Price of Flies on E-bay

[Black-Don]

I recently tried to sell some flies and a new fly box on e-bay for a forum fundraiser and had a reserve price of £10 + £5 p&p but they failed to sell. I dare say I could have posted them with no reserve and taken the chance but I refuse to sell these flies for less than what they probably cost to make material wise even though I wasn't putting a value on the labour involved.

The point is, the crazy prices that folk are selling flies on e-bay for http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Assortments-/23815/i.html Some of these flies are out and out garbage, badly tied no doubt in some sweat shop somewhere on inferior hooks with poor quality feathers so I can understand the prices there. But, and this is a BIG but, some of these flies are good quality no doubt tied and auctioned by UK residents.

Why are people undervaluing their skills to such a great extent when they are obviously charging out their labour at below the minimum wage and once they get caught by the tax man what will they do ?

I remember one guy on the other forum who had been laid off and then started selling good quality flies he'd tied at ridiculously low prices.

Is this what things have come to in the Uk where people are unable to deduce that what they are selling and what others are selling are two entirely different products. Or, is there something I'm missing here ?

[Highlander]

I have been asked on more than one occason if I will sell my flies.
No way am I getting into that whole circus. Having said that there is always a market for "good " stuff if you know how to pitch your sales correctly.
But at the prices some people are selling flies there is no way you can compete
in that market just offering bog stanard patterns.
Specialising in certain flies that are generally not found in the run of the mill stuff is one way to go.
I might think about when I retire just for pin money but just now, I will give it a miss.
Tight Lines

[Wildfisher]

Well done for trying anyway Donald, you did your best and it is greatly appreciated.

Widening this point a little :  I find it  very odd that people will unquestioningly fork out a small fortune for say -  alcohol and tobacco, ruining their physical  and mental  health  in the process, stacking up problems for later life, yet find it difficult to bring themselves to spend a little more on a quality product made with care and attention. I guess we all do it in varying ways and it's just a matter of values people put on things and deciding on what they can or can't do without.

Fishing tackle, including flies,  seem amazing cheap compared to what they once were - but is it really the case?  The reason we are now paying  £1.40+ for a litre of petrol and a small fortune to heat our homes is because the demand for energy in the new world economies that supply us with these cheap products is insatiable.

Might it be better to pay more for your tackle and less for the fuel to get  you to the waterside? When we make the choice to buy the cheap Chinese rod rather than a comparable western made rod at 4 x the price we are not really saving , we are just delaying the bill.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, one way or another  you have to pay for it.

[dazdidge]

Simple answer is most people are not willing to pay the correct price for things, they seem to think they are getting a bargain by buying cheap. They don't realise (or care) that buy cheap usually means buy twice. A few years ago (before I could tie my own flies) I bought a box set of 200 flies that were an "Absolute Bargain". At least 50% of the flies I used fell apart after one fish, some just while tying them on :shock: On testing the strength of the hooks most of them snapped with very little pressure and the lovely wooden box they came in fell apart after a few weeks lying about in the car :roll:
I would not buy any fly now if I could do a reasonably good job of tying them myself. If I did have to buy some it would be from people on this site whose creations I have seen or have been recommended
daz

[Robbie]

I was recently asked to tie flies by someone I barely knew.  At first I wanted to tie up a randon selection for him to be sure he would be happy with the quality, I intended to discuss prices once he knew what he would be getting.  In the end we could not find a tie to meet to discuss the flies or price. In the end I offered to tie the flies he wanted for 90p per fly as I did not want to over charge or end up out of pocket.  It took me a long time to tie the flies as we happened to be in the middle of decorating most of the house, but he seemed happy with the flies which I had passed on in batches as I completed them.  I did not take any money for the flies until they were all tied as I felt bad about the length of time it was taking me, when I was delivering the last of the flies I was paid more than expected and ended up getting about £1.08 per fly.

Even at the increased price it would not be worth tying flies on this basis as a money making scheme.  However it did cover the costs of the additional materials I used.  If doing batches of flies on a regular basis you could probably cover the cost of all your tying materials.  This may the the reason that people sell their flies so cheaply on Ebay.

Several years ago I remember seeing an Ebay seller selling sets of four or five flies and getting upwards on £10 for each set.  I could not believe the price of the flies and personally would not be prepared to pay it, that price on its own would have made me take up flytying.

[James]

i have been told i should sell the flies i have been tying up for the river , but e-bay is nothing more than a joke by the time you sell the item ( if your lucky enough ) paid for delivery which as we all know has been increased. you are left with next to nothing once e-bay take there fees etc etc.
as some of you will know i am trying to sell of my glass engravings rather than taking them to the local skip and smashing them up , i was told sell them on ebay but with the amount i have it would cost me more in the long run.

I am not wanting to sell flies as a full time thing as i know it would put me off fly tying , continually sitting at the vice day x day x day hour x hour.
i do the largest % of my fly tying over the closed season . so i could have a few flies for sale by the start of the following season.

speaking of RM price increase ,,,  Mum and i had worked it out to send all the Christmas cards to friends , family this year it would have cost £20+ so no one is getting a card.

[dazdidge]

James, have you tried Gumtree?
http://www.gumtree.com/

It's free to use and I have sold a whole heap of stuff on it.

daz

[Wildfisher]

I really cannot imagine tying flies for a living. I doubt it can be done. Mind numbing stuff, I'd rather dig gardens.   :lol:

That said some might like it, but  I really do not enjoy fly tying,  it's something I see as an essential / necessary evil rather than a desirable pastime or job.

Anyway with the demands of my Wildfisher Fly Lines Chief Designer / M.D. duties there just aren't enough hours in the day!  :lol:

[Wildfisher]

I'm not particularly good at it

Bollox Alan. You are an artist, my bet is you would be brilliant at it. All my arty farty pals excel at stuff like this.   :

It is boring as f**k though.  :lol:


ps  trimming  the edges is extra

[Black-Don]

I don't find tying a chore if I'm tying for myself probably because I can tie as many or as few when it suits me. I normally tie about 6 at a time so don't get bored or stressed out. I do find tying for sale or even a swap a bit tiresome though because I must tie them.

I dare say that there is still a reasonable living to be made tying flies for the likes of Frankie McPhillips or Malcolm Greenhalgh who will have a dedicated customer base built up over many years but even they must have felt the effects of the " fly revolution "  :roll:


Sporting Scene - Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Loch and Lough Flies .