How do I track whether a craft fair was worth the booth fee?
Treat every fair as its own event: write down all sales, then subtract the booth fee, travel and the cost of what you sold. Fair Till does this on your phone: start an event when you set up, ring up sales as normal, and when you end it you see net profit with sales tax kept separate from revenue.
Download Fair Till on the App Store
How the options compare
- A spreadsheet: Works well if you are disciplined. One tab per fair, sales on top, costs underneath. The weak point is entering sales after the fact from memory.
- Accounting software: Good for taxes and the whole year, but most of it is built around invoices and bank feeds, not a day at a booth.
- Your payment app history: Shows money in, not what the fair cost you, and misses cash.
Where Fair Till fits
In Fair Till you start an event when you set up the booth. Sales, refunds and expenses go to that event automatically. When you end it, you see net profit after the booth fee, travel and materials, and sales tax is shown separately so it does not inflate your revenue.
Each event keeps its own profit figure, so over a season you can see which fairs paid and which to skip. Sales also export to CSV for your bookkeeping or tax prep.
Fair Till is a sales and profit log, not a tax tool. Check with an accountant on what you owe.
What it costs
Fair Till is free to download. The register, receipts, events and sales export are free. Premium is a one-time purchase of $79.99 in the US with no subscription; it unlocks unlimited AI insights, the weekly digest and your full sales history (the free sales list shows your latest 25 sales). Prices from the US App Store, checked 2026-11-03; they vary by region.
Quick answers
What counts as an expense?
Booth fee, travel and materials are the ones the event summary shows. You enter them against the event.
Does it handle sales tax?
Enter your ZIP code for a starting rate and adjust per event. Mark any product non-taxable and tax applies only to what is taxable.
Can I compare fairs?
Each event keeps its own profit figure, so you can compare them.
More questions about Fair Till
- What is the best POS app for craft fairs that works offline?
- Is there a cash register app for markets with no transaction fees?
- What is a simple point of sale app for farmers market and pop-up vendors?
Full details: Fair Till app page · all answers