Where to Sell Pottery: 7 Places That Actually Work

You have two shelves of mugs out of the last glaze firing, a stack of small bowls, and a few planters that came out better than you expected. Friends have bought what they can. The next question is where strangers will pay a fair price for the rest, without you spending half your profit on bubble wrap and booth fees.

Most advice starts and ends with "open an Etsy shop." For pottery that is often the hardest place to start, because a 14-ounce stoneware mug is heavy, fragile and expensive to ship. If you also want the basics on which farmers markets take craft vendors and how to price and display handmade work, the guide on selling non-food products at farmers markets covers that ground. This guide is about where: the seven places potters actually sell, what one $36 mug pays you in each, and the food safety rule that follows your pots everywhere.

One note first. If you are trying to sell a vintage Roseville vase or a set of old dishes you inherited, this guide will not help much. It is written for pottery you throw or hand-build yourself.

Where Can Potters Sell Mugs, Bowls and Planters?

Potters sell in seven places, and a part-time potter can usually run three at once: one in-person place where people pick up and feel the work, one link for local reorders, and one shop or event that sells for you. Here are the seven, in the order we suggest adding them.

1. Craft and art fairs. Juried shows bring buyers who came to spend money on handmade work. Booth fees run from well under $100 at a local fair to $850 or more for a small booth at a national juried show.
2. Farmers markets that accept crafts. A weekly booth puts you in front of the same shoppers every Saturday, which suits mugs and small bowls that people collect.
3. Studio sales and kiln openings. You open your garage, porch or shared studio for a day and sell straight out of the latest firing at full price.
4. Your own storefront link for local pickup. Regulars order from their phone and collect the pot from your front step, your studio or your booth, so nothing ships.
5. Etsy and Amazon Handmade. Both reach shoppers across the country, and both take a share of every sale plus the cost and risk of shipping.
6. Galleries and gift shops. Shops sell on consignment (they pay you when a piece sells) or buy outright at wholesale, usually half of retail.
7. Cafes and restaurants. A coffee shop can sell your mugs at the counter, and a restaurant may order plates or bowls made to match its menu.

The first four places sell to a shopper at your full price. Etsy and Amazon Handmade bring you strangers for a cut, and the last two trade a bigger share of the price for someone else's customers and shelf space.

Why Do Weight and Breakage Shape Where Pottery Sells?

Pottery sells best where the buyer carries it home, because every mile a mug travels in a box adds cost and a chance it arrives in pieces. A potter paid in cash face to face keeps the full $36, and $34.91 on a card through Square's Free plan. A potter who ships the same mug pays for a box, padding and a label, and on Etsy or Amazon Handmade also pays the marketplace's percentage fees on whatever shipping charge the buyer covers.

That shapes the order we suggest:

• Sell in person first. Fairs, markets and studio sales cost you a booth fee or nothing, and the buyer handles transport.
• Add pickup second. A storefront link lets regulars order the new glaze color on Tuesday and collect it Saturday, still with no box.
• Ship last, and only the pieces that ship well. Small cups, ornaments and flat spoon rests travel better than a 3-pound serving bowl.
• Keep heavy and oversized work local. Large platters, planters and lamps belong at your booth or in a shop near you.

Touch matters too. People buy mugs by holding them: the weight, the handle, how the rim feels on the lip. A photo cannot do that, which is why pottery sells best where people can pick it up. Online sales work best once a buyer already owns one of your mugs and wants a second.

How Do the Seven Places Compare for a Part-Time Potter?

The seven places differ most in three things: what you pay upfront, the share of a $36 mug you keep, and how many hours each takes. The table below lines them up so you can match a place to the time and inventory you have. Every figure comes from the source company or organizer, checked October 7, 2026.

Scroll sideways to see every column.

