Choose the Right Products for Your Equal Exchange Sale
Hosting a fair trade sale, holiday fair or gift market is a great way to introduce your community to ethically-sourced products or make a little money for your cause. Here are some guidelines to take the guesswork out of ordering.
Check out our wholesale case product guide to see case quantities and pricing. If you’re wondering how much your group could earn by marking up the products, we’ve given you some examples of how you might price the products.
Some groups want to keep prices as low as possible for their shoppers. They divide the cost of the wholesale case by the number of items in it, and then round up to the nearest dollar. Others mark the products up a little bit more, closer to what you might see in a retail store. Either way, small-scale farmers benefit!
We’ve listed our most popular and giftiest items below*.
Small Sale Suggestions
6 cases of coffee: Sisters’ Blend, Love Buzz, Congo (whole bean), Breakfast Blend, French Roast and a Decaf
6 cases of 12 chocolate bars: Dark Chocolate with Mint, Coconut Milk Chocolate or plain Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt, 71% Very Dark, Dark chocolate with Orange, Panama Extra Dark Chocolate
4 cases of 6 tea: English Breakfast, Peppermint, Green, Rooibos
2 cases of 6 Palestinian olive oil
3 cases of 6 hot cocoas
You may choose to mark the products up from wholesale case price by rounding up to the nearest dollar, or you can choose to mark them up to whatever price point you think they’ll sell at and help you achieve your fundraising goals. If your goals are to raise money through the sale, examples of reasonable prices are: $10 for 12oz bags of coffee, $12 for 1lb bags of coffee, $5 for chocolate bars, $6 for tea, $15 for olive oil and $7 for cocoa. By marking up prices you could even use the profits to pay for your group to serve organic, fair trade coffee, if you aren’t already serving Equal Exchange coffee regularly.
Want more variety? Consider ordering baking cocoa, nuts, and chocolate chips.
Medium Sale Suggestions
8 cases of coffee: Sisters’ Blend, Love Buzz, 2c Congo (whole bean), 2c Breakfast Blend, French Roast and Decaf
8 cases of 12 chocolate bars: Dark Chocolate with Mint, Coconut Milk Chocolate or plain Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt, 71% Very Dark, Dark Chocolate with Orange, Panama 80% Extra Dark Chocolate
5 cases of 6 tea: English Breakfast, Peppermint, Green, Rooibos, & Ginger
3 cases of 6 Palestinian olive oil
3 cases of 6 hot cocoas
2 cases of 6 dark hot chocolate
Possible add-ons include baking cocoa, nuts and chocolate chips. You might also offer empty baskets or bows for a small fee. People can make up their own gift baskets on the spot.
Large Sale Suggestions
10 cases of coffee: 2c Sisters’ Blend, 2c Love Buzz, 2c Congo (whole bean), 2c Breakfast Blend, 1c French Roast & 1c Decaf
12 cases of 12 chocolate bars: 2c Dark Chocolate with Mint, 2c Coconut Milk Chocolate or Milk Chocolate, 3c Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt, 2c 71% Very Dark, Dark chocolate with Orange, 2c Panama Extra Dark 80% Chocolate
8 cases of 6 tea: 2c English Breakfast, 2c Peppermint, 1c Green, 1c Rooibos, 1c Chai, & 1c Ginger
4 cases of 6 Palestinian olive oil
3 cases of 6 hot cocoas
2 cases of 6 dark hot chocolate
1 case of 6 baking cocoa
Again, you can mark up the products from wholesale case price by rounding up to the nearest dollar to give people a great deal, but if you sold everything on that list at slightly larger mark up ($10 for 12oz bags of coffee, $12 for 1lb bags of coffee, $5 for chocolate bars, $6 for tea, $15 for olive oil and $7 for cocoa) your group would profit over $500!
For more variety and a larger impact on small-scale producers, consider adding nuts, chocolate chips, or beautiful fair trade craft items from Ten Thousand Villages or SERRV.
Ready to order?
Create an account on our webstore or call your order into our team at (774) 776-7366. Remember, you pay the wholesale case price so you should mark up the products after they arrive. Here’s a handy price list template you might use. Find more display and promotional resources here.
We recommend leaving at least 10 business days between the time you order and when you can expect delivery of your Equal Exchange goodies!
*Please note: It’s impossible to know exactly how much people will buy from your sale, therefore these quantities are only suggestions to help you plan. Because they are consumable products, we can not offer them on consignment.
We strongly encourage you to purchase only what you are confident you can sell through during your event.