Depends what syle of music your nights going to be, although i'm guessing since you've posted it in a techno forum its gonna be techno?

House dj's are a lot more expensive than techno ones (in general) We've done a load of house parties (excuse the pun) and they tend to be more expensive to put on. It also depends on how long your night has been running for, and your bargaining skills. Not mentioning any names as i know dj's dont like to discuss thier fee's but one dj when we first booked him was not far off the 2 grad mark plus driver, but the last time we booked him (we've booked him 3 times) he was a grand all in.

Agencies have a tendancy to bump the price up for nights that are just starting out as they are untried and the agency has no clue on whether your night will be busy e.t.c They will sometimes tell you to put an offer in for a dj rather than give you a definative price. The problem with this is that most inexperienced promoters will offer an amount they think a dj is worth, which tends to always be more than what an agency will except for a dj.

Techno dj's seam to be cheaper, we have only put on 2 techno parties, due to Holodeck being the main night for Techno in South Wales and we didnt want tot tread on their toes (im a resident for them so would be like shooting myself in the foot lol) The SUF guys are spot on and we had Guy Mcaffer down to Swansea for an absolutely wicked deal. Ade Fenton was a decent price as well. As is always the case with the techno community compared to other genre's everyone seams a lot more interested in having a party rather than ripping everyone off.

I'd say 500 quid should get you a decent enough name in the techno scence as long as you strike up a good relationship with the agent, and as long as your not hoping to get a Verala or a Clarke!

Booking more than one dj from the same agency will also normally get you a good deal.