Fees from Square's pricing page (Free plan, 2.6% + 15¢ in person), Homegrown's signup page (2.9% + $0.30), Etsy's fees page (6.5% transaction, 3% + $0.25 processing, $0.20 listing) and Amazon's Handmade page (15% referral), all checked October 7, 2026. Consignment and wholesale splits are common industry terms, not fixed rules.

If you have 30 pieces and Saturday mornings free, the market and your own link are the right start. If you have 150 pieces and a van, a juried fair is worth the application.

Are Craft Fairs and Art Fairs Worth the Booth Fee for Pottery?

A juried craft fair is worth it when you can sell at least the booth fee in pieces on the first day, and for a big national show that is about 25 mugs before you earn anything. The American Craft Council's 2027 American Craft Made show in Baltimore charges a $45 application fee and $850 for a 10x5 booth, or $1,500 for a 10x10. Its Early Career Artist booth, open only to artists in ACC's Early Career Artist Program, is $400 and includes pipe and drape, electricity, a table and a chair. We checked those numbers on the council's application page on October 7, 2026.

Here is the break-even math on a $36 mug:

• Standard 10x5 booth: $850 plus the $45 application is $895, which is 24.9 mugs, so 25 mugs just to cover the fee.
• Early Career booth: $400 plus $45 is $445, or 13 mugs.
• Not included in the standard fee: electricity, pipe and drape, furnishings and shipping, per the council's own list. Budget for lights and a table.
• Not counted above: gas, a hotel, food for two or three days, and the pieces that break in transit.

Local fairs run by a church, a school or a downtown business group set their own fees, usually far below a national show, and they are a cheaper place to learn your booth before you apply to a juried one. The Baltimore show took applications through ZAPP, an online application system other juried art and craft shows also use, and asked for 6 images, including a photo of your booth. Applications for the February 19-21, 2027 show closed June 5, 2026, after opening April 20, 2026, so watch the council's site for the next round in spring. The guide to juried craft fair applications walks through what jurors look for and how to photograph a booth.

Bring sturdy bags and more newspaper or tissue than you think you need. Buyers at a fair want to carry a wrapped mug to the next booth without worrying about it.

Will a Farmers Market Let You Sell Pottery?

Many farmers markets accept handmade crafts like pottery, but each market sets its own rules, and some limit non-food vendors to a share of the booths or require that you make everything you sell. Ask the market manager before you apply. A weekly booth costs less than most fairs and puts your mugs in front of the same shoppers every week, which is how a casual buyer becomes the person who owns six of your mugs.

Questions a manager will usually ask a potter:

1. Did you make it yourself? Markets that take crafts often want the person behind the table to be the person who made the work.
2. What exactly will you sell? Some markets cap how many pottery or ceramics vendors they accept so craft booths do not crowd out farms.
3. Do you carry liability insurance? Many markets require it of every vendor, food or not.
4. Will you be there every week? Markets often give season-long vendors better spots than drop-ins.

Card payments matter at a pottery booth because $36 to $80 purchases are bigger than a loaf of bread, and few people carry that in cash. Square's Free plan charges 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person card payment, which is $1.09 on a $36 mug, and Square says you can take payments with Tap to Pay on an iPhone or Android phone without buying hardware. The guide on taking payments at a farmers market compares the readers.

Keep your display at hand height. A mug on a tablecloth at knee level does not get picked up, and a mug that does not get picked up does not sell.

How Do Studio Sales and Kiln Openings Bring Buyers to You?

A studio sale or kiln opening is a one-day sale at your own space, timed right after a firing, and it is the one in-person place with nothing to pay to be there, so a cash sale reaches you whole. There is no booth fee and no commission. A potter with a home studio, a garage or a spot in a shared community studio might run one two to four times a year, for example before the winter holidays.

How potters run one:

• Pick a date two weeks after a firing. That leaves time to photograph the best pieces and tell people what is coming.
• Tell your list and your neighbors. A text to past buyers, a post with photos of the actual pieces, and a sign at the end of the driveway the morning of the sale.
• Price everything before the doors open. A sticker on the bottom of each pot saves you from quoting prices all day.
• Take cards and cash. A phone with Tap to Pay covers cards, and a cash box with $50 in small bills covers change.
• Collect contacts at checkout. Every buyer who leaves a phone number or email is someone you can tell about the next sale.

