Would you like to set up your own market stall in Australia? This blog post is going to discuss some of the things you may need to consider, and how you can get ready for your first market stall.
Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Please do your own research and seek professional advice to ensure that you have complete and accurate information for your circumstances and to ensure that you operate legally.
Okay, now that is out of the way, let's get into it.
What are you selling?
I would like to sell my BOOKS and ART at local markets in the region. I'm thinking my stall will offer:
My 3 paperbacks
Homemade bookmarks
Watercolour poetry cards
What will you need?
To do that, I'm going to need:
A table
Something to hold the money eg. Tin or bumbag
A newsletter signup sheet
A bowl of lollies to entice people to come over**
A QR code on display for people to download my free novella (The Silver Maid)
Optional:
A marquee (and pegs to secure it)
A tablecloth
Payment device to accept electronic payments
Paperweights so things don't blow away
A sign
Book stands and price signs
A pen (to sign books)
Water (for me to drink)
Other considerations:
Parking
Transporting things from your car to your site (and back again)
Weather
Toilets (and who can watch your stall while you wee)
Advertising and Social Media
Photo-taking device and photo-taker (to get pics of you in action for your website or on social media)
Other laws, licences, approvals, and compliance requirements:
Now, the more I looked into things, the more considerations there were. These are not relevant to my circumstances, but I'm listing some information here to give you an idea about things that you may need to consider:
Do you sell goods by weight? Then you will have trade measurement laws that you will need to comply with
Do you wish to sell food? Then there are a range of food safety rules that you will need to comply with.
Do you want to play music?
Will your stall be on a public holiday?
Will you collect, hold, or use personal information?
All of these things have their own licensing and approval considerations and may have their own special requirements. Check out the Australian Business Licence and Information Service to learn more.
Can I give away lollies?
Did you notice that I want to have a bowl of lollies on my table and lollies = FOOD. I do not need to comply with food safety laws because:
a) I am not preparing the food
b) I will not be SELLING the food
c) The lollies will be individually wrapped
But, what if someone takes one of my free lollies and chokes on it or has an allergic reaction?
This is a consideration for a market stall insurance policy. Ask your insurer (I'll cover insurance a bit later on).
There are 3 main things that require further research and consideration for me:
ABN
PAYMENT OPTIONS
INSURANCE
ABN/Business Registration
How do you know if you need an ABN?
Is your market stall endeavour a business or a hobby? Do you hope to earn an income/profit from it? Like, more than a little pocket money? Will it be a consistent income? This article here talks more about whether you need an ABN. It also talks a little bit about insurance and licenses/permits. The Australian Government has some information on working out if you have a business or a hobby, here. It also goes into a bit more information about things you have to consider if you do decide to turn your market side-hustle into a legitimate business.
Based on what I've read, I could get started by running a few market stalls to test the waters and see how they go, and I would not need to register my business and get an ABN. Then, if the stalls are reasonably successful and I intend to do more than a couple here or there so that I could generate a profit, I could register for an ABN and make it all a legitimate business down the track.
All of that being said, I am aware that some markets may not allow you to register for a stall without an ABN. Ugh.
Payment Options
CASH Cash is king, right? Well, cash is easy, sure, but most people don't carry around cash much anymore—I know I don't. But for the sake of simplicity, I could offer a cash-only option and direct people to the closest ATM. Some markets have portable ATMs on site for people to use. No fees. No fuss.
CARDS
First consideration if you wish to be able to accept card payments is that you would need a business bank account. Then, there seem to be lots of different options about how to accept card payments.
a) Using a device You can organise a device to take payments, such as Square. These devices will likely have rental fees if your turnover is low (Square is free only if your turnover is more than $10k per month) and there could also be contracts and other fees and considerations. This options seems way too over the top for what I intend to do. More of an option if market stalls are your main business and not a hobby.
b) Using your mobile phone
There are apps that you can download on your phone that will turn your mobile into a payment-taking device, such as the Charge app. Now, it's free to download the app. To make the app work, you will need to set up a Stripe account which is a payment platform, like Paypal. This is also free. However, you DO have fees per transaction. The Charge app fee is 1% per transaction and the Stripe app fee is 1.75% + $0.30 for Aussie cards.
This is only one of many options. It all sounds confusing and like I need to do a lot more research.
Setting yourself up to accept card payments does sound very business-like. There are fees, record-keeping requirements, and there is an assumption then that you would be making a profit. This probably takes your little market stall out of the 'hobby' realm and into the 'business' realm. Again, I would be tempted to run a few stalls accepting only cash, see how many sales I lose due to only accepting cash payments, consider how much of a profit I make/miss out on, and how much I could make if I set myself up as a business able to accept card payments.
This is my opinion and NOT a recommendation. I cannot stress enough that you would need to look into all of this for yourself BEFORE you jump in and make mistakes. Please seek advice.
Insurance
Market Stall insurance is a policy that you pay for that will cover you if something goes wrong. Maybe someone leans against my display table and it collapses on their foot and breaks a toe. Maybe someone chokes on a free lolly. Maybe someone trips over a fallen book and breaks a hip. Maybe someone throws a water bomb and it hits my table, damaging my stock. You cannot take a chance that nothing will happen, because if something does, it could end up costing you a lot of money. These scenarios are why you NEED insurance. Also, many markets will not let you have a stall unless you have market stall insurance.
I looked at My Market Insurance and AAMI when researching for this blog, and the policies that I looked at can be taken out for various lengths of time, for example, a single day, or a 3, 6, or 12-month period. There are different policy options, and you will need to consider things like: Do I want only public liability cover, or do I want to cover my products too? (like in the water bomb scenario) How much cover do I need? ($10 million? $20 million?) Do I have an ABN? Will I be selling food?
In a nutshell: Yes, I will need insurance.
Phew! There is a lot of information in here, a lot to consider, and a whole lot that I haven't considered at all. Hopefully, this blog gives you a place to start with your own research and gets you one step closer to having your own market stall in Australia. I will definitely do another blog after I have run my first stall (which probably won't be for a while), and let you know how it goes.
Good luck!! May your future market stall endeavours prosper and thrive.
Much love,
Marley xx
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