Fur Buyer Halfords
 

Now that Halfords is a authorized depot for fur harvesters has anyone sold their raw fur to them & if so how was the prices on coyote for example . Red Fox, Beaver,Marten

I sold my first 30 coyotes of the season to Steve from Halfords and didn't like the way he graded my furs and the way he is running is business now. For a few years i really enjoyed dealing with Mary but now that this time is done, I will explore other options. It's only my opinion

I took my first 8 to him. I wanted them shipped to North Bay. He did everything in his power to buy them. All he did was give me a paper copy and put them in a back. Will it be mine or some of his garbage? Never will I go there for anything again!

This happened to me as well. The guy asked if I wanted to sell them or send them to auction. I said auction without asking details about anything else.

A few mins later I left with a paper and asked if my fur would be tagged. He said it will get tagged once he was done with the paper work.


I never thought anything of it until I read your post.

The guy does have free will to swap auction fur for fur he has bought in that back room.

Never again... it used to get metal tagged right infront of you.

I didn't bring in much fur this year, but the coyotes were some of the nicest I've ever got.

I went there the other day and got Steve to grade and give me a price.I didnt accept it so i told him to ship it all to fur harvesters .He grabs my fur in a big bundle and stuffs it into one bag. This man has to learn how to handle fur again.

Early in the season a bunch of us up this way discussed the possibility of nefarious activity happening with shipping fur through an outlet who’s operator is also a Trapper/fur buyer. We all agreed that it probably wasn’t a good idea to do. I’m not saying that there’s any monkey business going on but there’s definitely a possibility that it could happen. Even if you watch the individual tag all your fur, what is stopping him from switching the tag to a different pelt later on and you’d never know?

I ship all of my fur for auction through the ATA and I would suggest that Trappers in the Edmonton area take the extra time to do the same. It’s much more organized/professional and with numerous sets of eyes the possibility of shenanigans taking place is extremely low imo. I’ve never been concerned with anything like that happening at the ATA. In fact, the last batch of fur that I took there filled a tri-wall and I watched as they strapped up the box and got it ready for taking it out to the storage container. It’s a way better operation.

Money corrupts.......beware of the wolves.

In Steve’s/Halfords defense... Halfords is a reputable outfit, Steve is a decent and reputable human being and he isn’t going to hawk your fur. Im sure hes not hard up, look at his business, do you think he needs the couple hundred bucks that hed make here and there?

Hopefully FHA will come out with the fancy security seals/tags like NAFA had in the last days... put and end to the never ending mistrust and accusations as well as the stupid talk.

The original question piqued my interest tho!!! Sure to be some delightful stories there.

Fur buyers halfords
 

I heard a story from a reputable source about an Alberta fur buyer who got caught swapping out hides from customers to replace lower quality hides from his own fur pile. He got a good lickin out of it too. Like it’s been said, money spawns corruption.

There were people at the ATA that were fur buyers too handling your pelts. Some were also trapping ansd you trusted them.

I heard a story like that one too!!!

Once upon a time.... A very well dressed man brings in the nicest coyote in the universe to a NAFA fur depot, agent tickets it and sends him on his way. Guy drives home then returns with his buddy to show him the nicest coyote in the universe but the agent refuses to show him the coyote. After some disagreement, the very well dressed man MAKES the agent show him the coyote and the agent complies.

The agent pulls out the skin with the correct ticket number, however the skin is NOT the nicest coyote in the universe and so the very well dressed man assaults and beats the agent into whatever, then somebody calls the cops, but don’t know if the story sez the very well dressed man did or the agent, but at any rate the cops arrive and haul the agent to prison.

The story does not yet end...

The very well dressed man and his buddy return to the fur depot, break in and set up secret/hidden cameras and they again caught the agent switching tickets/skins.

Wasn’t that a nice story???

100% Plausible, who would ever doubt such?

I’m still hoping to figure out who that was! They must have beat me unconscious and then I must have suffered memory loss from the beating. How do you change tickets on those wonderful plastic security seals?

I do understand the concern of buyer/dealer/trapper operating a fur depot.

Recently I met up with two guys in the Red Deer area, they had 55 frozen skins between the two of them, wanted to sell without finishing. VERY nice stuff, high grade, heavy and some surprising good colours, a very good group to grade/average very well on at any typical NAFA sale. They tried to use an undisclosed agent that also bought a lot of coyotes but upon their goods hitting the sale the grades were way below average and very angry shippers. They initiated a complaint but nothing happened with it.

So I do understand the concerns... find a good guy/outfit that is trustworthy and run with them.

I better go stand in front of the fleshing machine for a few hours now.

I’m guessing that you haven’t seen the ATA fur depot operation. If you haven’t you really should. It makes Halford’s look Mickey Mouse.

I’m not a member of the ATA and not a shill for them so let’s get that off the table right away. I just made the suggestion for Trappers with concerns.

First, the two fellas that you are referring to are employees and don’t have unfettered access to the buildings and Trapper’s fur. There’s a security system that prevents that. They also don’t have their own fur in the same area where Trapper’s fur is, it’s at home like everyone else. A tri-wall holds 60 coyote pelts and when it’s full the lid goes on and it’s banded up. I had 61 pelts the last time that I was there and I had a tri-wall to myself. After that it’s stored in a separate secured area.

Nothing is foolproof but I honestly don’t think that it’d be worth the effort of dodging the security in place, unloading tri-walls to switch fur and re-band everything afterwards. That goes without saying that they’d lose their job if caught. I don’t think that the risk is worth the effort/reward. Definitely not as easy to do compared to other places.

