Honest question on what to do with cheap unwanted/unused knives

Corton93

Corton93

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There's quite a few not pictured that are in the safe, the shop, vehicles, etc..

So I get it, stuff like you Chris Reeve's, Spyderco, Benchmade, Microtech, you can always sell them pretty easily as there is a market for them. My question is for the less desirable/cheap stuff, things pictured like the CRKT's, Civivi's, Mora's, SOG's.

I know we all enevitably end up with piles of random cheap and weird knives that I'm not sure what to do with and honestly not sure how I got in the first place. I know eventually you could sell anything, but I'm talking about used knives in that awkward $20-$50 range when new. Knives that used are worth less and after shipping and the hassle of communication with buyers and going to the post office to ship doesn't really feel like it's even worth the effort put in to sell them in the first place.

I thought about just gifting, but one problem I have is that most everybody I know who carries a knife is actually a "knife guy", and doesn't care about a used Kershaw Leek..

Probably looking to get rid of 30-40 knives total. Not really trying to make a bunch of money back necessarily, but im not just gonna chunk them. Im really just tired of them taking up so much storage space.

Thought about just doing one or a couple of those cheap Ebay "bulk" or "lot" sales the people who don't really know about knives end up buying.

Not gonna list here on the exchange, too many, and trust me, no one here is gonna be interested in what I'm selling lol.

Anyone have any ideas??
 
You should at least "try" to sell the knives here on BF.

Since you're already a Gold Member, there's no additional fee for doing this and no processing fees if you're selling via PP FF, Zelle, UPSP MO or other cash methods.

You're only problem in trying to sell for cash is a lack of trading history but if the value of the knives sold is very low, it shouldn't matter that much, as long as you build a history of positive feedback.

What you can't sell here, you can, of course, try to sell on EB and other 2ndary markets.

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People talk sh*t about EB but it's about the only place you can sell such stuff w/o too much trouble.

I sold about 100 knives (mostly cheap Kershaws and CRKTs) on EB about a year ago. Mostly in "bulk" lots at around $200 each and other's individually, depending on their value. People will buy them if you price them "right."

You'll get gouged by the EB and PP fees but you'll pocket more $ than you might think and, despite the fees, the EB/PP connection makes it easy to sell stuff by providing a world wide marketplace and certain seller services (like UPSP discounts and easily printed labels) that make it worthwhile.

The only "problem" is that if you sell more than $600 worth of goods via PP G&S, you'll get a 1099 next year and you'll have to reconcile the proceeds reported against your cost in the knives you sell.

If you don't have the receipts for the knives, you should document recent sales of the same knives from EB (or any other 2ndary market sources) and use them as the FMV of the knives at the time of sale.

This info along w/pics of the knives that you use in the listing should be sufficient to establish their cost basis.

Good luck!
 
CDHumiston said:
If you want to move them fast sell them as a lot. You say no one here would be interested so I assume the knives in the picture are not the ones you want to move...
Click to expand...
Some of them would be, haven't really gone through and decided what all to get rid of yet..
 
sgt1372 said:
You should at least "try" to sell the knives here on BF.

Since you're already a Gold Member, there's no additional fee for doing this and no processing fees if you're selling via PP FF, Zelle, UPSP MO or other cash methods.

You're only problem in trying to sell for cash is a lack of trading history but if the value of the knives sold is very low, it shouldn't matter that much, as long as you build a history of positive feedback.

What you can't sell here, you can, of course, try to sell on EB and other 2ndary markets.

----------------------------------------------

People talk sh*t about EB but it's about the only place you can sell such stuff w/o too much trouble.

I sold about 100 knives (mostly cheap Kershaws and CRKTs) on EB about a year ago. Mostly in "bulk" lots at around $200 each and other's individually, depending on their value. People will buy them if you price them "right."

You'll get gouged by the EB and PP fees but you'll pocket more $ than you might think and, despite the fees, the EB/PP connection makes it easy to sell stuff by providing a world wide marketplace and certain seller services (like UPSP discounts and easily printed labels) that make it worthwhile.

The only "problem" is that if you sell more than $600 worth of goods via PP G&S, you'll get a 1099 next year and you'll have to reconcile the proceeds reported against your cost in the knives you sell.

If you don't have the receipts for the knives, you should document recent sales of the same knives from EB (or any other 2ndary market sources) and use them as the FMV of the knives at the time of sale.

This info along w/pics of the knives that you use in the listing should be sufficient to establish their cost basis.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Yea, I was thinking of just doing bulk lots on EB for the convenience. I already sell a good bit on there anyway. My current 90 day selling total is already around 3k, think I got the 1099 info email from ebay back in February.
 
For the less expensive knives (ie. ones for $15-25ish), you probably want to do lots in sets of 3 or 4 maybe. No sense spending $8 on shipping a $20 knife. $8 on $75 is more reasonable.

Or, do the add-on feature. During the sale listing, note that a buyer can "add-on" the purchase of the knife with any regular priced knife.

Example

For sale
Spyderco $120
BM $140

"add-ons". not for individual sale but feel free to add it to an above purchase.
Crkt $12
Kershaw $15

EDIT. Oh, if you do EB, then disregard the add-on part.
 
Corton93 said:
Some of them would be, haven't really gone through and decided what all to get rid of yet..
Click to expand...

Just quickly scanning the pic (didn't do that before), you can EASILY sell the Spydercos, Benchmades, Cold Steels, the LUDT auto, the traditional slip joints and the KaBar & ESSE fixed blades here.

No problem!! Just depends on their condition and your pricing.

The really cheap stuff that's in "good" condition you can group and also try to sell in bulk here or on EB. People will even buy the modified and really trashed knives if you price them "right."

The only place you can try to sell the cheap autos is here, on reddit or other alternative knife sites. Can't sell those on EB.

Anything that you can't sell anywhere, you can try to give away or just destroy (break/cut up the blade and disassemble for saftety) and then and toss in the stuff in the recycle or trash bin.
 
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I might be interested in purchasing a lot, send me a DM with a price you are looking for, for either all, or half, or however you want to break them up.
 
The consensus seems to be sell them. But I'll throw this out there-

I used to know a guy who volunteered with the Boy Scouts (his son was a scout). I happened to mention to him that I had a bunch of extra knives that I had no use for. He told me that some scouts come from poor families that can't afford to buy their kid a knife, and that some kids only have very cheap, junk knives. So I gave him some of my unwanted folders to hand out. After of course they had been taught proper knife safety.

If there are any scout troops in your area you could always contact the leaders and see if they have any scouts who need a good knife.
 
Donate them to your local law enforcement department. Cops carry cheap knives, for work, as they don't want to
bring home blades that have been dipped in body waste, blood, and drugs.
I donated $800+ worth of new Spyderco blades, primarily Enduras, to our Sheriffs Dept several yrs ago.
They were delighted to get them.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. I should have specified that not all the knives in the pic are necessarily gonna be for sale. I just pulled out everything in the closet for a sort of representative picture.

Leaving tomorrow to go on vacation with the wife, but hopefully once we get back I'll hopefully find the time to actually go through the whole collection and figure out what all I'm going to let go of and then go from there.

I'm feeling like these are the times when my hobby is coming back to bite me 😅
 
Bundle a few together and give it a shot. If they’re name brands some one may buy them. People are always looking for beaters and extra knives to leave around the garage, shop or in their vehicle etc.

I will give them away, as long as the knife is safe, to people who are not knife people but interested in starting to carry one.
 
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