Bad Shameless flippers

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beattheheat

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Jan 13, 2018
Messages
364
Dear Moderators,
this thread is NOT to insult ANYBODY,but it's about the only way to ventilate my irritation.there is (was) a thread of a new BF member who tried to sell a knife for double the money he (she) paid for,and by all the reactions to that thread you can see the irritation of serious members,and you and i know there are more than a handfull irritated BF members.isn't it about time to let these people who ask ridiculous prices know this kind of behaviour is not tolerated on BF just to make a BIG profit?i don't care if someone sells an item and up's the price by (lets say) 10%-20%,i pesonally can live with that,but a FULL 100% is unheard of.
 
beattheheat said:
Dear Moderators,
this thread is NOT to insult ANYBODY,but it's about the only way to ventilate my irritation.there is (was) a thread of a new BF member who tried to sell a knife for double the money he (she) paid for,and by all the reactions to that thread you can see the irritation of serious members,and you and i know there are more than a handfull irritated BF members.isn't it about time to let these people who ask ridiculous prices know this kind of behaviour is not tolerated on BF just to make a BIG profit?i don't care if someone sells an item and up's the price by (lets say) 10%-20%,i pesonally can live with that,but a FULL 100% is unheard of.
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The problem has always been:

1. How much of a profit is fair if the market is willing to pay above retail?
2. How do you tell if someone bought a knife specifically to resell, vs. buying it on a whim and regretting it, buying it and not liking it when it got there, etc.?
3. And the number one problem - what if they're flipping something I missed and really wanted at a price I'm willing to pay for it?

If someone flipped something for double its retail value, then I'm a little shocked they found some idiot to buy. If they didn't, and it's just sitting for sale, then the market is already telling them what they think of that.
 
Rykjeklut said:
To be fair to the OP, in the thread he's referring to, it was abundantly clear that it was bought purely to be resold.
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Yeah that certainly does happen. I'm not sure which one, but I'm willing to bet it was a St. Nick's 4V Shaman? St. Nick's runs seem to go well above retail because that dealer doesn't seem to order very large runs.
 
Far be it for me to make suggestions to the BF admin/mods but I think that Gold/Platinum Member sales vs Dealer Member sales should be scrutinized.

We have had a few problems recently with newer members whose sole reason for joining was to sell and almost all of their posts reflect this.
I feel that if a member buys Gold/Platinum and then uses BF almost exclusively for the purposes of trading, he/she should be directed towards a Dealer membership. Then we all know where we stand.

I understand that the mods can't check everyone but there are a number of repeat offenders whose profiles reflect the obvious.
 
beattheheat said:
Dear Moderators,
this thread is NOT to insult ANYBODY,but it's about the only way to ventilate my irritation.there is (was) a thread of a new BF member who tried to sell a knife for double the money he (she) paid for,and by all the reactions to that thread you can see the irritation of serious members,and you and i know there are more than a handfull irritated BF members.isn't it about time to let these people who ask ridiculous prices know this kind of behaviour is not tolerated on BF just to make a BIG profit?i don't care if someone sells an item and up's the price by (lets say) 10%-20%,i pesonally can live with that,but a FULL 100% is unheard of.
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Pretty slippery slope when trying to define what amount of markup is too much for everyone. What next, regulating non-paying members from complaining about how things should be "round here"? ;)
 
beattheheat said:
i don't care if someone sells an item and up's the price by (lets say) 10%-20%,i pesonally can live with that,but a FULL 100% is unheard of.
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Look into any of the in-vogue handmade and small batch CNC custom makers. Plenty of their knives go for double if not more on the secondary, both here on Bladeforums and elsewhere.
 
Steven65 said:
Far be it for me to make suggestions to the BF admin/mods but I think that Gold/Platinum Member sales vs Dealer Member sales should be scrutinized.

We have had a few problems recently with newer members whose sole reason for joining was to sell and almost all of their posts reflect this.
I feel that if a member buys Gold/Platinum and then uses BF almost exclusively for the purposes of trading, he/she should be directed towards a Dealer membership. Then we all know where we stand.

I understand that the mods can't check everyone but there are a number of repeat offenders whose profiles reflect the obvious.
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For some, buying, selling, and trading for new knives and to get rid of old is a big part of their enjoyment of the hobby. We've all been on and enjoyed "the hunt". Some of us are just a bit more focused on that part of the hobby.

