Only buy it if YOU really want it

bikedaddy75

bikedaddy75

Joined
Sep 13, 2013
Messages
397
I have been a little shocked lately at the prices on the secondary market here on some knives. The knives I was selling where just various Case and a few Boker with most LNIB. I even saw some knives that would be $50 range new go for as little as $18 for one and $23 for another, both LNIB by other sellers. So much for finding a deal with the thought of flipping it later for a small profit while still making someone a fair deal. I was getting so tired of lowering the prices (3x on the last Case) I was about to start selling them as trot line weights. So here forward I will only buy knives that will meet a need in my routine.
 
If you want to resell knives for profit, it helps to buy highly desired when you can get them, then resell when they are hard to find. Trying to make a buck on anything you can find easily is slow going, at best.
 
I recomend the "Custom knives buying guide" by Les Robertson.
Well worth it's price.
It's conclusions are applicable on each breed of knives.
red mag
 
Precisely why I buy knives mostly on the used/post retail market. Easy to get good knives at great prices.
 
I have devoutly followed the old axiom ..Buy high, Sell low.
I do Agree that customs have more room to slide.
 
To paraphrase Comuppance, I have NEVER been able to turn a profit on any knife I've bought. This is because I can't help but carry the darn things and cut stuff with them when needed. Buy high, sell low indeed. Consider the loss you take to be an ownership fee.
 
I've sold a lot of knives at a profit, but I've sold faaaar more at a loss. Busses make good " investment knives". They are cheap compared to more expensive customs, they get discontinued constantly deliberately by design, and the buyers are absolutely rabid for them. Got any busses for sale?
 
It's impossible to know with certainty which knives will go up in value in the future. But your odds are greatly improved if you pay closeout or deeply discounted prices in the first place.

I don't sell any of my knives. How could one ever hope to build a decent collection when always selling??? :confused:

:D
 
I like Case knives, but they don't sell well here at all.
I've sold a few here, but for the most part I only sell those on the bay.
It's the only knife brand I have sold there, and I only did it because I had about 150(mostly from 70's) I needed to move, and they don't sell well here.
If you're only wanting brands that sell well here you should stay away from Case.
 
I must be the benefactor here. Thanks guys!

I've only bought knives as users, never with the intention of flipping. Flipping happens though: you get that knife you've been eyeing in your hand at last and...it's not what you thought. Back it goes. I learned early on to wait for the users to hit the market, as it'll be a user when I get it. When I do have to flip, I generally break even.

For instance, I'm waiting for the new ZT 0562 CF to show up on the forum market. Yeah, I'll likely have to wait a few months after release, but when I get for what I'll likely pay for it, I know it'll be worth it. Come on early adopters, buy!
 
If you are talking about that Case Dale Earnhardt two-tone Russlock, you had listed a couple of times, then yes, you are going to have a hard time selling those anywhere. Any of the "affiliated" knives are going to have a lower demand. Johnny Cash, Ducks Unlimited, Carhartt, etc. And add to that it was dual colored, and a Russlock.

So you'd have to find a Nascar fan who happened to like that particular driver, who was also into Case knives, who likes the somewhat odd Russlock pattern (I like them personally, but I have enough already), AND who didn't already have one of that particular knife. A buyer like that might come along and really want that knife, but you might one see one really interested buyer every 6 months.

I am a member of the Case Collectors Club forum and one of the guys there who was a huge Russlock collector decided to start selling off some of them. I think he lost money on every one of them.

So, if you are planning on buying for resale, pick: popular patterns, in popular handle materials, that appeal to a wide range of buyers (so stay away from specialty/affiliated branding). Plus, Case knives are generally in the $30 to $50 range new. Just shipping and Paypal fees will kill you there. $5 shipping is 10% of the cost of the knife.

If you want to try to break even or make a profit, then you need to be in the high dollar knives - like the Case/Bose annual collabs, and be willing to hold onto them for YEARS until the dealer stock is completely exhausted. And even with those, I still see them selling below original pricing because of motivated sellers and not enough people who want to pay $300+ for a slipjoint.

Anyone who tries to make a buck on selling knives needs to know the market VERY well, and be routinely buying out entire collections from uninformed widows at rock bottom prices.
 
My 2 cents is that "collector's series knives" tend to limit the appeal for a wider market with is niche markings and finishings.
It would be that much harder to find any future interest in mediocre range collectables once keen veteran collectors (who probably are the only ones to appreciate them) start to dwindle in number.
One would be hard pressed to find the youth of tomorrow getting all excited about some pretty old stuff that bares no relation to their universe.
Yup, buy only because you must have it all.
But don't expect anyone to get just as excited as you were about them later.
 
Very solid advice. Well said.

jc57 said:
If you are talking about that Case Dale Earnhardt two-tone Russlock, you had listed a couple of times, then yes, you are going to have a hard time selling those anywhere. Any of the "affiliated" knives are going to have a lower demand. Johnny Cash, Ducks Unlimited, Carhartt, etc. And add to that it was dual colored, and a Russlock.

So you'd have to find a Nascar fan who happened to like that particular driver, who was also into Case knives, who likes the somewhat odd Russlock pattern (I like them personally, but I have enough already), AND who didn't already have one of that particular knife. A buyer like that might come along and really want that knife, but you might one see one really interested buyer every 6 months.

I am a member of the Case Collectors Club forum and one of the guys there who was a huge Russlock collector decided to start selling off some of them. I think he lost money on every one of them.

So, if you are planning on buying for resale, pick: popular patterns, in popular handle materials, that appeal to a wide range of buyers (so stay away from specialty/affiliated branding). Plus, Case knives are generally in the $30 to $50 range new. Just shipping and Paypal fees will kill you there. $5 shipping is 10% of the cost of the knife.

If you want to try to break even or make a profit, then you need to be in the high dollar knives - like the Case/Bose annual collabs, and be willing to hold onto them for YEARS until the dealer stock is completely exhausted. And even with those, I still see them selling below original pricing because of motivated sellers and not enough people who want to pay $300+ for a slipjoint.

Anyone who tries to make a buck on selling knives needs to know the market VERY well, and be routinely buying out entire collections from uninformed widows at rock bottom prices.
Click to expand...
 
bikedaddy75 said:
So much for finding a deal with the thought of flipping it later for a small profit while still making someone a fair deal.
Click to expand...

Good luck with that. Expecting to sell knives for even a modest profit is folly. Maybe Busses or Randalls...that's about it. But those markets are flooded.
 
Buying any sort of collectible as an investment is a risky endeavor. With knives, I'm sure there are plenty of people who do it very successfully, by carefully getting into only the right markets (e.g. the people who win lotteries, not wanting the knife but just the chance to make a profit, the people who preorder multiples of limited quantity knives just to flip them at huge markups, the people who have a job that lets them flip Hinderers, etc.) but I wouldn't want to be one of those people anyway--all of those things feel scummy to me.

I buy knives because I want them, and I stick to real estate and stocks for building my net worth. That way I don't have to do anything shady or have some profit win/loss record hanging over my enjoyment of my hobby.
 
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