Lemon's Problem/Spyderco??

Trent Rock

Trent Rock

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You guys ever heard of the Lemons Problem in economics??===>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons

It basically says that lower quality goods end up on the "secondary market"
The best example I can think of is look at all the CRAPPY cd's in the used cd stores
Think of Milli Vanilli and Winger ;)

I was perusing the exchange forum and there seems to be A LOT of Spyderco's for sale
Why do you think this is???

This means that the owner of a good used car will be unable to get a high enough price to make selling that car worthwhile. Therefore, owners of good cars will not place their cars on the used car market. The withdrawal of good cars reduces the average quality of cars on the market, causing buyers to revise downward their expectations for any given car. This, in turn, motivates the owners of moderately good cars not to sell, and so on. The result is that a market in which there is asymmetrical information with respect to quality shows characteristics similar to those described by Gresham's Law: the bad drives out the good (although Gresham's Law applies to a different situation).
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I other words since a guy who wants to sell his car KNOWS that the used car lot will pay him JACK SQUAT===>If he has any "value"/utility from the car he will keep it

There are a number of other obvious symptoms indicating that eBay is developing into a "Market for Lemons". Numerous luxury brands have sued eBay over the enormous problem of counterfeit goods on the site including Tiffany & Co[3] and Louis Vuitton. On average, 90-95% of the Tiffany product on the site is counterfeit. Professional merchants have also developed major economic challenges on the marketplace such as GlacierBayDVD[4] (previously eBay's #1 rated merchant). PESA, a group of eBay's largest merchants, has declared that the economic health of the marketplace is suffering[5].
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I know your post looks like a troll post, whether you meant it to or not.

I know that most everyone on Bladeforums would not say Spydercos are lemons, even if they may not like them or find them ugly.
 
Trent, I don't know that this subject is particularly appropriate for the Political Arena. If you wish to discuss how this phenomenon may or may not relate to the resale market for Spyderco products, I suppose we should move this to a place where the members might have the most knowledge of that specific market.
 
To address the question, I think Spyderco has a large product line, with many that are somewhat unconventional with respect to materials, handle, blade profile, etc. People buy an unusual knife to try it out, and it may not work for them. Also, model turnover is relatively quick, so there is some pressure to buy now before the model is closed out and value goes up (recent example - PE spyderco Dodo selling on the exchange for 1.5x what I bought it new, used Terzuola selling for 2x new price). Spyderco is a well-respected brand, so people are more willing to buy an unusual model. Also, Spyderco is something of a gateway brand - lots of people buy a Delica or whatever for less than $100, then sell as they get into fancier knives and trade up to higher-end models (Spydercos, other brands, customs, whatever). Another brand that shows up in the exchange very frequently is Busse and related companies - so much so that they got spun off into a subforum because they were swamping out other sales. There are other supply/demand and speculation issues with Busse, but I don't think many people would argue that they are grinding lemons. (Many people like to say over-hyped or over priced, but even they can't really argue that Busses are junk).

If you want to apply the lemon label and make it stick, you're going to have to do a bit more analysis. In particular, how does the resale price compare with retail? Do complaints about a particular model track with exchange numbers? Are numbers resold on the exchange consistent with production numbers? You could do some interesting statistics to back up your supposition, but at the risk of proving your original impression wrong.
 
I always figured it was because a number of Spyderco knives are "love it or leave it", i.e. they either fit the hand well or they don't and similiar traits.

Look at the now cultish "Dodo". I like the knife, fits my hand well, and it looks okay to me. Others look at the Dodo and respond with any number of negatives. "love it or leave it" in action.
 
This is one for TGB&U. :rolleyes:

Let’s see if we can find the right forum …
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I think it's because, 1) spyderco is very popular 2) They have new models coming out -> constant "churn" in buy and sell.
 
Your statements seem to reflect an investors point of view. With a few exceptions knives really are not a good investment. USED knives are even worst. Many buy knives without handling them first and these knives quickly find there way to the secondary market. Others simply rotate what they carry often enough that there is an ample used supply on the market. If one considers the shear number of available Spyderco models in particular, it becomes apparant that few users/collectors will have enough disposable income to buy and keep them all. We see a lot of these knives come into the secondary market to scare up funds for the next purchase. With a quality product the price shouldn't take that much of a hit but used will rarely sell for more than new in any market. Where your example of cars is a good one, you need to consider the psycology of buying used cars in today's market. Money is tight and larger purchases carry risk. Used cars are a big risk financially as one can never be sure how well the car was treated before being bought used. With knives it is a little differnt as it is easy to see how well or not well a blade was used. Also most knife manufacturers warrant the knife not the buyer. That is a big plus for secondary market knives. Try taking a used Honda to the dealer for warranty work! With rare exceptions , if you are not the original car buyer, you have no coverage.
 
DaveH said:
I think it's because, 1) spyderco is very popular 2) They have new models coming out -> constant "churn" in buy and sell.
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That's what I was thinking as well as a possible explanation
The dude needs to sell his 2006 to buy the 2008 Limited Edition model.....
 