Volunteer at the ATA fur depot before last drop off date and see first hand how the fur is labelled right away. Thankfully there are volunteers like Chuck and others that help out. I have done it, it's a great way to meet other trappers and see the difference in fur handling.
It's the volunteers that make a community strong.

Halfords
 

Took 30 to ship got talked into selling to steve. I had a good fuel bill from trapping season so..... took the bait. Stupid move. Got down graded on all 30 pups. Half price Been trapping for many years and put up good fur Education tax I guess. Never again Slimey Steve. Thaught he was a decent man. Thaught wrong I say it here and to his face. Very disgusted. Thaught it was only me but after seeing thread just another victim to a slime ball. Ole slimey steve Seen some hutterites just after me same thing. Nice pups. Half price or less. When I say half I’m. Being generous more like a third of what they are worth Trappers beware. 👀🏃*♀️

^^^^^No one forces you to sell to buyers. It's entirely your decision. Just sayin......^^^^^

You would have to agree to the price he gave before getting payment and handing over your skins!!... no???!!!

I dealt with him this year....no complaints. fair price and cash on the spot. Really don’t know why guys are complaining. YOU decide if you are going to sell, YOU decide where you’re going to sell.

I quickly scanned over some of the fur that had been dropped off....seems a bunch of guys need a lesson on fur handling. Some ugly put ups no doubt.

In fact I know someone who sold a LARGE collection of coyotes to Steve and received 15%-20% more than the next highest private offer. Real money. Hate to see a decent guy getting slagged. Maybe your fur wasn’t as good as you thought, maybe there is another side to the story....

I have seen some pretty ugly fur at the ATA depot to some guys gotta take a little more pride in their work or take some courses on fur put up

Fur buyer halfords
 

I dealt with Steve today. He was great. Payed me a very good price for my coyotes. I will definitely deal with him again.

I'm not sure how much my comment will mean but I feel like I should stick up for Steve. Most of my buddies and I sold to Steve without having any complaints. I averaged $160 for 18 coyotes. No one I talked to was lower then $130. We had over 90 coyotes in total. The guy doesnt force u to sell your coyotes to him. I mean, its convenient to have him in Edmonton for those who need cash, or just a second opinion.. It's nice that we can shop around. The more buyer's, the more options we have. Plus, Its great for ppl who dont care to send thier fur to the sale.

Walking into his shop I was convinced that I was sending my fur to the sale. Last year we did really good! But I gave him a shot and I was happy. Take your fur to some other Depot. Everyone has that choice. I see guys complaining about Marty's prices, then there are guys super happy with his prices. Why? I dont get it. I think guys over value their fur and aren't happy with any amount of money. Those that bitch about private buyer's most likely bitch about sale prices aswell. We all have a choice to whomever we sell our fur too. I know some guys will take advantage of you. So if u dont like the price you're offered, simply move on. Dont blame Steve because u chose to take your fur to him. That's stupid!

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The post about getting ripped off makes no sense to me. Was someone holding a gun to his head forcing him to sell?

I’ve never heard any complaints about Steve’s buying prices. Quite the contrary actually. Guys keep telling me that I need to take my fur there and give him a shot. These are Trappers without agendas that I know and trust so I gotta listen. I’m almost done putting up my Yotes and I’ll sort them and see him next Wednesday. If I don’t like the offer I’ll just ship them to auction through the ATA. The bar has been set pretty low with one buyer offering me $118 for my best December pelts. :lol:

I never believe we should run down any business without proof. However the 'Real' issue being discussed here is 'Immediate Bar Code Tagging ' of fur going to auction in front of the trapper. When both Buyer and Shipper are combined in a business it offers a chance for quality fur to be added to personal stock in backroom when Bar Code tags not attached.

If I sold my first batch of coyotes to Steve this year, it is because i was ok with the price that he gave me, there is no question about it...end of the discussion.

On the other hand, when the guy tell me that he will call me back at the end of the day or the next morning, I'm expecting him to call me. Where I have a problem, it is when I know that my pelts (that I'm pride) are sitting on a concrete floor and it took more than two week before I finally talk to him again...and it is because I called myself a few times before he finally answered.

In my book, it is not how you run a business !

Again, it is only my opinion.

I just got back from selling a bunch of coyote pelts to Steve. His prices are comparable to other buyers but he doesn't drop the grades lower than what they actually are.......a $170 *I is a $170 *I and not a $150 I-II.

His offer was $3 and change lower than the average that I came up with based on his prices so we were pretty much bang on and he had no problem rounding up the $3 to meet my asking price.

In the end he made money, I made money, and both of us were very happy with the transaction. :)

I have no problem whatsoever endorsing Steve. :happy0034:

ya that's pretty low if their well furred yotes

So what was your average Dave.

Buddy of mine took in 22 he offered 85$ home they came. 3 weeks prior he took in another batch he offered 75.... that batch went to another buyer for 135 sooo not sure about Halfords

The only thing that I found different with Steve’s grading was that size matters and the larger the better. Unlike NAFA where a pup over a certain size grades the same as a big adult, he has different prices for different sizes of the same grade (ie. XXL, L, LM, M, S).
Oh, and damaged faces (ie head shot) and missing tails matter.
I guess that’s what his buyer wants.
This is good to know when deciding what pelts to sell to him and what ones to send to auction. ;)

Again Dave. What was your average.

Come on Dave, what’s the big secret. What kind of average did Steve give you for your last bunch of coyotes.