Selling modded items

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Mods on a knife are a personal thing. Once you mod a knife it's only worth the price of the scrap metal. I don't say this to be mean, rude or vindictive. I say it as someone who owns many, many modded knives. Including a CRK that is out being modded as we speak. Case in point here's my very heavily modded shaman. Worth about a buck fifty. That $1.50 in scrap metal. But to me priceless. 20191122_211606.jpg
 
Unless the modification was done by a reputable individual you're gonna be SOL.

It'd be like buying a used car that has an after market custom paint job. Was the job done by a professional, a reputable business OR did Joe Schmoe use a few cans of spray paint?

Sorry, but you're Joe Schmoe in this instance.
 
South paw draw said:
Priceless. Not even for that that 2.9 million Todd Beggs on Fleebay. Lmao
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Man, people need to quit bad mouthing my 2.9 million $$ Todd Beggs retirement plan......or I'll never be able to sell that knife for 2.9 million and retire!!!




As to OP's mod adding value or taking it away....



I don't agree that a mod makes a knive worthless. Or scrap.

I've bought and sold modded Busse knives at or above original release price plenty of times.

So it can and does happen. One thing about Spyderco sprint runs I've noticed, is that many tend to get flipped with little or no use.

There is a significant subset that want to put them in a display, and whisper sweet nothings to the box, and papers, and assure the knife it won't ever see the shame of pocket lint or the ugly mar of cardboard slicing....



As others have said, though, don't expect to list a modified Spyderco at mark up prices!
 
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South paw draw said:
Mods on a knife are a personal thing. Once you mod a knife it's only worth the price of the scrap metal. I don't say this to be mean, rude or vindictive. I say it as someone who owns many, many modded knives. Including a CRK that is out being modded as we speak. Case in point here's my very heavily modded shaman. Worth about a buck fifty. That $1.50 in scrap metal. But to me priceless. View attachment 1265703
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That is a sweet shaman. I see why it’s priceless to you. I think a well done mod adds value but I see how it affects value on the market as well.
 
Mods pretty much always cost you resale value. The value of a knife is what buyer's are willing to pay for it. You will certainly reduce broad market desire for the item with mods. Same thing with most things that get personalized (motorcycles is a good example). I think explaining that you modded the knife, with a description and pics is sufficient. Your asking price is up to you and if someone wants it for that price is up to the.

I think explaining why you are qualified to do the mod may be excessive, but some people like it and some don't. I think it falls into the similar line of people explaining why they are selling a knife; may or may not influence people but some people do get turned off by it.

Represent it accurately and you should be in good shape, as a minimum.
 
MtnBlade said:
Some of the tags I recall were kind of funny like #flippedafterallthatdamage and #dremelled. Others along the lines of #damaged #overpriced #ruined. Fine for people to have that opinion and express it but not cool at the same time. Just flippant opinions without asking any questions. That’s why I wanted to open up the discussion and get feedback.
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Definitely let the moderators know. Paging @Ken C. - first one to come to mind. Pulling shit like that is definitely against the rules, and deserves an infraction, if not an outright ban.

Edit: at a minimum, I'm hoping a moderator can inform us of who did that, so we can adjust our ignore lists accordingly.
 
I’m not sure that the mods can see who out of the tags, as a matter fact I thought they were turned off a while ago.

One thing I didn’t see being brought up is that you shouldn’t be selling modded items with a gold membership. That requires a craftsman membership.
 
rycen said:
I’m not sure that the mods can see who out of the tags, as a matter fact I thought they were turned off a while ago.

One thing I didn’t see being brought up is that you shouldn’t be selling modded items with a gold membership. That requires a craftsman membership.
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Good catch. I was thinking that it would build up his street cred as a legit modder, but completely over-looked the idea that modding with the intent to sell would be a service provider/craftsman.
 
rycen said:
I’m not sure that the mods can see who out of the tags, as a matter fact I thought they were turned off a while ago.

One thing I didn’t see being brought up is that you shouldn’t be selling modded items with a gold membership. That requires a craftsman membership.
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My take was that it was a knife he did for himself and now wanted to sell rather than that he was trying to sell modded knives as a business(at least at this time).
but as you say if he is trying to make a business of it he needs the Craftsman membership
 
It really doesn’t matter if you’re trying to make a business out of it or not.

It’s basically the same as members not being able to ask value unless they have a gold membership or higher. Unfortunately people in the past have done things to skirt the rules.

I don’t necessarily think that it was the thread starters intent to try to skirt the rules.
 
rycen said:
It really doesn’t matter if you’re trying to make a business out of it or not.

It’s basically the same as members not being able to ask value unless they have a gold membership or higher. Unfortunately people in the past have done things to skirt the rules.