Trent Rock said:
That's what I was thinking as well as a possible explanation
The dude needs to sell his 2006 to buy the 2008 Limited Edition model.....
Click to expand...

If that is the case why did you post this:

It basically says that lower quality goods end up on the "secondary market"

I other words since a guy who wants to sell his car KNOWS that the used car lot will pay him JACK SQUAT===>If he has any "value"/utility from the car he will keep it
Click to expand...

Maybe your posts would not appear trollish if you would actually post you opinion at first rather than post something inflammatory and then contradict it.
 
I wanted other peoples opinions as to why there were so many Spyderco's for sale
I had my hypothesis (es) in my mind, true.

How is this post inflammatory?
I was thinking of buying a Spyderco but I wanted to be sure there wasn't some price/quality discrepancy
I still don't know why there are so many Spyderco's for sale
I'm in the midst of analyzing why (analyzing in MY head..for my own personal enlightenment)
 
Trent Rock said:
I wanted other peoples opinions as to why there were so many Spyderco's for sale
I had my hypothesis (es) in my mind, true.

How is this post inflammatory?
I was thinking of buying a Spyderco but I wanted to be sure there wasn't some price/quality discrepancy
I still don't know why there are so many Spyderco's for sale
I'm in the midst of analyzing why (analyzing in MY head..for my own personal enlightenment)
Click to expand...

How is it trollish? You post an inflammatory accusation "Spyderco's are Lemons" and don't even bother to post your own opinion on the matter. Are you a troll? No, you are still here. However, your initial post was clumsy and easily construed as trollish, especially considering the rules posted for thread starters in the subforum where this thread started..

We are not lab experiments, we are not here for you to bounce your suppositions off and "withhold your own hypothesis until a later date". Your whole construct makes little sense. Busse has their subforum for sales due to the sheer volume. By the logic of this thread, they must be utter CCC.
 
Hey bro how are yah

Firstly let me say most times you will not be able to make a huge sum of money on knives as an investment. If you do make money on knives then more power to you.

There are many variables as to why there are many Spyderco knives for sale.

Bigger and better Spydies
Changing their collection
Customs
bills need to be paid
tax time:p

Many people including myself know for a fact that Spyderco produces the most collectible production knives available. I judge that solely on the premise of the money being spent on Spyderco models. Spyderco knives are really the only production knives that rise up in value quite substantially.

Spyderco lum
1 year ago
$160-$225

NOW
$200-$325
Spyderco Yojimbo
1 year ago
$70-90

NOW
$140-$200

Spyderco DODO
1 year ago
$60-80

NOW
$90- $225

gunting, shabaria, G10 Rookie, G10 Police, lum variations, Cricket almite, pink, evolution sets, ayoob, Khalsa, forum knives, Blue natives, Large Persian, Ramco, and so many more.
Almost every model of Spyderco has gone up in value one way or another. Some quite a lot and some very little. Buy a knife that you like even if it doesn't go up in value atleast you still have a good knife which will more than pay for itself after use.

Imo Spyderco has no competition. It fulfills almost every void out there and is the most diverse production knife company. I could go on and on, but got work in the morning.

If your still skeptical please buy the book. :p

Custom Collaborations
Materials & steels
Sal his ethics and Morals (Mule team)
Customer Service
Warranty and Repair
Product line for whatever price range
42 people run Spyderco
Best R & D in the business
They actually listen to their customers (drop by our forum and you can even speak to Sal yourself)

Buy a Spydie and use it. If you don't like it no worries we got a boat load more for you to choose from.:thumbup:
If you really do not like the knife I'll buy it from you for more that what you paid by 10%. Thats better than what most banks give. :D

take care
aj
 
Want to talk about lemons?
There is a ton of Busse's on the secondary market. There is a ton of Microtechs available. There is a load of Benchmades, oh and a boatload of kershaws. Not to leave out Boker, CRKT and Case. Camilus seems to also be readily available also, and Bucks are plentiful too.

Could it be that this is a KNIFE forum and that folks here buy, sell and trade knives?????

Lemons they are not, investments they are not, EDC's they are!!!!

The ED of EDC means "Every Day"

That's why..........................
 
One would think an econ major could figure out more reasons than the lemon theory for a high number of secondary market sales. :rolleyes:
 
zenheretic said:
How is it trollish? You post an inflammatory accusation "Spyderco's are Lemons" and don't even bother to post your own opinion on the matter. Are you a troll? No, you are still here. However, your initial post was clumsy and easily construed as trollish, especially considering the rules posted for thread starters in the subforum where this thread started..

We are not lab experiments, we are not here for you to bounce your suppositions off and "withhold your own hypothesis until a later date". Your whole construct makes little sense. Busse has their subforum for sales due to the sheer volume. By the logic of this thread, they must be utter CCC.
Click to expand...

Summed up very well.
 
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