I think the ZT 0888 Max is about to ship - the 0454 is also about to ship

Turborocket said:
Meh... more knives for you guys because I won't be chasing ZTs any more. The luster on ZT is completely gone for me. Their new approach to selling limiteds punishes good dealers because of a few bad seeds. I've turned my attention to other knives to collect.
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If you have any old ZT LE's you can't stand anymore let me know
 
Turborocket said:
Meh... more knives for you guys because I won't be chasing ZTs any more. The luster on ZT is completely gone for me. Their new approach to selling limiteds punishes good dealers because of a few bad seeds. I've turned my attention to other knives to collect.
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Someone a little mad because they can't keep flipping LE Zts for a hefty profit?

Tell us, how many ZT0888s have you sold in the last 3 months?
 
Turborocket said:
Meh... more knives for you guys because I won't be chasing ZTs any more. The luster on ZT is completely gone for me. Their new approach to selling limiteds punishes good dealers because of a few bad seeds. I've turned my attention to other knives to collect.
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Lack of luster or profit? I see sales threads with you selling at least 4 of the various 0888 models and 4 of the 0777 models in the past year on BF alone!

I for one am glad that the flippers are angry with the new ZT LE direct sales.
 
chester22 said:
Or is it because since people are only able to purchase 1, there's no buying 4-5 of them and flipping them for twice the price.. But that couldn't be the reason ;)
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Gee Chet, that couldn't possible be the reason, no one here would do that, would they?!? Bunch of whiny little Bi**hes here.
 
People that buy 5 888s and then flip them all are exactly the reason ZT is going this route.

People that had an "in" with a dealer and gobbled up multiples just to sell them.

That may be the market system, but if you are in control of the supply you can do what you want.

ZT has just cut the supply line for a lot of knife flippers.

I am not crying about it.

best

mqqn
 
I 100% agree with everyone. Screw the people who flip the LEs for a profit and not for personal use. I am actually happy they are unhappy and won't be sucking up the supply.
 
I do love seeing a company finally stick it to the scalper scumbags. Turbo, sucks bruh, guess you'll have to find another way to make easy money. :thumbdn:
 
"For personal use"?!? The last 0454 that will ever cut anything or get carried is in Tualatin marked PROTOTYPE. These are safe queens. Functional art, with an emphasis on art. I can't afford to buy a custom Ken Onion or Brian Tighe, but I can scrape up $500 to try and get an 0454 or $375 for an 0392. Then I'll sell the bloody thing to someone with more money than sense who can afford to spend money on things they will never use. I never hear anyone whining about MSRP or what you "should" charge for a knife when its less. You can get a ZT0801 for about $150 brand new, MSRP is $240. Are any of you going to pay $90 more because that's what the knife "should" be worth? Try telling a coin or stamp collector your theory about worth vs face value. If you need a 2 cent stamp because postage went up you pay 2 cents at the Post Office, you don't whine that a 2 cent stamp with an upside down airplane costs $500,000. If you need a good EDC folder, you can already pay less than $500. Don't complain that getting ahold of THIS folder will likely cost much more than that.
 
blarkk said:
"For personal use"?!? The last 0454 that will ever cut anything or get carried is in Tualatin marked PROTOTYPE. These are safe queens. Functional art, with an emphasis on art. I can't afford to buy a custom Ken Onion or Brian Tighe, but I can scrape up $500 to try and get an 0454 or $375 for an 0392. Then I'll sell the bloody thing to someone with more money than sense who can afford to spend money on things they will never use. I never hear anyone whining about MSRP or what you "should" charge for a knife when its less. You can get a ZT0801 for about $150 brand new, MSRP is $240. Are any of you going to pay $90 more because that's what the knife "should" be worth? Try telling a coin or stamp collector your theory about worth vs face value. If you need a 2 cent stamp because postage went up you pay 2 cents at the Post Office, you don't whine that a 2 cent stamp with an upside down airplane costs $500,000. If you need a good EDC folder, you can already pay less than $500. Don't complain that getting ahold of THIS folder will likely cost much more than that.
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I plan on using my 0392. I want an Eklpise but am not in LE. I won't pay the secondary prices because there are much better value folders out there. I would, on the other hand, pay roughly $400 for the Eklipse. Considering the 0392 is less than that with KVT, M390, and full titanium scales and pretty well identical in dimensions it is worth $375, but at an $800+ secondary price it is not, just like the Eklipse currently is not to me.
 
Every LE knife I own gets used.

I have my DLC Tilt in my pocket today, for instance.

The 454 is quite a knife, and it seems very usable - it is a very good design and the examples I have seen are very well executed.

No reason one could not use one of these, but like any fine product, you might want to show it a little more respect than you would a beater knife.

best

mqqn
 
The secondary market isn't high only because of what people are charging for these knives. Because of the demand driven by the small numbers of these limited editions people are PAYING those prices. That is a fact that will not change unless Kai produces larger quantities. So no. There isn't a reason one couldn't use one. But personally I couldn't justify it anymore than I could justify driving a Ferrari, if I happened to have one. For the money it (car or LE knife) can be sold for I can buy a perfectly good replacement (car or knife) with plenty left over. That is just incredibly simple economics. There is no knife that can be sold for $1500+ that will perform so much better than a $150 knife that it is worth the difference in price. The latest magic blade steel is not THAT much better than the steels in use for literally hundreds of years. You are paying for the maker's name, or the brand, or how cool it looks. Not because it will perform so much better. At least until they perfect the lightsaber.
 
