I gave the owner of a local tackle shop one of my business cards. I have been receiving orders through him, from his customers. He also builds rods, but says that the rods I produce are better quality than he can build, and he doesn't have the time to build rods to sell. When someone wants to get a rod built, he quotes them a price, and then calls me with the order so I can choose the blank reel seat ECT.... I then contact him with the components I choose, he orders them and I build the rod. I have been making about $20 - $25 profit, and he says that the shop is getting $20 profit on each rod. My question is: Am I getting ripped off? If I am, should I tell him to quote the customer a higher price, or tell him the shop needs to make a bit less profit? I would appreciate any advice, because I am new at having a "dealer" for my rods.
Thanks,
-Josh

You're building a rod, start to finish, for $20 to $25 profit? You could make more money bagging fries at McDonalds - a lot more.

Seriously, I wouldn't bother even starting to build a rod for less than $100 net profit. But I don't know if you're in this to make money or not. If you're just wanting something to do, okay, but if you're in this to make money, $25 a rod is at the very bottom of the barrel. Did you read the recent series of articles on rod pricing in RodMaker?

Even simple rods can generally be figured at a single day's labor. So you're looking at what, $3 per hour? And if you take out your incendental costs, you're making even less. Of course, his customers may not be willing to pay more, but even so, with your $25 and his $20, if those rods are any good, the customers are getting one heck of a deal.

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What is the shop selling the rods for?? What is his cost for the components? No matter what, you are getting ripped off!!!!!!! You should be buying the parts yourself and setting the price to him for a fair profit to you and if he wants to mark them up, fine.. Are the rods being sold as his or is your name on them?

Mike

The rods are being sold with my name on them. They are mostly all just simple fishing rods,no real intricate threadwork on them, but in my opinion, they are all high quality. I am selling rods trying to get some income, but it is mostly a hobby that I can get paid for. If you would like to see some photos of rods I've built you can go to my site www.geocities.com/customfishrods and click the photos page, maybe you could help me get a better idea of what I should be making profit.
Thanks again,
-Josh

I guess the bottom line, is whether or not you're happy with the profit you're making. If you had enough orders to keep you busy 40 hours per week, and you were going to make $25 per rod for each rod you could build in that time, what kind of income would it provide you?


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Josh, if I was the guy running that baitshop, I'd be telling you how much better your rods are than the ones I could build and lots of other carrots to dangle in front of ya, too!! No, that deals not a good one; not good at all.

Putter
Williston, ND

How much time does it take you to design and build the rod
- Selecting parts
- Guide placement
- Test casting
- Guide foot prep
- Grip installation
- Wrapping
- Color Preserver (if used)
- Finishing
- Plus all the little things that go on in between each step.
- That doesn't include the administrative/overhead sorts of costs such as delivering rods to the shop, tax paperwork, etc...

Add up all the hours and divide by $25... if you are happy making that much profit... great. As for me, my time is way more valuable than that and my wife would kill me if I was only making $3 / hour for all the time I spend in the garage in the evening.

Go get the last two issues of Rodmaker and see what other rodbuilders are charging for different aspects of rodbuilding and read the advise offered by many. Some very good sage advice in those issues.

Think of it this way... If you price the rods so that you sell 1/4 of the rods you currently sell but get 4-times as much profit on each rod, you are coming out way ahead of the game.

Depending on the part of the country in which you live, and the type of rods you are building, I would think that $100 profit per rod might be a reasonable starting point.

Erik

Hi Josh.
I build a rod (one color wraps and no thread works) for 50 bucks.
That includes customers thread color of choice, guide prep, static stress distribution reelseat and handles of choice.
If I make buttwraps or multicolorwraps I will charge 100 Bucks.
I sell the components with price as listed in the place I buy them from, but I get about 40% off the listprice.
So i make about 70-150 bucks per rod, depending on how mutch I decorate them and how mutch time is involved.
I could make more but I dont consider myself a proffessional, even though I´ve been building rods for a good four years now and consider my rods very good quality...
To me this is just a hobby witch brings in some money now and then.
I build lures too and to me theres slightly more money involved but building a rod now and then is a good change in the pattern.

