Discuss the process of getting your t-shirt line into brick and mortar stores and selling offline. Topics include industry tradeshows, events, line sheets, sales reps and other retailing tips and advice.
I'm in the process of starting up my line, and am estimating to earn a significant portion of my revenue through in-person sales such as when I set up my brand's booth at busy locations that my target market tends to congregate. My question is: for those of you who have done in-person sales such as this, did you ever use a portable receipt printer? (See Zebra Thermal Printers for an idea of what I'm talking about.) If you did, have you found it useful? Or did you eventually give up and decide that handling raw cash with no proof of purchase was better? If you haven't used a portable receipt printer (or something of it's like), what's your reasoning?
From my (modest) experience selling merch at such locations/events - no receipts used. If your items themselves don't have your business details it might be a good idea to give a few flyers/printed ads with the item to make sure they'll check out your site and other merch at a later time and so they'll know who they bought it from. I also carry a few business cards with me in case someone is in need of further information.
From my (modest) experience selling merch at such locations/events - no receipts used. If your items themselves don't have your business details it might be a good idea to give a few flyers/printed ads with the item to make sure they'll check out your site and other merch at a later time and so they'll know who they bought it from. I also carry a few business cards with me in case someone is in need of further information.
Yeah, I have 4+ years of experience of selling merch for bands, but seeing as they weren't yet at the level of considering themselves a "business," I've kind of taken my experience into account very lightly. I plan on handing out the some products you've reccommended, especially business cards, and expect that to create some decent returns. However, from a tracking standpoint, as well as a financial management standpoint, I'm curious as to if the method would be useful or not.
People do like reciepts to keep track of their spendings unless your target is a younger demographic (who typically don't have a problem spending money and most of them don't keep reciepts). You could always go to Staples or an office supply store and get reciepts there which you just hand write on. It's pretty cheap for this and when you write a reciept, it also makes a carbon-copy so you can keep track of your sales as well. I find this to be useful at events, concerts, etc.
I would definitely suggest keeping some sort of receipt, even if it is handwritten. That way you will have it for your own records, which should make life easier at the end of the month. I'm sure the IRS will appreciate it too.
This can also depend on state or local regulations. Some states require you show sales tax seperate from the price of the goods. Some require that you document all sales, etc.
If you are selling in an enviornment where you get a surge of business at a time, like a concert or a show with intermissions, a cheap cash register may be your answer. Considering you have power.
Hand writing receipts can take time and slow down sales, particularly in a surge situation.
It also depends on you. How accurate do you want to be. As mentioned, it helps keep the IRS AND sales tax people happy. If you will have a power supply, you can get a new cash register from Sam;s or Costco in the $ 200 range, even less used. Without power there are still some used hand crank registers around, but they are not easy to find.
If you are concerned about receipts from the customer's standpoint and don't care on your own, pre-print some. Run some for each price with 9 or 12 to a sheet of paper and cut them and hand them out. You could even use different colors of paper for different prices.
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In-Person Sales: Sales Receipts? 
