Selling knives on the exchange

[91wm6]

I'm obviously not as active here as I used to be, and I just received a notice that my membership expired. I get the fact that membership protects the buying community here but $30 to list 1-2 knives a year just isn't worth it to me. Why can't we offer an alternative? Allow basic members with existing feedback to list up to one knife a month for a fee of $2 or $3 bucks? Better yet, allow basic members to sell up to one knife a month included in the 10$ membership. Thoughts? Downsides?

 

[snowalker]

I may have 10 or so knives to sell this year. I've been selling on eBay so far, but I'm thinking of selling here. Is there enough 'action' here though? I'm uncertain as to how active the buy/sell market is on here and am hesitant to sign up for that.

Also, aside of the membership cost, are there no fees per sale?

 

[Quiet]

I'm back from a several month absence myself, however, the going understanding has always been that Bladeforums isn't a place for people to pump and dump knives, without contributing to the community. That's why only Gold or above members can sell knives. After all, what's the alternative, eBay? Think of all the fees you're saving by not having to deal with the double gangblasting of Ebay and Paypal both wanting a cut of your profit. You sell a few knives here after buying Gold, and you still come out ahead, honestly.

 

[panoz77]

I'm back from a several month absence myself, however, the going understanding has always been that Bladeforums isn't a place for people to pump and dump knives, without contributing to the community. That's why only Gold or above members can sell knives. After all, what's the alternative, eBay? Think of all the fees you're saving by not having to deal with the double gangblasting of Ebay and Paypal both wanting a cut of your profit. You sell a few knives here after buying Gold, and you still come out ahead, honestly.

Possibly, but only if you are selling high dollar knives.

 

[snowalker]

That's what I'm thinking. If there's no fees aside of the $30 membership to sell, then it makes total sense if you plan on selling 5 or more knives. But I'm unfamiliar with the action on The Knife Exchange. I'd like to sell these rather quickly. While eBay's fees are steep, at least you can be assured of action.

I'm back from a several month absence myself, however, the going understanding has always been that Bladeforums isn't a place for people to pump and dump knives, without contributing to the community. That's why only Gold or above members can sell knives. After all, what's the alternative, eBay? Think of all the fees you're saving by not having to deal with the double gangblasting of Ebay and Paypal both wanting a cut of your profit. You sell a few knives here after buying Gold, and you still come out ahead, honestly.

 

[panoz77]

Things seem to sell here very quick, especially if priced competitively. This isn't an auction setup, so if you are looking for top dollar, an auction site is probably the way to go.

 

[Quiet]

That's what I'm thinking. If there's no fees aside of the $30 membership to sell, then it makes total sense if you plan on selling 5 or more knives. But I'm unfamiliar with the action on The Knife Exchange. I'd like to sell these rather quickly. While eBay's fees are steep, at least you can be assured of action.

Whelp, then all I can tell you is best of luck on eBay. If you want to sell those knives here, you'll need to buy a Gold membership. It's good to remember that it's not just being able to sell knives that you're getting when you buy a membership. Those fees help keep this board running.

That said, ever hear the phrase "Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances"? That's pretty much it. There are no guarantees that your knives will sell for what you want them to. About all you can do is do your research on what your knives are worth, and price them fairly. If people want them, they'll pay the price. If not, you'll have to adjust downward until you meet a price that the community here is willing to pay. I'll give you a fair warning, that it's probably not going to be a large source of profit unless these knives are rare, discoed interesting models, or customs.

 

[snowalker]

Whelp, then all I can tell you is best of luck on eBay. If you want to sell those knives here, you'll need to buy a Gold membership. It's good to remember that it's not just being able to sell knives that you're getting when you buy a membership. Those fees help keep this board running.

That said, ever hear the phrase "Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances"? That's pretty much it. There are no guarantees that your knives will sell for what you want them to. About all you can do is do your research on what your knives are worth, and price them fairly. If people want them, they'll pay the price. If not, you'll have to adjust downward until you meet a price that the community here is willing to pay. I'll give you a fair warning, that it's probably not going to be a large source of profit unless these knives are rare, discoed interesting models, or customs.

Understandable. Most of the knives I would look to sell would be in $200 range. Spydercos, Kershaw, Case, CRKT, David Broadwell. eBay 10% fee on any of them nearly pays for the $30 membership, but just wanted to get a grasp on the market here first. I have to also consider profit margins (prior to fees) are certain to be higher on eBay. Time to make a choice...

