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%!