Selling flies

[djtrout 0]

congrats on your sale!

 

to resonate with Sundance - I tied commercially for awhile; it bought me my premium rods and reels. I tied 3 trout patterns, 3 salt water patterns, 7 smallmouth/largemouth, and one shad patterns. I handled orders of one or two types, in quantity, at a time. It comes down to a factory environment and feeling - simplify the fly materials and procedure, tie fast - going for numbers. Passion kill? absolutely. Kills creativity. I tied one style for a shop owner that a local hero "invented" (explanation: I have personal issues with folks getting all up into patents and uproars over not being credited for inventing a particular design. One fly I tied was a local favorite for shad fishing and the shop owner suggested I name it and claim it, and I simply told him I don't play that game. So - take me with a grain of salt ...). It took a dozen samples with the "inventor" not being happy with my work - then the "inventor" decided he didn't like anyone else tying the pattern so we decided not to do it. There's no law that says the shop can't tie their own version and sell it in spite of anything the "inventor" says, but the owner had a vested interest in demonstrating respect for the "inventor" ("inventor" being a nice gentleman, mind you, just one of those fanatics). Politics in fly tying? You bet.

 

On the others, I enjoyed working with the shop owner on fly design, but when we went to production, the materials and methods had to be exactly duplicated on every fly. The products were nice, but mass produce.

 

Check out the flies guides tie for use. Most will be real workhorses and anything but pretty. They catch fish. Flies in shops catch fishermen.

 

I enjoyed it, may do it again sometime, but yes, the buzz kill factor is very real.

 

One other thing - I was single at the time with a challenging full time job. Tying was relaxing and when I needed it, distracting. For those with family, tying up your evenings with flies (pun intended) can be a profoundly bad decision. If your family is going to sacrifice their relationship with you for a time, it should be for a significant income and goal. Fly tying will not take you there.

[Stilljerkin 0]

I wanted to sell flies also but I did not want to have to keep up with the demand I just wanted to tie on my own time not so it was like a job. I found a way to sell quite a few flies and it's all on your own time. I fish the river everyday and everyday I get asked what do I use. So I took my river vest in and got put on the back (flies for sale) and carry around a box of flies for sale and $2.50 a peace cause your on the river and they don't have to go to the store most people will buy them and you can get more money for your flies. If you don't feel like tying for a week or two you just are sold out an tell them sorry.

[FlyTyer15 0]

I never thought about the signage on my fly vest. I may have to borrow the idea.

[Li'lDave 0]

At the price of the typical dries and nymphs you'd need to tie a lot to make a buck.

 

The guys I know that tie commercially / semi-commercially, all tie saltwater flies OR flies for native australian fish... and have eached attacked the issue a little differently.

 

3 of them tie flies and sell them off the internet. They use facebook, internet forums and other social media to advertise. Two of them have also invested in advertising / sponsorship on these sites. A couple of them also have intermittant supply contracts with their local tackle guys.

 

One of the guys I know sells his ties directly to one of the local tackle stores here.

 

All of them bar one I think uses tying as a supplementary income rather than their primary source.

 

And one or two of the guys I know bartar... flies for services / other flies... or even a couple of dollars for pocket money.

 

I thought about it... but I don't have the time or resources to invest in making a proper go of it.

 

Good luck.

[FlyTyer15 0]

Ya I never planned on making it my go to salary or profession. I though it would be a nice side business. I just had a guy tell me that he is going to make me a list of all the flies he wants me to tie for him.

[TroutFodder 0]

I just came across this thread. For those of you who are interested in selling a few flies as a side hustle, I have set up a co-op/community based website that allows independent fly tiers to post their flies for sale - similar to a Craig's list or Etsy site but with the advantage of leveraging the number of flies offered for sale, all in one place, to increase traffic and sales. Just search troutfodder.com

[chugbug27 0]

What fees, commission, etc do you charge to seller and buyer? How is payment arranged? PayPal? CashApp?

[flytire 0]

check out the website for payment info

 

[TroutFodder 0]

No fee to post an add, a 6% commission is charged to the seller to keep the site running, and most payments are run through PayPal. The goal here is to get enough users signed up so that the selection of flies available makes the site (and flies from each seller) more visible compared to each individual seller trying to maintain and promote their own website and attract buyers (or get lost on non-specific sites like Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, etc.). 

[Mark Knapp 0]

7 hours ago, TroutFodder said:

I just came across this thread. For those of you who are interested in selling a few flies as a side hustle, I have set up a co-op/community based website that allows independent fly tiers to post their flies for sale - similar to a Craig's list or Etsy site but with the advantage of leveraging the number of flies offered for sale, all in one place, to increase traffic and sales. Just search troutfodder.com

While I like the concept and are generally not apposed to it, you must have 40 posts to sell things on this site. Then, we prefer you sell in the "For Sale" sub-forum. After you post in the "For Sale" area it is acceptable to say something like "Check out the new Co-op. fly selling site posted in the "For Sale" forum, and give the link, in this part of the forum.

I understand, that you are providing a nice service and not actually selling your own flies so I am inclined to be lenient on you.

It would be best if we remove this, you wait till you have post 40 posts and then start this in the "For Sale" forum (The Trading Floor).

I'll leave this up a bit to let you get some stuff in order. Then, I'm sorry to say, it must come down.

[chugbug27 0]

2 hours ago, flytire said:

check out the website for payment info

Doesn't have it on there. Not that I found anyways.

[umik1953 0]

Go to the very bottom of the page and click About, then click How It Works

[umik1953 0]

One thing I noticed is that some folks list a range of sizes available but there is no way on the page to specify hook size.

[TroutFodder 0]

It is possible to contact the seller to specify colors and sizes for posts that have multiple options available.

My apologies, it looks like I have violated the forum rules with this post. Mark, again, no problem if you need to remove my posts from the thread.

[upnorthtier 0]

quick question, lets say someone buys 12 flies total from 12 different fly tires , does that person have to pay shipping on all 12 shipping orders if not anyone posting flies on the site will end up costing them more than what is made (shipping 1 fly). also that buyer will be getting 12 different package for the flies bought. the only way this can work is if all the flies posted ship from the same place. Personally I would have not send 100s of flies without some kind of payment.