I buy a fair number of fly tying materials online - probably more than I should given all the stuff I already have. I generally like buying materials online, though I would rather purchase materials in person, given the choice. I have a great local fly shop - Driftless Angler in Viroqua - but it is not a shop for the serious fly tyer. And Island Outdoors on French Island (La Crosse) offers a small selection of tying materials, mostly for larger streamers. On trips to see family, I can drop by Musky Fool in the only Waunakee in the world. Musky Fool is a great shop for the fly tyer. However, I end up buying a fair bit of stuff online for a number of reasons.
There are some things that are much easier - or at least more "fool proof" - to buy online. Synthetics are consistent - I know what I am getting when I buy thread, hooks, EP Fibers, estaz, etc. However, many natural materials vary a lot and often that matters a lot. Not all deer hair is created equal, I generally like to look at feathers before buying them - though today there is much less variation in dry fly hackle and buying online is pretty safe - at least for the producers you are familiar with.
For me, a lot of it comes down to trust. There are shops that I trust for certainly materials because experience and reputation shows that they are good at grading materials. To give away a few secrets, you simply cannot beat Blue Ribbon Flies for deer hair. Yeah, I'm sure there are others that do a great job with deer hair but I stock up every other year or so with their Sparkle Dun and X-Caddis hair and a little less often, their Stimulator and Humpy hair. Blue Ribbon Flies is also a go to for softhackle feathers like grouse and woodcock wings and partridge capes. Unless Brad Bohen brings back Primo Tail, the best bucktail I've found is Musky Fool which prepares and dyes their own bucktails and sells thousands of them, I'm sure. For bucktails, while I have bought online, I prefer to pick over the Musky Fool selection in the store myself.
I shop online, in no small part, because I like to explore new and different materials. My local fly shops carry very limited tying supplies so I either have to travel to get my hands on new stuff or I buy it from the comfort of my own home. Admittedly, buying online is a much lazier option, one that I can do in my pajama pants. However, sometimes it can be a little difficult to know exactly what you are buying online.
Here is how I wish every online store presented information about what I am buying online.
All materials should give a quantity. The number of hooks or beads, the number of schlappen feathers, or a weight or an approximate count for a material like marabou, strung saddle feathers, CDC feathers, etc.
There are some materials that do this well - like hair patches tend to be labeled by their dimensions (i.e. 3x4 inches) and their purpose (i.e. comparadun or spinning/body hair) which generally is useful to inform about their uses). However, there can still be a ton of variability in quality and suitability for a particular purpose.
Hooks are a place where quantity is not always provided on the website and should to be. Sure, I can figure it out by looking at other websites that do list the count per container, but I shouldn't have to. Online shops should always list the quantity and, while none that I know of do this, they should all list the cost per hook much like how grocery stores typically list the cost per ounce. Again, I do the math myself but I shouldn't have to.
Any material where length matters - bucktail fibers, schlappen feathers, flash materials, etc. - the range of lengths or the average length of those materials should be in the title or description.
This has largely been an improvement I have seen by most online fly shops. With bucktail, my favorite material for larger streamers, you will typically see shorter fiber tails listed as "Clouser Grade" or something similar and their tails with longer fibers listed as "Musky" or "Grade A" tails.
To me, it costs a shop pretty much nothing to provide a better description of the material. A shop that caters to the fly tyer should provide good, detailed descriptions.
Materials like chenilles and estaz should have some information about the fiber length. Often times they do list a diameter or a fiber length but not as often as I would like to see.
A good online fly tyer-based fly shop will pick out the proper materials for you, if you ask. Use the comments section and ask for the material you would pick out if you were there. Don't ask for "the best" - because that is different for everyone - but let them know you are tying sizes 16 and 18's and want a piece of deer hair for that purpose.
Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone, MT does a great job of grading their deer hair and differentiating it for different purposes. As I look at their website now, I see that their Sparkle Dun hair is currently only available in sizes 14 and above. This is what a good online fly tying shop does.
Bucktails are a material that is hard to buy online, even from a reputable place that really knows their bucktail. Some tails are more coarse and hollow and some are finer and they are both useful but generally for different purposes. Let them know what you plan to use the hair for. Or buy two tails and ask for different properties in each of the tails.
Buying materials online has never been easier or better than it is today. Natural materials are always going to be less of a certainty when you don't have the opportunity to look them over in person. Even with good quality photos, you never quite know what you're going to get with natural materials. However, you can improve the odds that you purchase what you need by buying through a shop you trust and from brands you have good experiences with. For example, marabou is a material that has a ton of variability in the length of fibers, their density, and the how flexible (or inflexible) the stem is. Marabou is often labeled by its purpose and I have had good luck with the Fish Hunter brand and tend to buy that.
My advice is to buy in person when you can. Not only are you supporting "the brick and mortar" store but you get to have a conversation with a fly tyer that knows the materials that they are selling. Online is a great place to do your research but you really can't have the same conversation - and ability to see and touch the materials - like you can in person.
Below are links to Wisconsin-based physical fly shops that have an online fly tying presence and below that are online shops that I have bought from in the past. Use the comments to add places that you have had good success buying online fly tying materials.
Wisconsin Fly Shops for the Fly Tyer
Bill Sherer's We Tie It Fly Shop (Boulder Junction) - Warmwater specialists
Fall Line Outfitters (Stevens Point) - Central Wisconsin specialists
Lund's Fly Shop (River Falls)Â - Musky specialists
Musky Fool (Waunakee) - Musky specialists
The Fly Fishers (Greenfield) - A good bit of everything, Saltwater specialists
Tightlines (De Pere) - Smallmouth Bass specialists
This is not the complete list of Wisconsin fly shops, only those that offer a selection of materials for the fly tyer that wants to buy online. For a complete list, see Wisconsin Fly Fisher's fly shop directory.
Other Online Fly Shops I Have Used
Blue Ribbon Flies (West Yellowstone, MT) - Trout / Soft-Hackle Specialists, many original patterns
Charlie's Fly Box (Arvada, CO) - Trout specialist, custom dyed materials
Clouser's Fly Shop (Pennsylvania) - Smallmouth Bass specialists, Clouser materials
Dakota Angler & Outfitter (Rapid City, SD) - Trout specialists
Feather-Craft Fly Fishing (St. Louis, MO) - All-around fly tying
Fly Fish Food (Orem, UT) - All-around fly tying, many original patterns
Fly Tyer's Dungeon (Florence, MT) - Custom synthetic materials
J. Stockard Fly Fishing (Connecticut) - All-around fly tying
Jim's Fly Company / House of Hackle - Fly Tying Hackle
Nightmare Musky Flies (Eagle River, WI) - Musky and Warmwater specialists
The Fly Shop (Redding, CA) - All-around fly tying, many original patterns
Ole Florida Fly Shop (Boca Raton, FL) - Saltwater specialists
Whitetail Fly Tieing Supplies (Chappel Hill, NC) - All-around fly tying, deer hair specialists
Again, not a complete list but these are ones I have bought from at some point in time. Give me your favorite places to buy online fly tying materials in the comments below.