Another hobby plagued by resellers

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needler420

needler420

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After studying balisong knives for awhile trying to get a pair for me and my X gf to learn I realize the hobby is plagued by a speculative reseller market.

Which I guess isn't any different then my other hobbies video games, comic books, etc.

I just notice a lot of people try to speculate on what knives will becomes rare and buy multiples for reselling.

I thought I would be able to eventually find something nice on the 2nd hand market but now I realize I'm get stuck with a sub $20 dollar butterfly from the flea market that will probably last a few months.

I can't afford a months rent into a single knife even if it will last a life time its not something I can afford at the current time. When a good knife comes out it goes OOP after a short time and then scalped for 10X the price by resellers. That's if you're even lucky enough to be able to find it since you can't buy knives on the most famous 2nd hand shopping sites like amazon and ebay.

If ebay was able to sell and buy butterfly knives and switchblades prices would drop a lot. So I guess the laws keep prices where they are as well.

I hear Canada and Aussie banned butterflys so I imagine they are even more expensive to get a hold of there. And sought after. Probably smuggled and snuck in quite often even by people on this site lol.
 
One of the best balisongs ever designed is always in stock, the Benchmade 51. It used to be a lot cheaper but there was a policy change for their online pricing. If you love flipping it might be worth the $225.
 
I've never personally seen anyone sell any knife for 10x the retail price. Link?

You COULD try saving some money up. You know, putting a little back every week. Time flies and before you know it you're waiting on the arrival of your new bali..
 
Professional reselling, or Flipping, is common on knife forums and is quite divisive. I, like you, dislike it as it adds a middleman (and an often huge price hike), which shouldn't be there. Expect some flame for questioning the practice, as it's highly defended by some.
 
Yep. It's all about supply and demand. Scarcity . . . real or perceived . . . reduces supply and raises demand. And those who can profit from it will profit from it. Defending it or cursing it is irrelevant unless, of course, you haven't got anything else better to do with your time.

Same as it ever was . . . same as it ever was . . .
 
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Like StryCoShaw said, there are some great production balisongs available. Microtech and Benchmade offer some models for under $250 (I think a BM 51 goes for $230 or so). You can get one of those and a cheap trainer to beat up.
 
Every hobby and activity that has a secondary market is going to have this to one degree or another. The only variables are the popularity of said item, rarity, and popularity of the hobby.

Unfortunately you can either begrudgingly deal with it, or get into a hobby that requires perishable goods, like cooking and allow a Decent kitchen knife set to function for you.

I have choosen to deal with it...

On a plus side, with her being your ex, you don't have to buy her a bali!
 
I know nothing about the balisong market, but with all knives the market needs resellers(IMO).
If people weren't often buying more than they need I don't think we would have many American knife companies left.

Some do buy just to flip, but some buy just to get to handle many different knives, some buy and then get tired of the model, some buy a backup and then realize they don't need it as much as a new knife they would like to buy, etc...
Buying when you know you ONLY bought it to flip for a quick profit is not something I'm fond of, but it is what it is, and I don't let it bother me. I haven't missed on many knives I really wanted, and if you keep up with the forums its not that hard to snag exclusives.
 
I will cry for the OP later....

The simple fact of the matter is that like any hobby, at a certain point, this one can get expensive depending on what YOU want.

I try not to blame that on speculators though, it's more about want vs what anyone can reasonably afford based on their expendable income.

Sure, there will always be cases (see ZT lately) where there will be a very limited run of knives produced and their value will go to some ridiculous levels.
This is not 'speculation' it's supply and demand....

A capped or very Limited production run creates the supply issue, and the crazy need for everyone to have one creates the demand...what do you expect the market (people who own this product) to do?

We can all sit here and say they should do the 'right thing' but we who created the demand in the first place are really stretching with that thought process.
We want capitalists to be socialists when it benefits us......
 
Since we are not talking about any specific knife, we're off to Feedback to discuss sales tactics.
 
All I know is that I've bought and sold a lot of knives and seldom do I get more for a knife than I paid. Mostly I take a loss. But I am not in this to make money. I have a real job for that.
 
Come on man, a good Bali may not be cheap, but you have to pay to play! Save some money, if you really want one it will be worth it. If you decide you don't like it, that same secondary market you are whining about will let you sell if without much loss.

I don't have a nice Bali, but I have some expensive knives. There is a big difference between a sub $75 folder and what $150-$200 will buy you. I wish I wouldn't have spent so much on Rat 1s and Timberline Tacticals in my younger days. Those knives are basically not worth selling. I wanted to try several styles and designs, so I stuck with cheaper knives. I now have a junk drawer full of them. They don't yield much enjoyment for me anymore, I just use them to practice sharpening and opening junk mail.
 
needler420 said:
After studying balisong knives for awhile trying to get a pair for me and my X gf to learn I realize the hobby is plagued by a speculative reseller market.

