How do you guys and girls price your knives for sale?

Scott.Maslowe

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Good day Bladeformers, question for you -

While trying to price a couple titanium folders this morning, and having the typical difficulty that I always have, it occurred to me to ask you guys how you price yours when you put them up for sale?

I can never seem to price them right. The other day I dropped a couple of striders and they both went within the first minute, indicating I could have easily gotten more. Priced some knives I paid over 400 each for, in the low 300s because I didn’t want to haggle and both were sold to me as LNIB and clearly were not… No takers, both sale friendly knives. This happens to me all the time and I can’t seem to get it right. This is a hobby not a business for me, however I want to get the best I can, as I use sale proceeds to fund further purchases, so one day my children can go to college and NOT have to ask “Dad, why did you spend our higher education on a bunch of knives?” MUCH, not ask as MUCH (let’s be reasonable).

My current method is basically find their original sale price (if I can find it), look to see if resale is trending up or down since then (when I can find it on here or someplace that prices them realistically), look what it’s going for on eBay if it’s there, and price accordingly. But I’m clearly shite at it, since my sales seem to go instantly or not at all. I would love to have a single sale that members act contemplatively (wait ten or twenty minutes) then are in. That way I’d know I priced them in a range it left people on the fence, but it was low enough they ultimately purchased.

Incidentally… Why do we delete the price we sold at? Is this obligatory or just a habit that one guy started and everyone sheeped in until it became institutionalized in us? It would be of significantly greater utility for us to mark say a 500 dollar priced knife with “SOLD for” before the price we listed. Then you could just peruse old sales on here reliably. If there’s a rule I’m not aware of, or a reason for this besides making me insane, I’d love for someone to let me know.

Thanks guys for any answers! Might be kinda slow to respond at times. Going to enjoy the day with my children and enrich their childhood in the hopes that when they graduate high school and I’m kicking them out the door to their dishwashing jobs, screaming “It’s Rick Hinderer and John Grismo’s fault, not mine!”, they have something to look back on. Hope you all have a good day!
 
I think you're looking at it the right way, but you have to remember that the knife market isn't perfectly efficient. A knife selling quickly or slowly isn't necessarily an indication of how it's priced; certain knives have a built in collector market that will snap it up fast whereas more obscure items will take longer to find a buyer even if they're priced fairly. I have unusual tastes so I kind of avoid the hype market and don't really understand it anyway, but it does seem like it's much harder to figure out a fair market price when there is a buying frenzy going on. I had that happen recently when I listed a carothers that had never been sold on the exchange before and it went immediately.
 
There is no right or wrong price for anything. There is only the price at which recent items have been selling, but that is no guarantee of accuracy. The knife that sold last week for $1000 may have satisfied the last collector who was willing to spend that much. The next one may sell for $500, and that would become the going rate. Also, a lot of this depends on the effort the seller is willing to put into the deal. Do you accept PayPal Goods and Services or does the buyer have to take a risk with you; do you have good clear photos; how are your communications? Any of these can seriously impact your closing price.

n2s
 
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I wish the sold price was left after the sale. It would help me guage the value
Spark has made it clear that he has no intention of forcing sellers to leave the price in the sale thread...so, there is nothing to be done about it. You can try contacting the buyer or seller privately, but there's nothing further to be done.

We all understand the value of having historical data to use as a go-by, but we cannot make it mandatory.
 
I think you're looking at it the right way, but you have to remember that the knife market isn't perfectly efficient. A knife selling quickly or slowly isn't necessarily an indication of how it's priced; certain knives have a built in collector market that will snap it up fast whereas more obscure items will take longer to find a buyer even if they're priced fairly. I have unusual tastes so I kind of avoid the hype market and don't really understand it anyway, but it does seem like it's much harder to figure out a fair market price when there is a buying frenzy going on. I had that happen recently when I listed a carothers that had never been sold on the exchange before and it went immediately.
Thanks. This was a really cogent and thoughtful reply.
 
Spark has made it clear that he has no intention of forcing sellers to leave the price in the sale thread...so, there is nothing to be done about it. You can try contacting the buyer or seller privately, but there's nothing further to be done.

