Choice Alpaca Buys Fiber June 05 2023

FiberCall Closed For Season - See you in June 2024! 

We buy alpaca fiber through the FiberCall program.

Payment is made in electronic "cash" store credit for purchasing any wholesale products on ChoiceAlpacaProducts.com, for resale to the public.

We take 1sts, 2nds and 3rds alpaca fiber.

choice alpaca buys fiber

Looking to sell alpaca fiber?

Do you have alpaca fiber to sell?

Do you sell alpaca products to the public?

We buy alpaca fiber for a number of projects like blankets, felt inserts, felt products, socks, accessories, yarn, etc. We work with a number of USA mills to make products for the Made in the USA line. 

alpaca made in the usa  choice alpaca buys fiber usa

How does the Alpaca FiberCall work? 

READ: please carefully read how our process works.
The instructions should tell you everything you need to know. 

  • Steps:

    1. Make sure you have a customer account. You may receive our newsletter emails without having an actual store account but need an account to participate in the FiberCall program.
      Use the Create Account link to quickly make an account, it's free. Your store account is how we issue your fiber contribution wholesale store credit. No purchase necessary to make the account but feel free to buy some wholesale products for your store :)

      Note: you must be an alpaca farm or retail business who resells products to the public to have an account with us and use the FiberCall service. 

    2. Collect and Box Your Fiber:  
      All fiber (Suri and Huacaya) can be used, but not the really wiry belly, lower leg fiber or short 2nd cuts (< 1") stuff. All fiber needs to be free of vegetative matter, matting, mildew, MOTHS, mold, "Poo" or excessive staining.  Note: Some of the mills we work with do not want you to "Tumble" your fleeces as it can bind the fiber, making it unusable.

      Let the mill sorters decide on the sort.

      Please keep 1sts, 2nds and 3rds in their own bags.
      1sts and 2nds should not be combined in the same bag.
      Different colors should go in their own separate bags.
      Numerous bags can go in the same shipping box with one form describing the total contents.  

      One form per box. On the form, it is important to put your actual name (not farm name) as the Tracking Name, to receive credit. Please don't change any already filled in entries on our form.

      Fill out one of the form below for each box sent. 
      Access either the PDF or WORD doc version

      It saves time and is much appreciated if your boxes are the same size so we can "batch" in the label making faster :)

      If you are putting multiple bags in the same box, its smart to label all the bags by weight and grade of fiber to help the sorters better  understand contents.

    3. For each box provide us the dimensions and weight, for sending shipping labelsWe need your address for the "FROM:" part of the shipping label. We would also like to know what's in each box, i.e., 1sts, 2nds or 3rds. We often some boxes to a mill and others to another mill. 

      Send an email (don't call) with this information to fiber@choicealpacaproducts.com


      ** Due to some prior issues with account management in previous years we need you to please plan to spend all of your fiber credit before contributing again to the FiberCall program.  

    4. No upfront shipping costs! We pre-pay to ship your fiber!: We will provide mailing label(s) as a printable (.PDF) file per box. Print and tape the labels to the box(es). The boxes then are given to UPS to go to one of the mills we use to create USA alpaca products. 
       
      PLEASE DO NOT SEND FIBER TO OUR CLEAN PRODUCTS WAREHOUSE!

      PLEASE DO NOT SEND FIBER TO OUR CLEAN PRODUCTS WAREHOUSE!

      Using our provided labels you will mail your fiber straight to a mill.  *We pay shipping costs with the understanding that those costs will be deducted from the amount paid for usable fiber. 

      You have no up-front costs for this program, but note that you should still be motivated not to send junk fiber that isn’t usable, stick, stones, dirt or anything which makes shipping cost more and frustrates the sorters. Shipping only good usable fiber will get you the best payment when the fiber is brought into the mills.

      There is a concept of "Dimensional Weight" used by shippers.
      This idea can help you find the best boxes to use for your fiber. With light alpaca fiber, the cost to ship is often more the size than the weight of the box. PACK your fiber as densely as possible.

      THIS CALCULATOR
       
      will give you a feel for the right boxes to use based on how much weight is in the box versus the minimal shipping Dimensional Weight charge. Generally, we find 17 x 17 x 17" boxes, and very compressed fiber will work best though similar dimensions will also work well. Use the Calculator to see.

      We do not want you to take your fiber to alpaca shows. You'll just ship it from your location using our provided label(s) to one of our partner mills. Which mill depends on what we're working on at any given time. 

    5. Get Paid!: After your fiber has been received and reviewed you will receive an email notification of the number of pounds of usable fiber attained from your shipment, as determined by the sorters.

      For the best $return, PLEASE do not send unusable fiber (tiny 2nd cuts, grass, twigs, rocks, POO, etc.), it hurts the process, frustrates the sorters and threatens the future viability of the entire program.

      For each pound of usable fiber that you send, within 8 weeks typically you will receive payment in the form of a store credits ("PacaBucks") which can be used for shopping for anything on our wholesale store, www.ChoiceAlpacaProducts.com.

      The current store credit rate is:**
      $6/lb - Prime (aka "1sts" or the "blanket")
      $4/lb - 2nds and 3rds 

      NEAFP Fiber 1sts, 2nds, 3rds for FiberCall
      Image Credit: New England Fiber Pool

Stay tuned to our newsletter for any additional info on the FiberCall program. Let's work together to promote alpaca!

In Summary:

  1. Have an account with us. No purchase necessary for later payment. 
  2. Put filled out a FiberCall submission sheet in each box to be sent.
  3. Email your "From:" address, dimensions and weight of each filled box, and the fiber grade in each box (i.e., 1sts, 2nds or 3rds).
  4. We send you shipping labels. You print, put on boxes, ship free with UPS.
  5. Fiber gets checked in, we get notified, you get issued wholesale store credit ("PacaBucks"). You purchase wholesale products for resale.

Any questions?  Please take another look at the above. We're pretty sure everything is covered. If it still doesn't answer the question(s) feel free to email fiber@choicealpacaproducts.com.

Thank you for participating in this grass roots small business program to bring usable USA grown alpaca fiber forward to end products. You're a champion of the alpaca industry!

Regards,
-Brian, Paula and the Choice Alpaca Products Team
ChoiceAlpacaProducts.com