Bad stuff for knife collectors

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keencut

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Aug 5, 2000
Messages
24
1. Dealers with a know it all attitude who will barely give you the time of day.
2."snipers" in auctions.
Sometimes it seems that alot of people in the knife world want to throw out bad attitude.In a Levine Book in the front he says to talk to the dealers, ask them questions. I wish! Why do these people act like this, they are hurting the "sport" and discouage up and comers like myself. When you approach them at a show you would think they own the world, to get them to talk at all, you practically have to beg and then comes the condisending tone. O.K. I acknowledge your superior knowledge now can we talk like civil people? On to snipers-
I am quickly becoming tired of being beat out of a knife I really want to some computer jockywith a sniping program! Snipers-Give us regular guys a chance.There are 10,000 knives out there for auction, is it going to kill you to bid say 5min before so someone can bid with you like a real auction? ATTENTION This is a rant! I'm sure that I can be shot down on most of this, That my little problems are not going to be fixed right here but can anyone give positive feedback on these issues? Now this forum is great and it is a great way to get good feedback thats for sure so accolades to "BLADEFORUMS".

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The only thing I would like to throw my two cents in about, is the "sniper" comment...

First of all, I have only done this one time... It used to burn my ass up when an item I wanted got sniped with seconds remaining in the auction...

Then, one day right out of the clear blue sky, it hit me.... That damn sniper wanted the item, and was willing to pay more for it then I was!

Just for an example - Let's say i'm the high bidder at $75.00, I bid $100.00! Now with 15 seconds remaining in the auction, the sniper goes for the kill..... He is willing to pay $125.00... Guess what? No matter how little time is left in the auction, he was willing to pay more for the item then I was.... He just took away the opportunity for me to change my mind.

So, now when I bid on a knife, I bid exactly the maximum amount I am willing to pay.... If the starting bid is $25.00, and I would go up to $225.69 --- That's the amount I bid... If a sniper gets it with seconds remaining, he wanted it more then I did, and was willing to pay more...

I will agree with you on one thing though -- It is sooo disappointing to lose an auction with only seconds left... Especially if you have had the high bid for a few days... Such is life, I guess...

Since i'm wasting bandwidth anyway, let me tell you a funny story....

Remember when I said I only sniped one auction???? Well, at the time I was using AOL as my ISP... I burnt this guys bid with only a few seconds remaining (It was something I really wanted
biggrin.gif
) Anyway, this dude was on AOL also, and almost seconds after the auction ended my AOL Private Message box appeared.... Guess who it was? I figured I was about to be cussed out, but we chatted for almost 30 minutes, had a really nice conversation... I turned him on to the forums, but don't know if he visits or not... Good guy he was!!!

Take care


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When I die, I wanna go in my sleep like Grandpa did.... Not horrified, and frozen with fear like his passenger!!!

[This message has been edited by GeneL74 (edited 09-20-2000).]
 
wasnt sure what sniping was till you explained it here.
I just had to jump in and say to Gene-
that is one of the best signature lines I have seen!!!

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Dave (Phil.4:13)
I Can Do All Things Through Him Who Strengthens Me
 
I agree. There is nothing worse than a knife (or gun) dealer with a chip on his shoulder. However there is nothing better than laughing in the guys face as you pick up sweet deals at his bancruptcy sale
smile.gif


As for sniping, I am not wild about the guys who use sniping software. But I know that I wait until the last possible moment to place my bids. A while back I was bidding on a Case Russlock. I bid seven times in two minutes!!! I finally lost and was glad in the end, I didn't really want to pay that much for the item. Those auctions can be addictive.

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EXCUSE ME WHILE I WHIP THIS OUT.
**Blazing Saddles**
 
Hey there and Welcome Keencut!

I would have to agree with Gene on the Sniping...... Set your price where you want it then forget about it. You'll get the email when you win. Also, for every knife you miss out on, you're probably that much closer to a REALLY good deal or trade. I spent quite a bit of time in Auctions but now almost exclusively stay in the Forums 'For Sale/Trade'. Lot better prices and you get to know some incredible people.

I've only been able to go to two knife shows and was more than pleased at both though one was a gun show and I expected it to be bad. The other show I went to was a 'Collectors' show and it was incredible for information. They had people all the way from a 15 year old kid making Damascus stuff that had to catch a bus in cause he couldn't drive to guys who had been Collecting/Making most of their lives. As far as history and looking at some really cool stuff and getting all the info you could possible handle it was FANTASTIC! The down side was there were only a couple tables of new knives so buying was a bit difficult. I don't know if they have these shows everywhere or if these particular people were just really down to Earth but they were more than happy to kick back and talk any type and amount of knife subjects. Scary thing is that it is harder to turn down a knife deal from a 'cool' guy where it is easy to blow off an 'ass'!
wink.gif


Hope you find some good shows to go to! Maybe you'll just have to open your own biz and put the dickheads out of business.
biggrin.gif


Shawn

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"If the 'blackbox' flight recorder is never damaged during a plane
crash, why isn't the whole damn airplane made out of that stuff?"
- George Carlin
 
biggrin.gif
Thanks Dave
biggrin.gif


Glad you got a chuckle out of it....

