How to become a Street Vendor in NYC
(and sell your cool stuff!)
before getting started
Know there are two routes on selling your goods in person:
STREET FAIRS (more set up + save $$$ long term)
most likely you will register as a vendor with Clearview Festival Productions
this organization hosts street fairs nearly every weekend in NYC with locations across all boroughs + locations tend to be in a prime area with a lot of foot traffic
once you become a registered vendor with Clearview, you are able to book any street fair date you want through their portal (i.e. you do not need to be “approved” to participate)
in order to register with Clearview Festival Productions, you will have to attain a few legal documents (not hard, just time consuming) —
one of these documents is a Sales Tax Certificate of Authority, this allows you to legally collect sales tax in NY for any goods sold
NOTE: once you register with NY and have a Sales Tax Certificate of Authority, you will be required to file your sales tax returns every quarter for the first year (even if you sold $0, you will still need to file) — this only takes 15 minutes — however if you have less than $3000 reported in sales tax after 4 quarters, they will change you to be an annual filer
set up + event costs:
all display equipment (including tent + table + chairs, each vendor is required to supply their own set up — there is no option to rent any of these) ~$300
basic Square card reader (or similar payment system) ~$50
permit for street fairs are usually around $100-150 for a 10ft x 10ft spot from 10AM-6PM
(you keep 100% of your sales)
POP-UPS (less set up, costs more $$$ per event)
there is 0 legal set up required for this route, the main downside is that pop-ups tend to be more expensive per each event and they are more selective (i.e. you must apply to each pop-up and admission is not guaranteed)
pop-ups tend to have a more curated target audience and are usually located further away from main ares of foot traffic (i.e. popup success usually depends on how good the marketing is for the event)
set up + event costs:
basic Square card reader (or similar payment system) ~$50
most popups will provide tables (either complimentary or with the option to rent)
depending on the event, the popup will either have a flat fee OR have a vendor fee + require a % commission of your sales (real quotes below)
ex: $275 flat fee, to share 1/2 of an 8ft x 2.5ft table from 12PM-4PM
ex: $350 vendor fee + 30% commission on any sales made over $350 (for a 2 day weekend event, 6ft x 2ft table provided)
HOW TO: Register as a vendor with Clearview Festival Productions
[ following is in reverse order, b/c that’s how my brain works ]
End goal = become registered as a vendor with Clearview Festival Productions
In order to register with Clearview, you will need:
Sales Tax Certificate of Authority (Sales Tax ID #)
Temporary Street Fair Vendor Permit
To apply for a Sales Tax Certificate of Authority, follow this checklist
Entity Type - (if it is just you, then you can select “sole proprietor”)
Contact information for the business - if you are registering as a sole proprietor, then the business name is your legal name (i.e. what it says on your passport)
Bank account information - (personal recommendation is to set up a separate banking account to collect sales)
NOTE: (less common) if you are applying as anything other than “sole proprietor” or intend on hiring employees — you will also need to register for a Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Once you have a Sales Tax Certificate, you can apply for a Temporary Street Vendor Permit
the permit can last at most 11 months (permit costs $10/month, and you will have to renew your permit once it expires)
Once you have a Temporary Street Vendor Permit + Sales Tax Certificate, you can apply to become a vendor with Clearview Festival Productions
You are all set!! 🎉🎉 Once approved with Clearview, you are free to book your first street fair
(just make sure you have your display equipment!)
(10’x10’ tent, tables, chairs, any display stands + 20 lb weights for each leg of the tent (80lbs total) — required so the tent does not blow away in the wind)