What is a knife worth?

D

Davor

Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
669
I have few users and very few non users. How do you know what a knife is worth if you consider selling one.
 
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By keeping up with the current market for said items. I would say certain knives will only increase in value but definitely not all.
 
the problem is some people have cash to burn, they will pay anything for a knife because they will probably spend that amount on a dinner every night at some expensive restaurant. thats why you see ebay items selling for so high.

some limited runs should not be too much more than they were new... but you somehow see them go way up, that could be due to supply and demand as well, could be many factors tho.

just wanted to restate in the quote for the rules tho http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...MBERS-Please-read-this-WHAT-IS-MY-KNIFE-WORTH
From Bladeforums rules:

WHAT IS MY KNIFE / GADGET / SPATULA / TUNING FORK WORTH ?!?!?!?!

In order to curtail potential abuse of membership privileges associated with the forums, questions regarding valuation of knives and collections are limited to those with a membership level which permits selling on this site. Accordingly, registered and basic members may not start or post in threads with such requests whether with the intent to sell or for informational purposes only. This rule applies throughout the site.

In other words, without a paid Gold membership, you don't get to ask about sale values. Too many people abused this question to hint they had a knife for sale, which you need that membership for.
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you will probably get a warning and your posted edited and this thread locked regardless, do yourself a favor and edit your post before that happens.
 
What is a knife worth?

Whatever the market will bear! The beauty of free-market Capitalism is that it's dictated by "supply and demand", whereby you aren't forced to sell (for a fixed price) and they don't have to buy. Good luck!
 
What is a fiat dollar worth... hahaha.

Seriously though, just sell it for what the current market will bear. You can use knife forums and even auction sites for baseline comparisons.
 
Not random.......this BF member!!!
😁😁😁
Joe
 
I'm game for this dispensing.

Though yes, I don't believe you will ever find a flat rate for any second market knife. They'll vary by model, rarity, condition and demand.
 
Hackenslash said:
Please check out this thread. You don't have the correct user level to ask about knife values. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/904093-NEW-MEMBERS-Please-read-this-WHAT-IS-MY-KNIFE-WORTH
You can visit the exchange however. Hinderers come up for sale frequently and you can search for posts that have selling prices for similar knives.
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correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well maybe be, so just to clarify) I was under the impression that it only mattered if you asked about the value for a specific knife. Whereas it seems the op is asking what the criteria is for determining a knife value. Whether it's steel, the knife company, collector value of the knife, etc. this is open to anyone because I'd also like to know. For instance I know I can't ask how much a certain knife is, but wouldn't it be okay to ask how to determine what makes a knife valuable?

I hope this doesn't offend anyone as it was not intended to, but I'd definitely like to get this clarified. Thanks everyone!
 
Same way you determine the price of anything else- check the existing market prices. In a liquid market where similar goods change hands regularly, you can generally figure out the current going rate by looking at current sales, assuming you have access to the sales figures. Example: stock market.

When pricing homes for sale, a critical consideration is the price of "comps" or comparable properties that were recently sold in the same general area. Realtors check these when determining the price when listing a house.

So the same goes with knives - check comparable sales. That usually means watching places like E-bay or the Exchange forums here. On Ebay you can search for completed auctions. Here, most people delete the sales price after a deal is done so there is less history.

In illiquid markets, like for a unique collectible, things are worth exactly what someone is willing to pay at that point in time. If you are trying to sell a limited collectible, and there is no one really looking for one of those right then, you may not be able to sell, or may have to mark it down to such a bargain price that someone who wasn't really looking will snatch it up anyway. If you are lucky, there are several people looking at the same time and it will be snatched up the second it is listed for sale.

So really, all you can go by is what some other person was willing to pay for the same or similar item recently. That doesn't mean you would get the same price for the same item now, but it's an indicator.
 
Thanks John, that was excellent advise and I was about to say the same. There's nothing wrong with asking how to determine value, that's a different question than "What's my knife brand x, model y worth?"

It's kinda like the teach a guy to fish parable from the big thick book the Christians read. ;)

I don't see anything wrong with showing them how to determine value, if someone asked me how to determine age I'd do the same thing, share with them some of the ways how I figure it out.

Now if the OP wants to know specific price, I can't tell because he edited his original post, then he should definitely get a gold membership as it'll pay for itself when he starts unloading the knives he has.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
Thanks John, that was excellent advise and I was about to say the same. There's nothing wrong with asking how to determine value, that's a different question than "What's my knife brand x, model y worth?"

It's kinda like the teach a guy to fish parable from the big thick book the Christians read. ;)

I don't see anything wrong with showing them how to determine value, if someone asked me how to determine age I'd do the same thing, share with them some of the ways how I figure it out.

Now if the OP wants to know specific price, I can't tell because he edited his original post, then he should definitely get a gold membership as it'll pay for itself when he starts unloading the knives he has.
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I agree completely.

To the OP, there are so, so many factors that go into determining how much a knife would be worth, and unfortunately it's a fickle thing, sometimes hard to reliably gauge. However, you can spot trends based on things like resale value, correlations between material choice, designer and manufacturer, whether the knife was part of a limited run, etc. Some knives have quite a following, such as many Spyderco sprint run knives or Benchmade limited runs or gold class variants, and so fans of those knives are willing to pay an arm and a leg on the secondary market. Discontinued knives can see a much higher return if bought before the line was cancelled, and this will change drastically in scale once you enter the world of mid-tech and custom knives.
 
JDX said:
correct me if I'm wrong (and I very well maybe be, so just to clarify) I was under the impression that it only mattered if you asked about the value for a specific knife. Whereas it seems the op is asking what the criteria is for determining a knife value. Whether it's steel, the knife company, collector value of the knife, etc. this is open to anyone because I'd also like to know. For instance I know I can't ask how much a certain knife is, but wouldn't it be okay to ask how to determine what makes a knife valuable?

I hope this doesn't offend anyone as it was not intended to, but I'd definitely like to get this clarified. Thanks everyone!
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its because the original post was edited as suggested, now its a legal question on BF.
 
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