Mark you are lucky, we run about 85% carcass, 10% green and 5% finished fur, and when they bring in carcass stuff its by the truck load, thats why I think sorting and trying to identify half dozen differnet grades is a guess at best. Good luck to ya Mark we might need it this season. I am going to have one more cold one and try and get one last full nights sleep until May.

Shane

mark no i know exactly what i am saying is true as i was standing right there when they went to the window of the truck and seen what happened so is not hear say and another thing that gets funny is i have also offered guys more money for rats before and they sold for less to groney which makes no sense to me but it was their loss and groneys gain...

Mark, As I have said before this should make it easy for you to buy fur. Talking about turning money by going down the street and selling to Gronewald. What would make me want to sell you fur if you just sell to someone down the street? Can't the people you buy from sell to Gronewald and cut out the commissions you are charging? I just can't figure this one out. I do know you have other markets, you have told me that. But you sure speek big of Gronewald. I have sold to him and won't both to drive over to meet them anymore. They were just paying low avgs and not even looking at the fur. Pretty much counting it.

same concept as why sell in the country to a buyer whos gonna ship your fur to Canada anyway?

why not cut out the middle guy(in this case the country buyer) and make the extra money youd get in most cases, in most years from canada yourself?

Cause

Cathryn is absolutly right!!!

Fur buyers will be stealing fur this year.

Finance 101: Money now is worth more than money later.

With the way the economy is in now and how much worse it has yet to go, the above is especially true. With NAFA vs your fur buyer,if that is where his/her fur goes to in the end, if you do not think you can get at least a 7% better price after the commission and shipping costs than your local would give, sell it local.

cathryn might be right for some of it but i dont sell to grony or the canadian auctions...

If you play the auction the right way you will come out ahead.
Put up your best of the best and ship It. It will get you higher prices then in the country and you will In about 99% of the time get 100% clearences.
Sell your off goods in the country.

Everyone keeps talking of 100% clearance.....fill me in? Not sure what is is implying

Mink how much of your money did you lay on the line last year and buy fur with,this is the kind of stuff that just makes me sick when I see it.I still own all the fur I bought last year,and I may have to hold everything this year,so where to you come off that were stealing fur in the country.I wonder if you could go two maybe three years with out paycheck. I bet not.

Finance 101: Money now is worth more than money later.

I have a question for you SniperBBB then why do we have the stock market?,saving accounts,401k's,IRA's,money markets, there is a hole in the bottom of your finance 101 bucket.There would be no reason for anyone to invest in anything if everyone used this line of thinking.
Now as far as selling fur it all depends on what you feel is fair and right at the time your selling.I have sold fur just about everywhere,and there have been times I was happy,then there have been times I puked.This is the fur market,and market's go up and down,but for some reason trappers every year want a locked in stone number before they start trapping.Call groney and see if you get that locked in number,and I know why you wont get that locked in number,because markets go up and down and they know that.

To all that feel fur is to cheap right now,well maybe you should be buying fur instead of selling it,just jump right in and bring a fat check book with you,and belly up to the table to buy some work.I know I said buying work,because that is what your doing when you buy fur,it's work and most folks try to run from that now day's..................Ringtailtrapper

As trappers, if we get overly concerned with all the ways we get shafted on the price of our fur, we would hang up traps and never do it. These days you almost have to accept you are not going to get fair compensation.

I'm not blaming local buyers because they are at the mercy of the international trade too. Last year many of them paid too much for fur and now are in some trouble.

this and that........... want did everyone get for their hides?? high/low. thanks scott

Selling everything you offered.

ringtail you are right,how much money did mink sink in the fur last year to buy with? i bet nothing at all....

But ringtail, don't forget to mention the years the local buyers made out like a bandit when those coons were bringing $25 to $30 at NAFA but the trapper was only paid half that.The bottom line is the country buyer buys to make money. Why else would they be around. Why don't they just ship their own stuff to the auction instead of buying and adding to their personal fur? To make money. If I am offered $5 for my coons, then I expect to get $10 at the auction.

tbn sure I try to make money what part about the work dont you understand,gee you think I like the smell of coon and beaver fat every day,and as far as 25-30 dollar coon a NFA that happen for about three maybe four sales and then we have no clearance.$5 and sell for $10 well my profit has never been like that more like 20% if your lucky,gee I dont know what world some of you live in,please excuess me I have to go puke.....Ringtailtrapper

Then go puke. Much like you whiners that [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] about taxidermy prices? You think I like to smell coon and beaver fat everyday. Anybody that wants to put up a smoke screen to uneducated people that is fine,but it won't fly with me. You mean to tell me that prices are so bad from last year and there are 200,000 coon left unsold and you guys are going to buy for $5,put up,ship,wait for your check for $5 a coon? Jeez, you are a real generous guy who don't buy to make a profit but rather are just doing everybody a huge favor. If you lost your arse last year just like everybody else claims,why are you doing it again? Must have a real friendly banker. I am friends with a local buyer whom I have sold to in the past. He will flat out tell you,he expects to make $5 a coon at NAFA. So if he is paying me $5 and makes $5 then that adds up to $10! Why would anybody mess with you when they can send to the same place you and everyone else does and make more money? Whine all you want,I don't buy it.

Well said Ringtail.
What a lot of you fellas don't understand about a buyer shipping fur to the same company that auctions off your trapped fur is this. A buyer will get a goodly amt. more for fur than the trapper does at the same auction. A lot of buyers that know what is going on will pay just as well if not better than the auction can get for the trappers fur.
Makes you wonder how this happens don't it? Well it happens because the buyer has more contol over the fur that he has on the sale , than you do, as a trapper.
A buyer that full lots his own fur, decides at what price he wants to sell his fur at. This in turn can and does bring the buyer more money than the trapper gets for the same typ of fur.
As ringtail put it, all a country buyer is doing is buying himself and a couple of employees work to do.
One other thing a lot of fellas over look is this. We also have buyers that manufacture their own coats. These guys will buy from a country buyer at the same level or higher at times than the country buyer can get from the auction house.
When a country buyer sells direct, he is helping the trapper, himself and the end user. You may ask, how is this possible. Well it is possible because the end user has saved himself a good 15-20 percent by going direct to a country buyer. The end user has saved money on commision rates, handling fees, and lots of times shipping fees. This money in turn goes back into the pocket of the country buyer and then in turn is given back to the trapper.
Fellas there may be a few country buyers that are crooks, but by golly there are a lot of them that are as honest as the day is long.

tbn if you think its that easy then put up some money and buy fur and see what happens? odds are you wont...also not every buyer sends fur to the canadian auctions as you think they do...if we made $5 or as you say double what we pay all buyers would be rich...