Giving away knives

JTknives

JTknives

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Jun 11, 2006
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So with the building of the new shop and a few other exciting things in the work. I will reveal them at a later data. The wife and I have decided to try a different path that is outside the standard box. The plan is to give away 2 knives a month. Thy will be great knives and maybe even some swords tossed in. Mostly forged blades as well as some Damascus. We have worked out a lot of the details but one is still being a pain to figure out. And that is this, how do I give away blades to people whom I don't even know. By this I mean I don't want to be sending knives to kids (unless thy have permission). We have the "how to give them away" sorted out but how do we double check there age. Our first thought was to ship requiring an adult signature but that does not weed out kids getting it and there parents being pissed that thy got a knife or sword without there permission. Another thought was to use eBay somehow to do the screening. Maybe have a really high buy it now price but except best offers. The person that gets the knife will have a code and will go to eBay and make an offer of zero on it (don't know if you can offer zero) and put the code in the comments. But there might be a better way so that's why I'm coming to you asking for help. This is going to be a continuing thing every month and is related to the exciting things I mentioned above we are working on. I would give you more details on this but we are holding off on the reveal till we are set up.

This brings up another topic and that is materials. I have talked to a few vendors and revealed my future plans and thy are excited to donate material for the projects. This would of corse give them a broader exposer to people not on this forum. So with that said if there was anyone else out there, vendors or knife makers that wanted to contribute to this project I would be happy to talk over my plans with them in greater detail. Or if you just had some weird random stuff that you wanted to see forged into a blade or used as handle material I would be happy to use it.

Thank you guys for any help you can provide on any of the above mentioned topics or anything else you can think of.

P.s. The knives are being given away for free, I am not selling the knives for any amount of money.
 
I don't have a solution for you but I do have some thoughts.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is, how do you know when you sell a knife you're not selling one to a kid pretending to be an adult. With the advent of the internet and smart phone more and more kids have access to credit cards and have become quite savvy at dealing with customer service and sales people via email and chat. You really don't know who is on the other end now days. If you look at existing competitions and similar things they all have disclaimers that say you must be 18 to enter and so forth.

The other thing I am thinking is that if I were in your shoes the first thing I would do is contact a lawyer. There may be issues with giving away a knife that you are not aware of. I would hate to you see you get sued by an angry parent. The law is a very complicated thing and gets even worse when you start considering things like crossing state lines. That can get you into federal territory.

Not trying to discourage you but I wouldn't take any chances.

-Clint
 
Maybe whoever wins, snap a picture of their photo ID and send it to you to claim the prize? Everyone has a camera phone these days, and a picture is easy enough to send. That way you can at least verify you are sending your package to a person over the age of 18, have a valid address associated with that person, and have proof behind it.

You could essentially give them away on any forum or anywhere you want doing that, because you've got your own verification on hand without having to deal with a third party. It would also come from a traceable source, so any funny business and they'd be going to the owner of the email/phone number the ID came from.

That being said, I guess it's impossible to know for SURE that the person is who they say they are. They could snatch their parents ID and take a picture. Fair and true. But, you can't control that, and you'd be sending it to a name and address that you can verify with picture proof is legal to receive it. Also, you have a traceable source for the origin of the verification (in this case, the ID).

Just a thought. Maybe not a good one. :Do_O
 
That's what made me think of eBay. Use them as the go between. People buy knives on there all the time and you just put in the discription the stipulations and if thy ignore it then its there responcibility. Or you could even have them sign a waver and mail it back.
 
A signed waiver isn't a bad idea either. Then you have a physical signature. Even if it's forged, just like the ID idea, the responsibility does not fall on you at that point. At least I wouldn't think. It wouldn't hurt to check on whatever idea you end up going with.
 
I don't think you'll have any trouble. They give away knives all the time in the traditionals forum. They just ask you only enter if you are 18 or older.

I don't think you can ever make sure somone is 18 or older. For all you know when you sell a knife you could be selling to somone under 18.

Just my 02 cents.

Daniel.
 
Are there states where you can't buy/carry knives if your under 18? Curious. Get not wanting kids to hurt themselves or others with cutty objects, but don't think many parents forbid there kids from using/carrying knives. The ID or waiver ideas sound fine.
 
bloody_pawprint said:
Maybe whoever wins, snap a picture of their photo ID and send it to you to claim the prize?
Click to expand...

Taking this one step further, you could quickly and easily have them snap the photo of their ID and then follow up with Facetime/Skype/Etc.. to verify the person pictured on the ID matches who you are talking with via video call. Some may be leery to provide with a photo of their ID in today'd world but you have to provide a copy when selling/shipping a firearm and I don't see this as to much different. You are also an established and known maker which would put me at ease providing you with a copy of my photo ID.

