Question about buy/sell/trade junkies...

R

RH

Joined
Jan 31, 1999
Messages
2,094
Everyone's got a right to pursue the hobby as they see fit, but some folks habits have me shaking my head. I buy/trade knives because I like them and want to carry/use them. Granted, I have several I've never carried or used, but I keep them because I like them still. On rare occasions, I have traded or sold because something else struck my fancy, or I was in some way disappointed with a knife.

There are folks here whose sole purpose in life seems to be to high turnover of their collection. They will buy something today, and next week you'll see them trying to sell it. (This was much more prevalent when the Sale forums were free) I'm not talking about someone being disapppointed with the knife and selling it, I'm talking about a non-stop cycle of buying/trading and seling/trading.

What's up with that?

Is it an attempt to make quick buck? An effort to somehow work several trades to attain the 'holy grail' knife that you really want? I just don't get it.

There have even been cases of folks setting up a sale/trade of a knife BEFORE they have received it i trade from another BFC'er. How can you represent something for sale that you've never laid eyes on?!? On ONE occasion I almost did a triangular deal like this, because someone wanted something in trade that I didn't have, but could buy from a 3rd party. It got too complex and I wound up hooking up the other 2 parties. It left me as odd man out, but we're a community, right?

If someone can explain this to me, please do.
 
All through college I played bass in various bands, & I went through equipment like no-one's business, buying then trading or reselling (for me always at a big loss). I had some sort of fever to have owned and used everything cool. My guess is that there are a few knife collectors like this - they have the cash to buy whatever they want, just to have had it and known it - then they turn around and sell it, looking for the next fix. Sometimes regrettably - I know I sold some bass equipment I later deeply regretted, just to get something new that I didn't like as much. As for sell/trade before they even have it, I guess that's because they bought something they were kinda interested in, and then saw something they HAD to have.

And then, some of them are just dealers. :rolleyes:
 
As I tried to explain to my wife the other day, its called ATS(Addictive Toy Syndrome); sometimes ya just gotta have new stuff! :eek:
 
one can also say the same about stock brokers, or car buffs.
Sometimes you buy something, and realize that it just does not do it for you, so you sell it in hopes of finding the holy grail of knives:D
 
I am a bit of a junkie in the sense that you are mentioning.

But my main interest is to handle and "test" out the feel and carryability of a variety of knives. I am not a true collector (these are not investments), so I am am not searching for a holy grail.

Mainly, there aren't many dealers that will let you test drive a knife for two or three days, carrying, doing minor cutting, reversing clips, etc. I usually keep a knife for a week, and decide whether or not it is a keeper.

Also, since I am a Spyderco fan, I want to try out most of the models, and live with them long enough to see if they are interesting enough to keep.

Overall, my "accumulation" of production folders only grows by about 1 folder every two months, even though I have been trading/buying about 4 or 5 knives a month. (I haven't registered as a gold member yet, so no selling lately).

Someday, I will catch up for lost time. I collected customs in the 70's and early 80's, sold everything I had except for one Buck knife and dropped out of the knife world until 1999.

Bought a Spyderco Walker Lightweight, found the Bladeforums this spring, and have been a "junkie" ever since. Someday, this madness will have to stop.
 
I usually want something different. But it is not a good idea, although some do, to trade a knife that you have not received yet, especially when both parties have not agreed that they are happy with the trade. We have all seen this before.
 
I often trade into knives that I know I will turn right around and sell/trade. Sometimes it's to help someone out. I just traded for some knives and knew that I would probably put them up for sale/trade once we both were happy with the trade. I knew that I was getting a good deal, but they were not must have knives. So I've got them up for trade/sell to get something else that I may like more. I always like to have some trading fodder lying around, you never know when they may come in handy :)
 
I don't collect anything. I use everything I have, everything. I use brand new or slightly used knives, then trade them for their adjusted value (due to being used) or at a loss financially; but at a gain in knowledge and experience.

Besides, I've made a lot of friends here by doing trades and buying knives.

I certainly haven't made any money at this. But I've gained more intangibly than I've spent.
 
I do alot of trading back and forth because I want to keep the US Postal Service BUSY, and solvent.:D.

Really, I think it's the excitment of getting something new or different (I have traded for knives/watches/etc. that I have never seen before), and the anticipation of receiving a package...Sort of like Christmas.:eek:
 
Hey, it could be worse. A friend of my father's used to buy a brand new car two or three times a year -- basically, his hobby was shopping for new cars. He never stopped looking at new cars; when he bought one that only meant he drove around to the car dealers in a different car ... for a while.... Finally he got married and his wife made him stop.

Hmm ... if your wife complains about your buying knives you could tell her about my father's friend ... it's worth a try.... :)

I only buy knives; I never sell them. If I bought cars instead I wouldn't have room to keep them all....
 
If I had more money, I wouldn't have had to sell or trade any of my stuff!! ;)

There's always that "one" better knife over the horizon! :D
 
I'm amazed at the amount of activity on the part of some members.

To be honest, I just assumed they were dealers without their having expressly stated that they were.
 
I am one of those guys who trades/buys/sells alot of knives and here are my reasons in order of importance.
1. My tastes are different now as opposed to when I was a novice collector. I used to like Cold Steel, CRKT, etc. tanto folders and other low end folders with partial serrations and lower end steels because I didn't know any better (I'm not knocking those knives as they are very good folders for the money.) Now I like Sebenza's with no serrations and am also looking at customs. It is a logical progression from those knifes to the ones I like now.
2. Sometimes knives dissappoint. Because there isn't a good B&M store where I live, I don't have the option of picking a folder up and looking at it to see if I like it. I have to buy it and sometimes I don't like it so I sell it.
3. As glockman says, its fun getting a new knife and sometimes they only way to raise funds is to sell existing stock.
 
well i guess i'm a trader - i usually get at least one knife a month or so , sometimes more, some by buying, some by trading - i guess ya could call me a collector - i have a solid core of knives i love (iecrawford custom ksaper,sifu,BM AFCK, 2 of them,gunting,gerber mark 11,a german SS dagger and sheath my dad brought back from WW2, etc) and would not sell, some irregardless of price - and some i keep for a while, use or fool with, and trade off for something new i must have - its an addiction i guess, like crack, 'cept cheaper(well usually lol) but i enjoy the heck out of it, and have never had any problems w/fellow forumites - all i can say is its fun, ya can check out a lot of knives cheap, and ya meet some good people - and ya can get rid of some knife YOU may never use, and let someone have it who HAS to have it, just like yourself.....i dunno, hard to explain, but ya should try it lol,,,,,


sifu
 
I sold (traded) maybe 20 knives shortly after I received them simply because I did not like them. How come I did not know that before? I had no chance to handle those knives. I saw pictures, those knives looked great but when they arrived - well - they looked differently....

David
 
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