Selling on ebay vs selling here...hmmm

fracmeister

fracmeister

Petroleum Engineer
Joined
May 26, 1999
Messages
1,686
Well, I have just been through it. I couldn't move an Ontario Hell's Belle Bowie here, along with assorted NIB SOG's, Cold Steel, CRKT and nobody would match the current price for a Battle Mistress... BUT they sold like pancakes on ebay. No ridiculous prices (delivered examples 375 for the BM, 150 for the Bowie, 35 for an S&W 3500, 150 for a BM 9050sbt (and no ebay fee as they yanked it))... All in all I try to sell here 1st. It is still USUALLY the best place to sell autos of the HALO/SOCOM variety and nobody hardly sells Sebenzas on ebay. But I bought two Dewey Harris knives here at WAY sub market prices and was able to sell them at fair (well below replacement cost) prices on ebay and saw a healthy spread...

But no question about it... This IS the best place to buy.

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fracmeister,

I saw your thread on my WTB post and went immediately to ebay but didn't see the BM posted. When did the auction end?

It figures that once I decide to get a BM, they can't be found.
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Thanks for the heads up.

Brian_T
brianthornburg@home.com
 
BladeForums is a place to talk about knives, and hang out with buddies.
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Also, theirs the added benefit of having a place here to buy, sell, and trade. ...but unless you're a real dealer, BladeForums is NOT the place to try to make a quick buck. (Not that dealers here are trying to make a quick buck.) The For Sale / Trade forum, is where fellow forumites can go, to find good deals on great knives, and look for possible trades or rare knives with specific serial numbers or qualities. If you want to make money, it probably IS a good idea to toss it to the Ebay wolves or other auction site. I would NEVER buy ANYTHING from an auction site, I just like the personal level and attitude of the BladeForums brotherhood.
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You're safe here, my brothers.
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-AR

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- AKTI Member ID# A000322

[This message has been edited by Jackyl (edited 02-14-2000).]
 
Hmm, but there are great deals to be found occasionally on auction sites (I still hang out here mostly). I just got a like new small Sebenza for $235 shipped.
 
There are Sharks and Minnows in the ocean of knives.The Sharks hang out in Blade Forums.The Minnows hang out on Ebay.
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have a"knife"day
 
Sharks? hmmm I have found some very knowledgable people here but few I would regard as sharks -- i did feel shafted in one transaction but i learned from it ... I am just glad I don't have to make a living selling knives-- i am not that good at it and the margins are only fair.... now i can focus on what i know best BUYING knives ... and this is the best place for that!
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Dances with lemmings
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What if you could have the best of both worlds?

Now that would be cool.

I have to admit it's getting better, better all the time..... TM Phillips

True...... TM Budweiser

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Mike Turber
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Well the forum is the first place I look and tend to reside here. But more and more, folks are telling me about Ebay (I'm not quite comfortable with it), but I may have to look into their "pond" to fully understand all my options for buying and selling and trading. However, the forums are the first place I go.

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Lead,follow, or get the hell out of the way!
 
I have gotten some really good deals on ebay. I use ebay for things other than knives as well. I`ve found most of the folks to be as friendly and honest as the folks here. The auctions are as safe Bladeforums. That`s not a knock on BF, but a compliment to ebay.

Either way, I don`t feel like a shark here or a minnow there!
 
I have given, and gotten some great deals here because of the comraderie and friendship I feel here. I've only met one person, and yet I converse often with many outside of the forum. I have bought and sold with ebay, it is just different, much less personal. I can't blame a guy who I saw try to sell some knives here quite a few times from going another route, it is America after all.

Brandon

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"You should never never doubt what nobody is sure about..."
 
If I can buy a knife cheap here and sell it for more there, then I do. Or if I see a knife there that would make good trade fodder here, I pick it up. I get the best of both worlds.

On the auction sites, I bid what I am willing to pay. (Which is usually a laughably low price!) About 90% of the time, I get outbid. The 10% of the time that I win, I get FANTASTIC buys.
 
