TOPIC: Idea of selling together

Dear ginseng collectors,

My name is Mike Lee, owner and operator of this website.

The reason I created this thread is to give you an idea on how to get top dollar for your hard work. This is just my initial post and follow-up posts will come.

After reading some of your posts in regards to getting together as a group to sell wild ginseng in bulk to one buyer (dealer) who will pay top dollar for larger quantities, I believe creating such an organization in each state and selling this way will benefit every one of you.

In order to organize these groups, we need to get the word out there. It is a good idea to start here since wildgrown.com is the biggest and most popular site when it comes to ginseng.

This website has been growing dramatically and we now have more than 6,000 visitors every day. I am sure a lot of visitors are just browsing and not participating in the forum, but we all can use this website to benefit everyone in the ginseng industry.

Please feel free to leave your ideas and comments in regards to selling your ginseng as one group.

Thanks!

-Mike

Mike
Just wanted to say that i really enjoy this site.
But i'm afraid that in order to get everyone together to sell their root there will be a few legal issues such as certifing there root in there own state before transfering to another state.
I was thinking that you had to be a licensed dealer in order to get root certified?
I'm not sure on that But,would be something to check on. Iknow a dealers license in Illinois use to be 50.00 don't know what it is now..
I was also wondering why you don't and a chat room to your site?
Thinking it might help things out.
Thanks and keep up the good work

But i'm afraid that in order to get everyone together to sell their root there will be a few legal issues such as certifing there root in there own state before transfering to another state.
I was thinking that you had to be a licensed dealer in order to get root certified?
I'm not sure on that But,would be something to check on. Iknow a dealers license in Illinois use to be 50.00 don't know what it is now..

The idea is very simple. Diggers get together and go to a dealer who pays the top dollar within their own state.

Mike,

You did say it, but I will point it out again, to make sure no one missed it

I believe creating such an organization in each state

.

I think that's key for everyone to remember and I know you all can work out the legal issues from there.

In Kentucky, there used to be a ginseng coop. Not sure of the status of it anymore and all of the history. Google used to have their newsletters come up.

Mike,
I hope this could get worked out! I know all the diggers puts in a lot of hours & hard work digging the ginseng...I hope it can get worked out this way,it would be great!!!

Excellent idea.

I also think this is a great idea. I know every time I check the price from my middle TN buyer he always says he can pay a bit more for larger quantities.

If even as few as 20 or 30 diggers from TN got together and sold as a group - that would sure take care of the quantity issue. As far as selling to one buyer I think it might be better to invite several top buyers and let them bid on the lot.

Competition is good for the seller

Back in the 70-80's when I did a lot of Trapping I would always let two local buyers bid on my fur by sealed bid. I had a lot (several hundred) high quality coon, mink, fox, muskrat pelts. They each hated when the other guy beat them out on the bid and did their best to out bid each other and man that is how you want to sell someting.

I understand you are talking about doing this by State so the issue of crossing the state line with sales is not a issue, but I would also like to look into the possibility of us individual diggers (doing what ever it takes) to be able to sell special/high quality/old (long neck stem, bulby) roots via online auction like ebay.

I can see on the State of TN site that a Dealers License cost 250.00 annually. But then they also mention \"To move ginseng out of the state requires an Export Certificate from a certifying official\". They do no mention what it cost to get a certifying official to certify ginseng for export.

Anyone know about what that cost ?

There is 7.5 oz of Green Seng (old bulby roots) up for bid on ebay now and the bid is up to 570.00.

If you dried those roots and sold them with the rest of your lot (like most all of us do) you would have about 2.5 oz of dry and at 500.00/lb that would be around 78.00.

Anyone know what it cost to get a batch of roots certified for export ? And is that all you would have to do to be able to sell them anywhere you wanted - like on ebay ?

Thanks

TNhunter

Guys, here is another ebay one. Sold for over $1000 green lb.

I don't know if it will show up since I had to sign in to my account to access it.

cgi.ebay.com/WILD-GINSENG-FRESH-1LB-OLD-...;hash=item4aa543b788

classicfur

Classicfur,

I clicked the link and it did work.

Question - they mention having DNR papers.

Is that the same as a export certificate ?

Do you know what it cost an individual to get DNR papers or export certificate or what ever it takes to be able to sell like on ebay ?

Thanks

TNhunter

TNhunter

Your question about DNR papers. In Wisconsin where those roots listed on ebay where coming from and where I used to live, DNR is abreviation for Dept of Natural Resources. Which is the state operation for what other states call Dept of Fish and Game. They set all the rules and regs. pertaining to Wild Life and Habitats.

As far as the listing mentioning DNR papers. He could be just refering to his license to harvest Wild Roots in his state.

I know for WI a dealers license to sell up to 100 lbs of roots cost $100. Certification by the state for selling out of state is free. So as far as I can see, if you had all the right paper work in place you could legally sell on ebay from the state of WI.

And it appears that every state is diffrent. In Maine, in order to sell my Wild Simulated roots out of state, all I need is to have the state certify it, which is free. No dealers license required.

You would really have to do your Homework to make sure it's legal in your state.

classicfur