I may have a top lot cooon? 4x A-b, I am rich now lol.

SAD it use to be that a top lot coon would bring around $50 ? any guess on the top price on coon will be ? my guess is around $20, I know the avg. is all that matters.

My third year shipping coyotes to Fur harvesters and still haven't got a heavy one.

Did you expect a few heavy yotes from Kansas or Mississippi...?

I have had coyotes go heavy at NAFA from Kansas.

What part of KS? Just checked and I had a few from the eastern side go heavy, most are semi though.

Just check my account and I get an error. Been getting that all day.

Always had a few heavy at NAFA. I trap in Marshall county.

will they send me an account number or do I have to call them. This is the first time I shipped to them

I sold for cash a month ago and am enjoying my hard earned money now!

Amen to that ,,, me too

I think coyotes on different years have the ability to be heavy or semi's from your part of the world.
Or the grade does change with the market

Same here.

Joe, I only have a couple heavys too. Ks ain't known for lots of heavys. One of the reasons you had more heavys at nafa was they were cheating the grade, trying to get more money in their coffers last spring. Understand they had some fur returned from manufacturers becaus of it too. Their cataloges last year had a very high persentage of the coyotes graded as heavys.

Daryl and backroadsarcher, If you keep getting it, call or email them, be best to talk with them, and have them help you straighten it out.

I am getting the "fatal error" message also.
Before that it looked like one half my coyotes were heavy II and half were eastern--none in central.

fatal error for me also...system overload I would think

Me too

All the HVY coyotes grade for MS coyotes at NAFA , maybe one of the reasons they are now bankrupt ?

I was surprised at how closely my coyote graded to previous NAFA grades (or sections). Had 25% in Hvy 1 section, about 50% in Hvy 2 (SEMI grade) and 25% Eastern (with Hvy grade).

I think FHA has NAFAs old coyote grader now. Correct me if I'm wrong though. That is probably the reason for similar grading.

You guys might be crying after the FHA sale.

Someone will be

I hope FHA. Hits a home run and everyone is happy. I sold the majority of mine to Petska and Grony,

Forestman3
You guys might be crying after the FHA sale. [/quote]

Boy I hope so ,,, I hope have the best sale they have had in years myself ,,, only way you can keep trapping is if sell good everybody makes alittle.

AMEN!

Thats weird,I was on another site where everyone was saying their yotes were downgaded last year at NAFA,lol.

I don't know how this sales is going to go but it sure is nice to be talking about lotting, grading and fur auctions rather than that other crap.

i have 1 heavy coyote , how did this go from top lot coon price to a heavy coyote ? lol

Still getting fatal error this morning. Anyone else still getting this?

I just called a couple of minutes ago and the gal said they hoped to get it back online by the end of the day.

Only took 3 posts to switch from coon to coyote, and the first two were yours.
Thanks for starting the FHA thread anyway.

Thank You Sanford!!

Back to the coon topic, does anyone know which section is FHA best coon? Thinking maybe West HVY?

Maybe FHA caught the NAFA virus?

X2! I called this A.M. She said call back. Remember they are on EST.

Yes typically the top lot is in the western heavies. Look for a lot that has very few in it and are A selects. Usually between 20-40 skins. LLL

My coyotes graded about 1/3 as heavies at FHA, for the last few years at NAFA, they were running about 50%. To my untrained eye, the 1/3 seems accurate as hanging side by side in the garage, that's about what I came up with.

My account is back online.

Can finally look at mine. Looks like the grading is a little different this year.?.?

Yes, I agree.

Anybody know the order of sale?

How so?

Most likely catalog order. I believe beaver is first thing up.

Got into mine at around 5 PM. First time reading FHA grades and sizing so will wait until they sell to see the differences in sizes and grades. My 3x-2x and xl sizes were about as they normally are percentage wise. I felt I had more smaller rats this year, but there were more XL rats so yes a few less 3x-2x but about 35% of the total.

Bryce

Wissmiss,
Are you a registered buyer and able to view the sale?

Yes. However, I am not able to share information with any one. The bidding is confidential and not to be shared. Not worth losing my buyer account at FHA. Sorry.

Guess I'm guilty about switching this from top lot coon to coyotes, but it's better than politics and corona virus. Lol . Hope they have good clearances.

The bidding is confidential...? Is this something with this expedient virtual sale or something that FHA does on a regular basis?? How then does a seller even know there's bidding going and its not FHA's version of NAFA's "private treaty" sales...?