I ran across that line somewhere on the net, or, in an e-mail, and got a good laugh out of it myself.... Since I have never seen it here (BF) before, I thought it would be a good one....

Take Care,

Gene



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When I die, I wanna go in my sleep like Grandpa did.... Not horrified, and frozen with fear like his passenger!!!
 
Keencut,

Regarding the "snipers". If your going to play the game. Learn the rules and get the best equipment you can get.

Regarding the "know it all dealers" I feel both the need to answer this and qulifided to answer this. To some I fit that bill, in both a pro and a con way.

I will tell you that I try and impart as much information as I can to both clients and potential clients.

However, here are a few things you must understand about advice:

It is worth what you pay for it.

For full time dealers, consider them like independant contractors. These are Entrepreneur's who, because they do know it all (or at least enough to make a living at it) are willing to every day go out there and try and make a living based soley on the knowledge they have attained through years and years of being a dealer.

If in fact we were independent contractors, to get any information from us, you would have to hire us as consultants (like they do in the "real" world). At that point you could ask as many questions as your money would buy.

I think you may be under the false impression that any dealer of any type of collectable owes it to you to answer any question you have.

Now it is good business to discuss a knife you are interested in. However, it is not a requirement on the dealers part.

You will find that once you have purchased a knife from a dealer, they are much more inclined to help you with future purchases.

I know for my part, most of the knowledge I have concerning custom knives I paid for. When you consider all the knives I have bought, the handle material, the Damascus, the steel, designs to be re-done in Autocad, the titanium, and folder parts I have bought.
The purchase of books and magazines, entry fee to a show or later, table fees (table fee at New York is $600). Countless thousands of dollars spent on catalogs,phone calls, hotels at knife shows, meals at knife shows, gas to get to the knife shows, time away from the home and family. It would not be out of line to say that I have invested well over 1 Million Dollars to gain the level of knowledge I know possess.

So the next time you are irritated with a "know it all" who won't give you the time of day. Remember what it took for him to become a "know it all". It would be a whole lot cheaper for you just to buy that first knife.

Hope this helps,



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Les Robertson
www.robertsoncustomcutlery.com

"If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor"
Albert Einstein
 
Les, i agree, but there is a difference between a legitimate 'knows it all' and someone that uses an attitude just to give the impression he 'knows it all'

..and someone can easily cross the line of a 'know it all' attitude and find himself giving off an assh*le attitude.

not sure if that is keencuts point, but i have met both types.

oxbubba (redneck bovine)


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Nothing is better for an ignorant man than silence, and if he
were to consider it to be suitable, he would not be ignorant.
The Gulistan - Sheykh Moslehoddi Sadi
 
Les Thanks for some really good perspective!What you said was well put and in the future (as I have also tried to do in the past) I hope your reply will help me recognize and respect guys like you have described. Still some high-handed know-it-alls out there and yes, They will lose their buisness someday down the line for lack of customers.Emaym TOM -You are right, some of the worst deals(as in not very astute) I have made were because the guy was nice and it was harder to turn him down. And GeneL74- I also have ended up having a good discussion with some guys who beat me on a bid during heavy trading! Let me say this- Since I have posted that beginning message, I have been doing alot of thinking--and my head hurts-- no, seriously I am coming to the realization that, like EmanymTOM, trading in the forum and getting off ebay is more in the spirit of knife collecting. Ebay has its place ie. getting that one knife you feel you really need or maybe an exotic that will never be seen by you. I think going to knife shows, reading the books, consulting the forums, just working a little to wrangle just the right knife gives me much more satisfaction than making a faceless bid to a massive selling engine. I have been on ebay constantly for a month now and I finally had to shuck its tenticles off and get back to other things. OK,OK my wife might have had something to do with that. Thank you one and all for answering and helping out. Thanks again Les for giving us the other side of the story. BladeForums rules! uh sorry..got a little carried away there.....
James M. Kimzey Jr.

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Wow I didn't know I was writing so much.

I see now why ya'll give a little space now and then.
Sorry about that guys.
I forgot to say that oxbubba- You were right, that was my point.
Sorry again about the dense text in the last reply.Live and learn! JMK

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