I don't think it'd be fair to lump everyone that favors the Exchange into the same category and make them spend 5-10 times the money just to enjoy the hobby in their way here.


Now those that consistently buy limited editions or consistently buy low and then come back to sell high are a different matter. A pattern of this, IMO, should be required to force an upgrade. This situation happened earlier this year and the member refused and was shown the door. Good.
 
I thought this was going to be about the Lone Wolf Harsey T1/T2 that sold for $160 together, a couple weeks ago. Apparently those ones found their forever home, at least for a bit.

Personally I think flippers are a distasteful, but acceptable part of any hobby, until they're not. Which seems to be exactly what happened in this case. A "I'll know it when I see it" type of deal. Not the best way to handle things but really if someone comes in with a knife marked up so much that other members take such offense that they sink the thread - the community has spoken and that's about all the feedback needed.
 
madcap_magician said:
Yeah that certainly does happen. I'm not sure which one, but I'm willing to bet it was a St. Nick's 4V Shaman? St. Nick's runs seem to go well above retail because that dealer doesn't seem to order very large runs.
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Yes, it was a 4V Shaman listed at $400. I saw it and my solution was easy--I put the seller on ignore. :thumbsup:
 
I think the message was sent very clearly in the instance cited, I think the system is working...maybe if you really want to troll the seller you could buy the flipping knife and then send them a 1099 for the purchase price?
 
I sometimes wish for a middle finger emoji. It would seem even more appropriate for a...flipper sale thread. It's much less satisfying when I roll my eyes and move on silently.

The best one I saw was the 4V Shaman posted less than 12 hrs after the sale ended...for a considerable markup...with stock photos. It was obvious the seller didn't have the knife in hand yet, which was against the rules and that one was nuked I believe.
 
I agree with the OP's premise, however I am expecting this thread to go the way they usually degenerate into, where flipper scumbags come in and try to defend their practices like "Hey, if you don't like paying scumbag middlemen like me maxprofits, then YOU HATE CAPITALISM!"

No, we hate sleazeball opportunists who aren't here to be part of a community, and contribute exactly nothing worthwhile. No one likes to be a mark.
 
fonedork said:
I think the message was sent very clearly in the instance cited, I think the system is working...maybe if you really want to troll the seller you could buy the flipping knife and then send them a 1099 for the purchase price?
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1099s do not report profits from business operations. Besides, who wants more contact with the IRS?
 
Quiet said:
I presume the mention of sending the 1099 was so that the flipper would have the trouble with the IRS, not Fonedork Fonedork . Personally, I would find that hilarious.
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Yeah that was what I meant, I am pretty ignorant of the Internal Revenue code though, I just know I hate 1099s.
 
As a new member I have a few knives I want to part with. But I'm gonna get to know as many of you as I can before I list anything. I'm not here to flip knives but I'm also not gonna stand by and watch it all go down. I know I don't have much skin in this forum yet but way over pricing something that you picked up recently is not a good look for anyone new or old.
 
South paw draw said:
As a new member I have a few knives I want to part with. But I'm gonna get to know as many of you as I can before I list anything. I'm not here to flip knives but I'm also not gonna stand by and watch it all go down. I know I don't have much skin in this forum yet but way over pricing something that you picked up recently is not a good look for anyone new or old.
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Welcome. Feel free to list your items at what you feel is a fair price. If you want to sell a few knives and are asking a bit much, the market will let you know because no one will buy it. It's probably good to understand that threads like this aren't really about people trying to make a profit selling a knife they own. The people we are talking about are usually immediately obvious. It's usually right around the time one of the Spyderco sprint runs drop, you start seeing a bunch of these knives posted for sale, with wording like "Catch and release!" or "Wasn't for me!" as the knives start hitting mailboxes. And (snaps fingers) wouldn't you know it, somehow "Just didn't love it" or "Need to recoup funds" always seems to mean a 100-200% markup. Just crazy. Interestingly, it tends to be a few of the same people, but also a bunch of new flipper opportunists have started showing up. It's always people with super low post counts, but feedback ratings nearly as high.

Those people are trash, and need to eff off to eBay. That's my opinion, and I'm stickin' to it.
 
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