How To Collect Booth Fees From Vendors

Most organizers start the same way. You post the vendor call, vendors claim tables in the group chat, and you reply with your PayNow number.

Then the screenshots arrive. Some say "table 14", some say nothing, one is from a name you've never seen, and one is for S$60 when the table costs S$120.

Three weeks out, you're scrolling back through 400 messages to work out who has actually paid.

None of this is hard. To collect booth fees without the scroll, you just need a system before the first dollar comes in, not after the fiftieth.

This guide covers how to collect payment from vendors, start to finish: which payment methods to offer, how to match each payment to a booking, how to verify it, when to confirm a booth, what to do with part payments and cancellations, and what records to keep. You can run all of it with a spreadsheet and PayNow if that's what you have.

We'll finish with a worked example: an 80-table artist alley at a weekend anime and comics convention. It's an illustration, not a real event, so swap in your own numbers.

What Does It Take To Collect Booth Fees From Vendors?

To collect booth fees well, you need a price, a few payment methods, a way to tie each payment to one booking, and a rule for when a booth counts as confirmed. Everything else is detail. In order:

1. Set the price for each booth type, including extras like power.
2. Choose how vendors can pay you: PayNow or another local transfer, bank transfer, cards, or cash.
3. Decide full payment or a deposit, and the deadline for the balance.
4. Give every booking a reference and ask for it on the transfer.
5. Check each payment against your bank, not against the screenshot.
6. Confirm the booth, and tell the vendor in writing.
7. Chase anything short or late, and release booths that never pay.
8. Keep a record of every payment and refund in one place.

The rest of this guide takes those one at a time. If you're still planning the whole event, not just the money, start with our guide to running a market from scratch.

Set The Price Before You Collect Anything

Your price comes from your costs: add up what the day costs, add what you want to keep, and divide by the booths you expect to sell, not the booths on the floor plan. We've written that up step by step in how to price booths at your fair or market.

For collecting, the important part is that the price is final and published before bookings open. Every booth type should have one price, power should be a separate line, and the vendor should know the total before they pay. Most payment confusion starts with a price that changed halfway through the chat.

Which Payment Methods Should You Accept?

For most fairs in Singapore, accept PayNow as the default, add cards if your vendors expect them, and avoid cash for booth fees. Here's how the options compare.

Our verdict: PayNow plus one other method covers nearly everyone. Offering five methods means five places to check.

Collecting A PayNow Booth Payment

PayNow is a funds transfer service offered by Singapore's banks that lets someone pay you with just your mobile number, NRIC/FIN or business UEN, without knowing your bank account number. The Association of Banks in Singapore says transfers are in Singapore dollars and arrive instantly, 24/7 ABS: about PayNow.

For an event, share a PayNow QR and tell vendors two things up front: what reference to type, and whose name they'll see on the confirm screen. Personal account or business UEN, a QR with the amount or without, and how to set references are all in our guide to setting up PayNow for your event.

Card Payments Into Your Own Account

Card payments make sense when vendors are overseas, paying from a company card, or simply expect to tap a card. The cleanest setup is a card processor in your own name, such as your own Stripe account, so the money goes straight to you.

The trade-off is the fee. Stripe's Singapore pricing page lists 3.4% plus S$0.50 per domestic card payment, about S$4.58 on a S$120 table, and the fee isn't returned if you refund. What disputes cost, when the first payout lands and how to build the fee into your price are in our guide to card payments for events.

Is Cash Ever OK?

Cash works for a small, local event where everyone knows each other, like a 15-stall community bazaar where stallholders pay on setup morning. For anything bigger, collecting on the day means you won't know who's coming until they show up, and every no-show is an empty stall you can't resell.

If you do take cash, write a numbered receipt for every payment and keep the carbon copy. Even at a market where most stallholders are repeat vendors, we'd collect before the day.

Should You Take A Deposit Or Full Payment?

For most tables under about S$150, take full payment when the vendor books. It's one payment to check and one to chase, and in our experience, vendors who've paid in full show up.

A deposit makes sense when booths cost S$300 and up or bookings open months out. We'd set it at about 20-30% of the price, with the balance due 4 to 5 weeks before the event so a released booth can still be resold. How to size it, what it secures and how to chase the balance are in our guide to choosing a booth deposit or full payment.

How Do You Match Each Payment To A Booking?

Give every booking its own reference, and ask the vendor to put that exact reference in the transfer. This one habit solves most of the midnight scrolling.

• Use an order or booking number, not a name. "BK-0412" is unique. "Sarah" is not, and the person paying may be Sarah's partner.
• Show the reference next to the amount and the QR, so the vendor copies it in the same moment they pay.
• Ask for one transfer per booking. One payment covering three vendors' tables is three times as hard to untangle.
• Ask for the bank's transaction reference too. It's printed on the confirmation screen and it's what you'll search for in your bank.
• Keep one row per booking with booth, vendor, amount due, amount received, date, method and reference.

When a payment arrives with no reference, match it on amount, time and payer name, then message the vendor to confirm before you mark it. Don't guess. A wrong match means two vendors think they own one table.

Verify Against Your Bank, Not The Screenshot

A payment is verified when you can see the money in your own bank or card account, with the right amount, from the right person, around the right time. The screenshot only tells you where to look.

Screenshots are easy to fake or reuse, and the Singapore Police Force has warned businesses about scammers sending forged ones Singapore Police Force advisory on scams targeting businesses (15 Sep 2023). Your bank's transaction history can't be faked in a group chat.