Thanks, I figured you were. and didn't expect you to be sharing of bidding during the sale.
But I am curious as a new shipper what to expect for updates. Does FHA update trapper account pages during the sale, or as each species catalog is completed, or does that all come after the sale is complete?

As far as I know, this is the first online auction they have had. Not many other choices with the flu shutting everything down. Manufactures needed products, I am told, and want some way of buying. That is the best they can do, so lets hope things sell well. I doubt you will find out much on prices till after the sale, because it will be in a format more like ebay, where it can be bid on up till a certain date and time. Please be patient, as there is a lot riding on this sale, and with the success of other internet sales, this could be our best shot with the cards that have been delt this season with this kung flu. Good luck everyone!

When is sale. It was postpone I understood.

Nobody knows. That's the thing. It's like surprise sale. Nobody knows it's happening until it already happened and nobody knows what the bids are until after the sale. It could be this week it could be next month

The remote auction at FHA starts tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 8 AM eastern time. It ends April 2 at 5 PM eastern time.

Any one that is a registered buyer can check the bidding at any time. It is going to work sort of like an auction on eBay. The bidding will start at the FHA valuation. If a buyer wants to bid, he logs into his account and enters a bid. The auction catalog is updated with the new bid and shows a code number for the high bidder. If there aren’t any bids, then the valuation will show with no buyer code listed.

Bidding at the auction will be in established increments. Which depends on species and amounts. Here is an example.

Muskrats - if the bid is under $10.00, the bid increment is 10 cents. Once the price is over $10.00, the bid increment is 25 cents.

Valuation on #1 small muskrats is $1.00. The next bid is $1.10. The next bid is $1.20. Then $1.30. Just like in the auction room.

There won’t be much for shippers to see until the auction is over and accounts are updated when the auction is over.

Remember, this is the first time FHA has had a remote auction. There is always there is a chance there will be glitches, but I hope not.

I would be happy to answer any question about how the auction is going to work but will not discuss values, bids or anything similar.

Will be interesting to see how this sale goes. Curious how confident buyers will be about buying goods without seeing them. I've heard lots of times that the grades and catalog doesn't necessarily represent what the fur really is. So I can only figure that confidence will be low. I wouldn't think they would be holding the sale unless they think the can move some goods though.
Mike

AkMike makes a very good point about buyer confidence in the grade. There was a point in time, many years ago, where you could buy goods at FHA sight unseen based on the catalog description. In more recent years, that has not always been the case.

When it comes to the more expensive goods, such as wolves, wolverine, better lynxcats, there is good reason to be cautious. However, on goods such as Section III goods or goods like beaver. Muskrat, Raccoon, where the market is so poor, a buyer can almost afford to gamble on submitting a bid without seeing the goods.

One other note, FHA is not accepting any bids below valuation during their remote auction.

If the value is $20.00 and a buyer bids $18.00, the bid will automatically be rejected.

This is different from a live auction. In the auction room, the auction stand may or may not accept a bid below valuation. Depending on the item and grade.

That should be a comfort to you that think this might be a fire sale.

Thank you Wissmiss and Lee Steinmeyer once again. You are both constant sources of info. based on logic and reason and first hand sourcing. You spare us the shooting from the hip that is all too common on this forum and a waste of cyberspace and all of our time. Please continue.

Hey wissmiss, are you able to share with us if there is actual bidding going on for certain species? No values, but just knowing that there is some demand and bidding happening would be reassuring.

Thanks,
Houts

Best of luck to all with fur on this sale. Really hoping this goes good.

Fingers crossed for the sale. Hopefully it goes well.
I’m a little nervous about my big bear, hard to get any price on taxidermy items without actually putting your hands on them to check them out.
Might be the best thing since sliced bread! Hopefully

So as a shipper do any of you know what your valuations are?
Do you even know what lots your fur Is In?

Good luck

Beav yes our the lots are posted and viewable on our account info the valuations..no

Thanks crosspatch. Nancy has been involved in the buying end for many years, and knows the auction protocol very well. She is a book of knowledge, and we can all thank her for sharing with us. I've been a trapper all my life, bought fur for a few years back in the boom years, and have been an agent for 22 years. Both of us can add a little different perspective to the discussion.

One thing that bothers me on this forum is the amount of people that spout the doom and gloom. The negetive comments, spouted off like a prophet, just become a cancer that effects the whole fur industry. We all know times are tough for fur, so try to have a better outlook on it! thanks, Lee

I'm a realist. I think FHA is a motivated seller. Time will tell. Sorry for the doom and gloom.

Gary, no valuations to the trapper. Only buyers see valuations. What good does it do to see them, doesn't change what you can do, and the fur brings what is bid, with or with out valuations.

