Online knife business

I helped build an online store a few years ago for a retiree that wanted something to do. The biggest expense was web design, because the packaged templates were not very good.
So if you're buying a running site with inventory for $2000 is not too bad. The site we built cost about $8K without any inventory.

Also the payment platform charges fees on every sale.

He has a third party that handles all logistics ( packaging and shipping), he just handles purchasing product. So if you handle logistics , its a job in itself.
As far as book keeping , most sales platforms provide sales reports, inventory management and light book keeping.

Sales were very low at startup, but using social media and paying for search engine placement directed more traffic to the site. He uses couponing from social media and pays to have site-links placed on other web sites.
He also markets his products on other platforms like Amazon. His average sales are $15K per month from the site only. His average product sells for $10, I don't know what his cost is.

Shipping to customers is expensive for a low volume dealer, he now has a volume discount contract with FedEx ( their cheapest service).
But in the beginning shipping was more than the sales price in a customer's cart and that was a problem, he was losing sales.

Translating this to knives, yes it's possible to run a profitable business,. But you need to be very committed and it will consume most of your time. So you're not going to be sitting back watching the cash flow in.
You'll have to open accounts with suppliers/wholesalers and constantly shop for closeouts/specials. Also you have to contend with MAP pricing and know when a supplier offers a MAP holiday ( so you can run a sale).
And you probably won't get payment terms early on, so you'll need to pay suppliers before they ship to you.

You'll have to be creative with your product line/pricing and not try to directly compete with the big sites.
If I was going to do it, I'd start with a wholesaler that carries all the major brands and sell higher quality knives , avoiding junk.
 
So I'm guessing that J Jeff4 has listened to all the don't do it posts and is moving on. I share a lot of the concerns/issues mentioned by others. Having been an independent small business owner/operator since 1980's I can say with certainty it's not easy or glamorous. I'll be 70 next month, closing on the sale of my last water/sewer utility company in January. Its been a good career and rewarding personally, professionally and financially.

I definitely admire the entrepreneurial spirit and hope Jeff finds something that he likes/loves and eventually becomes a successful businessman himself. Good luck young man.
 
A buddy of mine is part of the team working on a large online knife site's website. He says the website brings in over $5M+ worth of orders a year. I have no absolute proof of this, but my buddy would have no reason to lie to me. He's not even an avid knife guy.
 
Its hard work, and the profit margin is extremely small. Get as many opinions on how viable this venture is as you can. The guy is probably selling it for a reason.:)
 
Boattale said:
So I'm guessing that J Jeff4 J Jeff4 has listened to all the don't do it posts and is moving on. I share a lot of the concerns/issues mentioned by others. Having been an independent small business owner/operator since 1980's I can say with certainty it's not easy or glamorous. I'll be 70 next month, closing on the sale of my last water/sewer utility company in January. Its been a good career and rewarding personally, professionally and financially.

I definitely admire the entrepreneurial spirit and hope Jeff finds something that he likes/loves and eventually becomes a successful businessman himself. Good luck young man.
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Perhaps he has chosen wisely.
 
Jeff4 said:
Does anybody out there think running a online knife business would make any type of profit ? please tell me any ideas do you think it'd be worth it that website itself that domain the name the ownership all under $2,000 please tell me what you think is this a good investment or no? Also comes with the promise of connections for more inventory it's a brand new website I would have to build it and Market it
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I would go and work in someone else's knife business for at least 6 months first. Just based on your expectation of that sort how many dollars it would take to start up sets off alarms. Running a real business will cost you that much for annual insurance itself. If you run it out of your home and fly under the radar, that amount won't get you much inventory.
You substitute any business that's based on a similar type of passion for something, but a knife business has less regulatory issues than something like firearms, making is easier in that respect.
Even so, running a business involves a lot more issues than a serious pursuit of a hobby, no matter how enthusiastic you may be.
 
Jeff4 said:
No I just need advice on a simple investment buying a online knife store with inventory connections the whole nine
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Sadly, the issue here is that your store, unless it's SMKW, KnifeCenter, BladeHQ, USAMadeBlades, KnivesShipFree, and a few others that already exist and who have been putting in the work for years, chances are slim that you're going to really break out at this point in my opinion*.

Sounds to me like when people search for a knife, your shop is going to end up at the bottom of page 2 (most likely further) of recommendations. About the only way you'll get even a cursory click is by selling it cheaper, because there are plenty of knife folks on this board who will shop on price alone.

* Which is worth what you've paid for it! LOL
 
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killgar said:
I think the only way for an unknown person to even have a chance of succeeding in the knife business is by setting their prices so low, not just lower than the competition, but low enough that people are willing to take the chance and buy from someone with no reputation for honesty or customer service/satisfaction. And that is a VERY hard sell.

And of course, the lower your prices, the lower your profits.

And then there's advertising. You can't sell anything if people don't know about you. You could use social media, I assume that's free (I'm not knowledgeable about such things), but going direct to the knife buying public might add to your costs. Like for example- in order to advertise here on Bladeforums you have to purchase a "Dealer" membership for $350 a year.
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Agreed. Super low prices usually means "Imported counterfeit/clone knives", at least to me.
 
It sounds like someone like the parents maybe have offered to stake someone like maybe their kid for a business if the kid can prove the business will survive the first year.

While an online novelty knife store might seem like a good idea it's probably not and the seller probably knows. The seller would be looking for a quick flip.

What I would say for someone looking to stare a business in the world of knives learn how to sharpen & run a mobile van. Then as you become more seasoned you can look at other branches like making sheaths, or handles or even making knives.
 
catspa said:
Except me. I’m the designated “cheap bastard”. I spend about $20+ a month on scrap steel* and leather, abrasives and propane.

