How to Take Custom Orders at a Craft Fair Without Losing Track

Short answer: to take custom orders at a craft fair, start before the fair. Decide what you will change and how many orders you can finish. At the table, fill in a one-page order slip with each customer, take a deposit, and give her a copy. The same night, copy every slip into one order list. Then send each customer a short message to confirm her order. Most custom orders go wrong after the fair, not at the table, so the night after matters most.

Holiday markets run from early November to the middle of December. A shopper picks up your candle, mug or bracelet. She asks, “Can you make this in green, with her name on it?” You say yes, because it is a good sale. By Sunday evening you have eleven pieces of paper and two notes on your phone. You also have a deposit you cannot match to a name.

This guide is for makers who sell at craft fairs, holiday markets and pop-up events. That includes candle makers, potters, jewelry makers, woodworkers, bakers and anyone who personalizes. It shows how to plan custom orders before the fair and what to write down at the table. It also shows how to keep every promise until pickup.

1. Decide what you will customize

Write a short list of the changes you accept before you pack the car. A customer at a busy table needs a quick yes or no, and so do you.

Good choices for a fair are small and clear:

• A color, scent, size or finish from a set you already stock.
• A name, initials or a short date, in one font you already use.
• A set or bundle of items you already make.

Leave out anything that needs a new design or a material you would have to order. Leave out sketches you cannot draw at the table, too. Those orders take hours of messages after the fair. If a customer asks for one, take her contact details and say you will send a quote on Monday.

Show what is possible. Put one finished sample of each option on the table, or a small card with photos of past custom pieces. Customers choose faster when they can point at something.

2. Set your numbers and dates before the fair

Two numbers keep custom orders under control: how many you will take, and by when you will deliver.

How many. Count the pieces you can finish each week, then the weeks until your last delivery date. That is your limit for the whole season, not just for this fair. You also sell ready-made stock and take orders by message, so take a share of the limit, not all of it. When you reach the number, take the order sign off the table.

By when. Work back from the day the customer needs the item. For gifts, that is usually a holiday. If you ship, your last safe date comes from the carrier. Our holiday order cut-off guide shows how to work it out. For 2026, USPS recommends sending Ground Advantage packages by December 17 for delivery before December 25.

Write one clear sentence for your sign: “Custom orders taken today are ready by December 12.” A date is better than “two to three weeks”, because each person counts weeks differently.

3. Make a one-page order slip

Paper still works best at a busy table. It needs no signal and no battery, and the customer can fill it in while you help the next person. A two-part carbonless order book is ideal, because the customer keeps the copy. If you print your own slips, take a photo of each one before the customer leaves.

Ask the customer to write her own name, phone and email. You avoid spelling mistakes, and she checks her own details. Then you fill in the order part together.

Number every slip. Use a simple order number, such as the date and a count. It lets you match a payment, a message and a finished piece to the right person. Read the text back to the customer before she leaves, letter by letter for names. A misspelled name on a personalized gift is an easy mistake to make, and an expensive one to fix.

The last line matters more than it looks. It is easier to agree on refunds and unclaimed orders at the table than in a message three weeks later. Our guide to custom order terms and conditions has a full template you can shorten for a slip.

4. Take a deposit at the table

Take money before you start work. A deposit pays for your materials, and it shows the customer is serious. Sellers on maker forums often describe the same problem. Someone orders with excitement at the fair and never comes back.

How much? Many sellers ask for half. That is close to what WISMO’s own data shows, but the spread is wide.

Median 50%

Seller medians ran from 8.0% to 97.4%. So 50% is a common choice, not a rule. For a small personalized item, some sellers take the full price at the table. Chasing a $15 balance costs more than it is worth. For a large or costly piece, half is a fair start. Our guide to deposit percentages for custom orders goes through the choice in detail. The advance payment calculator works out the amounts.

Write the deposit on the slip, with the method: cash, card or a payment app. It sounds obvious, but it is the detail most often lost. In WISMO’s data, 48 of the 67 part-paid orders were past their due date with a balance still unpaid (order data). A balance nobody wrote down is hard to collect.