We all understand the value of having historical data to use as a go-by, but we cannot make it mandatory.
Docscoot, in an off forum text articulated how leaving the price might leave financial breadcrumbs best left to accountants. Has this insightful point been made before I posted, I would not have asked that. I thought about editing the post, but someone had already replied on point and it seemed rude to strand their remark without context.
 
It's complicated.....

It's even worse for a Maker.
Comparing work with other makers, other manufacturers, and other knife makers who are actually manufactures......

Knowing what supplies actually cost?
Can I get them again?


With the chaotic "value" of the dollar this quickly becomes a political event. I'm sorry, So many of you voted for This.....wars cost money, bank bailouts cost money, polar bears cost money, saved covid grannies cost money, fair elections cost money..... ALL of that Lower the value of your dollars. It's true.

ALL of that makes Your rent, food, and transportation cost More.

Good Luck.


*Yes, I leave the price up after a sale.
It's Still a private affair, and nobody Actually knows what it was sold for, though.....
 
Yeah yeah, I know. It was an admittedly stupid post of a question (assuming you mean about obfuscating the price) I should have assumed had been publicly litigated a thousand times. Should have searched. Bonehead moment.
I'll risk being a bonehead, and not assume you already know your "Gold" membership allows you to simply start a thread here , and ask for a sales valuation . ;)

You can sometimes use Ebay by filtering for "auction" and "sold ", either/ or by time or lowest price .

Ebay search works best for items commonly sold there .
 
I'll risk being a bonehead, and not assume you already know your "Gold" membership allows you to simply start a thread here , and ask for a sales valuation . ;)

You can sometimes use Ebay by filtering for "auction" and "sold ", either/ or by time or lowest price .

Ebay search works best for items commonly sold there .
I had no idea. You assumed correctly. That’s awesome and useful as hell. Thank you so much!
 
In the days when I bought and sold knives on a regular basis and didn’t hold them long, it wasn’t a problem keeping up with the current market. I find that time away, coupled with not watching the for sale threads regularly (before the deal is done and many times having prices removed), it is much harder to know if you are getting full current value for your product. It’s a common problem for many.
The only answers I have are to watch the for sale threads like a hawk or put a watch notification on the particular area or areas your interests lie in and where your knives might likely be sold and receive email notifications when any new thread is started in that area. By doing so, you will see what is put up for sale and what the listed price is no matter what happens.
Next would be to consider selling your stuff on an auction website with a reserve.
 
In the days when I bought and sold knives on a regular basis and didn’t hold them long, it wasn’t a problem keeping up with the current market. I find that time away, coupled with not watching the for sale threads regularly (before the deal is done and many times having prices removed), it is much harder to know if you are getting full current value for your product. It’s a common problem for many.
The only answers I have are to watch the for sale threads like a hawk or put a watch notification on the particular area or areas your interests lie in and where your knives might likely be sold and receive email notifications when any new thread is started in that area. By doing so, you will see what is put up for sale and what the listed price is no matter what happens.
Next would be to consider selling your stuff on an auction website with a reserve.
See that’s my problem too. While my business affords me a living wage I can enjoy this as a hobby, it also sometimes requires I dig back in like a tick and provide constant oversite for weeks or months when a special project is laughing or a particularly large client needs onboarding, and I go from a fifty to eighty hour week. I lose that barometric sense of the market because I’m not constantly watching sales appear and seeing what sold on ask, etc. That’s when I think I make my dumbest assessments. It’s both comforting and frustrating to know we all share this problem, however there have been some real pearls shared here. Didn’t know I could ask for an evaluation. That’s so useful on higher priced knives.
 
Has this insightful point been made before I posted, I would not have asked that.
That point has been made before. This subject gets raised every few months (not necessarily in a new thread). There are a handful of reasons that people use to explain their choice of removing the price.
Since, as Blues mentioned, Spark is leaving it up to the individual, the reasons don't matter all that much...but, most of the time, it's just because people are out done and follow suit.
 
With Ebay, Bernard Levine's rule for auctioned knives was take the 3rd bid down on specific examples. It works out pretty good. 1st bid can be way out of whack, 2nd bid gets discounted too because he was in battle with the first guy so he's going to be off. The 3rd should be around the average you should expect to get for an example, give or take a few bucks.
 
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