re: Sellers at craft fairs and shows are insane and/or stupid.

quote:

---

Money laundering.

Where I live there are far more carwashes then there is demand for people wanting a car wash.

---

How would that work? Just saying the car wash is making the money instead of the illegal activities?

quote:

---

How would that work? Just saying the car wash is making the money instead of the illegal activities?

---

Yes. You sell $20 worth of meth. Now, if you try to spend the $20, the IRS is gonna say "supadave3, we know you ain't got no job. Where'd you get that $20? I bet you sold some meth." Then the cops are gonna get all up in your meth selling business and it will be a bad day.

Now, if you own a car wash, and you sell $20 of meth, you write that down as one $20 car wash, paid in cash. You subtract out your costs for car wash juice, water, electricity, paying Bogdan, etc., and see it comes to $5. Now, you really buy all the stuff so it doesn't look fishy, pay Bogdan, etc., and you're left with $15 from your $20 of meth. You pay the IRS their $3 from your $20 "car wash" and you're left with $12. However, this time when you spend the $12, the IRS sees that everything on paper is proper and says "supadave3, good job. You paid your taxes on your thriving car wash business and you gave Bogdan a job. We bet you're not selling meth. This is what America was built on!" and the cops don't get all up in your math selling business and it's a good day. The $8 is the cost of laundering the money. However, you're selling so many "car washes" that you quickly have the cash to buy another car wash and you do that.

Otherwise, the IRS is eventually gonna say "supadave3, we know there's no way that you can wash that many cars in a year. Are you selling meth?" Then the cops are gonna be all up in your meth selling business and it's gonna be a bad day. You have to keep buying car washes to make sure that you're not selling so many "car washes" to attract attention.

Eventually, you're gonna have to branch out. At some point the IRS is gonna say "supadave3, there's not that many cars in Albequerque. You selling meth?" and cops up in meth business. So you have to keep buying car washes farther and farther.

Pretty soon, you have more "car wash" money than god and you retire to Tahiti (New Hampshire) and sell all the car washes to the next guy selling $20 of meth (kill a bunch of Nazis and die next to your meth).

You must have been at Italian Festival they were set up everywhere. I got into with one those POS carneys.

Booth fees at a highly attended festival like the Dogwood Festival in Atlanta are around $1000+ for a 10x10 at a weekend event. The first 10-20 sales covers the booth fee. The next 10 cover misc. cost(fuel, hotel,,food,etc)

Anything after that is profit. If you sell 50 more items at $50 per you clear $2500. Do that once a month and you bring home $30k. For some it is just supplemental income made from a hobby and they only do regional events during spring and summer. Those who do the full circuit and travel the country doing one every weekend at highly attended events could easily earn $100k but it is a shite load of travel involved.

And weather is the biggest variable to earning a good profit or incurring a loss. Most festivals take applications and sell space 4 months in advance. The vendor has to cut the non-refundable check way far in advance hedging their bet that the weather won’t effect the event. If weather is bad one day or all days, they are just hoping to sell enough to make back the exhibit fee.

I don't go to craft fairs, but I have people request that I knit stuff for them all the time. I used to do it, but I don't anymore because people don't want to pay me for my time. They want to buy the yarn and have me spend 80 hours on a project for free. I get why they charge so much for the things, but I also agree I wouldn't pay for most of it.

I hate all that shite with a passion. fricking knick-nacks and collectibles.

I went to an estate sale this weekend and the whole house was full of what I consider garbage. Just trinkets and shite that these old folks had collected their whole lives. No youngish person wants that kind of stuff anymore. It's destined for a landfill after the old folks finally die off.

quote:

---

who the frick is going to pay $400 for a decorative robot made from beer cans and utensils or $100 for a plane made from a sprite can?

---

Hoarders

I hear ya...but the main thing I take from all jobs that get paid cash is...ot doesn't take much sales when the money isn't exposed to regulations and taxes.

Cash is king.

Holy shite

quote:

---

TigerstuckinMS

---

I came into the OT today with a Bachelors in something else, and walked out with a Masters in Money Laundering.