Is this odd?

D

Doug S

Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Messages
605
Hi,

I purchased a new in the box Buck Vantage Select (large) from a person on Ebay. It came today. My knife appears to have possibly been used, or an exchange. I say this for two reasons primarily. First there are some noticeable scratches going across the “Buck” logo on the upper, exposed portion of the blade, similar to what you’d expect to see if the knife had been carried clipped to a pocket and exposed to contact with another pocket item. They aren’t all that significant, but I did notice them upon inspection. The second issue I have is that the knife came in a box marked with a date of manufacture of 2-1-11. The date stamp on the blade tang of the knife itself indicates a manufacture date of 2010 (this is what prompted me to look at the knife more closely). At the very least, it appears that this knife has been out of its box for a time and later put into another box. Am I correct in this thinking? Is it odd for a Buck knife to come in a box dated differently than the tang date stamp. I should also mention the box was in rough shape, although at first I attributed it to the trip through the mail. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Blades can sit around the shop for years before they get used......or at least they used to in the past. I don't know how common it is, but I don't think that a time span like yours would be impossible or even real unusual.

Buying on e-Bay will bring you an odd knife now and then. Whether or not you return it would be based on whether or not you think it's worth the trouble.
 
Thanks for the quick response. The knife is nice overall. I don't want to go through the bother of returning it. It's just that it has the appearance of at least having been out of the box for a time. Also, I wasn't really sure how to leave feedback on such an item. I did write the seller about this. In the meantime I thought I'd get some feedback here. Thanks again.
 
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The select models I have bought/seen new in the plastic sealed packs at Dicks sporting goods have small scracthes on the blade in many of the ones I have seen/bought. It seems to be the norm for this level of this model. The Avid and Pro do not have such marks on them. As for the date marking on the box, I would not care about that much...
 
Some e-Bay sellers know nothing about knives and will call an item "new" if there's a box for it--even though it shows some wear.

Sometimes any old box will do to suddenly make it a new item.

That's just the nature of the beast.
 
If you put it back in the box could it rattle around? But you said "scratches" so it probably as BG42 said and the knife may have saw light use or been a display knife for example.
 
Generally if you buy from a regular knife dealer on ebay, chances are the knife is new. You can tell by the volume of their sales and how many times they list the same item.
But if you buy from a knife collector or accumulator , you might get a used knife. I bought a so called "new knife" a few years ago and upon close inspection, there was a good amount of pocket lint inside the frame. It otherwise looked unused, but it was not new.
 
Ah, the confusing sematics of buying/selling on ebay: new in box; as new in box, mint, unused, etc. etc. The one I really like is: it's in good condition for its age.
 
Thanks everyone, I really do appreciate the comments. I have a feeling that the knife at least saw some display time, if not a small amount of carry. Either way, it is still a nice knife and I am not going to send it back. Still, I have a letter into the merchant and I'm interested to read their response. To me "new" should be "new", and the box indicates a knife made in Feb 2011, and the knife is clearly a 2010 vintage, which would seem to contradict "new" as meaning "new" (or so it seems).
 
Doug S said:
Hi,

I purchased a new in the box Buck Vantage Select (large) from a person on Ebay. It came today. My knife appears to have possibly been used, or an exchange. I say this for two reasons primarily. First there are some noticeable scratches going across the “Buck” logo on the upper, exposed portion of the blade, similar to what you’d expect to see if the knife had been carried clipped to a pocket and exposed to contact with another pocket item. They aren’t all that significant, but I did notice them upon inspection. The second issue I have is that the knife came in a box marked with a date of manufacture of 2-1-11. The date stamp on the blade tang of the knife itself indicates a manufacture date of 2010 (this is what prompted me to look at the knife more closely). At the very least, it appears that this knife has been out of its box for a time and later put into another box. Am I correct in this thinking? Is it odd for a Buck knife to come in a box dated differently than the tang date stamp. I should also mention the box was in rough shape, although at first I attributed it to the trip through the mail. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

It would not be unusual for a knife made 2-1-11 to have a blade with a 2010 date stamp left over...
 
J. Hubbard,

Thanks for this added info. That's really what I wanted to know...if the knife was original to the box, or if it had been switched out.
 
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