About 6 weeks or so ago, I posted about my interest and concerns regarding mystery bags. I am now posting about my results! I recently had a last minute mini-con pop up, so it was the perfect opportunity to try out the mystery bags.
Overall from this endeavor, I have to say that I really do like having the mystery bags, and I will probably continue to offer them in my booth. There are some pluses and minuses with how I handled them, but it was ultimately a success.
First, I didn't pre-assemble my bags. At the time, 99% of my inventory was in storage, which wasn't readily available. I could have gone to the storage and gotten them done, but it would have been a hassle to get to each of the things that I wanted to add, etc, so my first decision regarding the bags was that I would assemble them at the event. I expected them not to be ready at opening time (and they weren't), but there was really no rush on these.
Second, one of the most difficult tasks I had with these bags was figuring out how I would display them in my booth. I am very proud of where I am with my booth setup process. I can expand large or keep it small depending on the space I am given at whichever event. What I didn't have configured into this was where I could possibly put a bunch of paper bags. I put so much thought and effort into figuring this out, that when I finally figured it out, it was like a big weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Something to note, is that I have also been trying and trying to figure out how to use the space in front of my table(s), as all it is is just tablecloth, wasted space. I scoured pictures of booths for ideas, went through many blogs and posts, trying to come up with something that I can use that will work with what I already have. Then, I saw it. It was one picture of someone's craft fair booth from the past, that I had scrolled far back into in one of my Facebook booth display groups to find. There were purses hung in the front of the table with some simple stocking mantleplace hooks. I promptly went out and bought 2 packages so I would have enough.
Third, after buying the rest of the accoutrements (stapler, etc), I was ready for the fun part. Filling the bags! I have quite a bit of old inventory, and a lot of overstock of newer stuff. I got to work trying to keep them balanced on value. Once they were filled to a good spot, I was finally able to try out the hooks and everything, and get them hung in the front of my table. (So exciting!)
Here is a picture from the top of my table, to see how the hooks stayed.
Here is a picture of the front of my booth, where you can see that they are hanging perfectly, and don't push back into the tablecloth too much to cause issue.
The hooks worked perfectly! I put 6 bags out initially, and sold 2 pretty quickly. Overall, I sold 13 mystery bags over the weekend. I would call that a success, especially considering they are a new item in the booth.
There is one thing that I need to adjust, and that is how I have the mystery bag price tag sign or my chainmail dice bags setup on the table. I had a couple people who thought that the mystery bag price was for the dice bags. Whoops!
Among the items in the mystery bags are stickers, acrylic keychain/bag clip, bamboo straws, lanyards, keychains, cuff links, magnets, hair clips, earrings and more! There are many other things that may/will make their way into the mystery bags, as well!
What do you think, should I list some mystery bags on the website, as well?
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