5. Turn the slips into an order list that night

This is the step most guides leave out, and it is where orders get lost. A stack of slips in a cash box is not an order list. Within 24 hours of the fair, do four things.

1. Copy every slip into one list. Use a notebook, a spreadsheet or an app. Each order needs the order number, customer, item details, price, deposit, balance and ready date.
2. Sort the list by ready date. Now you can see your week. If two dates crowd together, you know now, not on the night before.
3. Send each customer a confirmation. Use the contact she wrote down. Repeat the details, the balance and the date. If she spots a mistake, it costs nothing to fix today.
4. Keep the slips. Put them in an envelope with the fair’s name and date, or keep the photos in one album. They are your record if a question comes up later.

The confirmation does a second job. It moves the conversation from paper to her phone. When she wants to ask something, she replies to your message instead of searching for the slip.

6. Keep customers updated until pickup

A customer who ordered at a fair has no shop to visit and no order page to check. If she hears nothing for three weeks, she starts to wonder. Two short messages are usually enough:

• When you start the order, or if anything changes.
• When it is ready, with the balance and the pickup details.

Pickup needs a plan too. Offer clear choices on the slip. She can pick up at your next market, or from your home or studio on set days. Or you ship it for a set price. For a December market, make the ready date at least a few days before the gift is needed. Then a missed pickup still leaves time to ship.

If a customer does not come, send a polite reminder. Repeat the balance and the last day you will hold the order. Then follow the rule you printed on the slip.

7. Follow up after the season

A fair is often the first time a customer meets you. Her custom order is the reason to stay in touch. Ask at the table whether she wants to hear about your next market. Write “yes” on her slip when she agrees.

Keep order messages and marketing messages apart. A message about her order is fine. A newsletter is marketing, and in the US the CAN-SPAM Act covers commercial email. The FTC says each marketing email must explain how to opt out and include your valid physical postal address. You must honor an opt-out within 10 business days.

Repeat customers matter more than they seem. Across 731 orders on WISMO, 10.1% of customers ordered more than once. Those repeat customers placed 30.4% of all orders (order data). Our guide to following up with past customers has messages for after the holidays.

A worked example: one Saturday market

This example is illustrative. A candle maker takes custom orders at a one-day holiday market on November 7. She can finish 15 custom candles a week. She has four weeks before her ready date of December 5, so she can make 60 in total. She keeps half of that for orders by message and sets a limit of 30 for the fair.

She takes 12 custom orders, at $48 each. Every customer pays a $24 deposit. That is $288 in deposits and $288 still to collect. She writes the method on each slip: eight by card, three in cash and one by payment app.

That night she copies the 12 slips into her list and sorts them by date. She sends 12 confirmation messages. Two customers reply with a spelling fix. On December 5 she sends 12 “ready” messages. Ten customers pick up at the December 5 market. Two choose shipping, so she adds the shipping price to their balance.

Without the list, the two spelling fixes would have reached her after the candles were poured. And the $288 in balances would live only on loose paper.

How WISMO helps after the fair

You can do all of this with a notebook. WISMO is one way to keep the list on your phone.

Each slip becomes one order in the app. You can mark the source as “In person”, and set the price, the deposit and the due date. WISMO records each payment as unpaid, advance or paid, with the method, so the balance is always visible. The calendar shows every order by due date. At 8 a.m. in your time zone, WISMO reminds you about orders due tomorrow.

Every order gets a tracking link. Send it with your confirmation, and the customer can check her order on any phone without an app or an account. Photo updates on the tracking page are a Pro feature.

You can also print your free store page link on your slip or table card. Customers who walk away can look at your items later and send you an enquiry. WISMO has no checkout, and it does not take payments. You collect the money at the table, as you do now.

Your first 30 orders are free. WISMO Pro is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, and you can try Pro free for 7 days. For the full method behind custom work, see the made-to-order business guide.