WHEN to have people pay?

I have my first fair next weekend and I am getting super stressed (and excited!) so maybe this is overthinking things...

Do you have folks pay before they have their face painted or after? I have upsell items like gems. I would like to be able to try to sell them on gems - after lets say I paint a crown and show them in the mirror then hold up a gem and offer to put it on for extra. https://2img.net/i/fa/i/smiles/icon_lol.gif

On the other hand, people are more critical if they haven't paid yet and may tend to evaluate if their dollars are worth what I'm doing. Also, I like the idea of getting the money before I use my paint!

Anywho, I have a Square card reader and want to avoid double swiping. Any tips? Thanks everyone!

I do more custom work than anything else, and I run my booth solo (including at fairs), so my process might be a little different... client tells me what they want, I quote the design, they hop in the chair, I paint, they love it, and pay as they leave. When I first started I had people pay first, thinking it was faster for me processwise, but I found that I definitely get more tips if they pay after they see what I can do. I don't do upsell; glitter is always part of the deal, and I rarely ever use gems. No one seems more critical if they haven't paid yet in my experience, they tend to pay better once they see me interact with their child and focus my attention on giving them interesting artwork and a unique, personalized experience. My wait times are a little longer, but no one seems to mind, because they understand they are paying for the whole experience, and feel it's worth the wait. The few people who have complained mid-line about the wait either leave (which is fine), or stick it out, and when it's their turn tell me they're glad they waited, it was worth it... Short story long: for me, payment after works best, means better tips

Thank you so much! Great insight. That makes a lot of sense to me.

That IS great insight and totally makes sense. I personally have always gotten payment up front. I’ve read many stories about kids getting in line and then once painted either have no money or not enough money, or credit cards not working, etc. I made it a point to collect money first for those reasons, but this has me re-thinking my process.

As far as upselling, I don’t do that. I just charge a little more for designs that include gems.

I always make sure I confirm the price with the adult - if they think they're short on cash I offer credit card swiping (which always gets me great tips, so worth the extra couple minutes to get then payed up at the end). I've had adults who realized after I was done they didn't have enough cash (before I took credit cards) and I had to trust them to zip to an ATM and come back (never got burned, but I honestly get really busy and it would be easy for them to skip out on paying)... that's why I started swiping cards. I figure if they have no cash AND no card, I'll put them to work instead (hasn't happened ...yet...)

eviedejesus wrote:As far as upselling, I don’t do that. I just charge a little more for designs that include gems.

I only upsell the gems at a $2 flat rate. A lot of the quickie designs look pretty terrific with some bling added, but I want to keep the cost down. Hence, the gem upsell. I feel it gives people more options!

Absolutely! I just haven’t tried it yet, but upselling works well for many people. I personally don’t do too many festivals.

tipping is always better after you have painted, sometimes though you have a long line and parent disappears and you have to hold up the line to find parent... I sometimes just give up and hope they come pay me, 9 out 10 times they do.

My line manager takes payment before I even see the client.
It doesn't seem to affect my tips one way or the other.

I have been stung with not getting paid by kids even after telling them what the price was after I painted them. I have a big market next week and will be getting paid upfront as its not worth the hassle in waiting to get paid or have the child look for their parent for the money. If they don't have it at the start then they have to move on.

^^ I make sure the kid has a parent, I confirm with the parent and they get painted, otherwise they are told to find a parent and come on back. Unless they are an older kid with money in hand, I require a parent to quote the price to that confirms that the price is accepted before I paint.