Laser Engraving at Farmers Markets: How I Make $500/Day Part-Time

Last summer I was bored.

I had a laser engraver. I had free time on weekends. And I had bills to pay.

I decided to try bringing my laser to a local farmers market. I had no idea what to expect. I thought maybe I'd make $100 if I was lucky.

My first Saturday: $512 profit in 6 hours.

That was with my old slow diode laser.

Now with my Tyvok P2 galvo? I consistently make $500-$800 per day.

And the best part? I only work weekends.

Here's exactly how I do it, and how you can too.

My Exact Setup

You don't need anything fancy. This is everything I bring:

✅ Tyvok P2 Galvo Laser - $149 (the single best investment)
✅ Folding table - $35 from Walmart
✅ 10x10 canopy - $80 (optional but highly recommended)
✅ Blank inventory - ~$100 initial investment

• 100 dog tags ($0.50 each, sell for $15)
• 50 leather patches ($1 each, sell for $20)
• 20 wooden keychains ($0.25 each, sell for $10) ✅ Portable power station - $150 (or run off wall power if available)

Total startup cost: ~$514. And you can start with even less by skipping the canopy and borrowing a table.

My startup cost was paid off by lunch on my first day.

What Actually Sells (And What Doesn't)

I've tested dozens of products. These are the winners:

🥇 Custom Dog Tags / Pet ID Tags

• Cost: $0.50 each
• Price: $15
• Profit margin: 96.7%
• Time per tag: 30 seconds
• This is 60% of my revenue

🥈 Custom Knife Engraving

• Cost: $0 (customer brings their own knife)
• Price: $25
• Profit margin: 100%
• Time per knife: 60 seconds

🥉 Leather Patch Engraving

• Cost: $1 each
• Price: $20
• Profit margin: 95%
• Time per patch: 45 seconds

Honorable mention: Ring engraving ($40 each, 2 minutes), custom metal keychains ($10 each, 30 seconds)

What doesn't sell well: Wood signs (too slow), custom artwork (too much time), anything that takes longer than 2 minutes per piece.

The Secret: Speed = Money

This is the most important lesson I've learned.

At a farmers market, you have a constant stream of potential customers walking past your booth.

If they see a line, they keep walking.

If they see no line and something cool happening, they stop.

With my old diode laser, I could do 6-8 customers per hour. I always had a line. I always lost customers.

With my Tyvok P2 galvo, I do 30+ customers per hour. Almost no lines. Almost everyone who stops buys something.

The galvo is 10x faster. That doesn't just mean 10x more revenue. It means more people stop in the first place. It compounds.

Pricing Strategy

Don't undercharge.

I used to think $15 for a dog tag was too expensive. Then I realized people were buying them as fast as I could make them. I raised the price to $20. Sales didn't drop. I raised it to $25. Sales still didn't drop.

I settled on $15 as my entry price point to get people to stop. Once they're at your booth, 30-40% will buy add-ons or more expensive items.

The dog tag is the loss leader that gets people in the door. The knife engravings and custom work are where you make the real money.

Final Thoughts

This is, without question, the easiest, lowest-cost, highest-ROI side hustle I've ever found.

• Low startup cost: ~$500 total, can start for less
• High profit margins: 90%+ on most items
• Fast learning curve: Be up and running this weekend
• Scalable: Add more lasers, add more markets, hire employees

And the best part? Almost nobody knows about budget galvo lasers yet. Most of your competitors will still be using slow diode lasers. You'll have a massive competitive advantage.

I made my money back by lunch on day one. You can too.

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👉 Learn more: professional laser for metal marking