Fair enough Dirt, I would tend to agree

Fur Harvesters is run by a few Canadian rednecks using dial up internet. They don't even accept modern methods of payment, basic to the rest of the world. Until they get up to speed with the rest of the world they will continue to be mediocre at best. Despite what some people think, Fur Harvesters is not saving the fur market. They are helping it spiral downward.

Funny they been around so long when others went teats up.
You cant even start an international auction of your own.
I guess the Canadian rednecks are a bit smarter than you all are,lol.

Well nafa tried an internut sale years ago and it flopped.

Much more cutting edge at that time. It may not be a home run but we could use a hit. Just another tool.

Decades of poor grading at NAFA and im guessing those same crappy grader's just migrated over to FH would cause any buyer to pause buying anything online but as was said they see a sample in person so I imagine by now they have a price they will pay knowing part of that lot they buy isn't going to be what the sample was.

I wonder also how they can vet online buyers? As in, how do they know those bidding actually have the money to purchase what they win the bid on?

I believe a deposit is required to bid.

On line bidders are required to provide a deposit (cash money) before they are allowed to bid. Established buyers do not need to make a deposit as long as their is current.

Goods don’t leave FH until paid for in full. If a buyer doesn’t settle their account after a certain, FH resells the goods. If the goods bring less than the buyer owes, they go after that buyer through legal channels.

They also do “credit” checks on new wannabe bidders.

What methods of payment are you talking about? PayPal? Bitcoin? Gold bars?

As always Wissmiss thank you for the updates. You have a lot of patience to answer all the Q's. Very informative and no one else does that to the same extent come auction time.

X2

Ol J trap is still irked he never got top lot at NAFA for his sunburnt badly singed rubbed out southern otters,lol

Curious how the online sale works at this time.

Does a buyer enter his/her max bid and then the bidding stops once the runner ups high bid is reached?

Once the live bidding starts does it start where the internet bidding stalled and then go to a strictly live auction once the internet max been reached?

Well I think FHA is in stone age and I bid online myself. Fur is a sideline for me. I'm mostly a rancher but I have bid on bulls online most every livestock auction is online nowadays, as well as farm auctions. I'm sorry but if I can buy a 15k bull or 100 k tractor and with in hours get a phone call wanting payments And can even bid against the people there in person with no problems at all. I think fur harvest can do better. Way better! You can defend them all you want but they are costing trappers money the way they run those auctions. Id personally bid more if they didn't count us as prebids. And I have had them loose fur I bought send it to wrong place you name it. I can't imagine buying huge dollars amounts. Also there pictures are really lacking. As is there attitude towards small buyers like me. If 20 guys like me spend 10-15 k that adds up to real money. And I would way rather bid online and bid higher for what I want than higher a fur broker. Who most likely gonna charge me another percentage to buy for me. .
Boco is right about one thing. We can't seem to have an American auction company and I do t know why.

There are many small buyers like craft buyers or maybe just a trapper who would like to buy a wolverine or wolf or maybe a few skunks who knows what but ever one of those buyers is shut out. As you can see at the country sales sometimes craft buyers pay far more than dealers. Show me that not having these types of buyers at FHA helps the bottom line of the trapper.

I have bought skins at FHA a few times.
Anyone can buy fur there.
All I did was get a restricted buyers licence from the MNR(no charge)phoned up FHA told them the grade of fisher and bobcats I wanted and they pulled them out for me before the auction.the price was the auction price for the lots that those skins came from.
So I paid exactly what the top bidder paid for those skins.

Boco that seems reasonable enough.

do you think the person that wants a fur or two knows how to do that ? That's just a ridiculous reasoning for not having online bidding.

There are number of small craft buyers represented at the FH. Maybe not themselves but through a broker or another craft buyer.

There was a broker (no longer with us) who would represent 20 or buyers at any given auction. He would be bidding on multiple species and multiple grades. Took him several hours to sort out his invoices.

Slick pan - im not sure how the small buyers are shut out? Isn’t that what the online auction is for? Or contract a broker at the sale.

Almost everyone is shut out. There is only a select few that manage to manipulate the system because they have the knowledge to do so. Pre bidding on line is just a coverup for FHA. It's not live bidding but yet they can say they offer online bidding.

You must be badly brain damaged if you cant figure out how to make a phone call.