What to charge dealers??

[JWirth4702]

I am thinking on 'going pro' selling flies & streamers to local dealers.

I will sell them in qty 12. What should I be charging??

I plan on keeping a small inventory of a few dozen each of patterns that sell
best in my area (central NY - broome co).
Jay Wirth
Renaissance Ink
Member GPA

[Tom Littleton]

jwirth asks:
>I am thinking on 'going pro' selling flies & streamers to local dealers.
>
>I will sell them in qty 12. What should I be charging??
>
>

In my experience, the dealers will tell you what they are willing to pay, and
you will either accept it or not. Further, I might suggest that you bring
samples, discuss the matter with them and then plan the process further, before
you build up a stock which may or may not be in any demand. Good luck in your
endeavors.
Tom

[George Adams]

>From:

I know a few folks who were, at one time, commercial tyers. If you are
successful in placing your product with a dealer, or dealers, be prepared to
quote delivery by the gross, rather than the dozen, and be prepared to
specialize in a few patterns, or even a single pattern, that you tie well.
You'll also find that the profit margin is small. There are reasons why these
guys are "ex - commercial" tyers. {;-)

Good luck.


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

[Wolfgang]

"Tom Littleton" > wrote in message
...
> jwirth asks:
> >I am thinking on 'going pro' selling flies & streamers to local dealers.
> >
> >I will sell them in qty 12. What should I be charging??
> >
> >
>
> In my experience, the dealers will tell you what they are willing to pay,
and
> you will either accept it or not. Further, I might suggest that you bring
> samples, discuss the matter with them and then plan the process further,
before
> you build up a stock which may or may not be in any demand. Good luck in
your
> endeavors.
> Tom

Excellent advice. I will only add that, based on my own limited experience
in tying for money, you'll need to be a VERY fast tier if you expect to make
enough money to buy groceries sufficient to replace the calories you burn at
your vise. :)

Wolfgang

[Tom Littleton]

Wolfgang adds:
>ou'll need to be a VERY fast tier if you expect to make
>enough money to buy groceries sufficient to replace the calories you burn at
>your vise. :)

true as can be....cripes,Wolfie, you've seen how large I am, I had to tie like
a sonofabitch just to cover breakfast expenses!
Tom
......who still winces when I remember the
feeling of "what have I bargained for?" when LL Bean sent me the materials for
50 dozen size 8 BlackNose Dace

[Willi]

George Adams wrote:

>>From:
>
>
> I know a few folks who were, at one time, commercial tyers. If you are
> successful in placing your product with a dealer, or dealers, be prepared to
> quote delivery by the gross, rather than the dozen, and be prepared to
> specialize in a few patterns, or even a single pattern, that you tie well.
> You'll also find that the profit margin is small. There are reasons why these
> guys are "ex - commercial" tyers. {;-)
>
> Good luck.


I did some commercial tying when I was poor. I never got good enough at
really cranking them out to make even minimum wage when tying for
distributors or large shops.

I found I got a much better price (ALMOST worth tying) selling them to
small businesses near destinations rather than to big shops, wholesalers
etc. The one exception was tying Pistol Pete's for the distributor. He
paid well and provided all the materials. They were also VERY easy to tie.

I'd have to be VERY poor again before I'd consider it. Competing with
foreign tyers that are paid very little money is tough.

Willi

[Hooked]

"JWirth4702" > wrote in message
...
> I am thinking on 'going pro' selling flies & streamers to local dealers.
>
> I will sell them in qty 12. What should I be charging??
>
> I plan on keeping a small inventory of a few dozen each of patterns that
sell
> best in my area (central NY - broome co).
> Jay Wirth
> Renaissance Ink
> Member GPA

Having read the other replies, which all make very good sense, I would think
that you would be better off coming up with a killer fly that works in your
area, then talk to the local shop and ask if they'll sell them on a
consignment basis. They might just go for it. Unless they have a contract
with Umpqua (or some other big fly tying outfit) that would limit them only
to selling those flies. Or you could just come up with a killer pattern and
try to sell that to Umpqua.

[Holly Flies]

I charge about $8.00 a dozen for dries and a little less for nymphs and
streamers. It's a very competitive business, especially with all of the
companies from out west coming into the market in the east (we're based
in PA).

Paul

JWirth4702 wrote:

>I am thinking on 'going pro' selling flies & streamers to local dealers.
>
>I will sell them in qty 12. What should I be charging??
>
>I plan on keeping a small inventory of a few dozen each of patterns that sell
>best in my area (central NY - broome co).
>Jay Wirth
>Renaissance Ink
>Member GPA
>
>

[riverman]

"Holly Flies" > wrote in message
...
> I charge about $8.00 a dozen for dries and a little less for nymphs and
> streamers. It's a very competitive business, especially with all of the
> companies from out west coming into the market in the east (we're based
> in PA).
>
> Paul

Some quick math here....
$8 a dozen. Tying a dozen flies per half hour means $16 per hour. Tie for 8
hours per day, 6 days a week, that means $768 per week. Which is about $40K
per year, if you work every week. And you produce about 5000 dozen (thats
60,000) flies.

Whew; no time for fishing, no time for anything else. Why would you want to
tie for a living?

--riverman

[George Adams]

>From: "riverman"

>Tying a dozen flies per half hour means $16 per hour. Tie for 8
>hours per day, 6 days a week, that means $768 per week. Which is about $40K
>per year

If you subtract the cost of materials, it looks even worse. Add in the costs of
running a business, (accounting, etc), and it is worse yet. Also, what used to
be a pleasant creative pastime now becomes drudgery....that is the highest cost
of all.


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

[ArnSaga]

<< (George Adams) >><BR><BR>
<< Also, what used to
be a pleasant creative pastime now becomes drudgery....that is the highest cost
of all. >><BR><BR>
That's John Gierach's point in one of his essay/short stories. He went to the
edge of ruining one of his favorite things.
GKT

[Scott Seidman]

"riverman" > wrote in
:

>
> "Holly Flies" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I charge about $8.00 a dozen for dries and a little less for nymphs
>> and streamers. It's a very competitive business, especially with all
>> of the companies from out west coming into the market in the east
>> (we're based in PA).
>>
>> Paul
>
> Some quick math here....
> $8 a dozen. Tying a dozen flies per half hour means $16 per hour. Tie
> for 8 hours per day, 6 days a week, that means $768 per week. Which is
> about $40K per year, if you work every week. And you produce about
> 5000 dozen (thats 60,000) flies.
>
> Whew; no time for fishing, no time for anything else. Why would you
> want to tie for a living?
>
> --riverman
>
>
>

That's if the materials were free!!

Scott