Beav - my posts were 27 minutes apart. It only takes 3 minutes to make popcorn in the microwave.

Figured you still used Jiffy Pop,lol.

In today's market a trapper has to be a little more savvy, timing of the sale, location of the sale, what is being offered, what section of fur you are selling. Absolutely nothing wrong if you have a good relationship with a country buyer. If you sell green on the carcass the international auctions are not an avenue for you. Sometimes local state or country auction are a good avenue.
I sell most of my castor to a private buyer for cash in hand.
I handle all my own fur and sell at international auction, certain skins I will dress and sell privately, I look for taxidermy sales for unique catches.
If you like to follow the sale on-line and listen to the live auction NAFA.
If the sale is in Toronto or North Bay, NAFA
If the sale is in Helsinki, FHA
Coyotes NAFA
Beaver FHA
If the sale is early keep a close eye on what is being offered and how much of an offering?
The point is, try to figure out what goods you have and what works best for you.
Watch the commission rates 11% at FHA 9% at NAFA if you buy the WFSC membership.
Not an issue for the US shippers but a big one for Canadian Shippers is the exchange rate NAFA is the average rate over the sale, FHA ding you an extra 2%
If shipping to international auction you have the option of a magazine NAFA 2 issue a year FHA one; same price.
With the WFSC (NAFA) you receive videos/DVD on fur handling so far a muskrat DVD and a beaver DVD, Coyote/Fox this fall, followed by Raccoon.
FHA nothing along those lines.
Another important factor can be fur pick-ups if the pickup is right in front of you kind of a no brainer, both companies run pickups, advantage to NAFA if you are a WFSC member free pickup at their trucks.
Figure out what works for you,
Things can change fast.
Jim

How much for the wfsc membership?

Thanks Gibb! Great explanation.

I just know when I started sending my fur to FHA instead of selling to a local buyer my average price went up. Even with the local buyers one will pay more different than the other. It took me years before finding a local buyer that was better to work with then others. But sending my fur out was a good decision.

What worries me about FHA is if they will be around in a few years. They basically went bankrupt once and reformed into the present day auction house. Seems like they are always running around trying to get with other auction houses to try and sell their fur. They are even trying to get more into ranch fur.

Maybe they are just evolving. But they need to evolve and update their internet access.

Funny others mention it..I use both auction houses but Ive started to follow a model for me,,
My fox dont grade well at FH. My beaver do.

I finally sent some raccoon to FH just to see where they'd section and they all went Canadian which I was pleased with. My coon arent semi but I worried they would go there and they didnt. So coons to me are up in the air. My fox and especially my lower grade fox do better at Nafa.

You just kind of figure it out as you go...until a year or two when it all changes lol.

Mink, if I'm not mistaken both auction houses "reorganized" at some point in their existences. FHA was able to burn the mortgage on their house a few years back so I think they're on pretty solid financial footing. True, they are way behind Nafa with the I.T. bells and whistles.

One thing I will say, no matter who you ship to at some point you will feel that you got burned on something. Or, coversely, at some point you will think you made out like a bandit. That's auction houses.

I one time convinced a local fellow trapper that he shouldn't accept a low offer at our local association sale and instead send his otters off to FHA. (He was offered $45 locally) So he sent them off to FHA and they eventually sold for $35 ....and he didn't see his money until the middle of summer! To this day he hates FHA and will never ship to them again. But that is the vagaries of the fur market. If those otter had sold at the earlier FHA auction he would have doubled his local offer.

Those are good points. And for the record I do hope both North American auction houses stay afloat and keep competing for everyone’s fur.

When shipping to international auction and avoiding the middleman the rewards are greater but so too are the risks. When the market is hot you make out well, the problem is when the market tanks which always happens at some point, you will take the hit. Anybody who has been in the skin game for any amount of time will have this experience.
Using a local buyer can somewhat isolate you from this experience but this selling route is quickly disappearing which has led to more and more trappers either quitting or having had to learn how to put up their own fur.

Gibb, how in the world are the auctions not a middle man?

A middle man buys from the producer and sells to the retailer/customer/user.

Last time I checked the auction houses don't buy anything.

The ones wanting and using the fur are coming and buying direct.Guess you could call the auctioneer a middleman or link for trapper to user.These local buyers running around like army ants buying fur and telling every story under the sun to buy fur and then put it on Nafa truck.I know who does here.People are starting to finally wake up I think.It all winds up there anyway,even though it is a big secret.Next you will read replies of those trying to defend their cause so they can continue to carry on,lol.Why is there so many dealer protected lots at Nafa if they don't ship your fur,I mean their fur there?

A hundred bucks, but it's a five year membership. They take it out of your first fur check and you get a 2% discount on the commission (9% instead of 11) and a dividend payment every so often as a WFSC member. It's a good deal if you ship a thousand bucks or more of fur each year. (2% of $1000 is $20, times 5 years and you've made your bait back, and you get the member dividend.) The downside to selling to any auction house, of course, is having to wait for your money, and not having any assurance your fur will sell. I've had stuff sit in cold storage at NAFA for more than 2 years before selling.

Groeny is a middleman I believe

Mr. Spencer -

The WFSC at NAFA has changed. It is now $25.00 per year. Charged on a yearly basis. No longer a 5 year deal.

Membership starts on November 1, 2017 and runs to October 31, 2018. As an example.

The benefits remain the same.

Don't forget that free shipping come with the WFSC membership.

The auction house would be considered a broker. Charging a fee to sell your goods. Therefore being a middleman. And then many other brokers will buy furs at nafa for customers in say china. Then said customers will do some sort of processing and sell to the next step and so on so forth
Some of the brokers that buy at nafa do buy from buyers in the country. But what do I know? I'm just an ant

To me is it all come to how fast you need your money and who will give you the most.Also how much you need to pay out before you get your money from them and how fast they move your fur for you.I know that NAFA had change alot for years ago when I use to ship to them.Then they had there fire sale on coon ,when year ago they would not sell the coon unless they got the min. of what they where asking for.I sell to a local fur buyer now that do not sell to any auction house just to the ones that use the fur.I have talk with some also they use to sell to NAFA and told some not too good things and then they went to sell some of there furs to FHA.Beside to the same fur buyer I deal with.Also for what you pay on commission and get in the end and what you would get from who ever else you sell to.For me who I sell to I got more then what the auction house gave me with the 9% that I paid out.I know it all will see what will work for you.wissmiss you are so right about how NAFA had change on what you stated for the change.