Some shared community studios run a group holiday sale for members and keep a share of each sale to cover the space. Ask the studio what percentage it keeps and when it pays members before you sign up.

The weak spot of a studio sale is the buyer who could not make it that Saturday. That is where a storefront link earns its keep.

How Do Local Customers Order Your Pottery Between Sales?

Local customers order between sales from a storefront link you text, post and print, then pick up at your porch, studio or market booth, so the pot never goes in a shipping box. That solves the problem this whole guide keeps coming back to: pottery is heavy, fragile and expensive to ship, and most of your best buyers live within a short drive.

Homegrown gives you that link for $10 per month billed annually ($12.50 billed monthly), with no percentage fees beyond standard payment processing of 2.9% + $0.30, which is $1.34 on a $36 mug. Here is what it does that fits pottery:

• Pickup at your porch, studio or market booth, with as many pickup spots as you want and set pickup days and windows for each.
• One-time events tied to a place and time, which suits a kiln opening or a holiday studio sale.
• Real-time inventory, so quantities update automatically as you sell and a one-of-a-kind bowl listed with a quantity of 1 drops to 0 when it sells.
• Variants with their own price, such as one mug listing with three glaze colors.
• Several high-resolution photos per product, because buyers want the handle, the inside and the foot.
• Local delivery within a radius you set, from 1 to 25 miles, for a set of plates you would rather not leave on a porch.

Compare that with Etsy, Square Online and Shopify. Etsy reaches shoppers nationwide, but it charges $3.87 in fees on that $36 mug before shipping, and nearly every sale ships. Square Online works and costs $1.49 per online order on the Free plan, 15 cents more per order than Homegrown, though Square has no monthly plan to cover. Shopify Basic charges the same $1.34 per order plus $29 a month billed yearly, which buys a full online store you have to set up and run.

Honest limits: Homegrown has no shipping, so it is a local tool. Customers create a Homegrown account to place their first order. Payouts land the next business day, but 20% of each order is held for 30 days and then released automatically. There is no drops feature for a timed release of a firing. Your storefront is listed on the Homegrown marketplace, but plan on most orders coming from people you send to your own link. If most of your regulars live near you and you are tired of holding mugs aside through text messages, set up your pottery storefront on Homegrown and put the link on the card that goes in every bag.

Should You Sell Pottery on Etsy or Amazon Handmade?

Etsy is worth it for small, sturdy pieces that ship well, and Amazon Handmade suits a potter who makes the same form over and over, but both cost more per sale than selling locally and both mean every order ships. On a $36 mug, Etsy takes $3.87 and Amazon Handmade takes $5.40 before shipping. We read both fee pages on October 7, 2026.

How Etsy charges a potter:

• $0.20 to list each piece, renewed every four months or when it sells.
• 6.5% transaction fee on the price plus whatever you charge the buyer for shipping and gift wrap.
• 3% + $0.25 payment processing on the whole sale, including tax and shipping.
• Offsite Ads fee of 15% on any order that came from an ad Etsy ran for you, or 12% once your shop passes $10,000 in sales over a year. Shops under $10,000 can opt out.
• A possible one-time set-up fee when you open the shop, shown before you finish setup.

How Amazon Handmade charges a potter:

• An application and audit before you can list, because Amazon checks that the work is handmade.
• A $39.99 Professional plan fee for the first month, then the monthly fee is waived for approved Handmade accounts.
• A 15% referral fee on every unit, or $0.30 if that is greater. On a $36 mug that is $5.40.

Amazon's Handmade page lists no separate card processing charge, so the referral fee is the per-sale cost. On Etsy, processing is its own charge on top of the transaction fee. Neither has a monthly subscription once you are set up, which is why they feel cheap until you add up a month of orders.

