Selling your ginseng roots
Now that you have harvested, cleaned and packed up your ginseng crop, the time has come that you have worked so hard and waited so long for. You're finally ready to sell your ginseng roots!
There are several things to consider when it comes time to sell the fruits of your ginseng labors, and the most important one of all is the safety of your dried roots. You have worked way too long and hard only to lose it all right here at the end, so it is imperative that you choose wisely when deciding who to sell to and how to get the roots from your hands into theirs.
If you happen to live in an area where ginseng grows in the wild, there are probably a number of local buyers who will pay cash on the spot for your roots. The problem is, these folks are most likely just middlemen who buy from folks who hunt ginseng as a hobby and then resell their roots to another buyer a little higher up in the food chain located someplace else. The advantages of selling to these local buyers are:
1 - You get your money right away, and...
2 - The risk in transporting the roots to them is virtually nil since you haul them yourself.
But there is a downside as well: the price you'll receive for your roots will be less than what you could expect to get if you sold to a buyer higher up in the food chain yourself.
The problem is, in reality you probably have little choice except to sell to a local dealer because the larger ones prefer to deal in tons of ginseng instead of mere pounds. So unless your ginseng crop was on a massive scale, those primary dealers probably won't want to deal with you.
But what if you live in an area where there are no local ginseng buyers? In this case you will have to find a dealer elsewhere and ship your roots to him via UPS or load them onto a truck and deliver them yourself. If at all possible I believe it's best to deliver the goods yourself than to trust the fruits of years of your labor to a third party.
Either way, the first step is to find a reputable buyer. Your county extension agent should be able to help, but probably the easiest way to find one is via the Internet.
After you have decided who to sell to, you'll have to decide how you will get the roots to them. Again, if possible you should strongly consider delivering them yourself. But if this isn't practical and you end up having to ship them, ensure that the packages are waterproof, secure, and insured for the maximum amount allowed by the carrier.
Be aware that ginseng is highly regulated and a license might be required in order to deliver or ship your roots to a dealer in another state. The dealer should be able to help you determine whether such is the case and how to go about getting a license should one be required.