Buying Flies on ebay : eBay Guides

When buying flies on ebay please stop for a second and think. The bottom line in any transaction is cost v quality. If your flies cost less than 50 pence each where is the quality?

I tie and sell flies as a sideline to my guiding. I buy top quality chemically sharpened hooks by the 1000 to lower cost to me and the customer. These hooks still cost about 5 pence each even in large numbers. I pay myself to tie flies, as I do need the income. So I reckon on £10 an hour being a fair wage.  On top of this I should add the cost of running a fly tying room. Lighting and heating etc but I don't factor that into my costing as yet.

Materials with the exception of rare feathers seem cheap, however if I tie 100 size 12 flies from a grade one genentic cape and can't use the other feathers for anything then those feathers have cost a minimum. of 30 pence each . I have literlly hundreds of feather to tie size 8 and  larger flies but the demand for thse is much less than the smaller patterns.

I could cut corners by getting my flies tied abroad in China, Sri Lanka or some of the African sweat shops. I could even get them tied to order abroad by the reputablefly companies such as Fulling Mill, but unless I need 60 dozen of a particular style this is not cost effective and I lose the personal touch.  So my flies end up costing more to make and therefore cost you the buyer more.

What I can give you is guaranteed quality of hook, material and tying. I can change the redipie to suit you and your fishing and I can deal in orders of less than a dozen. So please, Think before you but cheap flies. Try out some ofm ine and compare the quality. I'll always refund your money if you return anything you don't like. That said I have yet to have any fly returned.

Happy Bidding and happy fishing ................Reevo