The real cost for potters is what happens after the sale: wrapping, boxing, a trip to the post office and the occasional broken mug you replace at your expense. If you already sell on Etsy and want your repeat local buyers ordering from your own link, the guide to switching from Etsy to your own storefront covers how to move them over without breaking Etsy's rules.

What Does a $36 Mug Cost You on Each Platform?

A $36 mug costs a potter $1.09 in fees through a card reader at a booth, $1.34 through Homegrown or Shopify, $1.49 through Square Online, $3.87 on Etsy and $5.40 on Amazon Handmade, before any monthly plan or shipping. The monthly plan changes the picture once you count a month of orders, so the last column shows 20 online orders.

Swipe left to see the rest of the fee columns.

Card processing is figured on the $36 price with no tax or shipping. Etsy and Amazon Handmade also charge their percentages on any shipping you charge, so a shipped order costs more on both. Prices from each company's own pricing page, checked October 7, 2026. The Square booth row assumes 20 card payments in person.

Three things stand out for potters:

• At a booth, Square's Free plan is the cheapest way to take a card, at $1.09 a mug with no monthly cost.
• For online orders, Homegrown costs $0.15 less per order than Square Online, but because Square's Free plan costs $0 a month, Square stays cheaper until about 67 orders a month ($10 divided by $0.15), or about 84 on monthly billing ($12.50 divided by $0.15). What Homegrown's plan buys is pickup scheduling, events and a storefront built for local orders.
• Etsy costs about twice as much as Homegrown and more than twice as much as Square Online at 20 orders, before you pay for a single box or label.

How Much Does Shipping Add When You Sell Pottery Online?

Shipping adds two costs to a pottery sale: the label and packing materials you pay for, and the marketplace fees charged on the shipping amount itself. Etsy charges its 6.5% transaction fee and its 3% processing fee on the shipping you charge the buyer. On a $36 mug with $14 of shipping, Etsy's fees rise from $3.87 to $5.20, and $1.33 of that is fees on the shipping alone. Amazon Handmade's 15% referral fee also applies to the shipping charge, because Amazon's seller pricing page counts shipping as part of an item's total price, so the same $50 order costs $7.50 in referral fees, $2.10 of it on the shipping.

Say your $14 shipping charge only covers the label. You still pay for the box and padding, and you replace any mug that arrives broken. If the order came from an Etsy Offsite Ad, the 15% fee on the $50 total adds another $7.50.

How potters pack so a mug arrives whole:

1. Wrap the piece itself in two layers of bubble wrap, with extra around the handle and rim.
2. Fill the inside of mugs and bowls with crumpled paper so nothing can shift or press on the rim.
3. Use two boxes. The wrapped piece goes in a small box, then that box floats in a bigger one with at least 2 inches of padding on every side.
4. Shake test before you seal it. If anything moves, add more padding.
5. Photograph the packed box before it leaves, in case you need to file a damage claim.

A simple rule to start with: ship cups, ornaments and small dishes, and keep anything over a pound and a half or wider than a dinner plate for local buyers.

Should You Consign Pottery or Sell It Wholesale to Shops?

Sell wholesale when a shop will pay upfront, and consign only when the split is at least 60/40 in your favor and the contract says who pays for breakage. Under a common consignment split, a $36 mug pays you $21.60 when it sells; at wholesale, a shop buys it outright for half of retail, or $18.00. The craft business site Craft Professional lays out these splits in its guide to what a fair consignment percentage is: 60% to the artist and 40% to the shop on consignment, and 50% of the retail price up front at wholesale.

The Ceramic School, a pottery education site, wrote in July 2024 that the most common consignment split for shops is 60/40, while galleries lean toward 50/50. At 50/50, consignment pays the same $18.00 as wholesale, but you carry all the risk until it sells.