A Ferrari is a bad example. I'm not paying $1500 for a 0392 to begin with. Just like I am not paying $100,000+ for the Ferrari. To me, the 0392 is worth roughly $400, before AND after purchase. If I sell it one day, I'll likely sell it for close to what I paid for it as I would a Sebenza.

Show me a $40,000 Ferrari I can purchase and then turn around and sell for $100,000 and I'll quite my job and flip one every few months, even if the limit is one model per household. ;)

The point I am trying to make here is that I would never buy an exotic car and will settle for my Camaro. I will also likely never purchase a $1000+ knife and will settle for a mid tech with great FF and steel. An XM or LE ZT is not worth over a grand to me, just like a Camaro is not worth over $100k.

I'd also like to add that I would drive the bejeezus out of a Ferrari if I had one, just like I do the Camaro. :)
 
What is up with all the victim-hood? Some guys should start your own Occupy movement of the knife world, and blame all the 1%ers for your lot in 'knife' life. If you guys actually knew the full story, you probably wouldn't be so quick to judge.

I am HIGHLY confident that I could acquire multiple 0454s in a few weeks if I wanted to, then flip them for profit. But, I stand by what I said... this new sales model punishes the good dealers because it leaves them out in the cold. I, for one, enjoy supporting my local dealer. The one I go to is pretty much a dedicated knife store, and selling knives is their life-blood. I like hanging out in the store and giving them my business (even if it costs me more than big on-line stores), and it is an avenue for me to handle some knives before buying. Now, ZT will more than double their top line income on LEs, good dealers lose out on higher margin products to sell, the consumers who previously put forth the effort to buy direct will pay the same as before (at or near MSRP from good dealers), and it will do absolutely nothing to flippers and secondary market prices.

For the record (and for the nosey), I bought way more LEs than what you can see here on these knife forums (well more than twice the number that you can prove on interwebs). The ones you cannot see are either in my safe, or in my EDC drawer, or sold to friends at my cost. Some even went to knife store employees on lay-away or payment plans, at my cost. One even went to an active .mil friend at way less than my cost. So, you guys can hate if you want.
 
Turbo, your post merely reinforces the dislike most of us have for people like you, who don't bring any value to the hobby. You simply utilize connections to buy up all the LEs so you can insert yourself into the transaction between manufacturer and buyer, and amp up the price for people who just want a collectible knife. You bring no value to the transaction, just added expense. I don't respect scalpers, never will and I don't care if you don't like that. You can try to downplay your predatory practices all you want "Well I sold some to friends! or some Military folks!" but the fact is, we've seen you sell a lot of LEs at super jacked prices. Thankfully, ZT has just said "Screw you, scalper scumbags." Good for them! :thumbup:
 
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Turborocket said:
What is up with all the victim-hood? Some guys should start your own Occupy movement of the knife world, and blame all the 1%ers for your lot in 'knife' life. If you guys actually knew the full story, you probably wouldn't be so quick to judge.

I am HIGHLY confident that I could acquire multiple 0454s in a few weeks if I wanted to, then flip them for profit. But, I stand by what I said... this new sales model punishes the good dealers because it leaves them out in the cold. I, for one, enjoy supporting my local dealer. The one I go to is pretty much a dedicated knife store, and selling knives is their life-blood. I like hanging out in the store and giving them my business (even if it costs me more than big on-line stores), and it is an avenue for me to handle some knives before buying. Now, ZT will more than double their top line income on LEs, good dealers lose out on higher margin products to sell, the consumers who previously put forth the effort to buy direct will pay the same as before (at or near MSRP from good dealers), and it will do absolutely nothing to flippers and secondary market prices.

For the record (and for the nosey), I bought way more LEs than what you can see here on these knife forums (well more than twice the number that you can prove on interwebs). The ones you cannot see are either in my safe, or in my EDC drawer, or sold to friends at my cost. Some even went to knife store employees on lay-away or payment plans, at my cost. One even went to an active .mil friend at way less than my cost. So, you guys can hate if you want.
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You can pontificate all you want.

What it boils down to is you have a history of selling MULTIPLE LEs at a time for obscene profits and all of a sudden you are upset because ZT has a new policy that will make it harder for you to do that. Say whatever you may to try and mask that fact but it doesn't make a difference. I'm sure you really feel for those dealers as opposed to your own wallet.

I for one will happily pay an extra $100 for my 0454 if it means people like your don't get to sell 4 of them at a $1000/ea.
 
Turborocket said:
Quiet - and your taking down sold info and prices is to add value "for the hobby", I'm quite certain.
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No. Because I don't care that much. I just know that I personally have seen you selling multiple LEs for absurdly jacked prices. So, what that tells me is that you don't actually care about the hobby, you just care about getting paid. Like I said, I know all about folks like you. I used to be a receiving manager at Wal-Mart back in the mid 90's when action figures and Hot Wheels were hot. All the scalpers would be there at four AM to try to buy up all the rare stuff from the fresh unpacked cases to resell at the local flea market.

Then I just started permanently banning them all from my particular store. :) Time to get a real job, ladies.
 
The 454 is supposedly only available direct through ZT/Kai. 272 were made I believe. They'll sell out in 5 minutes.
 
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