User Guide
Welcome to our User Guide!
This page will make you an expert member at Flies Canada in no time. We ask all users to become familiar with this page to keep our community safe and operating smoothly. If it is your first time adding a listing, please view the Listing / Selling section before you post. Thank you for taking the time to help maintain our community!
What is Flies Canada?
Fliescanada.ca is your online marketplace for discovering locally tied fishing flies. Created to build a Canadian angler-to-angler community to help everyone share their knowledge and experience easily. Post your fly ties to showcase your favourite patterns today! Both listings for informational purposes and listings for sale are accepted. Please learn more about our mission and the services we offer on our About Us page!
General
Safe Use & Reporting:
This community runs on user submissions and input! Flies Canada could not exist without the contribution and feedback from it’s members as all listings are added from the community itself. We strive to keep things safe, respectful, and authentic here, and ask that you do your part to help make that a reality.
If you see a listing that fails to abide by our Terms and Conditions, or if you experience unsafe communications with a member, use our report feature! It is completely anonymous and notifies our team to investigate the issue. To submit a report simply click the “Report Listing” button located alongside each listing as shown below. If you have further concerns or questions please Contact Us at your convenience.
Terms and Conditions:
We have policies in place to ensure transparency and compliance between us and our users. These policies must be accepted to use our website—please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy to understand how we operate and handle data.
Profiles:
If you choose to create an account with us you will be prompted to add some personal information. We recommend adding a profile picture and writing a brief bio about yourself so other anglers can become familiar with who you are. We offer the option to add external links (Instagram, Youtube, and personal websites) to your Flies Canada profile so users can learn more about your work. If you tie flies under a business name, or prefer a pseudo name (e.g. AB Custom Ties), you may sign up under that name, so long as you are the only one tying the flies listed on the account.
Messaging:
To use our built-in messaging system to contact a seller, simply click the big red “Reply to Listing” button on the listing page or the “Send Message” button on the vendor profile page. To view your conversations, find the messages tab contained in your account. This chat system will also send an email notification to you whenever a new message is received.
Some members find the chat experience on Instagram to be more user friendly and prefer messages sent their instead. Feel free to touch base with each other using our system and migrate there for convenience! Using Instagram for this purpose can also help build trust by being linked to an already established public profile.
Listing / Selling
Creating a listing:
To submit a listing to our marketplace, follow the steps below. Example listings can be viewed here and here for your reference.
- Click the big red “+” button located at the top right corner of our website.
- Select which province you are located in.
- Add details for your listing. All fields are required unless marked as optional. Guidelines for each field are as follows:
- Images:
You may add up to 6 images with your listing. Each image must not exceed a file size of 5MB. The first image uploaded will be used as the listing’s main image that gets displayed on our marketplace. To keep our marketplace clean and easy to navigate, please only use a high resolution image of a single fly as your primary photo. Do not use collage images, or an image containing numerous flies as your primary photo. Do not upload images with any form of text or art edited onto the photo.
- Title:
Create a concise title for your listing that explains what is for sale. Mention the fly pattern and colour only. Do not include descriptive or promotional words such as “Best Seller”, your name, or any special characters apart from dashes.
- Tags (Optional):
Tags are descriptive words and/or phrases (keywords) used to help our website’s search function display related listings. When a user searches for a certain product, these terms help your product show up in the results. We recommend adding a list of terms that are related to the product you are offering. Think of what a user might type in to the search bar to find your product and include different spellings if applicable. Any tags entered will not be displayed on your listing and are solely for back-end use. We allow a maximum of 150 characters. Separate each word or phrase with a comma.
- For Sale:
Select whether your listing is for sale (Yes), or if it is for informational purposes only (No).
- Price:
Enter the price of your listing here, per fly, if applicable. Even if you are selling your flies in half-dozens or otherwise, enter the price breakdown per fly. If you are posting a listing for informational purposes only, enter 0.
- Shipping cost:
Select whether shipping terms will need to be discussed (TBD) with your buyers, or if you will offer free shipping on your listing. If you are posting a listing for informational purposes only, select N/A
- MOQ:
Enter the minimum order quantity (MOQ) that a buyer must purchase from you to do business. If you only sell flies in groups, for shipping reasons or otherwise, enter the fewest number of flies a customer must buy to place an order. It is common to sell flies in half dozens but you may set any MOQ you prefer. If you are posting a listing for informational purposes only, enter 0.
