How many here actually have...

[bogio]

...picked up their fur and walked away from a fur buyers offer. I know it is one of the big arguments for finishing your fur but how many really have taken advantage of it? Other than myself, I've never seen it happen.

[spring]

Me...happens often...Will say I`ve never seen another trapper no sale his fur tho...

[seldom]

Feb 10, 2013 18:56:49 GMT -6 bogio said:

...picked up their fur and walked away from a fur buyers offer. I know it is one of the big arguments for finishing your fur but how many really have taken advantage of it? Other than myself, I've never seen it happen.

Back in the 60's thru the 80's I had 6 buyers within a 20 mile radius. During those years I pulled and walked many times. During that time period I learned that 3 of them were tight enough that when I'd pull, they'd make a heads-up phone call to their butt-buddies that I might be showing up and the offers made.

[ChrisM]

Yep, back in the boom I never sold until getting bids from several buyers.

[trappnman]

I have in the past, from Groeny and a buyer that was a big name locally 30 years ago.

Groeny it was "coon with no value" the other (Cain) was for downgrading put up beaver for "blemsihes", blemishes that when asked to go back through them and show me again, were either not found, or different.

Since I've been selling at my present buyer, I have not.

Why? Because I trust him to be fair, and he is fair. I have averages in mind, and if he comes in below those, we can and do dicker a bit. But more often than not, he hits or exceeds what I thought would be the averages.

one thing to keep in mind, is that if you have a good relationship, with a good buyer, in bad years (price wise) when buyers might not want some fur, or types of fur- one still has a good market. If you are loyal to him, he tends to be loyal to you (good buyers).

for example- during the last coon crash, when no one was buying coon for 5 weeks or so- when he started buying, he had a legal pad with page after page of guys with coon to sell- and my name was first on list, and I was first he called (I saw the list)

[seldom]

It's all about the person and their inherent tendency for being an honest person or a dishonest person when it comes to being a fur buyer or any other job or responsibility where there's interaction with people.

[ryanf73]

I have no saled to private fur buyers but not at the auction. I saw a guy down in Fallon pull all of his gray fox and then try to sell them in the parking lot good fur just didn't get the price that he wanted.

[bblwi]

Only a few times in 30 some years have I pulled the fur back with local buyers. Typically I would bring some to see what prices were being offered or how the grading was done and sold those pelts. I pulled 55 green coons once and made a bit more by boarding and shipping. I did take fur home from local auctions a few times and was rewarded with higher prices at the large auctions.
The later years I just don't sell or offer as much locally because I just have not done well when compared to the auctions.
It seemed to me that when prices were lower the differences were less. In today's market the differences are quite large from my perspective. Like $2.50-$3.00 on rats, $5 plus on coons and really variable on fox and coyotes. Grinners one gets 3-4 locally go for double that in the auctions.

Bryce

[possumpincher]

have pulled fur and went elsewhere but have rarely seen it done usually hear THAT SOB SCREWED ME. and I took his check and cried

[Griz]

I have never pulled my fur back at an auction. But, I have taken my fur back when dealing with local fur buyers. I have a total price in mind, and if he comes in below that, we can and do dicker a bit. If we can't agree, I pick up my fur and say "Thanks for looking".

I hear people say they got a bad price for their fur and the buyer screwed them. My response is that my fur is not sold until I say it is, so if someone screwed me it was me for accepting a price that was too low.

[Hornhunter]

Back in the early 70's they used to come to the house!

[jim]

Feb 16, 2013 15:31:09 GMT -6 Hornhunter said:

Back in the early 70's they used to come to the house!

I remember in the 50's a guy came to the house to buy dads beaver and not very many either, there was a limit back then.

Jim

[Maineman]

Me...I've pulled fur at local auctions (and buyers) when I felt low-balled.

[martybaxter]

Intelligent buyers and sellers have no problems getting together, or agreeing to disagree.

Building a relationship is the key to smoothing the market highs and lows,...............on both sides of the checkbook.

[Jarhead620]

Under our old Virginia fur sale procedure I have taken quotes from several buyers before I sold. Back when buyers would come to the house I refused their price a few times, but not often. I have negotiated the price upward from the buyers original offer quite a few times. There are some country buyers that I will not take fur to because I know they always try to undervalue what you have and play games with the math.

Back in the late forties and early fifties when I was a kid I shipped some fur to F.C. Taylor and Maas & Steffen in St. Louis. You had no option other than to accept their price. A few bucks was all it took to make an Illinois farm boy happy back then, LOL.

Larry

[seldom]

Feb 17, 2013 8:33:21 GMT -6 martybaxter said:

Intelligent buyers and sellers have no problems getting together, or agreeing to disagree.

Building a relationship is the key to smoothing the market highs and lows,...............on both sides of the checkbook.

Ya, I saw first hand several interpretations of "smoothing" over the years! A case of Bud in the trunk, a jug of Black Label left at the back door of the Buyers shed, and always a big winner was dropping off a couple of fresh butcherd chickens a couple times a year!!

I always wondered what was going on with a couple of trappers whose territories abutted mine yet they'ed always pull a slightly higher average for their fox. Years later I discovered that they had a quiet deal going with one Buyer by fleshing, boarding, and drying his beaver for $.50ea in the basement of one's house.

Speaking of Buyers comming to your house years ago well that's true. Five of us formed a sort of a co-op years go to just sell our reds. The one delegated would contact 3-5 Buyers letting them know we'ed have all of our fox at one of our houses on a Saturday for sealed bids. High biddered was called back and he graded and bought each lot separately. It worked for some years because mainly there was a volume of fox to be had at one location at one time and we all had reputations of putting-up nice fox so the Buyers knew they weren't going to be seeing junk.

The best I ever did was one year after the co-op selling had taken place I had 8 Christmas-time reds to sell and I heard there was a new Buyer over on the Saginaw Bay so I took the 8 over to him to check him out. Young fella so he got his lights out so he could see real good and started shuffling the deck. While he was "shuffling" I noticed nice 2 reds on the wall and commented to that effect. He stopped nd explained that those were "ice fox" caught off the Bay ice and perfect quality fur!! None better!! He went on to say that those fox brought $125 each. He got done grading and made me an offer of $110-$115 average I don't remember the exact offer but I took one of those "ice fox" off the wall and tossed it down on top of my pile and asked if he would please show me the difference?? I walked out of there in a very short while with 10- $100 bills in my pocket, a $125 averge!!! Apparently his learning curve stayed relatively flat because he was no longer in business the following year.