Luck with buying blades on E-bay?

[Bennett Richards]

I have heard so much about fraud and misrepresentation on E-bay auctions I was wondering if anyone on the forums have used them and what the satisfaction level was?

I have heard that what is purchased is not always delivered, is oft-times misrepresented, and is sometimes bid up buy the seller.

Thoughts?

Ben

 

[Strider]

I have had good luck so far.The thing is its not just knives that you will find slime selling its right across the board with everything.As E-bay has grown more and more degenerates are attracted to it like flies to sh*&. Everyone has read by now the story of people selling stolen goods on there and others selling products that are non existant. If you are careful and do your homework you can still find some fantastic deals on E-bay I know I do and haven't been burned yet.Credit cards help as you can put a stop on them. Checks can be trickier to chase. The people that are going to rip you off out and out are not going to be hanging around the same email address for very long regardless of how you pay. So just be aware and check things out to the best of your abilitity and hopefully you will not have any problems.
Bob

 

[nifrand]

Buy and sell on Ebay all the time.Never had a bad experience.[One time a guy sent me a doctor pattern that was not right.Turned out I did not have the scale anyway]
On the other hand I have had a couple of "not so satisfactory" transactions on these forums.But life is a crapshoot anyway.

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have a"knife"day

[This message has been edited by nifrand (edited 07-02-2000).]

 

[BMWGS80]

As the man said so far so good.
I am only interested in mlitary and ethnic blades.
Only bid on threads with pictures.
Check out the sellers feedback.
Email seller with any questions.

I have emailed several sellers on knives and have gotten very pleasant informative replies. An honest man has nothing to hide.

I have purchased in the last three months over a dozen knives.

Good hunting,

ts

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Guns are for show. Knifes are for Pros.

 

[Bennett Richards]

Can you save money on new blades as well...
????

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Kodiak PA]

A lot of knives on Ebay are put there by dealers and you're paying sometimes in excess what you can find it on the net.

My thoughts on Ebay:
-Know what you're bidding on
-Check the seller's feedback
-Inquire on steel type....sometimes you're thinking you're bidding on a Spyderco Military in 440V and it turns out to be ATS34 since it is an older knife, etc.
-Don't go over what you actually intend to bid on...ie, don't get into a last minute bidding war
-Sniping is an accepted practice so don't be surprised if that knife you bid on was up all week without a single bid and at the last second there were 20 other bidders and that great deal you were getting for $75 was won by soneone who bid $76. Moral: When you bid set your proxy, do it at what you think you should your item is worth---now is not the time to be cheap. If no one bids against you, you got a great bargain. If they do, they may not out bid you and you got your item.

Ebay can be fun when you know how to use it.

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~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska

 

[Don Rearic]

I have an ongoing situation where I tried to give someone a heads up on their claim of "ULTRA RARE" and got a favorable response back.

About 2 weeks later, same guy selling the same thing the same way...dropped him a letter and asked him if there was an documentation that it was what he said it was, I would have bid on it then but I was more wary of the hype surrounding the item.

I did mention that it could be fraud if he was misrepresenting the item. WOW...now I have a really pissed off moron E-Mailing me every few hours telling me what a lowlife I am, and calling me things that rhyme with pucking runt, etc., telling me I would never accuse him of that to his face (which I would) and all the veiled B.S. of this and that. I blocked his E-mail and he created another e-mail from his server using my name twisted around a little bit!

CAN YOU SAY PSYCHO?

I have not heard from him in about 4 hours of this writing, I guess the final threat to contact law enforcement about it did the trick.

The only way to clean up E-Bay is to make people use their real names and not use Hotmail or Yahoo accounts, both sellers and bidders, simple as that.

The FBI is currently running an investigation because they think that some sellers are bidding on their own items to drive the price up artificially.