It’s a crowded market, tough for a new guy to crowd his way in. Sure, you can sell some knives, but that’s not enough. You have to sell enough for the margin to pay your hard costs before you even make grocery money, much less any profit.

If you have a good day job and this is gonna be your side hustle, go for it. Your loss will be small (and surviveable) if things don’t work out.

If this thing needs to pay your living expenses from the start, it’s dubious. It’ll suck up more time and energy than you expect, and having your own business creates a long line of people wanting to carve a percentage out of your efforts. The parasites are running our society today, like it or not.

In addition, there are external factors beyond your control that can come out of nowhere and torpedo you even if you do everything right. The road to success is strewn with the financial carcasses of people who were good at (whatever your business is). You have to be smart, determined, risk-savvy, and lucky all at the same time, for long enough to amass enough capital and experience to survive the storms. It’s not impossible, but statistically unlikely. More entrants fail than succeed.

Sorry to be a Negative Nelly, but I just don’t see the odds being in your favor. IMHO you’d be better off investing in your parents’ business, or learning a trade, or develop job skills that can get you a steady and lucrative job working for a boss.

Best of luck to you.

Parker

*Except this month, a neighbor brought me half a rusty crosscut saw blade. That dragged my average down.

Parker
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This is sound advice, especially the part about learning a trade. Tradesmen across the board are in high demand, there just isn't enough of us (HVAC, electricians, plumbers, welders, mechanics etc). You get some schooling and work for a company for a few years and learn on their time, then you can branch off on your own if you feel like you're able to. And you can make all the money that you want. I've been in hvac since I graduated hs in 95. It was the best decision that I've ever made. Nothing was given to me, I had to put in lots of hours and miss out on holidays etc but it's paid off. I've been on my own for about 10 years now and I don't pay a single dime in advertising. You treat people fair and do the best job that you can and you'll always have plenty of work. I wish I would've went on my own sooner. Not sure how old you are, but you're never too old to learn and change career paths. Best of luck man
 
Danke42 said:
learn how to sharpen & run a mobile van
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I know quite a few households that could really use someone to come sharpen their zillion dull knives , scissors etc .

They got no-one who can sharpen so just have to buy new ones .

Kitchen drawers overloaded with decent quality knives , but all dull as butter knives .
 
DocJD said:
I know quite a few households that could really use someone to come sharpen their zillion dull knives , scissors etc .

They got no-one who can sharpen so just have to buy new ones .

Kitchen drawers overloaded with decent quality knives , but all dull as butter knives .
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Yeah this is a great idea ! I've bought many used, but very nice and recent, knives that were very dull. I doubt that they all of a sudden lost Interest in said knives. They just dulled them and sold them so they can purchase another sharp one ! I will take quality dull knives for cheap all day long !
 
I have started five businesses in the last 45 years, and all of them have been successful. Some more than others, for sure!

In fact, the learning curve is so steep that the most important thing that I learned with my first business that I started at 20 was the fact I did not know how to run a business. I had eight employees and started my little construction firm out of pocket. It took me a year and a half to run out of money, another year to get it back in the black and I shut it down and went to work for somebody that promised they would help me learn.

Getting the work was easy; getting the people to work for me was easy; getting paid was mostly easy; all the accounting, paperwork, quarterly deposits, taxes, etc, were pretty easy. And if you ever want to grow your business you need help. Employees are not easy.

On a more positive note I had a friend of mine that sharpened saw blades many, many years ago when we were out on construction sites. He had a little machine in a retooled mail van and he would drive out where there are a lot of construction workers and sharpen our saw blades. Later, when almost all the blades purchased became carbide tipped there was nothing for him to sharpen. I suggested he look into knife sharpening thinking he would set up at a gun show, or take work in from some of the gun stores. He did neither.

He made himself a sharpening rig that consisted of a super long belt with a large slack area in it and a small platen. He went to all the high-end and medium in restaurants and would sit behind them and sharpen all their knives on site. As the economy went up and down so did his income, but he hit on another idea and started sharpening scissors for upper end hairdressers.

He made a pretty damn good living doing that considering his entire business was inside his van and he still wrote all of his invoices by hand and probably cashed half the checks he got. The guy that cuts my hair told me he finally retired but actually did it for about 40 plus years! You just never know...
 
Danke42 said:
What I would say for someone looking to stare a business in the world of knives learn how to sharpen & run a mobile van. Then as you become more seasoned you can look at other branches like making sheaths, or handles or even making knives.
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High-key. I was thinking about this, I would love so much for there to be a sharpening/refurbishing dude, not even some genius expert, but like, just as good as the random dudes who hop on here every day like "Just put a mirror edge on my S110V PM2 and reprofiled it to 17 deg." like, I still don't know if the PM2 comes with a microbevel or not, I can't wrap my head around this stuff yet, and I'm currently going to wait to buy this knife and then send it to CANADA from Cali or a quality sharpen/reprofile. I know that any "sharpening service" around me is some diphead with a grinder who's just gonna ruin my heat treat. So, yeah, this would be a great idea, what you wrote here.

I've honestly been thinking of just finding a local knife guy in Los Angeles and just paying him to teach me the ins and outs of knife sharpening and basic things like reprofiling, lol. Get it done quick.
 
Boattale said:
So I'm guessing that J Jeff4 has listened to all the don't do it posts and is moving on. I share a lot of the concerns/issues mentioned by others. Having been an independent small business owner/operator since 1980's I can say with certainty it's not easy or glamorous. I'll be 70 next month, closing on the sale of my last water/sewer utility company in January. Its been a good career and rewarding personally, professionally and financially.

I definitely admire the entrepreneurial spirit and hope Jeff finds something that he likes/loves and eventually becomes a successful businessman himself. Good luck young man.
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I really do appreciate you I'm still contemplating the site and buying the inventory ahaha
 
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