How to Sell on Faire — A Complete Wholesale Guide for Makers
Thinking about selling wholesale on Faire? This guide covers how Faire works, the commission structure, how to get accepted, wholesale pricing strategy, and managing inventory across two channels.
You’ve been selling on Etsy or Shopify for a while. Maybe you’ve had a few boutiques reach out asking about wholesale. And someone in a Facebook group mentions Faire, and suddenly you’re wondering whether this is the channel that finally takes your business to a different scale.
Faire is worth taking seriously. It’s the largest wholesale marketplace for independent brands right now — over 700,000 retailers browse it to find products they can’t find from big distributors. For makers, that’s genuinely interesting. But “interesting” doesn’t mean simple. Faire has its own commission structure, its own rules, and its own way of working that you need to understand before you dive in.
This guide walks through everything — how Faire works, what it costs, how to get accepted, how to price your products, and what happens to your inventory when you’re running retail and wholesale at the same time.
What Is Faire and How Does It Work for Makers?
Faire is a business-to-business wholesale marketplace. Retailers — independent boutiques, gift shops, home stores, garden centres, and more — use Faire to discover and order from brands they couldn’t easily find through traditional wholesale channels.
As a maker (or “brand” in Faire’s language), you list your products with a minimum order quantity and a wholesale price. Retailers browse, place orders, and pay through Faire’s platform. Faire handles the payment processing and, for their approved retailers, provides net-60 payment terms — meaning the retailer has 60 days to pay, but Faire pays you upfront. That’s a meaningful advantage over trying to manage credit terms yourself.
A few things that make Faire different from just putting your wholesale price on your website:
- Discovery. Buyers actively search Faire looking for new products. You can be found by boutiques you’d never reach through cold outreach.
- Net-60 terms handled by Faire. Retailers get credit terms. You don’t have to chase invoices.
- Free returns on the first order. Faire offers retailers free returns on their first order from any brand. This lowers the buyer’s risk, which tends to increase trial orders.
- No minimum commitment from retailers. Buyers aren’t locked in. They can order once and not reorder.
Faire operates primarily in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe, though the US market is the most developed.
Faire Fees and Commission Structure
This is where a lot of makers get surprised, so it’s worth being very clear about how the numbers work.
Commission rates (as of 2026):
- 25% commission on your first order from each new retailer
- 15% commission on all repeat orders from that same retailer
- 0% commission on orders from retailers you bring to Faire yourself through your unique referral link
There’s also a flat transaction fee of $10 per transaction deducted from each order.
So if a new retailer places a $200 order with you:
- Faire takes 25% = $50
- Plus the $10 transaction fee
- You receive $140
On a repeat order of $200 from that same retailer:
- Faire takes 15% = $30
- Plus the $10 transaction fee
- You receive $160
Why this matters for pricing: You need to build these fees into your wholesale price, not treat them as margin you can absorb. If your wholesale price is already at the floor of what’s viable, Faire’s commission will push you into losses.
There’s also a Faire Direct programme. If you bring retailers to Faire through your own direct link — say, by emailing a boutique and sending them your Faire storefront URL — those orders carry 0% commission. You still pay the $10 transaction fee per order, but the commission goes away. This is significant if you have existing wholesale relationships you can migrate to the platform.
How to Apply and Get Accepted on Faire
Faire doesn’t approve every applicant. They assess brands before listing them, which is part of what makes the marketplace feel curated to buyers. The good news: if you’ve been selling for a while and have a real product line, your chances are solid.
What Faire looks for:
- A genuine product line with multiple SKUs (not just one or two items)
- Consistent, professional product photography
- A clear brand identity — what you make and who it’s for
- Reasonable minimum order quantities
- Evidence that you can fulfill orders reliably
The application process:
- Go to faire.com and apply as a brand
- Fill in your brand details, product categories, and business information
- Upload your products — this includes photos, descriptions, wholesale prices, and MSRPs (manufacturer’s suggested retail prices)
- Set your minimums: per-item minimums and overall order minimums
- Wait for review (typically a few days to a couple of weeks)
Tips that improve approval odds:
Product photography is non-negotiable. Faire buyers are comparing you against thousands of other brands. White-background hero shots work, but lifestyle images showing your products in a retail context are even better — they help buyers visualise how your products look on a shelf.
