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Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:26 pm
by barebackjack
lyonch wrote: Now for this season, i am hearing that you can expect a 3% commission back since the auction house did so well last year. Now this won't show on your account until next season, but 3% on your total would equal roughly $97.

This is only for council sellers, and from what I understand is a sort of "profit sharing" program, you can cash it out next year, or "let it ride" in which case it will gain a certain percentage (higher or lower) each year depending on auction success.

Heres my hangup with NAFA (and FHA for that matter).

I send a $50 coyote up there. It sells for what its worth, $50.
They stick me with a $1 drumming fee, now a $49 coyote.
They stick me with a commission, 9-11%, lets say 9%. Now a $44.50 coyote.

If you know how to grade fur, you have more power doing your own marketing. I might not see the highs on top end stuff like you see at NAFA, but I can negotiate a better average, and average is what makes or breaks you. So many guys that send to auction are so quick to quote their highs, but average is where its at.

Doing ones own marketing also allows one to take advantage of speculative buying (which could be quite lucrative) from non-auction buyers in December before theres any auctions to set a price.

Not to mention, if a price agreement isnt met, you can take your fur and leave when doing your own marketing.

That being said, in a good fur year like we're shaping up to have for a lot of species, you cant hardly go wrong no matter how you sell. And even in a bad year, high quality goods will ALWAYS be worth a decent price. There is always demand for quality goods, and quality goods are always somewhat rare. Simple supply and demand.
The problem always lies in the average goods in average years. Ive seen decent fur practically given away at NAFA, which tends to anger the guys who had stuff in the auction. Take the coyote liquidation of 2008/2009 for example. NAFA let a couple years worth of carry over, and the current years take go for practically pennies on the dollar. Now, in the long run, this wasnt a bad thing as it eliminated a surplus supply and, with increased demand in China, is partly responsible for the prices of 2010 and 2011. But, for a trapper with a bunch of coyotes up there that year, he took a big shot in the pills that year and likely would have done better selling more locally.

NAFA had a pretty bad rap for some years because they spent the majority of their efforts in marketing ranch fur and really put wild fur on the back burner. They have since allocated more efforts into seeking out buyers for wild goods, personally, I think they only did this because FHA has staged a strong comeback on the wild fur side and given them some honest competition.

Competition amongst major fur brokerage houses is good, and the more there are competing for our fur, the better prices us lowly old callers and trappers will see!

Im not a huge auction house fan, but I will send my fur wherever I think the best price is at, including NAFA. Sometime I strike it big, sometimes not. But if we all had crystal balls, well than we'd all be in the 1%!

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:34 pm
by barebackjack
lyonch wrote: I had a guy from MN tell me he averaged $72.48 on his MN coyotes on the NAFA - PT sale they just had.
True.

Coyotes averaged $70.47 at the private treaty. But you have to remember, this sale was only a very limited selection of section 1 goods and wasnt a true auction format. So take that into account. You should ask him if he had any pelts that didnt make it into this auction and are still up there :wink: (I know some guys that have a lot of stuff that didnt make it into that auction).

The FHA sale that competed that weekend sold all sections for a $68.77 average with $114 tops, and sold 90% of the goods.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 2:45 pm
by xdeano
but the average on those FHA numbers are also on selects-1's. But like you said, 90% sold, so thats a heck of a lot better, than being held over. But you never know what the next sale is going to bring, all might go. It's all market volatility. supply and demand.

xdeano

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:08 pm
by bucksnbears
good stuff guys. i'm leaning alot. i know there waere some real shitters (mn) coyotes in there but over 1/2 were central nd ones with a few western nd thrown in. my mont. coyotes got ruined :evil: they were some real beaut's. i had in mind a 50.00 avaerage and will be happy with that and if they go higher :D . however it is an auction and it could go down hill.
now i just gotta learn how to kill more critters :lol:

EO. that pic was of a coyote Dcoy shot last year with his "man gun" :shock:
i just had a rifle built (17-204) and it has perfomed better than i could have wished for. have only shot about 25-30 with it and have only had 2 that needed any sewing and that was minimal. that little bugger knocks the snot outta them.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:35 pm
by EO caller
17-204? I freakin want one. Were did you get it built.? And How much?

