Best way to sell junk knives?????

T

TooManyKnives101

Joined
Oct 8, 2007
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108
I need some advice.

What is the best way to sell junk knives? For the last ten months or so I've been selling a collection of knives for a friend. Most of the collection is comprised of quality knives that bring good money, and many are very rare. However, as with most collections, there is a large number of knives that would be considered 'junk knives.' I'm sure you know the type. There are probably about 50 knives or so, most are in horrible condition, some have no tang stamp, those that do are from companies that no one cares for, etc... I see some of these knives on ebay that never even get looked at or bid on. That's just wasted money from a sellers point of view.

The owner of the knives does not want me to put the whole lot of junk knives on one auction. After all, if each one is worth 5-10 dollars (some of them I wouldn't even pay $1 for) that's 250-500 bucks. The owner disagrees with the notion that a knife (or anything for that matter) is only worth what someone is willing to pay. To this person, people try to pay as little for something as possible. The owner doesn't understand that these two ideas are sides of the same coin.

ANYWAYS...

Is it worth going to a knife show? What other options might I have?

Thank you for any advice you may have.

TMK
 
Sheesh ! Ten months is enough already ! Give the junkers back to him with a list of local gun shows, and tell him to sell them himself.
 
Does he like to tinker? Give 'em back and tell him to have fun with them. Build some "Franken-knives" or something. That's what I've done with a bunch of my old garage sale & flea market junkers. I used to have a saying: "Cheap knives. Annoying, but fun to kill." Most of my junk knives are destroyed & thrown away by now.

He'll probably have to see for himself how hard it will be to get a decent price for any of them.

thx - cpr
 
orca8589 said:
"Cheap knives. Annoying, but fun to kill."
Click to expand...
I really love that line... Best way to get some entertainment out of crappy knives. You just throw them into the bay, not one by one but as bundles of five to ten knives. There might be folks out there who'd like to buy them.
 
Get a job at a prison and sell them to inmates. You would be surprised at how many smokes you can get for even a crappy hunting knife.
 
Maybe try selling them in smaller lots. Try a few 5 or 10 knife lots for the *better* ones. I've been using my crap knives to practice sharpening on.
 
It sounds to me like there is some sentimental value attached to your friend's hundreds of junk knives. Advise him that the secondary knife market is down right now and he would do better to hold on to them.

...but flashlife is right, 10 months is way too long. You are one hell of a friend!!
 
Flea markets are the best for low end knives. Another idea is to sell 5-10 to friends having garage sales so that they can put "old pocket knives" in their advertisement and draw about 20% more people than normal.

Mike Latham
CollectorKnives.Net
 
Not much sense in hauling them to knife shows unless you're going to give them away when you get there. Knife show customers are almost certainly more particular than the average eBay or garage sale shopper.

I think that small lots on eBay is your best bet. Mix together the worst ones with one or two of the nicer knives. Or don't advertise the complete junkers at all, that may chase off bidders, but throw them in as "free gifts" when you ship. No reserve, and keep the shipping costs to the absolute minimum.
 
If you buy a membership here, you could try posting a for-sale thread on the exchange. Just post a couple big pics of the whole motley assortment, and put a number next to each knife. Who knows, maybe some folks might bite. Lots of different types of collectors here.
 
gazz98 said:
Maybe try selling them in smaller lots. Try a few 5 or 10 knife lots for the *better* ones. I've been using my crap knives to practice sharpening on.
Click to expand...

ya me too, I dull them, then sharpen them, then dull them, then sharpen. Got a 110 imitation to take hair off my arm a few times now.
 
Clean them up as best you can and sell them in lots with a couple of decent knives and a few real junkers. Otherwise, shipping costs will eat up anything you could get for them.

Selling them in the neighborhood, or giving them away, is a great way to alienate people you don't need to annoy. Giving them to Boy Scouts is a crime.
 
Go with the lots of five to ten on ebay idea. Whatever you do dont give them to boy scouts i have seen too many crappy knives in my troop and i am trying to turn the tide.
 
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