 

[Bo]

As with any auction you have to know what the item is worth verses the hype put up to sell the knife.
Ask questions, an honest seller does not mind.
Examine the sellers feedback, see what his customers have to say about him, it is a lot of work to keep the customers happy.
Have Fun on Ebay.

 

[Jeff Clark]

I've had very good results as a buyer. I use it for unusual items that few buyers know to look for. In these low bidding cases I've gotten some amazing deals. For mainstream items I can usually do better hunting for special deals at 1st Stop Knives or other online discounters.

The best value is when ebay can connect you with a small supplier in a different region that can get things cheap in his local that you won't find for love nor money in your area. A couple classic examples: I wanted a funny poster for my office cubicle. At ebay I got a good deal on a Mexican movie lobby poster for "El Mundo Esta Loco, Loco, Loco" (aka "It's a Mad, Mad, World"). Another case my wife wanted popular Hollywood movies in French on American TV format video tape. These cost a bundle in Colorado--they were dirt cheap to find used from a Montreal video store.

 

[Burke]

Regarding ebay and hotmail/yahoo accounts, I registered with them a week or so ago, and because I use a yahoo address, I had to verify my existence with a credit card they could check out. I don't know if this is new or not, but at least it means you can't create an entirely fictitious account.

 

[copper]

You can find deals, but as someone else here said, the asking price is often more than what you can buy them for. You really have to search alot for a deal. Definately check out some of the retail sites for the lowest price before you bid. And if you find an asking price that's higher (or even equal)to retail, don't just NOT bid on it. Send them an email telling them why you're not bidding. Ask them why their price is higher than retail. It's really fun to watch them squirm on a reply (if they have the stones to reply). I often see knives from this same guy who sets his reserve $5 dollars cheaper than his retail price, then charges $5 for shipping. I love sending them messages just to let them know that I'm not bidding because the jig is up. It pains me when I see people falling for it. I wonder if I would get into trouble if I e-mailed all the bidders about the mistake they are making? Probably. . .

 

[ramey]

I sell (knives) on e-bay all the time I make them and take a picture of each one even if they look the same, that way the buyer knows what he is getting. I have had problems collecting money sometimes so it goes both ways.rameys knives

 

[devnull]

I recently won an auction for a BM 730 and the knife arrived "new in box" as described. I've bought other things on eBay as well and have always gotten good deals.

 

[L6steel]

The best way cover your butt on Ebay is consider the seller's feedback rating, and ask any and all questions you can think of to make sure the knife is exactly what you think it is. Also, if the seller does not state that they have a no return policy, you have a 30 day return period. If the seller has a feedback over 100, you can pretty much bet they're honest.

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Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!http://www.nebsnow.com/L6steel
Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms!!!

 

[ramey]

Another thing you can do is pay by i-escrow. I-escrow is a third party to which the buyer sends the money using a credit card.I-escrow e-mails the seller and tells him to ship the knife. when the buyer gets it he has a prearranged time to look over the knife, then he e-mails i-escrow to send money to seller. If there is a problem with knife i-escrow hold the money until the problem is solved. it's also a good way for a seller to accept credit cards if the seller is not set up to do so

 

[Buckcustom]

I have had very good luck on eBay. Very often though, the descriptions are not accurate. Many "rare" knives are not rare at all. I don't think that the sellers are very knowledgable as opposed to trying to mislead. You have to know what you are bidding on.

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John Foresman
Lifetime member Buck collectors club
Member NKCA
Member AKTI

 

[Eric R]

We buy and sell at ebay constantly. We've never had a problem buying, and our feedback of over 2100 should explain that we keep our customers satisfied.

I think much of the trouble attributed to Ebay, while it is true, is blown out of proportion. At any given moment, there are over 3 MILLION items for sale there - in any population of that size you're gonna find some bad apples.

I always find cool and interesting stuff, things I couldn't find anywhere else, and as a seller, it's a fantastic venue. Just keep your eyes open and - like the earlier post said - life's a crapshoot.

Eric


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