What to put in writing before a pot leaves your studio:

• The pieces and the retail price of each, signed by both of you.
• The split, and the date each month you get paid for what sold.
• Who pays if a piece breaks or goes missing in the shop. It should be the shop.
• How long the work stays and who pays to bring unsold pieces back.
• The retail price everywhere. If the shop sells your mug for $36, do not sell it online for $28.

Your wholesale price has to cover clay, glaze, two firings and your time with room left over. If half of $36 does not do that, raise the retail price everywhere before you approach a shop.

Is Faire a Good Way to Reach Gift Shops With Your Pottery?

Faire is a wholesale marketplace where shop owners order from brands, and it is worth it for potters who can fill repeat orders of the same form, as long as you count its 15% commission on every order from shops it finds for you, plus $10 on a new shop's first order. Faire is free to join. On orders from shops it finds for you, it charges a 15% commission, plus a one-time $10 fee on a new shop's first order. On orders from shops you bring yourself through your own Faire Direct link, the commission is 0%. Every order also pays a processing fee that depends on how fast you want to be paid. Those are Faire's own numbers as of October 7, 2026.

Here is what a shop ordering 6 mugs at $18 wholesale ($108) leaves you, using Faire's 30-day payout at 2.4% + $0.30:

Slide the table sideways to see what you keep.

Faire's other payout choices: next day at 3.5% + $0.30 ($4.08 on $108) or 60 days at 1.9% + $0.30. Figures from Faire's help page on selling costs for North American brands, checked October 7, 2026.

Packing the order is still on you, and six mugs in one box need the same double-box packing as a single one. When you ship a Faire order yourself, Faire's payout adds the shipping cost back on top of the Faire figures above, so postage does not come out of them. The math works when your wholesale price was set high enough to absorb a 15% cut on every marketplace order. Faire also makes it easier for a small shop to say yes, because its help page says eligible shops get 60-day payment terms, while you still get paid on the payout schedule you picked.

If a shop near you already wants your work, invoice them directly or send your Faire Direct link. The marketplace commission is the price of a stranger finding you.

Can You Sell Mugs and Plates to Cafes and Restaurants?

Cafes and restaurants buy pottery two ways: a coffee shop sells your mugs at the counter on consignment or wholesale, and a restaurant orders a full set of plates or bowls made to its own spec. Both are steady accounts once they work, and both put your pots in front of people who eat and drink from them every day.

What changes when a business is the buyer:

• Consistency. A restaurant wants 60 plates that stack and look like the same set. If your forms vary by half an inch, say so before you quote.
• Durability. A high-temperature commercial dishwasher runs hotter than a home machine and runs many times a day. Ask to run a few test pieces through the restaurant's own dishwasher for a few weeks before you promise a glaze will hold up.
• Lead time. A custom order of 48 bowls can take several firings. Quote the date from your kiln schedule, not your hopes.
• Deposits. Ask for half upfront on custom work, so a canceled order does not leave you with 48 bowls in someone else's color.
• Food safety paperwork. A restaurant may ask whether your glaze has been lab tested for lead and cadmium. Have the report ready.

Price custom tableware from the wholesale side. If your retail dinner plate is $40, a restaurant ordering 60 of them will expect something close to the $20 wholesale price, and 60 plates at $20 is $1,200 of work you need to fire perfectly. Charge more for a custom glaze or a custom form, and put the price in writing with the deposit.

A cafe selling your mugs is simpler: agree on the split, deliver a dozen, and restock monthly.

Which Food Safety Rules Apply to Pottery You Sell?

Federal rules for pottery sold across state lines count any piece that looks like it could hold food as food ware, so a mug, bowl or plate you sell has to be safe to eat and drink from unless it is clearly marked decorative. Under 21 CFR 109.16, the federal rule on ornamental and decorative ceramicware, a decorative piece that "appears to be suitable for food use will be considered to be for food use" unless it carries both a stick-on label and a permanent fired or molded statement such as "Not for Food Use. May Poison Food," in letters at least 3.2 millimeters (0.125 inch) tall (the fired statement can drop to 1.6 millimeters, or 0.062 inch, on a base too small to fit it), or has a hole bored through the food-contact surface. We read the rule on October 7, 2026.

