Craft fair break-even calculator (UK)
Find out how many sales it takes to cover your pitch fee, travel and card fees before you book the stall.
Sales needed to break even
| Fixed event costs | |
| of which travel | |
| Contribution per sale | |
| Takings at expected sales | |
| Profit at expected sales | |
| Profit per hour |
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How the break-even is worked out
Fixed costs are everything you pay whether you sell or not: pitch fee, travel (miles × pence per mile), parking and extras such as a table hire. Contribution per sale is the average sale minus the goods it uses and the card fee on it. Break-even is fixed costs ÷ contribution, rounded up to a whole sale, because you can't make 10.3 sales.
Worked example: £45 pitch, 40 miles at 45p (£18), £5 parking and £10 other gives £78 of fixed costs. A £12 sale with £4 of goods and a 1.69% card fee contributes £7.80. £78 ÷ £7.80 is just over 10, so you need 11 sales to cover the day. At 30 sales you'd make about £155.92, or £19.49 an hour over 8 hours.
Is a craft fair worth it?
A useful rule of thumb from UK organisers is that your pitch fee should be no more than about 15–20% of what you expect to take. If break-even needs more sales than the footfall can realistically give you, or profit per hour is below what you'd accept as a wage, it's worth negotiating, sharing the stall, or skipping the event.
Which card fee should I use?
Standard UK in-person rates checked 7 November 2026: SumUp 1.69%, Zettle 1.75%, Square 1.75%. Your rate may differ on a subscription plan. Use "Custom" for your exact rate.
Is the 45p mileage figure a tax claim?
No. Here it's a planning allowance for fuel and wear. For tax, HMRC's simplified mileage rates apply. Our UK tax calculator and sole trader tracker cover that.
Does profit include my time?
No. Profit is after goods and event costs, before paying yourself, income tax or VAT. Profit per hour tells you what your time earned.