Which I guess isn't any different then my other hobbies video games, comic books, etc.

I just notice a lot of people try to speculate on what knives will becomes rare and buy multiples for reselling.

I thought I would be able to eventually find something nice on the 2nd hand market but now I realize I'm get stuck with a sub $20 dollar butterfly from the flea market that will probably last a few months.

I can't afford a months rent into a single knife even if it will last a life time its not something I can afford at the current time. When a good knife comes out it goes OOP after a short time and then scalped for 10X the price by resellers. That's if you're even lucky enough to be able to find it since you can't buy knives on the most famous 2nd hand shopping sites like amazon and ebay.

If ebay was able to sell and buy butterfly knives and switchblades prices would drop a lot. So I guess the laws keep prices where they are as well.

I hear Canada and Aussie banned butterflys so I imagine they are even more expensive to get a hold of there. And sought after. Probably smuggled and snuck in quite often even by people on this site lol.
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The secondary market for some of the rarer Balisong knives, can often be priced extremely high- especially certain customs. I purchased many of my collection, at the height of the market & paid top dollar.

There is another forum (Satanic Devil), that is very well known to the bali flipping community. There is/was a certain individual over there, that was snatching up every available Arc Angel, & BRS Alpha Beast that he could find. When the supply dwindled, he was asking at least double what he was paying for them. There were a couple of member's here, who told me, he was asking in the $800 neighborhood for these knives...& there were plenty of newbie's willing to pay his premium.

I've sold a few of mine, at significant losses, to give some of these passionate flipper's the enjoyment of owning a rare grail. To each their own.

The discontinued, Benchmade 4X market was about at it's peak a little over a year ago- however it's settled down quite a bit in the past few months; mainly in lieu of a few newly released custom's (EX 10's/Hom Spector & few others).

There are a couple of really cool member's here who might be able to help you out, finding an economic introductory model (Jose/Foreman).

FYI- you might want to try & grab a new BRS Alpha Beast 3 when they are released- that my friend, should be a very good investment. I would recommend putting yourself on Blade HQ's waiting list.

Best of luck finding one, needler420!
 
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It's what keeps the market vibrant, alive and ever changing. For every 1 who sold a knife at 10X there's 100 or more who lost money.

Part of the fun is picking a winner.

Ken44 hit it: "but some buy just to get to handle many different knives" with the goal of losing as little as possible. My goal is to handle as many different ones as possible and with luck break even or lose shipping fees.
 
Most hobbies are expensive- if you have expensive tastes......try Ham radio or photography, rock your financial world
 
Arch Angel and Alpha beast are the main ones I been after. Luckily I'm not one of the newbies going to pay a premium for such a deceptive practice at an attempt to monopolize the market. Just irks me when how long I been into knives and can't find good ones and then see and hear stories like this. Just my rant at the market. Back to flipping my flea market flipper.
 
needler420 said:
Arch Angel and Alpha beast are the main ones I been after. Luckily I'm not one of the newbies going to pay a premium for such a deceptive practice at an attempt to monopolize the market. Just irks me when how long I been into knives and can't find good ones and then see and hear stories like this. Just my rant at the market. Back to flipping my flea market flipper.
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If your fortunate to land one of these, it should be cheaper than any of the good condition AB 2's that you may find on the secondary market: http://www.bladehq.com/item--BRS-Alpha-Beast-Balisong-Butterfly--12414

As for the Arc Angel: you can occasionally find a user, in the $400 range. A LNIB/mint model, will be priced high for anyone, because these have been discontinued, & are becoming much harder to find.

Best of luck, & keep your chin up, bro- this hobby should be the least of your worries in life! ;)


braillediver said:
It's what keeps the market vibrant, alive and ever changing. For every 1 who sold a knife at 10X there's 100 or more who lost money.

Part of the fun is picking a winner.

Ken44 hit it: "but some buy just to get to handle many different knives" with the goal of losing as little as possible. My goal is to handle as many different ones as possible and with luck break even or lose shipping fees.
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^^^
+1


pwerfel said:
Most hobbies are expensive- if you have expensive tastes......try Ham radio or photography, rock your financial world
Click to expand...

As if these recent hobbies aren't expensive enough (guns/knives/flashlights/pens). Thanks a lot, Paul! ;)
 
Franciscomv said:
Like StryCoShaw said, there are some great production balisongs available. Microtech and Benchmade offer some models for under $250 (I think a BM 51 goes for $230 or so). You can get one of those and a cheap trainer to beat up.
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I don't know much about balis but have looked at some over the years. Seems there are some good production models out there for not much money. Don't really understand the OP especially since it sounds like he is trying to get into the hobby. No need to start at the top. Get an inexpensive but quality one from a known brand and start from there. I didn't start out in this hobby buying a CRK...
 
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