For pieces meant for food, FDA's Compliance Policy Guide on lead in pottery sets the leaching levels at which FDA staff consider legal action against a piece or detaining an import. FDA's guide lists ASTM method C738 among its accepted tests and examines 6 units of the same piece.

Swipe sideways for the lead and cadmium columns.

From FDA Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 545.450 (lead) and Sec. 545.400 (cadmium), both loaded from fda.gov on October 7, 2026. The cadmium guide uses only flatware, small hollowware and large hollowware.

What that means for a part-time potter:

• Use commercial glazes labeled food safe, and fire them to the cone the label lists.
• Lab test your own glaze recipes. BSC Labs' pottery testing page says it tests glaze leachates for lead and cadmium, and it recommends sending a straight-walled test cup 4 inches across and 3 inches tall, measured wet. Call the lab for current prices.
• Mark decorative pieces the way the rule says, or drill a hole, if the glaze is not food safe.
• Keep your test reports, because a shop, cafe or restaurant may ask for them.

How Much of a $36 Mug Reaches You in Each Place?

Out of a $36 mug, between $36.00 and $18.00 reaches you depending on where it sells, before booth fees, monthly plans and shipping. Cash at your own studio sale keeps all of it. Wholesale to a shop keeps half.

The chart hides three costs that matter. A fair booth or a market fee comes off the in-person rows, and an $895 booth spread over 60 mugs is about $15 a mug. Shipping comes off the Etsy and Amazon rows. Homegrown's $10 monthly plan comes off the pickup link row, which is about $0.50 a mug at 20 orders a month. That is why a studio sale with no booth fee pays a potter best per piece, and a pickup link comes close once you have regular orders.

How Do You Test One New Place for Your Pottery This Season?

Test one new place at a time for a full season, with a number you decide on before you start, so you know whether to keep it. Adding three places at once leaves you unable to tell which one sold the mugs.

• Pick the place that fits your inventory. Under 50 pieces, try a market or a studio sale. Over 150, a fair or a shop account.
• Set the number before you start. For a market, that might be $300 in sales a week after the booth fee. For a shop, a restock order within 60 days.
• Bring your best sellers, not everything. Ten of your best mug and three glaze colors beat one each of 30 shapes.
• Give every buyer a way back. A card with your storefront link in every bag turns a one-time buyer into a regular.
• Write down what sold, at what price, on what day. A notebook or your payment app's report is enough.
• Decide at the end of the season. Keep it, drop it, or change one thing and try again.

The craft fair booth checklist lists what to pack for your first fair, from the tablecloth and risers to the cash box and small bills.

What Do Potters Learn After Their First Big Show?

A first big show teaches a potter three things fast: which pieces people actually picked up, which price points sold, and how long packing and unpacking really take. Those lessons decide where you sell next.

What to track after your first show, and what to do about it:

• Your best seller may not be your favorite piece. Count what sold by form and glaze after every show, and make more of the top three.
• A small, low-priced piece earns its spot. A $15 to $20 dish sells to browsers who would otherwise leave with nothing, and the card in the bag can bring them back for a $36 mug.
• Breakage is a real cost. Price for the occasional piece lost to transport and handling instead of treating it as bad luck.
• Regulars want to order between shows. The buyer who loved your speckled glaze in May may want two more for Christmas, and a link lets her order without waiting for your next fair.
• One retail price everywhere keeps shops on your side. A gallery that sees your $36 mug listed for $28 online has a reason to stop stocking you.
• Shipping eats hours. Time your first ten shipped orders from wrapping to drop-off, then decide which pieces are worth shipping at all.

None of this means skipping the big show. It means walking in with a plan to collect contacts and a place for those contacts to order.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the best place to sell pottery for a beginner?

