How do underground/unsigned bands find people to run their merch booth on the regular while they're playing a show?
And what should a merch girl (or guy) be paid? a percentage of the total sales?
Any advice on finding & maintaining someone to go to majority of your shows & run your merch table would be appreciated.
Thanks!

You make this sound really complicated. Got any friends who like shows? Male or female? Ask one of them to do it. Playing with other bands you know? It's not hard to run two small merch tables at once while the other band is warming up or playing.

Paying them? Underground/unsigned bands do that? I've never heard of a non-touring person get paid in anything other than drinks and food.

Pay them with your utmost respect, and doritos.

Yep. Get your pal that wants to see a show and have a beer or 10 and consider them paid in full from the admin to the show and a frosty one or two.

Sell your own merch. This is also when you thank people for coming, tell them about upcoming gigs/releases, give them flyers, give them deals on merch, and connect/network with people that can then support/benefit you later on.

Sure, after you're done playing it's nice to man your own booth, but it's also real useful to have a friend at the show to help set up and run the booth while you're busy setting up your gear, playing your set and then taking your gear down.

While we're playing it's "manned" by a friend or one of our boyfriends/girlfriends. Sometimes we don't set it up until we're finished playing if we're opening. People will buy right after you play or at the very end of the night when they're really drunk. You don't need to pay the merch person anything unless you're a big band going on tour for weeks. Select a friend, put them on the guestlist, give them a few drink tickets and make sure that you give them breaks frequently. I tend to hide behind the merch table because I can warm up or chill out after playing anyway. Also, don't stress about it too much because band members of the other bands will always step in and help. I sold a lot of shirts for Tribulation last month after their set because they were busy changing.