Sharpened and lightly carried.....How much does this decrease resale value?

J

JDBraddy

Joined
Sep 20, 2002
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I'm not much of a Knife trader, but was wondering how much it affects resale to sharpen and lightly carry a knife? For example, I have a decorated large Sebenza that's been a safe queen for several years, I tried to sell it recently, and the best offer I got was considerably less than I paid for it, some other knives sold, so I kept it. I was just wondering, If I actually where to touch up the edge, stick it in my pocket, and carry it as an EDC for a while, given there where no major scratches or knicks, how much would this decrease the knife's resale value?
 
depends on how much wear it shows ie scuffs/etc, if it shows any scuffs at all the value goes way down, i would say certainly 10 or 20%, easy, i dont think sharpening it will greatly effect the price unless someone wants it for a collection then they are not gonna want one thats been messed with, its been my experience that most knives depreciate some irregardless of any wear at all, very rarely do they go up in value. they are like a car the minute ya buy them the value starts dropping on most, sebs usually hold the value fairly well though, but still any wear and they are no longer LNIB and the value goes down......

FWIW i rarely make money on knives lol.
 
Some collectors won't touch it once you resharpen it. If you sold it as a "user", you'd take a hit on the price (25 -45% ballpark), but you won't develop any bad "knife karma".
 
I won't touch a knife that has been resharpened, unless it is done so by a knife maker.
 
Depends on how well the person sharpened it. Not everyone was created equally in this respect. If it's got funky bevels and whatnot after the sharpening the price would go down more than if not. And if they did a good job I look at it as time I won't have to spend re-profiling it when I get it so it's all good. (Although the price would still go down a little but definitely not as much as it would for a bad sharpening job.) YMMV
 
Some knives I would prefer to have been sharpened, that way I don't have to reprofile it myself. But then again, I don't just buy knives because they look pretty, or a "famous" person made them. So who cares who sharpened them, if you are gonna use them for more than opening your mail. YMMV.
Actually, I pretty much agree with Oilman, so this post was redundant! Ooops!
 
samhain73 said:
Some knives I would prefer to have been sharpened, that way I don't have to reprofile it myself. But then again, I don't just buy knives because they look pretty, or a "famous" person made them. So who cares who sharpened them, if you are gonna use them for more than opening your mail. YMMV.
Actually, I pretty much agree with Oilman, so this post was redundant! Ooops!
Click to expand...

I have seen YMMV on several posts and when I tried to find out what it stood for I got 'Your Mileage May Vary".
For some reason this does not seem to fit the posts here.
What does it mean as used on this forum?

Thanks,
Ron
:confused:
 
YMMV means exactly what you found. "Your mileage may vary" Its used on message boards everywhere to indicate that one persons experience may vary from the next person, or more specifically the person asking the question. It generally indicates something that is somewhat subjective or that has only been viewed from a narrow perspective.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/your_mileage_may_vary

Theres a more detailed explanation than that somewhere on the 'net but i cant find it now...google away!
 
I personally try to buy used on the forums or on eBay. Depending on what model the knife is, and the seller, used can mean it was taken out of the box and looked at, all the way up to they chopped concrete with it and then reprofiled the edge. As long as it is not abused, if it is a model I am looking for, I will prefer to get it used. Worn in, so to speak, and I don't have to pay MSRP.

MSRP is tricky. I know some vendors pay WELL below MSRP from their distributors (how much does a company make off their knives?). Depending on what overhead they have, the price you pay the dealer could be MSRP or above (I have seen that in several places), or a good chunk off MSRP. Online dealers usually offer better deals than brick and mortar, but you don't have the knife right in front of you, and sometimes eBay sellers are selling stock that they don't have.

So, I bought a BK7 for a hundred bucks at Country Knives. MSRP is well below a 100 bucks. If I left it in the box, and never used it, I probably wouldn't be able to get a hundred bucks for it. But a dealer, who has to make up for what they have spent, might stand firm on selling it for a hundred bucks. I have traded knives at gun shows, that were obviously used, but included the box in the trade, and came back later and the dealers had put the knives on the table as new in box. Charging close to MSRP prices. Not all dealers, but a few.

With Sebbies, it depends if you get someone who is a collector or a user, as said. Personally, I am a user. I amass knives, but I don't collect them in the general definition of the word. Thats why, with knives, unless they are a collector item, or a short/limited run etc, you probably won't make what you spent on them.
 
Well I personally think that one shouldn't really expect to get MSRP when selling on the forums, it's unlikley to happen, since if someone wanted to pay that, they could just buy new. I'm sure many (like myself) look to buy off the forums, because we can get a deal. Unless of course it's a discontinued model, then it's really up to the collector market.
And yes YMMV mean Your mileage may vary, I like to add that just in case one does not agree with me.
 
therulebookman said:
YMMV means exactly what you found. "Your mileage may vary" Its used on message boards everywhere to indicate that one persons experience may vary from the next person, or more specifically the person asking the question. It generally indicates something that is somewhat subjective or that has only been viewed from a narrow perspective.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/your_mileage_may_vary

Theres a more detailed explanation than that somewhere on the 'net but i cant find it now...google away!
Click to expand...

therulebookman;
Thank you for the clarification. I kind of thought that that might be the case but I just could not fit the defination into the ymmv letters.

Thanks again,
Ciao
Ron:cool:
 
If the knife is going to be used, then the purchaser shouldn't be concerned about getting a factory edge, it'll have to be sharpened again at some point in time. I've had a couple really lousy edges on custom knives, and the pros don't know more than any BF regular should. Honestly, who's gonna tell the difference between a factory fresh edge and a competent resharpen?

Pocket carry depends on how visible it is. Just cause someone carried them didn't mean they used them much, if at all.
 
I don't buy any used knives. But if I did, I wouldn't pay over half of the original retail price.

Just my 2 cents,
-Bob
 
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