Ilikesharpstuff
Basic Member
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2009
- Messages
- 849
Yes, I understand that ACK deducts 25% of sales price for themselves & that sellers try to raise their asking prices there to make up that fee but no one is going to pay 25% more than what a knife is "worth" in the open market -- note the many knives on ACK that go unsold for so long that they get delisted.
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Just remember that the basic rule in valuation is that something is that something is "worth" what a "willing" buyer is willing to pay & what a "willing" seller is willing to accept in payment for the item. So, if people are currently willing to pay $2k-$2.5 for a custom Rassenti, then that's what they're worth .
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I often check prices on EB & ACK where I can see the asking & selling prices with retail pricing & I find that the selling prices on ACK are consistent with each other & retail pricing for the knives that I'm interested in & have bought there.
For example, I just purchased a "previously owned" ZT0300 w/o box in "good" condition for $275 and a NIB Pro-Tech Godfather Jigged DLC Swat Auto for $205 from ACK, which are at/below the FMV's for these knives.
So, just because ACK charges a 25% selling fee doesn't mean that the knives there are over-priced.
It just means that the seller gets a lot less than he like to get for his knife.
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BTW, the same thing applies to auctions where the auctioneers collect fees from both the buyer & seller on every transaction.
For example, Sotheby's charges a 10% to the seller & 20% to the buyer on lower priced transactions which means they're collecting a min of 30% on everything sold by them. Bonham's charges the seller 28% up to $50k & doesn't disclose it's sellers fee but you can assume it's at least 10% for smaller transactions, which is pretty typical for auction houses.
That is all true, but not everyone shops every marketplace. Somebody who happily pays $2000-2500 for a Rassenti on AZCK may or may not know or care that there is a place that they regularly sell under $1500 when they come up.
I know I brought it up, but my main point was just that it isn't that surprising that a "real" Rassenti brings a lot more money than a Spyderco production version.
