Bad Shameless flippers

The latest 'surprise' for me came with the Spyderco Spydiechef, being a model still in production. Immediately after they were out of stock (and i mean the very next day) the price jumped from 190-200 for a LNIB to 250-300. I even saw a well used one for 230 i believe.

A lot of folks did ask why this markup in price (higher than standard selling price) and the answer often was 'well, try to get one from a retailer then'... --> sarcasm? maybe an advanced sense of humor? higher values? ...hmmm

And the funny thing (that's debateable) is that everybody knew they were coming back in stock at some point, since they were not in Spyderco's discontinued list. The wolves couldn't resist the opportunity to make money and the sheep the opportunity to lose theirs.

'Hallelujah, they're discontinued, time to make some money!'
 
Quiet said:
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.
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Quite often the pictures show multiple boxes of the same knife... Well, i bought 7 of them since i really liked it but it turns out it's not what i expected so here they are --> purchase price + 50% markup for the irreversible psychological damage of not being the grail i expected it to be :D
 
I don't follow every gbu thread, but I would guess that the number of scammers and big-time flippers on bladeforums is minimal compared to other places. Heck, just look at all the "raffle" sales that happen on IG. Set up a few bogus accounts, and utilize some friends (or employees) with a few more. Maybe release an actual knife into the wild 1 out of 10 or 20 raffles to ward suspicion of fraud. So if a few blades here have a 200-300% markup, just think about the markups scammers get at other venues with less care in moderating.
 
bflying said:
I don't follow every gbu thread, but I would guess that the number of scammers and big-time flippers on bladeforums is minimal compared to other places. Heck, just look at all the "raffle" sales that happen on IG. Set up a few bogus accounts, and utilize some friends (or employees) with a few more. Maybe release an actual knife into the wild 1 out of 10 or 20 raffles to ward suspicion of fraud. So if a few blades here have a 200-300% markup, just think about the markups scammers get at other venues with less care in moderating.
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I would agree with that as our membership is very sophisticated and aware of current pricing. However we continue to have Gold/Platinum members who are only here for commerce and contribute nothing else to the forum.
It is still my belief that those members only here for commerce should be directed towards a Dealer membership.

Some years ago we had one of these on the Busse forum who took great joy in gouging people on price here and then reselling on other platforms at a huge profit. He eventually pushed it to far when he gouged a wounded Vet who really needed some funds urgently. He was outed, and removed but continued to re-appear with false accounts and friends shilling for him.
Now I don't begrudge anyone a profit and Lord knows you can sell your property at the price you choose, but Bladeforums is a community and here we try and look out for one another and keep things civil and fair. My belief is if you are here just to profit off us you need to be in a Dealer/Commercial category.
 
Steven65 said:
I would agree with that as our membership is very sophisticated and aware of current pricing. However we continue to have Gold/Platinum members who are only here for commerce and contribute nothing else to the forum.
It is still my belief that those members only here for commerce should be directed towards a Dealer membership.

Some years ago we had one of these on the Busse forum who took great joy in gouging people on price here and then reselling on other platforms at a huge profit. He eventually pushed it to far when he gouged a wounded Vet who really needed some funds urgently. He was outed, and removed but continued to re-appear with false accounts and friends shilling for him.
Now I don't begrudge anyone a profit and Lord knows you can sell your property at the price you choose, but Bladeforums is a community and here we try and look out for one another and keep things civil and fair. My belief is if you are here just to profit off us you need to be in a Dealer/Commercial category.
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No need to beat around the bush, it was Liu Kang...fuck that guy:D
 
Ajack60 said:
The most effective way to discourage greedy flippers is to report the person and let the mods determine the outcome.
No one wants to see price gouging, or someone selling three of the same limited run being sold here. All of us here can and should make a difference in our community to keep the sleazy flippers at bay.
Let them go somewhere else to carry out their heinous ways, we collectively, don’t want it here because with as many people that are on this forum, some sap will be willing to pay.
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Lol, remember that guy Hung Lee or Hung Chow or whatever his name was constantly flipping Busse knives knives for big bucks ?
 
Not sure what this reporting to a mod thing is about. I think the most meaningful approach is not to buy at flipper prices.
 
Hey Guys. I'm pretty new to the knife game but I'm a seasoned veteran on some other forums and wanted to share some insights as the issues regarding flippers are remarkably similar. The bottom line is, please don't get mad at me here, it's not the flipper's fault. The flippers are behaving perfectly rationally. The problem is with supply and demand. The knife makers simply do not make enough product to meet that demand. Getting upset with the flippers and retaliating against them in some way is not the answer. Please read on . . . .

