Flippers

Yeah it's crazy for sure,been around forever can you imagine the flipping that went on during the gold rush?
 
How it went in Las Vegas: Each maker had a sheet of paper with (4) columns allowing for about 100 slots. If you were interested in THAT knife, you put your name on the next available slot. I actually saw over 75 names on some sheets.

At the later closing time, they went around with a random number generator plugged into the amount of filled in numbers on the sheet. Whatever number came up was the 'winner'.

This saved the physical and clumsy boxes and small sheets of paper. It also made it VERY convenient to run around and sign off on MANY desirable knives....

This MAY have also had the effect of oversaturating a single 'winner' as they may have been chosen a few times. Sell off what you won't keep?

it also showed, at a glance, what was really desirable. Long list = BIG wishes.

Aggressive marketing has many forms. If a person wants to PAY 30% more for a knife from a lucky flipper, then that's the actual value of that knife at that time. Hmmmmmmm.

Flipper = Opportunist or Antagonist to the ritual culture?

Interesting ethical points, which I don't stand firm with, but can see both sides. This thread helps.
 
I think what we're discussing here is pretty specific. I read every post in the thread in General, and so many of them tried to draw comparisons with situations inconsistent with the specifics which began the most recent dialogue- strawmen and hypotheticals abound.

There are so many gradations of what many describe as 'flipping', and not only that, they are context driven as well, which muddies the waters. I'm convinced it's the vague nature of this topic that makes this a conversation worth having.

Coop, I really appreciate that you gave your insight into how the system we're discussing works- I, for one, had no idea. It seems fairly transparent. Like you, I don't really know exactly where I fall in the debate, but I find the agitation among the top tier makers who've spoken out so forcefully to be fairly concerning.
 
Back
Top