Write clear, retailer-facing descriptions. Your Etsy copy is written for someone who loves handmade things. Your Faire copy is written for a shop owner who wants to know: does this sell? Is the price right for my customers? What’s the story I can tell when someone asks me about it?
Set your minimums carefully. Too high and you’ll put buyers off. Too low and you’ll have tiny orders that aren’t worth your time after Faire’s cut. Most makers start with a $100–$150 minimum order, but this varies a lot by product and price point.
Setting Up Wholesale Pricing on Faire
Wholesale pricing for makers is one of those things that sounds simple until you actually sit down with a calculator.
The basic rule: Your wholesale price should be roughly 50% of your retail (RRP) price. Retailers typically need a 2x markup — sometimes more — to cover their costs and make a profit. If you price too high, buyers will skip you. If you price too low, you undercut every retailer stocking your product.
But here’s what the “50% rule” doesn’t account for: Faire’s commission on top of that.
Let’s say your retail price is $40 and you set a wholesale price of $20. On a first order, Faire takes 25% ($5) plus $10 transaction fee. If your order is a single unit, you’re netting $5. That’s a problem.
The actual calculation you need:
- Start with your true cost to make the product — materials, labour, packaging, overhead
- Determine the minimum wholesale price where you’re still profitable
- Work backwards from your retail price (aim for 50% of retail)
- Check whether the resulting wholesale price covers your costs after Faire’s commission
If you’re selling a product that costs $8 to make with a $30 retail price, a $15 wholesale price looks fine until Faire takes their 25% first-order commission plus the transaction fee.
One practical approach: on Faire, you can set a slightly higher wholesale price than you’d charge retailers directly, precisely because Faire carries some real advantages (the net-60 terms they handle, the exposure, the buyer trust). Many brands price 10–15% higher on Faire than they would in a direct wholesale relationship.
Tools like Craftybase can be useful here — once you’ve calculated your true COGS (cost of goods sold) for each recipe or product, you have a real floor to work from. The guessing stops. You can see exactly which wholesale price points are viable and which ones will cost you money.
Managing Inventory When Selling on Faire and Retail Simultaneously
This is where things get genuinely complicated for most makers — and it’s the part that doesn’t come with a user guide.
When you’re running retail (Etsy, Shopify, your own website) alongside Faire wholesale, you’ve got two very different demand patterns hitting the same materials stock. A retailer places a $500 wholesale order and suddenly half your soap base is spoken for. Meanwhile, your Etsy shop is still running.
The problems that tend to emerge:
- You oversell because your retail inventory doesn’t account for pending wholesale orders
- You run out of raw materials because you’re tracking finished goods but not ingredients
- You can’t tell whether wholesale is actually profitable when you factor in materials consumed, labour, and packaging
- Tax time is a nightmare because your COGS spans two different channels with different price points
What actually helps:
Track at the raw materials level, not just finished goods. If you’re making batches of candles for a Faire order, the relevant number is how much wax, fragrance oil, and wick you have — not just how many finished candles are on the shelf. When a wholesale order comes in, those materials are committed even before you start production.
Keep wholesale and retail orders in separate records. This matters for calculating COGS accurately. Your wholesale COGS and your retail COGS should both be tracked, because the margin profiles are completely different. If you’re mixing them together, your numbers won’t make sense come tax time.
Build in a buffer. Most experienced makers who sell on both channels set aside a portion of materials specifically for wholesale. They don’t let retail demand eat into that reserve. It’s a discipline issue as much as a systems issue.
