State of the secondary market?

Have been interested in the "custom" and specialty knife market since the early 80's. Not really a buyer till the 90's. IMHO there are more skilled knife craftsmen making& embellishing knives rite now than any time in the past....a lot of quality stuff out there looking for homes. Don't know if/how this affects things...jus sayin!
 
Monofletch said:
I’ve been buying, selling, and trading for a long time. A recent trend in the exchange that I’ve noticed is people have knives listed above what is reasonable. Like they are made of solid gold.
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Asking prices are very high for many things right now , but low sales volumes tell the tale .

Prices must fall .

Higher than reported inflation rates, confuse the issue .

Gonna shut up now , before I get political . :eek:
 
Not political just facts I’m by no means rich , but from 2017-2021 I had decent expendable income enough to walk in a gun shop or bicycle shop and if something average price caught my attention I bought without much thought. From 2021-2025 my hourly rate rose ~$7 an hour and my expendable income dropped 75% due to inflation. Now I make decent money so it just affected our toy money . But people not making what I do where struggling to pay bills and buy groceries ($5 plus a dozen eggs?) so they weren’t buying non essential items no demand prices fall . My expendable income is starting to recover
 
LittleAugieMo said:
Have been interested in the "custom" and specialty knife market since the early 80's. Not really a buyer till the 90's. IMHO there are more skilled knife craftsmen making& embellishing knives rite now than any time in the past....a lot of quality stuff out there looking for homes. Don't know if/how this affects things...jus sayin!
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Seems supply definitely impacts the market. Look at the advanced computerized machinery now in use for almost every aspect of manufacturing. With new technology and availability of information through the www so many more individuals and companies are able to spew product at never-before-seen levels.
 
Similarly to the OP my collecting and finding this forum was around the same time. Since then I’ve slowed my buying cause I know what I want and what I don’t like. I also bought a house and the budget has tightened. In regards to the economy I’m in commercial construction and have never been so busy but that mostly due to my boss’s success. There isn’t much residential action right now from what I can tell.
 
abcdef said:
Seems supply definitely impacts the market. Look at the advanced computerized machinery now in use for almost every aspect of manufacturing. With new technology and availability of information through the www so many more individuals and companies are able to spew product at never-before-seen levels.
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I have to admit that I hadn't, up until now, considered "spewing" to be the current state of affairs, but I guess it might be an apt term in some cases.

(Just a heads up...this discussion is approaching the finish line, methinks...)
 
Quiet said:
I will say that one element of the C19 situation is that it lasted for a couple of years with many areas of the country either shut down, or severely diminished, and folks who had money to burn since it wasn't being spent on going out to eat/drink, gas and lunch money spent going to an office every day, taking vacations, etc. were spending it on knives here. I remember for a couple years, knives would get snapped up quickly at almost new prices, and of course, some brands commanded more. So, in my observance, the bubble was that people had discretionary funds that weren't being spent elsewhere, and so spent it on their hobbies. I saw this same pattern on forums/online marketplaces for other hobbies I follow as well.
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Agree. The Covid knife market was crazy, (1) the "laptop class" mostly "working from home" (increasing demand), and (2) reduced staff in knife maker shops. I remember Rick Hinderer assembling knives himself, for instance.

Hard to say what happened to the market after Covid, but I only follow a couple of folder brands (Spyderco, Demko, Hinderer, CRK, GEC). Spyderco has always steadily gone up in price, year after year since I started this hobby (2018). Demko, Hinderers and CRK are easier to get today, but then again, I feel they are making more knives than pre- and during Covid. Also, the end of Covid coincided with some of these makers doing Magnacut upgrades, which might be distorting prices, for CRK at least. GEC feels pretty much what it always has been since I've been interested (> 3 years).
 
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How many people buy something thinking they can flip and make a buck? I bet it’s more than you think!
I want to try a lot of knives. If I have quick turn around on something it’s because I know I won’t carry it! It doesn’t take long for me to know that I don’t like a certain knife. I’m getting picky!
 
Monofletch said:
How many people buy something thinking they can flip and make a buck? I bet it’s more than you think!
I want to try a lot of knives. If I have quick turn around on something it’s because I know I won’t carry it! It doesn’t take long for me to know that I don’t like a certain knife. I’m getting picky!
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Over the past few years I have had more knives going than coming in most of the outgoing have been gifted to friends and newbie’s SAK or Opinel for a folding knife. If feel the need for a heavier folder cold steel pocket bushman rides well in outboard side of left back pocket , RRussell woods walker does too if I need a heavy fixed blade BK-10
 
DMG said:
Not just Benchmade. I see surprisingly high prices from Spyderco and everyone else aside from maybe kershaw. I buy more used than I used to because of that.
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I’ve been strictly buying on the secondary once I discovered the exchange here. Just doesn’t make sense to buy new. The only time I will buy new is if it’s on a knife that will be very hard to find otherwise. And even to score on a drop requires a lot of luck. I have though been recently buying customs new because I really enjoy having input on the build and it also spreads out my buying for a couple of months at a time. For example I haven’t bought anything in 3 mos cause I’m waiting on one to be finished up in the next week or so.
 
