Figure out if a convention is worth it before you apply. Enter your booth cost, product prices, and expected sales to see your break-even point and projected profit.
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Everything it costs you to attend, not including product costs.
Add each product type you plan to bring. Enter what you charge, what it costs you to make, and how many you expect to sell.
Estimating is one thing. Knowing is another. Conventory tracks your real sales at the booth, calculates profit per convention automatically, and keeps your inventory accurate across every event. No more spreadsheets.
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Whether you sell at anime conventions, comic cons, craft fairs, or artist alley events, understanding your profit goes beyond just counting the money in your cash box at the end of the day. True convention profit accounts for every dollar that went into making that event happen.
Here is the formula:
Revenue = sell price x units sold (for each product)
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) = production cost x units sold
Gross Profit = Revenue - COGS
Net Profit = Gross Profit - All Expenses
Your gross profit tells you how much you made after production costs. Your net profit is what you actually take home after booth fees, travel, hotel, food, and everything else. This is the number that matters.
Most convention artists underestimate their true costs. A $200 table might feel cheap, but by the time you add travel, hotel, food, and supplies, you could be looking at $500+ before you sell a single print.
Common convention expenses:
Your break-even point is the number of units you need to sell to cover all your expenses. Anything you sell beyond that is profit. This is the single most useful number when deciding whether a convention is worth applying to.
To calculate it: divide your total expenses (booth, travel, hotel, etc.) by your average profit per unit. If your average product sells for $15 and costs $3 to make, your margin per unit is $12. If your total expenses are $480, you need to sell 40 units just to break even.
Break-even units = Total expenses / Average margin per unit
$480 / $12 per unit = 40 units to break even
If that number feels unrealistic for a given convention, it might not be the right event for you. Better to know before you invest.
There is no universal answer, but here are realistic ranges based on what convention artists commonly report:
Small local conventions
$200 to $800 in revenue. Net profit often $50 to $400 after a $50 to $100 table fee. Low risk, good for testing new products.
Mid-size anime/comic cons
$500 to $2,000+ in revenue. Table fees $100 to $300. Most convention artists target these for consistent income.
Large conventions (AX, NYCC, Fanime)
$1,000 to $5,000+ in revenue. Table fees $300 to $600+. Higher revenue but also higher expenses from travel and hotel. Net profit varies widely.
The artists who consistently profit are the ones who track their numbers. They know which conventions are worth returning to and which products carry them.
If you are new to selling at conventions, here are typical price ranges for common artist alley products in the US:
| Product | Typical Price | Typical Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Stickers (individual) | $2 to $5 | $0.30 to $1.00 |
| Sticker sheets | $5 to $10 | $0.80 to $2.00 |
| Art prints (8.5x11) | $10 to $15 | $1.50 to $3.00 |
| Art prints (11x17) | $15 to $25 | $2.50 to $5.00 |
| Enamel pins | $10 to $15 | $1.50 to $3.50 |
| Acrylic charms / keychains | $8 to $12 | $1.50 to $3.00 |
Margins on stickers and prints are typically the highest. Higher-cost items like pins and keychains have lower margins but higher perceived value.
Use the calculator above to see if the math works. If you need to sell 80 stickers at a 200-person convention, reconsider.
"3 stickers for $10" or "any 2 prints for $35" increases the average transaction value significantly. Most buyers at conventions will spend more if you make it easy.
Bring fewer of your slow-moving products and more of what sells. This seems obvious, but without actual sales data, most artists overstock their favorites instead of their best sellers.
Split hotel rooms and carpool when possible. Cutting your travel costs in half can turn a break-even convention into a profitable one.
The best way to decide which conventions to return to is tracking your actual net profit per event. A convention that feels busy might not be as profitable as a smaller one with a better-matched audience.
Convention-goers expect to pay convention prices. Charging $3 for a sticker when everyone else charges $5 does not sell more. It just leaves money on the table. Price competitively within the market.
For most artists, the answer is yes, if you pick the right conventions and manage your costs. The artists who struggle are usually the ones who apply to every event without calculating whether the numbers work.
Start with local conventions where your expenses are low. Learn what sells, build your product line, and then scale up to bigger events as you have more data. The calculator above can help you evaluate each opportunity before you commit.
Beyond direct profit, conventions build your customer base, grow your social media following, and let you test new products in person. Some conventions are worth doing even if you only break even, because the long-term value of those connections pays off later.
Bring at least $50 to $100 in small bills and coins for making change. Most sales at conventions are cash, though more buyers are using cards. A card reader (Square, SumUp) is essential for maximizing sales.
Stickers are the highest-volume seller at most conventions because of their low price point. Art prints and enamel pins are also consistently strong. Trendy fandoms outperform originals in most artist alley settings.
Bring more than you think you will sell, especially for cheap items like stickers. Running out on day one of a two-day convention means lost revenue. A good rule of thumb: bring 1.5x to 2x your expected sales for your top sellers.
In most US states, yes. Some conventions handle this for you (included in the table fee), but many do not. Check your state's requirements. Many artists build tax into their prices to keep transactions simple.
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