders to visit the markets before applying so to observe the demographic and potential of the markets for you. Lower cost markets are not always the best and neither are the more expensive ones. It's very much dependent on the time of the year, the location of the markets, and also the kind of visitors the markets are attracting. That said, advise coming from experienced stallholders, you would never know whether you would do good at a market or not until you try, and give a market three tries before backing out. Always remember, attending markets is only one of many ways to promote and sell your products. 

Tips and Helpful Links

Links

I find this to be a healthy community group to discuss any of your market related issues and to share your work

https://forum.market-makeover.com

If you are looking to sell online, here are a few choices

https://www.ecwid.com

https://www.madeit.com.au

https://www.etsy.com

https://www.shopify.com

Facebook groups

https://www.facebook.com/groups/stallholdersaustralia

https://www.facebook.com/groups/237381632983312 - Perth, Bunbury & Surrounds market & fete stallholders Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/perthfoodandmarketstalls

https://www.facebook.com/groups/647392055468180/ - Perth Market Organisers only

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1647017645596302/ - Perth Girlbosses - Find, Promote & Recommendations [BUSINESS]

Do a search of 'market' and 'event' you are guaranteed to find more!

#hashtags?

Hashtags are used by people in social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc to relate their posts to a certain group. when you hashtag a word, that word becomes a "topic link". For example, if you use in your post with the word #perthmarkets, then your post along with other posts that have the word #perthmarkets would come up in the search page, when you click on the link "#perthmarkets". This is particularly helpful when you are looking for a specific topic or more importantly, help others find your posts.

I would advise against #hashtag every word in your post's description as that make it hard to read. A neater approach I believe, is to come up with a catchy description for your post, and use up to four keyword #hashtags or @tags at the end. If you have more #hashtags and @tags that you would like to add, do it in comments.