how much for flies

[scoobyscott]

The Mrs is on a site ' for sale/ wanted in the borders' where you basically sell crap locally that you no longer want/need. Anyway last night someone was looking for trout flies and she asked if I could do it. Half paying attention I said yes and she replied to the guy. He's got back wanting buzzer and hoppers
Now I am not a speedy tyer(10-15) mins a fly but all my materials are quality. So how much is reasonable to charge, I feel £1 a fly makes it worth my while but locally I can pick flies up for 80p. I am not looking to get rich doing this but tie flies every other day and thought if I can make a couple of quid result. What do you reckon, feasible?

[sinbad]

Being colour blind i struggle with fly tying sometimes. Happily paid £1 ea for quality home tied flies recently, but the bigger the amount i get some freebies. Sb.
Maybe would nt be worth your while if haggles too hard or you find it a chore.

[Hill loch gold]

I think £1 is about the going rate fur a half decent troot flea these days. I just bought a rake fur ma trip up north and they were £1 plus each!!  (Am really needing tae get intae tying them again)

[Wildfisher]

I'd say once you count the cost of materials you would need much more that £1 for a basic fly. Trouble  is home based tiers are competing against African or Far East slave labour that churns out flies at a few pennies each so that the likes of GAC can sell them for 80p and still make a vast profit.

Look at it another way - minimum wage is about £6.30  / hour. Do you want to work for less? 

I don't believe, once material costs are taken into consideration,  it is possible to make a profit of £6 / hour tying flies if you only charge £1.00 for them

[sinbad]

The advantage of getting them tied up specifically for yourself is i had a few favourites that i was running low of and left a few as samples to copy as they were nt exactly like anything in a book and got back exactly the flies i wanted. Cant do that in a shop. I paid £1 ea and gave the lad a box of beers as well as i was really chuffed with them .

[Highlander]

You will never be rich tying flies for a living, Ok a bit of pin money perhaps but a living no.
£1 a fly is about right to answer your question but I would expect it to be well tied & in keeping with the pattern for that price.
As Fred says you are competing with the Far East & Africa, in particular Kenya where they have disabled people tying & earning money to survive. It is when they get to the likes of GAC  & the like that the real profit is obtained.
One way to do it though is concentrate on specials & variants of flies that you would not normally see on a standard stock selection. Basically flies tied to order.
When I retire I might do my Clyde Flies for sale (for pin money) as they are not normally available in shops & those that I have seen are poor quality or not keeping to the marque.
Tight Lines

[Wildfisher]

You are spot on Alan. Tie specials that you can't get from the sweat shops.

[scoobyscott]

Highlander your spot on there. Thanks for all the replies, I was never looking to make a fortune out of it. He's after 18 flies so I've told him 15 quid. Not heard back from him yet, Important no fusssed  either way  :

[sewin007]

I think £1 a fly is far too cheap, six flies per hour for an average pattern, minus cost of materials, especial hooks just doesn't add up. I Tye my own and very rarely will I buy flies ( never from Gac or any other major retailer) but if I do iam prepared to pay at least £1.50 because i appreciate the effort, time and skill that goes into producing a good fly.

[Wildfisher]

I think £1 a fly is far too cheap

Agree completely

It is ridiculous to expect a UK tied fly for £1.  What do people expect to  get for their money? 

Quality materials and hooks are far from cheap not to mention the tier's time. How many good flies could be tied in 1 hour?   Work it out - do the maths.  Most people are just not prepared to pay the going rate, and I have to admit if I can buy a Silver Butcher for 50P, why would I pay £1.50 for it?

Dyson vacuum cleaners are not made in the UK any more, they had to ship-out to compete

I'd guess the market for run of the mill UK tied flies is next to non existent, as has been mentioned above specialist flies are probably the way to go.