I'll use the Rolex market for comparison, in particular the highly sought after sports models. The demand for these pieces is huge and Rolex does not produce enough to satisfy it. Consequently the only way to get them at MSRP and not pay 50% or 100% over MSRP is to gain favor with an authorized dealer (AD). The only way to gain that favor is with a strong prior purchase history. This can mean tens of thousands and sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now many high rollers are in a position to do just that. But for the rest, the only option is to seriously ingratiate yourself with the AD for which the chances are very low, or pay a huge premium on the secondary market. The secondary market is pretty much the same price-wise whether you buy from a dealer or from an individual on the forums. Rolex purposely restricts supply in order to maintain that supply/demand imbalance. And everyone is mad at the flippers claiming it's the flippers causing all the problems.

With knives, you have to deal with lotteries, auctions, flash Instagram sales, etc. but it's the same problem. Hell I've been trying to score a Specter for a while now and it's driving me completely insane. I don't get mad at the ones who win the lotteries or the ones who purposefully game the system. It's just the way supply/demand imbalances work. But I digress. Now a small custom knife shop with limited manufacturing capabilities is not in a position to ramp up supply unless they expand. That's costly. And I certainly wouldn't expect a Mom and Pop operation working out of their basement to expand easily.

So with Rolex it's deliberate and with limited volume knives it's sort of the nature of the beast. What's the answer? In lieu of ramping up volume, the knife makers could simply raise prices to the point where demand matches supply. It would cost everyone more and will kill it for the flippers but will certainly make life less frustrating. Maybe some guys more experienced with the business part of knife making can offer some suggestions.

Anyway, sorry for the long winded post. These are just my thoughts. Stay Safe!
 
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The price of collectables is about to plummet world wide. Anybody who has speculated on inflated priced items in the hope of inflating the price even more is going to be in for a spectacular shock in the next few weeks and months. This applies to knives, watches, cars, the lot.

I am a knife collector. I purchased my first custom at 17 some 38 years ago and I have continued collecting to this day.
While I am happy to say that my collection has risen in value it was never my goal to use it as a financial enrichment tool nor do I particularly care if it continues to rise. I love knives, it's why I collect and everything in my collection is precious to me.

Flippers however are only interested in profit, the quick return, and don't have any further investment in the hobby.

Flippers who are now holding knives bought at over-inflated prices using credit in the hope of a quick profit flip are in for a nasty shock in the next few months.
Watches, cars.......it's all going to plummet in value.
 
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Flippers routinely circumvent rules for profit. They are here for nothing else.

Yes, I blame the flippers and will not deal with them.
 
Steven65 said:
When this is over people like you will have melted away, after all you are not here for the hobby, just to profit off those of us who are.
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I'm a collector, just like you, and not just of knives. I buy for the love of what I collect. I've never flipped anything for profit and never will. Sorry if I came across as defending flippers. I am absolutely not. I despise them as much as everyone else. I'm simply pointing out that when demand far outstrips supply, flippers are inevitable. No matter how many people refuse to buy from them, someone will. If you want to kill flippers once and for all the makers have to raise prices or produce more.
 
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SlideRacker said:
I'm a collector, just like you, and not just of knives. I buy for the love of what I collect. I've never flipped anything for profit and never will. Sorry if I came across as defending flippers. I am absolutely not. I despise them as much as everyone else. I'm simply pointing out that when demand far outstrips supply, flippers are inevitable. No matter how many people refuse to buy from them, someone will. If you want to kill flippers once and for all the makers have to raise prices or produce more.
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How's that working out for Rolex? Raising the price just prices many out of the hobby. Production is already what it can be without negatively impacting product quality.

Not to be snarkey, but this argument has been presented many times before. The best practical solution is to not deal with flippers. BF mods do a pretty good job of sending them elsewhere. If you see a pattern of flipping in the exchange, report it.

In the mean time, there's a lot more to BF than the exchange. Find a niche that interests you and participate. There's a wealth of information here and friendly folks who are willing to share their experience and knowledge.
 
The market should set the price. Simple as that.

If someone from the community wanted to start a thread in GBU for the purpose of posting links to suspected flip-sales and the corresponding discussion, that would seem a more fitting response and would allow discussion of a sale without disrupting the sale thread against BF rules.

While I don't condone flipping, I also don't condone the name-calling from well-respected members of the community; it's a bad look.

I made this image several years ago for inclusion in a thread on this topic - may as well pull it out!

jack_the_flipper.jpg


best

mqqn
 
bonky said:
How's that working out for Rolex? Raising the price just prices many out of the hobby. Production is already what it can be without negatively impacting product quality.

Not to be snarkey, but this argument has been presented many times before. The best practical solution is to not deal with flippers. BF mods do a pretty good job of sending them elsewhere. If you see a pattern of flipping in the exchange, report it.

In the mean time, there's a lot more to BF than the exchange. Find a niche that interests you and participate. There's a wealth of information here and friendly folks who are willing to share their experience and knowledge.
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Thank you and duly noted. I generally prefer to get to the root of a problem rather than policing the symptoms. But if policing is the only realistic answer then I suppose that's what we all have to do.
 
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