- Customizable:
Select yes or no if you will accept custom modifications on your listing. Are your flies pre-tied so they can’t be customized, or will you be tying to order and offer different options/features? If you are posting a listing for informational purposes only, select N/A.
- Size available:
Input the hook size(s) available on your listing. If not for sale, enter the range of size you prefer to tie on. Only numbers and a dash will be accepted in this field.
- Fly type:
Select the applicable fly types for your listing. A maximum of 3 selections will be accepted. If you do not see your fly type listed, please select the closest options available and contact us to have it added.
- Payment accepted:
Select all payment methods that you can accept. E-transfer is typically the most preferred option. If you are posting a listing for informational purposes only, select N/A. If you will accept trades, beer, or other, please specify in your description. Flies Canada will not settle disputes aroused by a poor taste in beer.
- Description
Your product description should include as much detail as possible. Do not include any phone numbers and/or email addresses here, only share contact info via our messaging system to prevent spam. Consider including the fly recipe, all materials used, the best way to contact you, customizations that are accepted, payment terms accepted (if “other” was selected above), processing times, tips, and any more important info. If you have links to your social media or personal website listed on your account, ask users to find the links on your profile to check out more of your work.
4. Agree to our Terms and Conditions and click Submit!
All listings will be moderated as soon as possible. You will receive an email as soon as we make a decision.
Editing a listing:
To edit one of your existing listings, go the My Account page and select the “Listings” tab. From here, simply select the listing you want to change and make the edits you require!
Removing a listing:
To delete one of your existing listings, go the My Account page and select the “Listings” tab. Select the listing you would like to remove just as you would to edit it, then find the delete button located on the top of the page.
Shipping orders:
Flies Canada recommends using Canada Post’s Lettermail service to ship any order within Canada. Although this option is not trackable, it is extremely economical and reliable. To qualify for Lettermail, your package cannot exceed the following:
Dimensions: 380 mm (14.9 in.) x 270 mm (10.6 in.) x 20 mm (0.8 in.)
Weight: 500 g (17.6 oz.)
*taken from Canada Post’s Lettermail Guideline
For the best results, package your flies in a slim cardboard box and ship it enclosed in a non-padded envelope (ensuring the package does not exceed 2cm on its shortest side). If thin boxes aren’t easily available, packaging your flies in zippered plastic bags and enclosing them in padded bubble-mailers typically will suffice. Please note that shipping in bubble mailers opposed to cardboard boxes can flatten and/or damage certain flies.
Buyers and Sellers alike, please make effort to thoroughly discuss shipping options with the person you are doing business with. Explain all costs up front, and agree on the best option for both parties. If a package is greater than 2cm on its shortest side with Canada Post, the shipping cost increases significantly.
Browsing / Buying
Navigation:
Our marketplace is designed with detailed filter/sorting tools for your convenience. To get the best results and find listings you are looking for, please use them accordingly! Please note that the search bar located on our homepage and on our marketplace page will only show results of available listings. Alternatively, the search bar located on our Tyers page will only show results of Tyer profiles.
On a mobile device you will see the options as shown below. Apart from searching for keywords, press the filter button to select the specific options you would like to have displayed.
Contacting a tyer:
To get in touch with a tyer, please use our built-in messaging system as explained above, or use Instagram direct messaging.
Please only contact members with inquiries related to their listings. Any form of unauthorized marketing, promotions, and/or spam is prohibited.
When applicable, only send personal information if/when you feel comfortable doing so. Check out a tyer’s profile for reviews and view their Instagram to help ensure legitimacy. If a tyer requests information that is not relevant or suspicious, do not do business with them and report their account.
Sending payment:
When you feel comfortable purchasing from a seller, discuss what payment option works best for both parties. The majority of tyers do not operate their own website and are unable to accept credit card. In result, most sellers prefer E-transfers as the most cost-effective and convenient method. E-transfers are secure, fast, and typically free to send and receive.
If a seller lists other available payment options, feel free to ask them for more info. Do not offer any form of non-monetary payment such as trades or beer, strictly unless mentioned in the listing.
Please remember that Flies Canada does not act as a third-party processor for any payments sent between members. We cannot guarantee, insure, or refund any payments sent. In hand, we take zero commission from any sale to ensure all proceeds go to the tyer.
Writing reviews:
Share the love! A review is worth its weight in gold to our local tyers. Provide your honest feedback to further support the entire community. Positive and negative feedback alike, we all use reviews to help make a better-informed decision.
Please don’t be afraid to use the button, readily available on all listings!
