Can you make money collecting and re-selling knives (part 2)?

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Short answer: No.
Longer answer: no, if you buy stuff you like. If you only buy great deals, and have a crystal ball, maybe.
Specific answer: Order a Randall today. Put down deposit. Wait five years. Pay balance, receive knife, sell and make a few dollars, maybe more (IF you can stand to sell the knife you waited five years for.)
 
Some good advice above mine , keep up with the market and trends. An educated seller realizes when to sell and when buying puts them at less risk, since there’s always gonna be risk involved any time you’re gambling on profiting from an investment.

Hey if it was that easy of a formula to figure out, we’d all buy from Jim Frost and be guaranteed a $300 investment yields a $2,000 return but life and business never seem to be that easy to figure out.
 
It depends on whether you have the skills and temperament to sell things and are willing to invest the time and effort to get the maximum out of the knives. The items themselves are secondary. You can have a dead mint example of a desirable knife covered in gold and diamonds, and you will still lose money unless you know who the audience is and how to target them. I find it much easier to consider knives an entertainment expense that retains a resale value. It is definitely easier to recover your investment in a pocket knife then it would be from your beer tab. :)

n2s
 
When ever I sell any of my knives, which is very rarely, I sell them for what I paid.. That's how I roll.. I know for a fact a few of them were flipped.. That's ok with me because I know I did right with me.. Not saying what was done was wrong but again.. That's how I roll!!! :D John
 
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bobobama said:
I certainly did not make any money after selling off about 25 knives that I've accumulated over the years. I worked with a vendor I met at a local knife show, and when all was said and done I got about 65% of the money I originally spent on the knives back from him. I didn't need these particular knives and was glad to pick up some spare cash, but still...

I thought maybe I just went about this wrong, but reading the other thread the general consensus seems to be that more often than not, you won't make money selling knives, at least if you're an average Joe like me. Has anybody had the same experience? Is there a way to do better when selling knives?
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Yes, but you have to be a ruthless, soul sucking, money hungry, don't give two flips about other people, in order to make a profit on a personal collection of knives. Don't get confused with the people that are flippers. You know, the ones that buy several knives that are highly desirable when they are available, then turn around and sell them for a hefty profit because they know that someone will be willing to pay the secondary market price.:mad: Don't get me wrong, I believe in capitalism and don't mind if someone makes a reasonable profit.
Most people are compassionate about this hobby of knife collecting and would rather see a knife go to someone that would really enjoy it rather than try to make money from it. So, no, there's no sizeable amount of money to be made selling off a collection or a portion of it for the sole purpose of making money.
Personally, it's a hobby for me and having acquired friends that I've never met in person, that would return a favor, is worth more to me than a profit margin on any knife I've ever sold.
 
I have bought and sold some knives and overall I think I only got back 60-70% of what I paid for (including PP fees and shipping and insurance), and most of my sold knives were in lnib or great conditions. Maybe break even with a couple but some lost more than 50%.
 
I think the bottom line is "don't invest in knives" and count on making serious money relative to the cost. Now and then, you'll probably get lucky. Buy what you like for your own reasons and if you eventually want to sell the knife, sell it. If you're lucky, you might make a little money, but in most cases it's small change and not something that pays the bills.

I tried with guns and ultimately I probably made a little money above breaking even. But I was constantly buying stuff and selling was a pain in the butt overall. Everyone wants to steal it from you. You have to be comfortable saying NO. You have to understand that I technically made money with selling a few guns, but it was relative to what I paid. Some of these firearms I have owned for 30 years.... would have made a lot more money just buying mutual funds.
 
I've sold more at a loss than I've ever made money on. Knives in most cases are not a sound investment.
 
Some sprint run and even discontinued Spyderco's I've made good profits on, but on most of those if I still had them, I'd get nothing close to the price today.

The way things move in the knife market you keep something too long , you can wind up missing the high point of desirability. Some models like the Kershaw Tilt stay high forever but they're rare.
 
To most of us, knives are a hobby, and we don't approach our hobby with the idea of making money.
I've lost a ton selling knives over the yrs, probably about 20% on average.
I'm NOT a good businessman, and I recognize this so I try to buy knives that I enjoy.
 
22-rimfire said:
...I tried with guns and ultimately I probably made a little money above breaking even. But I was constantly buying stuff and selling was a pain in the butt overall. Everyone wants to steal it from you. You have to be comfortable saying NO. You have to understand that I technically made money with selling a few guns, but it was relative to what I paid. Some of these firearms I have owned for 30 years.... would have made a lot more money just buying mutual funds.
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I wanted to clarify this a bit so people don't get the wrong idea. When I was buying and selling it was for fun and to keep me in the game. I'd make $20 here, $50 there, loose $20.... and so forth. I want to distinguish this activity with my collection (yes a real collection) and I generally have sold stuff for 4-6x (occasionally 10x) what I paid for it years ago. So, yeah, I made some money on the collection sales, but little on the quick turns like most people here do with knives. Buy it, keep it for a couple months, and sell it..... you loose on those or just break even.
 
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Every knife I have that I think I will or would sell I carry and use for at least a few months before I think about it. So far only have let go of a knife through the PiF thread though I got a few I and debating but if I sell them I expect to sell at a loss.
 
bobobama said:
Hope I'm doing this right. There's a recent thread with this same title that somebody had necro'd and then was locked out, and I really wanted to reply because I just went through the process of selling off a portion of my collection and found this subject very relevant.