One side benefit is that it would allow you to interact at another level with your end user/customer base. Look forward to seeing what ideas you have coming to fruition soon.
 
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I think one should take reasonable efforts to assure its not sent to a minor. The ID photo, or similar is a good idea.
I buy cases of Moras every year. That vendor requires a "I agree" check box to their terms of sale.
My mailorder ammunition supplier wanted a ID picture emailed.
Would been easy to falsify...
I think its called "Due Dilligence" in the legal world. But, If some deceptive SOB manages to evade your reasonable effort at screening. At the least, you tried in good faith.

Now you have my comments, will you send me a free knife ?
:-)
 
If you google "age verification" you will get a lot of hits for companies offering exactly what you are looking for. This is one that appears to be free with ads, paid for no ads. https://ageverify.co/

On a side note, i'm curious about the circumstances involving your gifting. I have made it a point to give knives to not for profits that I support, that they will auction off at bull roasts, events, etc. I think giving back is important, and I'm curious about what your planning. Either way, best of luck to you.
 
bloody_pawprint said:
Maybe whoever wins, snap a picture of their photo ID and send it to you to claim the prize? Everyone has a camera phone these days, and a picture is easy enough to send. That way you can at least verify you are sending your package to a person over the age of 18, have a valid address associated with that person, and have proof behind it.

You could essentially give them away on any forum or anywhere you want doing that, because you've got your own verification on hand without having to deal with a third party. It would also come from a traceable source, so any funny business and they'd be going to the owner of the email/phone number the ID came from.

That being said, I guess it's impossible to know for SURE that the person is who they say they are. They could snatch their parents ID and take a picture. Fair and true. But, you can't control that, and you'd be sending it to a name and address that you can verify with picture proof is legal to receive it. Also, you have a traceable source for the origin of the verification (in this case, the ID).

Just a thought. Maybe not a good one. :Do_O
Click to expand...
Didn't you have a fake ID to get into bars or buy beer when you were 19 or 20??? You know, or 16 or 17 if you're as old as me;)
 
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I can honestly care less about the age thing as I had knives for as long as I can remember. But maybe go about it like if your under 18 then you have to have a parent sign a paper. No mater what it will still be shipped requiring an adult signature.
 
Just checked the usps adult signature policy and thy have to be 21 or older and have to show it the the delevery person as well as sign. That signature is on file for 2 years.

This could be good or bad, considering there are lots of people between 18 and 21 not living at home. But it is a dependable way to screen.
 
WaltE99 said:
Didn't you have a fake ID to get into bars or buy beer when you were 19 or 20??? You know, or 16 or 17 if you're as old as me;)
Click to expand...

Haha! True enough. I was thinking more in terms of liability. If he has proof of ID and declaration the person is over 18, if he sends it to that person and address, I was thinking that would be reasonable enough to satisfy legalities.

I like the USPS idea as well, but the over 21 thing I wouldn't know how to get around.
 
Ups has an 18 adult signature. I think we might look harder into using eBay. eBay requires you to be 18 or older to have an account. There is no listing fee and the fee is just after it "sells". It might be the best way to go about it. You could even charge for the shipping to weed out people without access to PayPal.
 
I give knives to charity not individuals and let them worry about who ends up with the blade. Locally, most of the Habitat for Humanity resale stores have a monthly and quarterly silent auction. Some of the charity run craft show/sales have silent auctions. Not a bad way to advertise as you can leave info sheets and business cards and your name is on the craft show advertisement.
 
As a few people have mentioned, I give away to charities as well. Anywhere between 2 and 6 knives a year to various conversation groups. I'm on the board of the local ducks unlimited chapter, so they always get one or two for the big banquet and live auction, as well as whatever other local groups I feel like sending one to.
It's far more exposure than I could ever imagine getting from giving knives to individuals, and more importantly you get a tax receipt for the donation. If you're giving away a couple thousand bucks worth of knives, being able to write the retail price of all of them off your taxes becomes pretty big.
 
Have them send you $1 through PayPal. If they do not have PayPal you can send them an invoice and they can pay with a credit card. You then refund the $1.

This way you get their address and name as well.
 
After talking it over with the wife I think we are going to try using eBay. eBay does not allow listing stuff for free or letting stuff go for free so we will just list for a high price and then the winner of the knife will make a 1 penny offer for it and pay shipping. I did not want to weed out people from other country's but I did not want to pay to ship there as it can get rather pricy.
 
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