E-Bay- worth the time for Spydies?

J

jlamb

Joined
Nov 25, 2009
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211
I see some pretty nice deals on there for some Spyderco's I want, BUT is it worth the hassle? I have never bought anything off there, I just buy from retailers. If I put in a bid is it just going to shoot up to what I would pay from any other online retailer anyway? I dont have any experience with it, but as they say there is no free lunch!
 
Occassionally Spydieguys have an auction with a good deal to be had. If I want the blade bad I just order directly from New Graham so that I am sure to get it.
 
Good deals depend on trending. Lately selling prices seem high on e-bay to me. There were better deals on auctions after Christmas. Folks seem to be paying more for Spyderco knives right now, at least the models that I want.

I always thought that the appeal of an auction was to obtain goods at a better price than could be gotten otherwise (aside from discontinued items that can only be had via such sites). I can't get over the fact that folks routinely pay more via e-bay auctions than they could obtain through a reputable e-tailer (or even another "buy it now" auction on e-bay). Why wait 6 days to see if you win an item, when you could buy it today for the same price or less?

The upside is that there is no cost involved (outside of maybe frustration) in throwing a few bids out there to see if you can score a deal. When bidding you have to establish a maximum of what you would be willing to pay and stick to it. There are dozens of auctions that I don't win for every winner I have, but when I do win, I save a few bucks.

Lastly, all of this depends on what things are worth to you. If it's overly aggravating to constanly be outbid on items that are only selling for $5 less than through a vendor, then maybe e-bay is not the best option for you. On certain items it has been worth paying a few bucks more to have the convenience and security of buyng via a vendor immediately.
 
Ebay is good once you know the reputable sellers. Also, do NOT get into bidding wars. Just snipe your object.

GL and HTH,
 
I've never had any hassles with the dozen or so purchases I've made over the years. So far the only "knife deal" I've gotten was a NIB UKPK for 50% off the lowest online price I could find. Great knife and a great deal but just about everything else I've bid on I got sniped at the last minute or the bidding went way too high.

There are a lot of Spyderco junkies and competition can be fierce.
 
I buy almost all of my Spydies off of ebay. I look for a seller with the lowest price, a ton of sales and 100% (or very close) feedback.

Seller poor_fish often has the best prices. Good service too. They sent me a replacement Spydie when the USPS lost one of my orders.

The only seller that tried to screw me was greatknivesgreatprices (I think thats the name), but he was a con artist, and I was able to get my credit card refunded.

I also buy from newgraham, when its something like a sprint run Blue Manix 2 that is hard to find on ebay (at a fair price). Their prices are not as good as ebay, but the service is A+. They throw your order on the UPS that same day in most cases.
 
i dont even look on ebay much anymore...the prices just dont seem to be that much cheaper that other places i could find it...i havent had anything bad happen when buying stuff on ebay, but i personally dont feel there is that much money to be saved...but as always i can be way off here...
 
Berserk87 said it best. I would include, if it's a knife that you don't have to absolutely have then be patient and wait for it to come up again if you don't get the first one that you see. I have missed out on bids but 2 more popped up in it's place and i ended up winning the bid and got for a better price.
 
if you dont want to bid higher just dont. just put in your max bid. lets say its currently at $40 and youre willing to go up to $70. just bid $70. it will put the current bid as like $42 or something. then as people bid it higher it will automatically raise your bid. Say someone bids $50, it will put your bid at $51. as long as no one bids over $70 you win.
 
For brand new Spydies, you might as well stick to a reputable on-line dealer. For rare and discontinued Spydies, eBay is often the best place to look. For a new knife that is readily available everywhere, I wouldn't turn to eBay.
 
Sometimes ebay price are higher than street shops or internet shopping malls. So watch out.
 
eBay is where I bought 90% of my spydies. I don't go for bids, but lowest price plus shipping. The majority of the time I can find a NIB Spyderco under "buy it now" cheaper than any online retailer. When I search, I look under "Buy it Now" priced by lowest +shipping. Most times it will cost significantly less than online retailers.
 
I have bought several knives there without incident. I usually use Buy It Now, since you can get an 8% rebate by going through Bing.com that way. In many cases the best prices are only available through the 'Bay (e.g., when I bought my Sage 1 for $79 on eBay, it was not available for anything close to that price anywhere else).
 
ZippoThisKnifeThat said:
eBay is where I bought 90% of my spydies. I don't go for bids, but lowest price plus shipping. The majority of the time I can find a NIB Spyderco under "buy it now" cheaper than any online retailer. When I search, I look under "Buy it Now" priced by lowest +shipping. Most times it will cost significantly less than online retailers.
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+1
saved me a lot of money compared to prices here in the Netherlands and of reputable online dealers. Imo ebay is cheaper for a lot of spydies..
 
I bought my Sage 2 (Ti model) for $135 off ebay. Deals can be found for sure.
 
TaTaToothy said:
I have bought several knives there without incident. I usually use Buy It Now, since you can get an 8% rebate by going through Bing.com that way. In many cases the best prices are only available through the 'Bay (e.g., when I bought my Sage 1 for $79 on eBay, it was not available for anything close to that price anywhere else).
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I forgot about the bing discount...that will save you a few bucks:thumbup:
 
I have bought a few from there. I got a Spyderco Lava off there for $38 brand new a steal at that price.
 
Good deals on Spyderco knives can be found on eBay if you:

  • are certain Spyderco made that exact configuration
  • are aware of exactly how that knife should look
  • know how to spot a factory second
  • have a good idea of the knife's value
  • decide how much you are willing to pay, wait till the last possible moment and, if the bids have not already exceeded that amount, place your bid as close to the ending time of the auction as possible, preferably in the final 3 seconds or less.

Paul
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My Personal Website ---- Beginners Guide to Spyderco Collecting ---- Kiwimania ---- Spydiewiki
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I use Ebay a lot being from Europe and all.
I never use the auction only the buy it now feature.

I fricking love Ebay, stuff on there is half or a third the price from European webshops. Not even talking about real stores.

Just check the amount of feedback and percentage a seller has and you'll be fine.
 
powernoodle said:
I buy almost all of my Spydies off of ebay. I look for a seller with the lowest price, a ton of sales and 100% (or very close) feedback.
Seller poor_fish often has the best prices. Good service too. They sent me a replacement Spydie when the USPS lost one of my orders.
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Fully agree. Gotta have above average feedback.
 
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