Okay so I have a great pedigree dog and I'm struggling with what to put as a stud fee.

I was always told it's the price of a puppy but a breeder that wants to use my boy said the average is £900. They sell pups for £1500 each.
Another person said £900 is too high but sells pups for £2k each.

I've put a lot of time and effort into my stud, extensive health testing, training, showing etc. one of the breeder even made me do a sperm count check.
Should I be charging more for stud fee? Of course I want his bloodline to continue but I've been told I'm being taken advantage of because I am new to this.

It's best to find out what other people in your breed are doing. But also you have a lot of control - you set the terms and conditions.

We've just used a stud dog and the deal with a £500 fee up front for the 'service' part of things (non-refundable, but free return if no pups) and then £120 per pup born alive.

Previously, it has just been a flat fee... So you get to set it all up but get a contract done and don't rely on verbal agreement.

I can't believe how much things have changed since I was breeding/showing.  At that time, the cost of a stud was usually the cost of a puppy.  We had a Stud Contract which spelt out our terms which included a free repeat should there be no puppies, or fewer than 2. 

If I were you, and provided you have done all the testing, and been successful with him in the ring (not necessarily with a Ch. title because these are hard to get even if the dog is of top quality), I'd ask round re what is the going rate for a sgud from a top quality dog of your breed, and set your fee accordingly.   I wanted the fee at time of service unless it was a first time mating in which case I waived the fee until the dog was proven (puppies on the ground).   And in fact, most breeders would use their new dog on their own bitch first, mainly to see what he produces.

I would just stress that before you get into any of this, you should know that once used, the male will be looking for the next one, who may not necessarily be there!!  In other words, you may be opening Pandora's Box!!  It's often a case of what he doesn't know, he won't miss.  As for wanting his bloodline to continue - that will probably happen via the dog's sire/dam without using your male.

It used to be the cost of a puppy, but puppies are so expensive nowadays that the practice has changed. As 1234 said, now it's common to charge a fee for the service then an amount per live puppy. £500 for the service seems a reasonable amount to me, the amount per puppy is hugely negotiable but remember the breeder is doing all the work. They're the ones sleeping by the side of the whelping box 24/7 and they're the ones that have the expense and worry of rearing a litter.

You can ask what you like, people will either use him or not. Stud fees have always differed hugely, when I made up my 1st borzoi and a couple of well known breeders wanted to use him, the first one agreed on a puppy as his stud fee, pups at the time were around £400. The other breeder said she only charged £50 for a stud fee for her dog, who was OD top stud at the time and a very well known champion, so when she used my boy she took £50 off the price of the puppy I wanted, I was young and very new to showing so didn't negotiate

It's very much breed related. In some breeds it's the price of a pup. In other breeds it's much less than that. (In some it's even just a couple of hundred.) Some will charge less -or even nothing at all- for a mating if the dog isn't proven yet.

For an unproven dog without a good show record (I'm assuming he hasn't been shown or you'd have said) then it's best to charge a nominal fee of about £200 at the time of mating ('for the use of the dog') and state in your stud contract that at further amount - either a lump sum or an amount per puppy born.

Thanks all.
He's proven and had semen assessment.
Has been shown
Has been doing sports and has a few small titles.
Exceptional temperament.

I decided to keep stud fee the price I paid for him.