I certainly did not make any money after selling off about 25 knives that I've accumulated over the years. I worked with a vendor I met at a local knife show, and when all was said and done I got about 65% of the money I originally spent on the knives back from him. I didn't need these particular knives and was glad to pick up some spare cash, but still...

I thought maybe I just went about this wrong, but reading the other thread the general consensus seems to be that more often than not, you won't make money selling knives, at least if you're an average Joe like me. Has anybody had the same experience? Is there a way to do better when selling knives?
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Since I've joined the site... I've purchased almost fifty knives in the past five months and have sold the majority of those. I've never had the intention of making any money on any of them though. It's all been in the hunt to figure out what I like and find useful. I kind of look at it as renting the knives and consider the 15% - 25% I lose on each knife (after fees and shipping) I sell to be WELL worth the cost of admission.
 
I don't think I've ever taken a loss on a knife, usually I've sold for more than what I paid. I also haven't sold that many, maybe 10 or 15. Should have sold my Hinderers for a boat load a few years ago but oh well.
 
I’m going to offer a little more on this topic, which may be common sense to some, in the hopes of encouraging or reinforcing anyone that wants to enjoy knives not only as a tool to use or a fashion accessory, or justifying collecting for enjoyment andor profit.

There are ways to make profit collecting.
It takes capital, knowledge, and time. You have to put in the effort, fully dedicate and immerse yourself into learning everything you can about the history; trends and fads, past and present. You have to research the market, be familiar with all the individual and niche groups of other collectors and enthusiasts.
You have your safer long term investments, typically comprised of classics from famous makers past, especially the rare and unique pieces. Then you have your riskier calls like limited production runs all the way to that first, prototype, or one-off from that hot new maker.
Then you have the ‘day trader’ (some call these much hated people flippers) approach where your superior research into trends and making unbiased educated calls make your short term investments profitable. Ie sprint runs, supply bottle necks, or exploiting the next fad etc.
Not every call will be profitable, the occasional miss or loss is inevitable, but if you put in enough time and effort it will be profitable. Collecting all the popular mass produced knives is unlikely to pay off, ever.
Getting in early and extensive research are key.
 
Nothing you make re-selling knives will ever be enough to make any difference to your lifestyle or happiness. So just enjoy your knives and do whatever you want, only a fool would treat this hobby like a financial investment.
 
I never got into knives to make money. I never thought of it as a way to put food on the table, that’s funny too because I can see where the service of sharpening a knife can be viable and profitable but it never dawned on me that I collected knives until one day someone asked a question about pattern I happened to have a lot of, I went to take a pic to explain something and then I realized I had a collection, a collection of pen knives as it turned out.

Actually more of an accumulation is a better description. Still I have a hard time selling any of them. I’m more apt to trade, give away or gift something over sell it.

The other problem aside from gifted knives I received which fall into their own catagory of never sell a gift, especially a gifted knife is taboo, no matter how cheap or great. The other problem is the bulk of what I have is vintage slipjoints that I bought for less than $10 on average. Some over 100 y/o, 1 over 200 so how do you sell or value a knives like that and still make consistent profits.

I’m gonna give you a tip. If you wanna collect something that’s almost guaranteed to make you some money buy vintage, mint Colonials and Imperials. They were usually < $5 and if you get $30 on average that’ll be a 500% profit, try that with a CD or money market account today.

Nowadays I can pick up vintage near mint for between $10-$15 so even if I was so inclined I could double my money pretty quick.

You still have to figure in your costs and time but it’s doable. The problem today is I’ve been tellin’ people for 20 years to start pickin’ them up and they’re finally listenin’.

The mint in box pieces are gettin’ harder to find and more expensive. There’s even been a resurgence in restoring and using them as EDCs.

Here’s a Forest Master from the $50s I bought 20 years ago for $10.

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Pieces like this are still out there and popping up in shows more often when before you found them in yard sales and fleamarkets .

There's still money to be made but there are easier ways to make a living, I assure you. :)
 
i suppose if you inherit a whole bunch of nice knives that are highly sought after maybe. Other wise it would take a sizeable investment like beginning knife modding, shifting into making, and being good at it to trade your knives for other valuable knives that you can sell. Probably not very easy. Most often breaking even or getting a few bucks extra after fees/s&h is about it usually. Suppose the same can be said of most collections...
 
You can if you're patient and savvy. It's never worth the time invested, however.

I've made a pretty penny over the years buying the right knife at the right time. I absolutely refuse to buy when the market is inflated. I equally refuse to pay retail price as I've learned through years of collecting that every knife will inevitably present itself for purchase at a more agreeable price point on the second hand market, you just have to wait. Honestly, the "hunt" is half of the allure for me. If I don't have to try and buy it, I finish too quick and no one is satisfied ;).

The profit I've turned will never outweigh the time I've vested watching/waiting. If I didn't love knives and collecting them, this is certainly not something I'd be doing to make money.

Out of the 150ish knives I've owned, I have maybe accrued enough profit to have purchased 5 or 10 of them. In 8 years. A far cry from an income.

Lately, I've been a lot less concerned with "profit" and have been breaking even on everything I buy/sell. I've come to love the community here too much to try and make money off of it.
 
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