Craftybase handles this by connecting your orders (from Etsy, Shopify, or manually entered wholesale orders) to your recipe records, automatically deducting materials when you record a manufacture run. If you’re running Faire orders alongside your retail channels, you can record them as separate sales channels or manual orders, and Craftybase will track the materials consumed and the COGS per order. It won’t make the complexity disappear, but it gives you actual data instead of guesswork.
Faire vs. Selling Wholesale Directly
Not everyone who wants to sell wholesale needs Faire. It’s worth thinking about both options honestly.
Faire makes sense when:
- You want exposure to buyers you can’t reach through cold outreach
- You don’t have established wholesale relationships yet
- You want Faire to handle payment processing and credit risk
- Your product photography and brand identity are already strong
Going direct makes sense when:
- You already have relationships with retailers who’d wholesale from you
- You want to avoid the 15–25% commission
- You have bandwidth to manage invoicing, net-30/60 terms, and follow-ups
- Your margins are already tight and Faire’s fees would make wholesale unviable
You can do both. Many makers use Faire for new account acquisition and their own direct wholesale agreements for established accounts — especially given the 0% commission on Faire Direct orders. The key is knowing your margins well enough to make an informed decision, rather than just signing up for Faire and hoping the orders cover costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What commission does Faire charge makers?
Faire charges a 25% commission on first orders from each new retailer, and 15% on repeat orders from the same retailer. There's also a flat $10 transaction fee per order. Orders from retailers you refer directly via your Faire Direct link carry 0% commission — just the $10 fee. These costs need to be factored into your wholesale pricing before you list, not absorbed from existing margin.
How do I get accepted on Faire as a maker?
Faire reviews applications manually. They're looking for a genuine product line (multiple SKUs, not just one item), professional photography, a clear brand identity, and a reasonable minimum order quantity. Most makers report approval taking a few days to two weeks. Strong product photos and retailer-focused product descriptions significantly improve your chances — write for the shop owner, not the end customer.
What wholesale price should I set on Faire?
Start with your true cost to make the product, then work out the minimum wholesale price that remains profitable after Faire's commission and transaction fee. The general industry rule is wholesale at roughly 50% of retail — but run the actual numbers for your specific products. Many Faire sellers price 10–15% higher on Faire than they would for a direct wholesale relationship, to compensate for the commission structure.
How do I manage inventory across Faire and my retail channels?
The real challenge is tracking at the raw materials level, not just finished goods. A wholesale order commits your materials before you've started production — if you're only watching finished product counts, you'll oversell. Track wholesale and retail COGS separately so you know the actual margin on each channel. Inventory software that connects orders to recipe records (like Craftybase) can automate the material deductions and keep both channels honest.
Does Faire pay makers upfront or after the retailer pays?
Faire pays brands on their standard payout schedule regardless of when the retailer actually pays. When Faire approves a retailer for net-60 terms, Faire absorbs the credit risk — you don't have to chase invoices or wait 60 days. This is one of Faire's most practical advantages over managing wholesale accounts directly, especially for makers who don't have the admin capacity to run their own credit terms.
Is Faire worth it for small makers with tight margins?
It depends on your actual numbers. Faire works best when your margins can absorb a 15–25% commission on top of standard wholesale pricing. If your COGS are already close to your wholesale floor, Faire's fees will push you into losses — and selling at a loss to a boutique is worse than not selling at all. Know your true cost per product before applying. Use Faire Direct (0% commission) wherever you can to protect repeat-order margins.
Ready to Know Your Real Numbers?
Wholesale opens up a genuinely different revenue stream — but only if your margins can handle it. The makers who do well on Faire aren’t the ones with the lowest prices. They’re the ones who know their actual cost per product and price accordingly.
If you’re not sure what your products cost to make — really cost, with materials, labour, and overhead properly accounted for — that’s the starting point. Craftybase tracks your materials, calculates COGS automatically from your recipes, and gives you the numbers you need to price wholesale with confidence rather than hope.
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