The lot numbers are listed on each fur or furs on yoour readout. You can go to the catalogs to find where your fur is and in what section or string.

The valuations tell me where FHA thinks the market is. It tells me if FHA is a viable option. Why keep it from sellers?

Very true!!!

Dirt, that still won't do you any good. You will find out what it brought after, and if you have sent fur, there is no getting it back or changing anything. If that give you peace of mind, you to attatched to a computer!

It is just more busy work that needs to get done with no worth.

Because they'd have a million calls with guys complaining that their raccoons are worth more etc. Or God forbid something sold for a dollar less than the valuation than omg fire sale. It would be nothing but a headache for them.

It would have value to me. I won't explain. Thanks to lee and wissmiss for info.

As far as reporting auction action, I’m thinking there won’t be much to report. Remember the auction lasts for 9 days. Until April 2. Bids will trickle in over that period of time. Watching this auction will be like watching paint dry.

It will be the exact opposite of a live auction, where lots sell at a rapid pace.

Right now I am trying to log in to the auction. Having problems finding the bidding site. DON’T panic. Lots of time to figure it out.

Nancy If I give you my lot numbers could you please bid them up for me?

I agree with both of these posts.

I have fur that will hopefully go on the next sale so yes I would like to see a valuation.

Folks that have used FHA in the past, were you able to see valuations prior to the sales?

Nope

Unfortunately no. Sorry.

If I do it for you, then everyone would ask and it would be overwhelming for me.

In my opinion, the reason FHA doesn’t post valuations on shippers accounts is that in a down market like this, valuations upset shippers. And upset shippers tend to call and complain. This creates more work and time spent for the FHA staff. Yes, shippers are important but at this stage of the game it is more important to answer buyers questions so that they feel confident bidding.

I'm sorry guys, it don't make any sense. You will have the results of the sale on your account, long before you have to send your fur for the next sale, the LRD was the 19 of April, and it was pushed back at least two weeks. Don't need valuations to make a decision about sending fur.

Showing valuations would do a ton of good, it would hold Fha accountable and a lot less easy to dump something. It make the buyers know you better come to bid and be reasonable and close to the valuations. It would probably reduce the yo-yo in prices we have seen for so long. We better not hear in a couple months how groeny came in and cleaned up what was left at the auction for less then what was being paid in the country

X2

X3

X3

Spot on thanks for answering the questions you can.

As stated above, to me valuations would help hold the line on how much things are being sold below that. A small percentage below the valuation to me anyway is not a big deal but when stuff starts selling 25 or 50% below the estimated value is when I start asking questions. So yes that's why I would like to know what the difference between valuation and actual price paid. With that said I hope they have a fantastic sale and the next one is even better.

Imo valuations are only a ,,I hope to get price,, if you want them to hold the line ,,, no matter what only way of doing that is selling one on one. Besides theres only so much fur you can keep stored for long extend times in a market like we got.
Hopefully all will sell good everybody be sitting good.

The FHA information sheet for remote auction bidders said that bids below valuation would not be accepted. I’m assuming the computer program is set up to reject those bids if a buyer tries to enter one.

Maybe I will play around and see what happens. I will report back later today.

I have 2 new accounts and both work fine, wasnt able to register until about a week ago but now good to go

China has basically worked their way through the virus and are about 90% or more back to work. That may be a positive for the auction. The larger issue may be their markets and are they going to be buying or not.

Bryce

THATS OK , LOL we are talking fur at FHA , I hope we all do good for the times

I just got my new account number this morning after I requested it. Tried to register my account online and it's not letting me. Not sure what the problem is. I suppose I'll have to send them a help message.

Even if FHA did publish valuations for shippers to see, some of you still wouldn’t be satisfied. Then you would complain that the valuations were too low and that FHA was giving the fur away and they ought to have higher limits and that the low valuations help the buyers buy fur cheaper. Yada. Yada. Yada. Blah. Blah. Blah.

You have to realize that FHA (and NAFA when they were in business) needs a starting point for selling each lot. It simply does NOT work to start every lot at a penny. The valuation is what the team at FHA thinks that particular lot of fur is worth. They base it on market, research, what the pelts are and what they think is a fair starting price. Some times they are spot on. Sometimes they aren’t.

I’ve been in auction room where there is only one bid. A buyer raises his hand at the opening price. No one else bids and he buys that lot.

I’ve been in the auction room (in this when they selling wolves) and the opening valuation is $50.00. A minute or so later, the hammer goes down at $325.00. Was the valuation wrong. Not necessarily. Could just be that 2 buyers wanted that same pelt. Valuation didn’t mean squat.