Chris I don't know what our coyotes or cats grade in the big scheme of things. I know a guy that will tell me though. I can't imagine they would grade any higher than the MN coyotes.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 2:49 am
by bucksnbears
Mn coyotes are hit/miss EO. they tend to be the flatter,courser haired and the color tends to be brown. however they do seem to get better as time goes by. might be some moving in from Nodak (i live right on the border). have'nt seen your coyotes but i would think they are a better grade than what we typicaly get.

here's a pic of "The Rice Burner" . (Xdeano's name for it) :lol: . she spits out a 30 grain Nagel hollow point at about 4250.
sighted in at 1.25 @100 yards. only 3/8 low at 300 :D hold on fur to 400 :D . fairly easy to load for. i does drift about 1" more at 300 than my 250 and 243 but shoots 6 inches flatter :wink: sure is fun to watch the hits through the scope. . send me a p.m. if you want my smiths phone #.
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Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:41 pm
by Tim Anderson
Here is a old pic. of two types of coyotes.. The stretched coyotes top left are from Mn., top right stretched coyotes from S.D. west river. Coyotes laying on ground unskinned are all S.D. coyotes.. S.D. coyotes have a silkier fur with clear bellies...
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Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:13 pm
by Coyotehunter
My experience is that your very best stuff will always do better shipping it up to a big auction. Anything that has any damage at all would do better shopping it around locally. If it is damaged at all up North they will discount the hell out of it.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 9:04 pm
by EO caller
By damaged you mean sewn up holes? or just skinning errors? Thats what was kind of holding me back from shipping them up their. I was afraid that after the drumming it would damage stuff or show that I hadn't done something right. I just had alot of problems with my fur being that far away from me and me without money for them and just something getting screwed up. Its my bad luck that gets me thinking the worst.
I was catching them and putting them up as I went. Some late nights and I'm sure I made some mistakes, didn't flesh on some of them enough. I never had any slippage but I could tell some weren't maybe fleshed enough because they were heavy and very stiff. But they were all trapped so they didn't have any stitches in them. I don't know, they probly would have been fine. I'd just never put up that many in a year and I didn't want all that work do go for nothing. I took the sure thing and cashed out.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 10:54 pm
by Tim Anderson
Damage; rubbed hipps and shoulders, slight touch of mange or lice between shoulders and so on...

As far as fleshing the main thing is get the big chunks of meat off the hide and chuncks of fat.. If you leave the thin layer of muscle on the back no big deal, it will get removed at the tanners..

I like the money in hand as well....

All the drumming does is fluff up the fur and depending on what they use it can give the fur a bit more shine to it..
You can also put a few small stones in the drum to soften up the hide....

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:27 am
by lyonch
EO - it is normal to feel uneasy at first. What i like about NAFA or any auction house, is that they have a lot of buyers looking at the product at one time, and not just one guy contemplating how much he can make off of you. Next year if you want to just sample it, i would split your fur down the middle 50/50 and don't cherry pick it at all. Right before the February auction i would sell the half you kept to your local buyer. The other half see how it does on the auction. This way you won't be out all the money right away and you get to test the waters. The more money you make on the sale, the more money NAFA makes, so they are going to sell your products at the highest level possible.

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:57 pm
by EO caller
Yep I just need to nut up and do it. So when it comes time to send my cats off Chris, can you drive to Oregon and hold my hand until I get my check. I'll be a nervous wreck. :oops: :lol:

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 10:31 pm
by Tim Anderson
Barebackjack; Good post at the top and i agree with most of it..

Back in the fox days i had roughly 5-6 buyers i would go to and get a price for what I had. Most where on the way up north so I did'nt have to waste any gas getting to them... I showed them what I had, got a price on them and moved on to the next...
I got the tight-azz weeded out and ended up with two buyers that where pretty close in prices and I still sell to one of them...

I had a guy from MN tell me he averaged $72.48 on his MN coyotes on the NAFA - PT sale they just had. Now how much of that is actually true,
Alot of hot air there... No way a Mn. coyote is going to avr. that much, we just don't have that good of a grade for coyote fur..
When I sell my good Dakota coyotes along with my Mn. coyotes I exspect about half of what the Dakota coyotes bring for my Mn. coyotes.. The guy may have avr. that amount on western coyotes but not Mn. coyotes..No way......

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:36 am
by lyonch
EO caller wrote:Yep I just need to nut up and do it. So when it comes time to send my cats off Chris, can you drive to Oregon and hold my hand until I get my check. I'll be a nervous wreck. :oops: :lol:

I will prepare my shoulders for the tears that will be coming too :lol: :lol:

Re: gonna give NAFA a try

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:31 am
by rodeorulz
I don't know...we just had a guy from Fergus Falls, MN tell us that someone was paying $70 for MN coyotes too! I'd like to know who he is and have him come out here :D