The best place to sell pottery as a beginner is a local farmers market or craft fair that accepts handmade work, because buyers can pick up the piece and nothing has to ship. Booth fees at local events usually cost far less than a national juried show like the American Craft Council's in Baltimore, which charges $850 for a 10x5 booth. Add a storefront link for pickup orders once you have regulars.

Can you sell pottery on Etsy?

Yes, you can sell pottery on Etsy, and it works best for small, sturdy pieces that ship well. Etsy charges $0.20 to list, a 6.5% transaction fee on the price plus shipping, and 3% + $0.25 in payment processing, which comes to $3.87 on a $36 mug before shipping. Heavy or fragile pieces cost more to pack and ship safely.

Do you need to test glazes before selling pottery?

Yes, any mug, bowl or plate sold across state lines that looks usable for food counts as food ware under 21 CFR 109.16, so your glazes need to be food safe. FDA's lead guideline for cups and mugs is 0.5 micrograms per mL of leaching solution, measured by a lab test such as ASTM C738, tied with pitchers for its strictest line. Decorative pieces need a stick-on label and a fired-on statement reading "Not for Food Use. May Poison Food." (or one of the rule's two other messages), in letters at least 3.2 mm tall (1.6 mm on a small base), or a hole drilled through the food surface.

How much do galleries take when they sell your pottery?

Galleries and gift shops that sell pottery on consignment commonly keep 40% to 50% of the sale price, so a $36 mug pays the potter $21.60 at a 60/40 split or $18.00 at 50/50. Shops that buy outright at wholesale usually pay half of retail upfront. Get the split, payment date and breakage terms in writing.

Where can you sell pottery near you without shipping it?

You can sell pottery near you at farmers markets, craft fairs, studio sales, local gift shops and cafes, and through a storefront link that lets buyers pick up at your porch or studio. Homegrown charges $10 per month on annual billing, with no commission, plus 2.9% + $0.30 card processing paid by the vendor ($1.34 on a $36 mug), and offers pickup and local delivery within 1 to 25 miles, but no shipping.

Is it worth selling pottery at craft fairs?

Selling pottery at craft fairs is worth it when your expected sales clear the booth fee by a wide margin. At the American Craft Council's Baltimore show, an $850 booth plus a $45 application takes 25 sales of a $36 mug to cover, before travel. Local fairs with lower fees are the better first test.

Related Reading

These guides on the Homegrown blog cover the next questions potters ask after deciding where to sell: the rules at a market, how other non-food vendors split their sales, and how to choose between a fair and a weekly market.

• Selling non-food products at farmers markets: which markets accept craft vendors, what permits they ask for, and how to price and display handmade work.
• Where to Sell Jewelry: 7 Places That Actually Work: the same question for another handmade product, with Faire and consignment math on a $30 pair of earrings.
• Where to Sell Candles: 7 Places That Actually Work: how candle vendors plan for the holiday rush and split sales between booths, shops and links.
• Where to Sell Soap: 7 Places That Actually Work: how soap vendors use markets, boutiques and a storefront link together.
• Craft fair or farmers market?: how a one-weekend fair compares with a weekly market on cost, crowd and time.

Give Every Mug a Way Back to You

The best places to sell pottery are the ones where buyers can hold a mug before they buy it, and the places that keep paying are the ones where they can order the next one without waiting for your next fair. For a part-time potter, that usually means one in-person place, one shop or cafe account, and one link for local pickup orders.

Your link does the quiet work between firings. A buyer who took home a $36 speckled mug in May can order the matching bowl in November, pay by card, and pick it up at your porch on Saturday. On Homegrown that costs a $10 monthly plan (billed annually) and $1.34 in card processing on that mug, with no commission, and nothing goes in a shipping box.

If most of your buyers live within a short drive and you are ready to stop holding pieces aside through text messages, start your pottery storefront on Homegrown. It takes about 15 minutes to set up, and the 7-day trial means no charge until day 8.