Help my small time artist booth become Mr. Worldwide.

June 25, 2019 4:17 PM

Later this year, I will be tabling a booth, selling my art and books, at a festival outside the U.S. for the first time. Are there any logistics and tips for a small-time art seller in a country outside their own?

While I'm looking at general tips for any international fair, (as I intend to try to do this more often), here are some specifics to my situation:

- The distance isn't far. Los Angeles to Tijuana, planning to walk the border crossing with my box of stuff.
- My Spanish is... manageable, but that's not huge concern.
- I usually do the whole cash-till thing with a Square reader on my phone, so currency is a thing I'm not sure how to handle.
- Everything I need fits in a roughly 24 x 36 x 24 in. depth clear plastic storage container. Everything is small prints or books.
- This is not my first art festival ever, but learning from my few other times so far.

While I'm sure that this will go off rather painlessly, I want to make sure I didn't miss any logistics that I would take for granted at a local art festival, or any tips to bridge the international culture gap.

posted by galleta monster to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Definitely double check about the currency thing. My US-based band just got back from a European tour. Normally, we use Square for processing credit cards for our merch sales. However, we weren't able to do that this time -- apparently you need to set up a different square account for each alternative currency you want to accept. We ended up having to to tell merch-wanters to send money one of our personal PayPal accounts which really wasn't ideal, especially considering the language barrier that existed in some countries.
posted by capnsue at 4:29 PM on June 25, 2019

Business cards with a URL to your website, making it possible for them to buy on their own time.

Shipping?
posted by rhizome at 4:57 PM on June 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Do you need a business license? Are there any rules around collecting/submitting sales taxes in Mexico? Hopefully the fair organizer can point you in the right direction on legal/bureaucratic matters - I'm assuming given the proximity that you are not the first US artist to participate.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:26 PM on June 25, 2019 [2 favorites]

You're crossing an international border to sell things you're bringing with you? Check with customs, please, or you may be in for a very rude shock going either way.
posted by seanmpuckett at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2019 [1 favorite]