 

[woodsmanoh]

Things definitely move fast if the price is competitive for the condition of the knife. A lot of knives I watch sell within minutes of being posted. There are not very many knives in the 75-250 price range that sit very long at all. I some of the Higher dollar knives 300+ also move just as fast. Some $1000 knives might sit a little longer but suspect that is based on market demand and desire. (I still look...and drool) Truthfully I would rather buy knives here than on eBay. I have had great experiences so far buying from my Brother Knife Knuts. I quit eBay buying unless it is a vendor I have done business with before and an item I cant find anywhere else. Pictures posted here tend to be better than eBay and I feel more confident on what I will get when the box arrives. Shipping turn around that I have gotten here has also been better than in my previous eBay days.

 

[91wm6]

Things seem to sell here very quick, especially if priced competitively. This isn't an auction setup, so if you are looking for top dollar, an auction site is probably the way to go.

Whelp, then all I can tell you is best of luck on eBay. If you want to sell those knives here, you'll need to buy a Gold membership. It's good to remember that it's not just being able to sell knives that you're getting when you buy a membership. Those fees help keep this board running.

That said, ever hear the phrase "Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances"? That's pretty much it. There are no guarantees that your knives will sell for what you want them to. About all you can do is do your research on what your knives are worth, and price them fairly. If people want them, they'll pay the price. If not, you'll have to adjust downward until you meet a price that the community here is willing to pay. I'll give you a fair warning, that it's probably not going to be a large source of profit unless these knives are rare, discoed interesting models, or customs.

I'll be honest, the part that really bugs me is that basic members can't sell at all, but they can trade. That makes me think it's more about revinue than building/protecting community.

 

[woodsmanoh]

Understandable. Most of the knives I would look to sell would be in $200 range. Spydercos, Kershaw, Case, CRKT, David Broadwell. eBay 10% fee on any of them nearly pays for the $30 membership, but just wanted to get a grasp on the market here first. I have to also consider profit margins (prior to fees) are certain to be higher on eBay. Time to make a choice...

It is easy to gage just look at the posting times price and Ill take it times on knives similar to yours. You can go as far back as you want and see how things have gone previously.

 

[benchwarmer380]

I'll be honest, the part that really bugs me is that basic members can't sell at all, but they can trade. That makes me think it's more about revinue than building/protecting community.

As they say, membership has its privileges. Many people pay nothing but can still use the forums to learn and share knowledge or buy and trade (via existing threads) to their hearts content.
A Basic Membership gives you a step up in features and further access to the exchange. Gold even more and so on. Its really no different than most goods or services where the more you pay the more/better you get.

 

[KingMC]

I'll be honest, the part that really bugs me is that basic members can't sell at all, but they can trade. That makes me think it's more about revinue than building/protecting community.

I see it as the opposite: knife trading is much more centered on the community than knife selling, so it makes perfect sense to allow the lower membership level access to it. Knife selling is business pure and simple, and we should feel lucky that this forum even allows it; the fee to do it is minimal for all the potential profit that could be made, and the buying crowd is much more targeted and selective.

If requiring gold memberships for selling is Spark’s best way to keep his forum going, then I am fully in favor of it; the ‘revenue’ goes to keeping the forum ad-free for paying members, the only other form of real income for this site.

 

[PirateSeulb]

I can understand the issue of $30 when you have a very limited number and/or value of knives you want to sell and maybe a lower cost shorter term gold membership could be available. If it were something like $10 for 3 months and $5 for 1 month this would make it more costly on a cost/month basis but a lower cost for those who only need to use the sale forum on rare occasion.

Keep in mind too there is more offered in a Gold membership than just the rights to sell.

 

[Buon_Coltello]

Understandable. Most of the knives I would look to sell would be in $200 range. Spydercos, Kershaw, Case, CRKT, David Broadwell. eBay 10% fee on any of them nearly pays for the $30 membership, but just wanted to get a grasp on the market here first. I have to also consider profit margins (prior to fees) are certain to be higher on eBay. Time to make a choice...

I'm new here, but have been following the exchange quite a bit. Seems like knives that are priced well sell very quickly. That's not to say yours will for sure, but I have seen things sell in less than a minute. Depending on what you have, I would think this would be the place. Since I joined, I don't even look at ebay anymore. This moves faster.