Knife resale value

Mark J

Mark J

Joined
Mar 15, 2001
Messages
2,450
After selling off a few dozen knives in the past few months, I was wondering how I did $ wise. I compared the original cost to the resale cost, and found that it was about 75%. I consider that pretty good, since I anticipated something in the 60% to 70% range. I also notice that I got a higher resale value on productions than on customs. I know it depends a lot on the particular knife, maker, what's "hot" right now, the economy, etc. So what have your experiences been?

BTW, all these knives were unused safe-queens.

- Mark
 
I have never lost money on either a knife or a firearm. Actually I will not sell unless I can at least double what I paid. Of course I don't buy something and then try to sell it a month later either. Knife and firearms are both long term investments. I know several of the Benchmades, Al Mars, Cold Steels, etc that I bought in the 70s have increased nicely in value but generally I will gift them to family before selling them.
 
Supply & demand at any given time. For example, with the Microtech factory making guns and not knives right now, the value of some auto models is supposedly up. If they execute their planned move from present location again, this will also impact resales. Availability of cash in most folks' pockets is the big factor because buying knives is generally with disposable income, which curently is going to Exxon and their Arab buddies. Ithink your 70 percent is a pretty good number.
 
I think 70% is good.

I plan on 50% value of a lightly used or LNIB knife and 75% for a NIB knife.

I have had some suprises, but rarely have I gotten anything approaching MSRP.

Money makers are rare, since such a price increase is due strictly to some phenomena creating a demand that usually has nothing to do with the intrinsic value of the knife. Case in point: I never thought the Benchmade M2 knives would take off like they have done, else I would have bought some more. Similarly, why such premiums on Randall knives, nice knives that they are?.
 
I have had on average 50% loss on what i paid on mint stuff and used stuff is lower. Only knives i ever made money were a few mad dogs.
 
Absintheur said:
I have never lost money on either a knife or a firearm. Actually I will not sell unless I can at least double what I paid. Of course I don't buy something and then try to sell it a month later either. Knife and firearms are both long term investments. I know several of the Benchmades, Al Mars, Cold Steels, etc that I bought in the 70s have increased nicely in value but generally I will gift them to family before selling them.
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I dont know much about knife resale values but I have a fair amount of experience with firearm resale value.

Not many modern made guns hold their value particularly well but their are a few exceptions. By that I mean you are not going to buy a custom shop Smith & Wesson anything and sell it two years later for more than you paid for it. Too many others are selling it for less. Also manufacturers are making far more of each model than they used to so its always possible to find a particular piece for 2/3 new price or even less.

Older, discontinued firearms are a differnt story but its a bit more complicated. An original Flattop Ruger 3 screw model will sell more than new but a pre-transfer bar 3 screw blackhawk will be a bargain. Old military arms are pretty good. Old M1 Garands in very good or original condition or rare manufacturers are good for holding value. Lugers are excellent as are C96s. The list goes on.

Knives seem to be a bit different. Randall knives seem to hold their value even though they are still made but it seems they inflate the market by making far less. Some discontinued knives seem to do well if they were good knives to begin with. Others seem to just fade away.

Customs are different yet. I have several by makers that are not well known and they are basically worth jack unless I find the 5 or 10 people in the whole world willing to pay me well for them. If you have somthing by Moran, or a few other makers then you will make your money back and then some. Sometimes makers are in "Vogue" and you can sell for more and sometimes not. Its a crap shoot.

Sorry for the long winded response.
 
i know not many of mine have doubled in price thats for sure,

i rarely make $$ on knives, if i was wanting to make money on a hobby it would be muscle cars or something like that vs knives lol, i do good to get my $$ back outta them.

productions are hard to figure, some really go up when disco'd & some dont.

customs too, unless its an emerson, mayo, onion, blackwell, snody, i have had a couple of elishiwitz's and imho his F&F is good, good designs too, but when i sold them they just didnt bring much, certainly not what they cost originally.

i do this for a hobby though not to make $$.
 
I never pay MSRP for anything. I always shop for the best price and buy knives at close outs. I rarely sell knives, but I have always made back what I paid for them or made a small profit. I have bought a few dozen of the same knife at wholesale prices, and sold enough of them to almost cover the ones I kept from that lot while still giving the guys who bought them a great deal.
 
tom19176 said:
I never pay MSRP for anything. I always shop for the best price and buy knives at close outs. I rarely sell knives, but I have always made back what I paid for them or made a small profit. I have bought a few dozen of the same knife at wholesale prices, and sold enough of them to almost cover the ones I kept from that lot while still giving the guys who bought them a great deal.
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I want to shop where you shop!
 
akadave2, Blue Ridge knives sells wholesale as do many others. There are minium orders and some require resale certificates, but if you buy in quanity many sellers will give you a great price. Search the internet and you will find many near whole sale prices when even buying one knife at a time. SMKW has close outs that are true bargins too......
 
I think if you expect 50%, your expectations won't be let down. Probably will do a bit better on production blades. Customs are a toss up. You probably will get near retail on them if they are from a known bladesmith.
 
Why is it that most people only get about 75% on NIB knives compared to market price? I realize you'll never be able to sell it for MSRP since there are so many online dealers that sell it at "market value", but why can't a BF member also sell it at this market value? Considering that most sellers include shipping in their costs, it normally makes it a few bucks cheaper than these dealers and their shipping but why shouldn't you expect to sell it like this and have to go for 50-75% of their value?
 
lazerboy2000 said:
Why is it that most people only get about 75% on NIB knives compared to market price? I realize you'll never be able to sell it for MSRP since there are so many online dealers that sell it at "market value", but why can't a BF member also sell it at this market value? Considering that most sellers include shipping in their costs, it normally makes it a few bucks cheaper than these dealers and their shipping but why shouldn't you expect to sell it like this and have to go for 50-75% of their value?
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I'm guessing it's because you at least get a 30- or sometimes 14-day guarantee if you don't like what you got, and you can still return it if there's a defect. If something happens when you buy from an individual, you're at their mercy.
 
My guess is that people say they are selling their knives, but in reality they are either giving them away to friends and family.
 
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