I don’t necessarily think that it was the thread starters intent to try to skirt the rules.
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For clarification, does that mean that if someone mods a knife, even for personal use, and then sells it later, they should have a craftsman membership level? I ask because I see it frequently with things like flipper tabs or thumb ramp deletes, things I wouldn't necessarily consider needing a craftsman membership previously. It is a bigger mod than a bolting on new scales or adding colorful hardware.
 
I would say anything being modded or altered that can’t be put back would fall under a craftsman membership.

We like less rules not more but some things do slip by without being noticed. If there’s a question always report the thread.
 
rycen rycen

I’m understanding it as this...someone does a mod for their personal use, then gets bored with it and wants to sell the knife. Under these proposed rules, you would need a craftsman membership to sell said knife.

But this whole thread is basically devoted to “if you arent known as a good modder you are gonna take a loss”.
Is a craftsman membership level required for taking losses on a personal modification?

I understand it as: when you are trying to make modding your business, or when you are making money off your mods, then you would need to upgrade your membership. Also, any type of advertising that you will do mods for others would also require upgraded membership.

Because if selling a modded knife needs a craftsman membership, then we will get into...Am I allowed to sell my knife I had modded by someone else and paid good money for? Or do I now need to upgrade my membership to craftsman because it is a modded knife? How will we be able to tell the difference between a paid for mod and a done myself mod?

So many many questions around this particular topic. If people could just be honest...this wouldnt be an issue.

Im inquiring respectfully, because I love BF and appreciate all of the mods, yourself included...and it seems that we are starting down a slippery slope.

Very respectfully,
Sharp & Fiery
 
As a maker I was wondering which level membership to get and decided on gold so that I could trade and sell production knives and at the moment don’t intent to sell what I make through this venue. I also wasn’t even thinking of modding to sell at the time because it was always for myself.

I can see that it is not as clear cut for everyone but my thoughts are pretty close to S&F’s last comment.

and for the record, even at my highest asking price it was below the inflated price I paid on secondary market. I’m a sucker for that sweet sweet micarta.
 
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MtnBlade said:
As a maker I was wondering which level membership to get and decided on gold so that I could trade and sell production knives and at the moment don’t intent to sell what I make through this venue.

I can see that it is not as clear cut for everyone but my thoughts are pretty close to S&F’s last comment.
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FWIW, I've done experimental mods on knives as a hobbyist, and resold them here (as used, at a discount from retail) with the mods clearly disclosed, and never got any flak about it. If the interpretation stated earlier is the official rule, I don't think it's enforced very often.

Personally, I would suggest the line between gold vs. craftsman should be if you're trying to make a profit on the mods. If someone is selling at a loss, I'd say they're a hobbyist, not a craftsman.
 
tyyreaun said:
FWIW, I've done experimental mods on knives as a hobbyist, and resold them here (as used, at a discount from retail) with the mods clearly disclosed, and never got any flak about it. If the interpretation stated earlier is the official rule, I don't think it's enforced very often.

Personally, I would suggest the line between gold vs. craftsman should be if you're trying to make a profit on the mods. If someone is selling at a loss, I'd say they're a hobbyist, not a craftsman.
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I agree with this for the most part. Intended profit is a factor when forcing a flipper to upgrade to dealer as their tactics are usually easy spot. Buy low, sell high. Repeat.

I think frequency would be a better and easier determining factor for someone selling modded production knives. A rule based on profit or losses for modded knives would hard to gauge and likely be a minefield to enforce.
 
Typically the only mods you might see extra for are clips or hardware, like popular aftermarket scales, or for work done by well-known makers. You sharpening it probably devalued it. Tom Krein regrinding it might have increased its value a bit.

The problem with all mod work is that it makes a general knife more specific, meaning that a knife that a lot of people found desirable in its factory state is now desirable to only those people who wanted the knife in the configuration you modified it to, which is likely to be very few, if any people.
 
rycen said:
I’m not sure that the mods can see who out of the tags, as a matter fact I thought they were turned off a while ago.

One thing I didn’t see being brought up is that you shouldn’t be selling modded items with a gold membership. That requires a craftsman membership.
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I'd disagree with the craftsman membership required to sell modified knives.

I've re-ground, reprofiled, altered blade shape, hand shaped handles, stripped finishes, etc, etc and then sold the knife to buy another knife. It is not a value added proposition. I'm not offering a service. I don't charge others to modify knives. I modify the knife to suit me, and sell it for less than I would be able to had I not modded or used the knife (usually years and years later, when I get the itch for something new and shiny!

Same with leather. I've made leather sheaths for many of my knives that come without sheaths, or come with terrible sheaths. When I sell the knife, the sheath goes with it. I don't take orders, or make them to sell. I don't believe they add much, if anything to the sale price of the knife. I certainly spend way too much time hand making a sheath to think it was a profitable endeavor, or paid for my time!!!
 
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