I’m going to end up having a few bobcat pelts to sell. Am I losing money by not mailing to an auction? This was my plan but I saw that Groenwald is having a stop about 30 mins from me. These are southern bobcats so we’re not talking big money anyway.

Thanks for any help!

See what Groeny offers, you can always say no if your not happy and send them to auction and take whatever the hammer drops on.

Auction: Gotta pay for a box & pack up, pay for CITES, pay for tumbling, pay 11% commission & pay freight to ship......and then wait for payment....if they sell. Can eliminate most of the freight if you have an FH agent close by. Might get lucky and get a great price at auction, depending on how your cats get graded/lotted. If you miss last receiving date for a sale....will have to wait until next sale or next year's sales.

GFW: Drive 30 minutes, sell the pelts and get a check right then on site. Cash check....spend money. You will receive a decent price for larger, good belly cats.

Your averages after the smoke clears will be close...no matter which way you choose.

Which sale method is easier for you? It's an easy choice.

Last year I did about 3-400% better on cats at FHA over local sales. That pays a lot of misc fees.

Looking at the sold Catalog from the March FHA Auction, they had a couple sheets of "Southern" cats. The average for southern cats on these sheets was $277.45

If you can get them to a receiving agent, they charge a $15 fee to get them to the auction house. Say $1 a pelt for drumming (probably be less than this). $2.50 Cites fee. 11% commission.

If you sent 10 cats, your average would have been $241.93 after deducting all fees and commissions, assuming you could get them to an FHA receiving agent

At our local Groeny stop he was paying anywhere from $50 to $150 for bobcats. Just call it a $100 average from Groeny.

If you have 10 cats you cost yourself roughly $1400 in profit by selling to Groenewald

Did you ship anything to FHA at the Statesville, NC stop?

No sir, all I trapped this year was beaver, and I sold them green to Groeny and then Erny the next weekend. Averaged $17.30 altogether

Auction is always a gamble. I did really good on NAFA for a lot of years, and then took a bath when they went under. To the tune of about $18,000. I've never did good on FHA when I've tried them, but know people like beaverpeeler that do. If I had the red coastal cats he does, I'd have sent them to FHA this year also. The ITA auction in Idaho here has payed good for southern cats the last few years, but what the buyers offered on west coast cats like his wasn't that great. I have been taking mine to the ITA auction pretty much since NAFA went under and generally do well, and I am there so I can put a minimum on them and take them home if I don't like the price offered, unlike the international sales. Like I said, southern cats (we had a bunch of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and some Arkansas cats on it this year) have done good the last couple years. And frankly the put up on some of them isn't that great. But that sale is over for the year, and you'd have to ship and take what you got, just like an international auction (but with lower commissions and no CITES or drumming fees). Unless you knew someone who would be there and willing to pick up your no saled cats.

Probably too late for any local auctions this year, but that is a thought for the future. Myself, with the prices being payed this year, I wouldn't hold them over until next year. If Groeny is going to be by before the last date you can ship to FHA, I'd see what he offers you and if you don't like it, send them off. If there are any other fur buyers around you can shop around with them also. If you are going to send them to FHA, and you have very many, I would look to see where your recieving agent is and call them, most run a route doing pickups across a few states, driving a couple hours to meet them can save a lot on shipping if you have much to ship.

Didn't see he posted this back in January until after I replied, thought it was kind of late to be thinking about it. But I'm sure he made his decision months ago.