Back in the days before all this high tech stuff, you shipped your fur and 2 weeks after the auction you got a check and a grade sheet.none of this checking the computer every day looking for updates. Maybe we should do back to that system.................

Not really if you are using NAFA as your example. They posted valuations for both buyer and seller but it didn't seem to make much difference.

I get it that the buyers need valuation for an internet auction like this one, so everyone knows where to start. But I did question the practice of providing valuation to buyers at a true auction format in the past. It seems like that should have been kept confidential to the auction house since they were not firm on it anyway, and often started bidding below valuation just to get rolling.

For you guys that can't log in. When you register your name and address it has to be exactly the same as your invoice. I tried a few times before I read the fine print. On the invoice it had Ave. after my street name.

Correct me if wrong but isn't the fur still owned by the seller until the gavel drops or the buyer pays for the fur? Either way I just don't agree with the auction house keeping the sellers, (owners) of the fur in the dark and giving the buyers the valuation. Looks like to me the deck is stacked in the buyers favor.

I guess if you can put together enough fur for a dealer lot you could set your own valuation.

At the present time, FHA is not accepting dealer lots with limits. They made that announcement last winter when this whole NAFA thing started.

Dealer lots will sell for what ever valuation FHA puts on them or dealer goods will be intersorted.

Thank you for your information Wissmiss, some member on here have a short memory of the happenings, and a lot of posters don't even have a skin in the game to start with.

I'm with Dirt-they should publish the valuations of all grades and sections before the fur pick up.
Allows a buisness man to make an informed decision about how he wants to market part or all of his fur collection.
Most trappers that market substantial amounts of fur and been around for a while doing so can pretty much know the valuation anyway from previous sales.

you will do well on bear like you have!

I also have a bunch of bears there and same thing I cant see to many guys wanting to buy them without seeing them firsthand first

Bump-

Can't let this one slip off the page. We finally have a fur auction topic with more posts than all the CV crap.

This is important that everybody has hopes and dreams, but we really won't get any useful information (hopefully) in two or three weeks, right before the April 19 deadline.

In the mean time, any tidbits of information from those in the know will be appreciated.
Thanks

I know one thing, its gonna be a long 9 days. Coulda made it a 3 day sale at least. Wonder why 9 days?

I'm not sure exactly how much difference it makes but if the dollar keeps dropping in value like it is nine days might not be a bad thing

You would think that If someone wanted fur It wouldn't take 9 days to get It sold.

I thought because of the time that they where only opening up certain lots for bidding not all of them at once. Sounds like all lots are open from bidding from the start. There goes my theory.

Are they running all the lots of fur just like you would bid on something on ebay?

Yes, Buyers will bid on the lots they are interested in. All lots are for sale all day until the end of the sale..

It was posted elsewhere, that no buybacks. If so, dont sound like a sale I want to be into, with covid crisis, it nice to have all sold. But nafa buybacks were. Sold at better prices later

Dave, I would guess if no one bids on a specific lot (value set to high) it would be "bought back" and re offered later, possibly at a reduced valuation.

I assume there will be plenty of unsold goods at this FHA auction. Lots that no one bids on. Those would be considered Buy Backs.

Wissmiss hows the castor being sold? do they have broken into lots or like the live auction its PT after?

Well I would call them unsold goods since no money changed hands. But buy backs sounds better. LOL

Castor will be sold Private Treaty once the remote auction is over. That pretty much has been the pattern previous years. Castor will be graded into 3 lots. Select. Ordinary, Shells/lows. It will be priced per pound or ounce (not sure which FHA uses). Buyers can buy as much as they want at the established price.

I have no idea how many castor buyers FHA will have. Could be dozens. Maybe one guy comes in and buys it all.

Will be posted to your online account some time in April or when ever the sale happens.

yep like years past then, was just curious if they changed it up due to the online E-Bay style auction. thanks for the quick responses.

Without getting into details hows the volume of bids? would imagine it would be slow the first couple of days and hopefully pick up as the auction nears its end.

They took into consideration that they thought that Saskatchewan was still all dial-up internet, so it would take 9 days for you to download info.

Someone posted an i was told that they didn't want buybacks? I am thinking that impossible not to

FHA would like to sell everything. But they know that isn’t going to happen. I’m willing to bet that not even half the goods get sold. That is just my opinion.

And here I thought it was because they knew it would take that long to sell all the crappy fur from east of Saskatchewan. Lol.

Sure glad I sold it the country a month ago and am now enjoying the money that my fur brought!