Hi Josh I had a custom rod shop for about 25yrs. I am now semi retired. I occasionally had to hire an other custom rod builder to take over my over load. I paid him 75.OO buck for a simple no frills 7ft. Spinning rod. I was selling those rods for about 170 buck I still made money. I also supplied all the materials. That was 10yrs ago. What kind of label are you putting on the rod that identifies you were the builder. Also what is this guy getting for your rods?
Good Wraps Bob

Josh, the problem I see is you are just an employee of the tackle shop. Mike is right! You should be the one setting the price for your work, not someone else. IMHO of course.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Josh,
If you are building the rods because you enjoy it and are treating it as a hobby then it seems to me that the only question you have to ask yourself is are you being treated fairly and not being taken advantage of by the shop owner. If he is splitting the profit with you and thinks that he can not charge more, questionable in my mind, then maybe the answer is yes and the absolute amount of money is somewhat irrelevant.

On the other hand it you want to treat your rod building more as a business then I would agree with the others. If you consider the cost of heat, lights, automobile mileage, excess tax, which I assume you are paying, and other incidentals then I doubt that you are even breaking even at $25 per rod. With the present situation you are basically just supplying the shop owner with very, very cheap but skilled labor. You might even look at it from the standpoint that you are just breaking even or losing money to subsidize the shop owners business.

But I think that the first question you have to ask yourself is, is this a hobby that I just want to enjoy or is what I am doing a business which I naturally expect to make money doing. I think that this is the key question that many custom rod builders do not clearly resolve for themselves.

I'm in full agreement with most of what has been said. If you're happy, then that is the most important factor...BUT I lean toward the 'no less than $100' crowd. I personally build by that philosophy (most of the time). The only time I might go below $100 profit is on 'spec' rods I might build to sell in my storefront (actually in a rod rack at my restaurant). Customer ordered 'custom' rods rarely fall below that $100 mark and many of them go for $200-$250 profit. I believe there are other builders that profit way more than that on their works and artisanship.

Your specific question was "am I getting ripped off?" My short answer is, yes you are. Do whatever it is that makes YOU happy. You are the one in controle of this situation. If that store owner wants to sell custom rods he needs to understand that you, and only you, set your price. He should be the one responsible for taking the finished product and marking it up to make his profit. Best of luck!

Jay

You asked here so it is worring you.
Talk to the guy. You could just tell him you want X amount and see if he goes along.
What does your guts tell you ??

I'm will Bill. Set your price and see if the shop owner will accept it. He's already said you build a nicer rod than he does.

Josh: who supplies the materials, how long does it take you from start to finish to complete a rod? I am from Washington State and a minium wage here is I believe more than 7.65 hr. From what I see you are not making a minium wage
Good Wraps Bob

Bob: The shop owner has been ordering a lot of the materials, unless it is something that he can not get, which in that case I order it. The last rod that I built for him took about 7 hours of labor and I made $25 profit which comes out to $ 3.50 per hour. I'm going to talk to him ASAP and tell him to consult with me before quoting any more prices.

Thank you for your input,

-Josh

Josh,

I'm with the other guy's, considering the time it takes to build a MODEST custom rod, $100 is bare minimum profit I would accept.

Bill in WV

Josh that is the correct way to do business, do it with the party involved . when I had my customers totally involved in the building of their custom rod. From the type of blank, guides and reelseat to use and explain whey you suggested these items. Also, when it came to length of butt section and diameter of the butt section, I had samples that they could feel for texture and how comfortable it feels. This is vary important! If the handle section does not fit comfortably to the customer, it reflects back to your workmanship. Anyone can be a copycat of a manufactured rod, but it takes a craftsman to design a custom rod. It is like having a. 1938 three windowed Ford Cope. You want it chopped lowered have the lights Frenched in and have a custom paint job sprayed on. That has air brushed Flames that fad out. Now where do you take your car? Joe’s Auto Body or Jimmy Johnson's Custom Auto Body Shop. You make the chose.. What decision are you allowed to make when building these rods
Good Wraps Bob

perhaps you should deal with the owners of the rods, order your own parts, he gets you the customers and you give him a cut. If you are doing a lot of rods, he may be low balling on the prices?

I too do rods pretty cheap. But I am just starting out and doing them for friends, family and co-workers. But I am still making more than $20 to $25 per rod. I get around $15 profit for an Ice Rod and that takes way less time than a full sized rod. The guy is taking advantage of you.