Buying up knives to sell on ebay

I‘ve noticed a trend on eBay where two members get into a bidding frenzy early on in the auction, which only drives up the price for everyone. Rather than wait until the end. It’s like sitting at the blackjack table with someone who takes a hit on 19. I suspect some of these sellers have accomplices helping to drive up the price. Especially when I see said knife “sell” for a very high price only to be relisted again.
 
coolhand68 said:
I‘ve noticed a trend on eBay where two members get into a bidding frenzy early on in the auction, which only drives up the price for everyone. Rather than wait until the end. It’s like sitting at the blackjack table with someone who takes a hit on 19. I suspect some of these sellers have accomplices helping to drive up the price. Especially when I see said knife “sell” for a very high price only to be relisted again.
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The competitive aspects of a bidding war is why auctions exist of course but what you are describing is shill bidding and eBay supposedly has rules against it. Since eBay gets a cut of the auction price no matter who wins the auction I don't imagine eBay is all that rigorous in its enforcement.
 
coolhand68 said:
I‘ve noticed a trend on eBay where two members get into a bidding frenzy early on in the auction, which only drives up the price for everyone. Rather than wait until the end. It’s like sitting at the blackjack table with someone who takes a hit on 19. I suspect some of these sellers have accomplices helping to drive up the price. Especially when I see said knife “sell” for a very high price only to be relisted again.
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Periodically I run auctions starting at $1 with no reserve. The last time I ran a batch, a full 25% were bought by the same two buyers that were just running up auctions with no intent to buy them. It takes several weeks to unwind if the buyer will not cancel or respond to eBay. Then they just get a new ID and do it again. I had to put in rules on eBay that new accounts could not even bid.
 
knifeswapper said:
Periodically I run auctions starting at $1 with no reserve. The last time I ran a batch, a full 25% were bought by the same two buyers that were just running up auctions with no intent to buy them. It takes several weeks to unwind if the buyer will not cancel or respond to eBay. Then they just get a new ID and do it again. I had to put in rules on eBay that new accounts could not even bid.
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What in the world could someone's motivation be for this sort of behavior? Is this entertainment? Do they think they're somehow being helpful in a deranged way? Are they selling similar product and bidding up the competition?
 
There’s a difference between selling something for what it’s worth at the time (ie - bought a knife a while back and now it’s disco’d, scarce, etc) and buying something just to flip it for profit.

I give out bro deals on here quite often whenever I sell. If I ever see a blade I gave a bro deal on being flipped, that A-hole gets sh!tcanned to my ignore list immediately. Flippers suck ass and ruin the game for all of us.

How is it even worth all that damn effort it takes to find the deals cheap, pay right then, turn right around and list em at inflated prices (and in many cases get laughed at and ridiculed because of it), then have to pack it back up and ship it right back out for a few paltry bucks. Bunch of BS.
 
AntDog said:
There’s a difference between selling something for what it’s worth at the time (ie - bought a knife a while back and now it’s disco’d, scarce, etc) and buying something just to flip it for profit.

I give out bro deals on here quite often whenever I sell. If I ever see a blade I gave a bro deal on being flipped, that A-hole gets sh!tcanned to my ignore list immediately. Flippers suck ass and ruin the game for all of us.

How is it even worth all that damn effort it takes to find the deals cheap, pay right then, turn right around and list em at inflated prices (and in many cases get laughed at and ridiculed because of it), then have to pack it back up and ship it right back out for a few paltry bucks. Bunch of BS.
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It's human nature. There are a few folks here who scour every garage sale for miles around first thing. The every 2 weeks they have a garage sale at their house to flip what they've found. I don't know if they make a profit but they sure like doing it. And I"m talking about permanent painted wood signs nailed to telephone polls with the dates updated on a regular basis.
 
knifeswapper said:
Periodically I run auctions starting at $1 with no reserve. The last time I ran a batch, a full 25% were bought by the same two buyers that were just running up auctions with no intent to buy them. It takes several weeks to unwind if the buyer will not cancel or respond to eBay. Then they just get a new ID and do it again. I had to put in rules on eBay that new accounts could not even bid.
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Why would they do that? Also would they not still have to pay the fees even if they did not pay you? What a strange scenario!
 
Triton said:
Why would they do that? Also would they not still have to pay the fees even if they did not pay you? What a strange scenario!
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Some are probably kids. I don't spend much time trying to figure out what others are thinking; as my thinking capacity is quite diminished these days. No, if they never pay or cancel an order - they don't have to pay anything; although they do get a ding on their eBay reputation.
 
AntDog said:
There’s a difference between selling something for what it’s worth at the time (ie - bought a knife a while back and now it’s disco’d, scarce, etc) and buying something just to flip it for profit.

I give out bro deals on here quite often whenever I sell. If I ever see a blade I gave a bro deal on being flipped, that A-hole gets sh!tcanned to my ignore list immediately. Flippers suck ass and ruin the game for all of us.

How is it even worth all that damn effort it takes to find the deals cheap, pay right then, turn right around and list em at inflated prices (and in many cases get laughed at and ridiculed because of it), then have to pack it back up and ship it right back out for a few paltry bucks. Bunch of BS.
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You are very kind to give fellow forum members a discount. That said I've noted that "Bro deals" always seem very one sided. I've never yet heard of a "Bro" Offer to pay more than asking price....
 
r8shell said:
I have. I guess it depends on who your bros are.
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<Shrug> It’s certainly possible but I’ll bet it’s vanishingly uncommon. When someone starts blathering on about “bro” deals and the “good of the community” I keep my hand in my wallet. I have seen that guy before.
 
Alltrippy said:
Is this a problem? Do the same people buy up certain knives from certain brands (Hinderer) and than turnaround and sell them on eBay for a large markup? Does blade forum monitor multiple purchases of the same knife buy the same individual? Should there be a limit on how many knives you can purchase in a week or month to prevent this? Anyone have some perspective on this. Is it good ole capitalism, or is it ruining it for the collector that isn’t doing this as a business and can’t live one blade forum.
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I am not buying any of this. First, the Bladeforums would be a particularly dumb place to buy from, if you are just a flipper. The members here are fairly informed on pricing and anyone authorized to sell here is also authorized to ask for valuation feedback on their knife. Second, why not just buy in bulk at wholesale, or buy from an estate where the family is just looking to clear the clutter. There may be the occasional clown who tries to play a game, but the margins aren't there. The closest I have seen to this is where a flipper buys in quantity from a custom maker or "sprint run" in the hopes of flipping the knives when it is no longer available. The risk is still on them, who is to say whether the maker will produce another run, or whether the knife will sell at all? and it is the maker who is choosing to limit their market and instead depend on an intermediary to move the product. What makes you think that the maker had the right price on the item to begin with? Perhaps they moved it out quickly on the cheap because they needed to make an immediate mortgage payment.

At the end, it is the market that sets the price. No one is forcing you to buy anything and if flippers really bother you then don't indulge them. There are plenty of knives floating around here and you can always place a wanted ad and offer to buy at whatever price you feel comfortable with.

n2s
 
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