I have to say this.... Buy here, sell on eBay. Too many people get caught up with auction fever and bit things higher than retail. Some idiot has a bid for a Benchmade Titanium Emerson CQC-7B for over $250 and you can still get them from Discount Knives for about $140.
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You get almost wholesale priced here between forum members. Everybody is much more knowledgable and friendly here.

I usually get outbid on eBay, but when I do win, it is a bargain. There have been a few items that I picked up on eBay really cheap and immediately turned them around for at least double my money. Someone misspells the item name, puts the model number only, puts it in the wrong catagory, or sometimes it just slips under the radar.
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[This message has been edited by sirgrumps (edited 02-15-2000).]
 
Good topic!

eBay is a different story than the forums altogether. It’s an auction. That means people are getting a thrill out of bidding. Not everybody is like the4th and puts in a fixed bid (me for example!). In the heat of the process it’s easy to forget your limits and go over the retail value. Especially if you don’t know exactly the value of the item you are bidding on. That means the forum is more rational than eBay.

Another reason you can sell some knives better on eBay is that the audience there is much bigger and probably not as well informed as we here
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The difficult sale of the BM doesn't surprise me in the least. Busse offers it for 347.- plus shipping. So the "only" thing you gain is the shorter delivery time, but therefore you have to trust the person you buy from. You could get screwed. So the question is how do you value the shorter delivery time? My guess is that many people here have already other knives on order from makers and are used to waiting. So nobody is willing to pay a premium for a knife he/she can have easily at a later point.

I followed the buy/sales section on the forums almost since the beginning. What it comes down to is that a “hot” items sells well, but the maximum you can usually get it the retail price. That means the margins are VERY small and if you can’t do volume, it’s not worth the effort.

I like checking the knives on eBay. There are many knives for sale you’ll never see here on the forum.
 
I started out on eBay, found some old folders I had been looking for (that I never came across at garage sales, flea markets, etc.), bid and bought. Along the way on eBay I saw a lot of knives I knew nothing about and my interest was rekindled, especially in fixed blades. I turned to the manufacturers' sites (Marble's to start because that's where I left off with fixed blades in the '70). Found links, found KnifeWare, saw the Loveless version, remembered how much I used to want a Loveless and a Randall. My next stop was Knifeforums, but the depth and quality of discussion left something to be desired. And then I found Bladeforums, and you guys definitely are IT. Ordered a Fallkniven F1 from Discount Knives, which Brian emailed me would be coming this week, and while I am excited to be back in the fixed field, my appetite has be whetted for some quality folders I read about on these here forums. BTW, I might have put off ordering the F1 had I come across the Boyer Personal Hunter a day sooner. Am moving closer to having a custom knife every day, something that I thought was out of my price range, until I came across discussions on these boards. Thanks to all ya's.

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Dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
 
Sirgrumps, I've seen that Benchmade titanium CQC7 on Ebay. Right now the bid's at $255! Crazy! By the way, discount knives is out of the titanium CQC7's. It's funny though, a couple weeks ago on Ebay, the4th had a titanium CQC7 and I got it for $150. No one else had bid on it, so I won out. A couple weeks later, everyone's going crazy over this CQC7. Go figure. I've been monitoring and buying a few knives on Ebay and it seems that there are some knives that people don't notice or know anything about, and hardly anyone bids on them. And of course there's times that somehow a knife is known to the whole Ebay community and they go crazy on it, without knowing the actual cost. Ebay is great for some things, but here at Bladeforums, you get a personal touch here and help from forum members if you need it.
 
I monitor Ebay knives every day. I have noticed that some of the knives I'm interested in go for more than I could buy them for from a dealer. There is often a lack of consistency in the prices. You can get lucky and get a good deal, but you have to keep from getting caught up in the bidding and let the knife go when the price passes your "cutoff" point. Bottom line is I can usually find them cheaper elsewhere.
 
I buy a lot of knives on e/bay.I buy a lot of knives on Bladeforums.When I used the term Sharks I was refering to the shrewed buyers on Blade Forums.And the not shrewed buyers on e/bay.I almost never "passion buy"anything.

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have a"knife"day
 
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