Our rule is simple: nothing is confirmed on the vendor's word alone, even from people you know. The four checks, the signs of an edited screenshot and how to ask about a missing payment are in our guide on how to verify a PayNow payment.

When Should You Confirm A Booth?

Confirm a booth when the money is verified in your account, and not before. Until then, the booth is reserved for that vendor but not booked.

The awkward part is the gap between a vendor choosing a booth and you checking the payment. If two vendors want the same corner, who gets it? Decide this before you open:

• Hold while they pay. Reserve the booth for a short window, say 20 minutes, while the vendor transfers and sends proof. If no proof arrives, the booth goes back on sale.
• Hold while you review. Once proof arrives, keep the booth held until you've checked your bank, however long that takes.
• Hold from the moment they choose transfer. Some organizers would rather lock the booth as soon as the vendor picks bank transfer, and chase the payment afterward.

If you curate vendors, you'll also need an accept or decline step before confirming, and a full refund for anyone you decline after they've paid.

Once confirmed, tell the vendor in writing: booth number, amount received, and anything still owed. That message is the confirmation they'll screenshot and show you on the day.

Part Payments And Chasing Balances

A part payment is any payment that covers less than the amount due, and the fix is to record exactly what arrived and show the rest as owed. It's not paid, and it's not unpaid.

Short payments happen more than you'd think. A vendor typed the wrong number, paid the deposit and forgot the balance, or split it across two banking apps. Here's how we'd handle them:

1. Record the amount received, not the amount the screenshot claims.
2. Keep the booth reserved and mark the balance owed.
3. Tell the vendor the exact balance and a due date in the same message.
4. Send one reminder a few days before the due date, with the amount and reference again.
5. Release the booth if the balance doesn't arrive by the deadline you published, and refund what was paid according to your policy.

The deadline is what makes chasing feel fair. "Balance due 5 weeks before the event, or the table is released" is easy to enforce when it was in the vendor call from day one.

Worked Example: An 80-Table Artist Alley

Picture an artist alley at a two-day anime and comics convention, with 80 tables at S$120 each for the weekend. That's S$9,600 in table fees if every table sells. This is an illustration, not a real event or customer.

The organizer offers PayNow, bank transfer, and cards through their own Stripe account. Full payment is due on booking, and the vendor call says so. Here's how the money comes in:

• 40 tables paid by PayNow, S$4,800. Each artist gets a booking reference, and 37 type it into the transfer. The other 3 are matched on amount, time and name, then confirmed by message.
• 30 tables paid by card, S$3,600. At Stripe's listed domestic rate, card fees come to S$137.40, which the organizer chose to absorb.
• 10 tables paid by bank transfer, S$1,200, mostly from artists invoicing through their own small businesses.

Then one artist, at table C07, sends S$60 and a screenshot. The bank shows S$60 too, so it's not a fake, just half. The organizer records S$60 received and S$60 owed, keeps C07 reserved, and sends this:

"We've received S$60 of S$120 for C07. Please send the remaining S$60 with reference BK-0217 within 7 days, or the table will be released."

The balance arrives five days later, and C07 moves to confirmed.

In a spreadsheet, that's one row per table and a filter on "amount owed above zero". In BookASquare, the organizer verifies the S$60 on the order, the balance shows as owed to the artist, and Request Information asks for the rest. Either way, the work is the same: record what arrived, not what was promised.

What Happens When A Vendor Cancels?

What a vendor gets back depends on the refund policy you published in the vendor call, so write one before bookings open. A policy invented after a cancellation always looks personal.

We'd use two or three windows with real dates: a full refund 4 weeks or more out, half or credit until the final week, and nothing after. If you cancel the event yourself, everyone gets a full refund, paid back the way they paid you and recorded on the booking. The cases, a worked example and a template to copy are in our guide to writing a vendor refund policy.

Receipts And Record Keeping

Keep one record per booking that shows what was due, what was paid, how, when, and anything refunded. If your records show that much, you can answer any vendor's question in under a minute.

What to keep:

• The booking: vendor, brand name, booth, booth type, price.
• Each payment: amount, date, method, bank transaction reference, and the proof file.
• Any balance owed, its due date, and reminders sent.
• Any refund: amount, date, method and reason.
• The confirmation message you sent.

Vendors running a business will often ask for a receipt. A confirmation message or a simple PDF with your event's name, their booth, the amount and date paid, and the reference is usually enough.

Keep the full records for as long as your accountant or your local tax rules ask, and keep them out of the group chat, which is where records go to get lost.

Spreadsheet, Ticketing Platform Or Booking Tool?

Small fair with vendors you know well? A form, a sheet and PayNow will do. Past that, pick by who you want holding the money.

Here's how the three common setups handle the payment side:

A Google Form, a spreadsheet and PayNow is genuinely fine for a small fair. It starts to hurt around the point where two vendors claim the same table in the same minute, or you can't tell at a glance who still owes money.

One honest limit: BookASquare never holds your money. Payments go straight to you, so there's no payout and no escrow.

If you'd rather a platform collect the money and pay you out, Eventbrite or Peatix do that, and they're the better fit. Our fee is explained on the pricing page.

What To Do Next

Before your next vendor call goes out, write down five things: your payment methods, full payment or deposit, the balance deadline, your refund policy, and the reference vendors should use. Put all five in the vendor call. Then set up one row per booking and decide when a booth counts as confirmed.

If you want vendors to book from your map and pay you directly, with the reference, proof and amount owed already sitting on each order, see how payments work in BookASquare. It's also worth sending vendors our guide to booking a booth as a vendor so they know what to expect at checkout.