Booth rent is only one fixed event cost
The current calculator models booth or vendor fees, travel, lodging, food and miscellaneous expense, helper or staff cost, the portion of display or equipment cost allocated to the event, and other event costs. It then adds product costs and supported card-processing fees that change with the sales forecast.
Average product cost should represent the materials, production, packaging, and labor cost the seller chooses to associate with the products in one average transaction. Sales amounts exclude sales tax collected from customers.
Revenue, profit, and hourly earnings tell different parts of the story
Revenue describes the forecasted sales total. Event profit subtracts modeled product costs, processing fees, and fixed expenses. True hourly earnings divides that event profit by preparation and packing, travel, setup and teardown, and selling hours. A profitable event can still have a weak hourly result when it requires a large time commitment.
Worked example
A maker market with $2,500 in gross sales
This fictional example uses illustrative assumptions. It is not a recommendation or an industry benchmark.
Assumptions
- 100 fictional customer transactions at a $25.00 average order value
- $8.00 average product cost per transaction
- 80% of sales paid by card at 2.60% plus $0.15 per card transaction
- $200 booth fee and $50 travel expense
- 20 total owner hours across preparation, travel, setup, teardown, and selling
Calculation and result
- Gross sales$2500.00
- Product costs−$800.00
- Processing fees−$64.00
- Fixed event expenses−$250.00
- Projected event profit$1386.00
- Profit margin55.44%
- True hourly earnings$69.30/hr
- Break-even transactions16
The $2,500 revenue headline becomes $1,386 in modeled event profit after $1,114 of total expenses. The hourly view adds another decision lens: $1,386 across 20 owner hours is $69.30 per hour.
Test the assumptions that can change the decision
- Forecasted transaction count and average order value.
- The cost mix of products likely to sell at the event.
- The share of card versus fee-free payments and the actual provider rate.
- Travel, staffing, equipment allocation, and other costs beyond the booth.
- Preparation and post-event work, not only hours when the show is open.
High revenue can coexist with low profit, and a mathematically profitable event may still compete poorly for limited production time. Compare the result with other uses of the same inventory and owner hours.