Monofletch said:
How many people buy something thinking they can flip and make a buck? I bet it’s more than you think!
I want to try a lot of knives. If I have quick turn around on something it’s because I know I won’t carry it! It doesn’t take long for me to know that I don’t like a certain knife. I’m getting picky!
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I don't know "how many" but I certainly recognize the user names of the individuals who add nothing to the conversations and seem to make a career out of flipping and posting on the Exchange daily. Most of those would never see any business from me, personally.

Those who are part of the community get my attention, even if the price they post is slightly above what I might have wished for.
 
mitchnola said:
I’ve been strictly buying on the secondary once I discovered the exchange here. Just doesn’t make sense to buy new. The only time I will buy new is if it’s on a knife that will be very hard to find otherwise. And even to score on a drop requires a lot of luck. I have though been recently buying customs new because I really enjoy having input on the build and it also spreads out my buying for a couple of months at a time. For example I haven’t bought anything in 3 mos cause I’m waiting on one to be finished up in the next week or so.
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My one friend that was into good knives moved away and I don’t have a decent knife store within any reasonable distance so if I want to handle a knife or even see it in person, I have to buy it. Then if I don’t love it, I have to try to sell it. It is less financially painful if I buy on the secondary market.
 
DMG said:
My one friend that was into good knives moved away and I don’t have a decent knife store within any reasonable distance so if I want to handle a knife or even see it in person, I have to buy it. Then if I don’t love it, I have to try to sell it. It is less financially painful if I buy on the secondary market.
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Same here, nothing but (mostly) Benchmade, Chinese Kershaw, leatherman, gerber, buck crkt and Swiss army knives
Which aren't terrible choices if that's all one has, but thats where the reviews on YT (some of them at least come in) most of my research on a knife is done by watching others handle them and for that reason I avoid table top reviews from the start. I've only been caught off guard from things like weight and size a small handful of times
 
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jbmonkey said:
even the primary market seems much slower moving. i see runs sit longer than they would have during the raining free cash from the gobermint days.....
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This. I've only been on here a couple years and what I've seen is makers that make a limited number a week and do drops they were snatched up quick. In the last 6 months or so makers now have an inventory. So that makes the secondary market not as much in demand as they have to sell for decent discount. You still have some that buy and flip. I also agree with some of the younger generation looks at the overseas makers that make the "same" product for a fraction of the cost. I made up my mind that I only buy US made knives. Not saying that all overseas knives are bad. There are a couple makers on here that I will buy from and have excellent product. I go as far as if there is a maker that is located near me or in a neighboring state I will support them. Back to the secondary market there definitely has been a slow down as some sellers want close to new prices just like some do for guns. On a $500 gun I want used for $400 or less. Now there are some guns and knives where secondary is best choice given the scarcity of the items.

Wow that was long.
 
IMO, if you're a buyer, the state of the 2ndary market in knives is just fine. Not so if you're a seller.🤷‍♂️

I've got more than enough $ to buy ANYTHING that I want. I just spent $30k CASH on a grave site.

LOL!!! ;)

I haven't bought anything in the primary or secondary market since the 1st couple months of 2025 because I was taking a year off from buying anything because there are already way too many knives in my collection & I really don't need any more.

Did this once before a couple of years ago.

The only knives that I would like to buy currently are only available on the secondary market but they are rare & hard to find & when they pop up the asking price exceeds my current limit of $1k max for any knife.

That said, I've been able to negotiate higher priced knives down to my limit on a couple of occasions, which could only happen in this market.

There are a few knives that I'd like to sell but I'm not going to "give them away" for less than I bought them for, even though I bought most of them before prices rose significantly.

That said, I've tried to sell a couple of knives on The Exchange with no results.

I was also just turned down in a private sale of a pair of PE Gen 2 & Gen 3 Spydie Natives that cost me over $200 for just $100 because the novice BF buyer said he didn't trust me enough to send me a PPFF payment.

WTF??? LOL!!! 🤷‍♂️

I'd be happy to give away the knives that I no longer want but there's no one in my life who is interested enough in knives who'd I'd consider gifting them to but I may start offering to "give away" some knives here for just the cost of shipping to BF members.

So, keep a look out!!! :cool:
 
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