When You Sell A Knife On BF

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clockman

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When you sell a knife on BF do you lose $, break even or make $. Or which 2 out of the 3 choices.

I don't sell that many knives here, but when I do I make a little or break even. It depends on the knife.
 
All of the above, depending on the knife. I think I break even over all, though.
 
I am a collector not an investor. IMO if you want to make $$$ selling you're better off opening your own knife store.

I don't look at loss or gain as much as I do quality and fulfilled desire. If I sell its to raise $$$ for more purchases or simply because I don't care for the knife. Sometimes I lose sometimes I gain and sometimes I just giveaway. I don't keep track.

Mike
 
Never sold a knife on BF or elsewhere. I give away knives on BF and elsewhere. I figure I gain as much as the recipient does in a GAW. Last two knives I bought on BF, I bought to give away. One two a neighbor kid and one to an older gentleman at my conservation club.
 
Most of the time I sell for a loss. I'm a user so every knife I purchase gets carried and put to the test. If it doesn't suit my needs or I just don't like it, it gets sold for a fair price under what I paid. Sort of the price you pay for checking out something new.
 
I tried selling a bunch of knives recently, and managed to sell a few. Hypothetically speaking lets say I sold a knife for $125. I pay $3.75 in paypal fees, 5.95 shipping and about 3.30 insurance. So I net $112. If I am catch and release it will be hard to break even. If I luck upon a good deal and manage to sell for a little more, I can break even or make a little. But now considering all of the knives that didn't sell, I will have to lower the prices to sell them so I will end up losing money on most of the bunch.

I also have an idea that the average knife does not grow in value to meet inflation. For instance I look at a knife that I bought 10 years ago, I can barely sell it now for more than I paid for it. I was admiring a Blackjack classic blade that I bought over 10 years ago, and I notice that the retail price today is about what I paid for mine and I hunted hard to find a deal on it back then.

I think a store can make some money, a scammer can make some money, a flipper is losing money, a knifemaker can make some money if they work at it and have good business practices.
 
Like others have said, it depends on the knife. If it's like new and not used, and not readily available on the market, I'll try to get back what I have in it. Otherwise,I can live with a loss of 10-20% of the value for the opportunity to handle a knife in person, put it to use for a while, and then pass it along to keep the collection down to regular users that I'm confident are the best options for my uses. I personally don't really care to accumulate too many knives so this works well for me, especially with a liquid, fairly well regulated market like the bladeforums exchange. I just chalk it up to the cost of the hobby and it ultimately allows me to try out a whole lot more knives than I would otherwise.
 
I lose money every time. I also know I going to lose money going into it and I'm ok with it. Getting to try knives of all different shapes, sizes, brands, steels, etc. is a blast to me and worth every cent.
 
Just thought I would this to the folks that say, "I just want to get out of it what I paid for it." Don't know about you, but I've never sold a car for what I paid for it.

I see people come on here and offer a knife for more then it can be purchased new from retailer. Or simply asking NEW prices for used goods.

OK the one exception is the knife I want that can't be had new and when it comes up here it's gone in 10 seconds. For that knife I would pay double. [emoji57]

Mike
 
EyeDog said:
Just thought I would this to the folks that say, "I just want to get out of it what I paid for it." Don't know about you, but I've never sold a car for what I paid for it.

I see people come on here and offer a knife for more then it can be purchased new from retailer. Or simply asking NEW prices for used goods.

OK the one exception is the knife I want that can't be had new and when it comes up here it's gone in 10 seconds. For that knife I would pay double. [emoji57]

Mike
Click to expand...

I laugh every time I see a used ZT 0560 on the exchange for $200.
 
EyeDog said:
OK the one exception is the knife I want that can't be had new and when it comes up here it's gone in 10 seconds. For that knife I would pay double. [emoji57]

Mike
Click to expand...

My current struggle is that I've got some hard to find, apparently quite sought after production knives (Strider PT CC, Spyderco Rock Lobster, Emerson Mini A-100, etc.) that I could easily charge a crazy-high price for. I'm not going to do that, but it's definitely a temptation.
 
I've sold quite a few over the years. I don't ever remember selling for what I paid for a knife. Like BDbrad said, I'm a user for the most part. Sometimes I get a knife that I know I'm not going to use and I'll sell it "in the same shape that I got it in"... maybe new, maybe pre-owned... but even then, I end up selling for less money than I paid.

I don't consider that I've lost anything, though, because I don't value knives by what I pay for them. I value them by how useful to me they are. If I'm not going to use a knife, it's not worth much to me regardless of what I paid for it. I'll move it along by trading (most often) or selling (less often). If I trade, I trade by valuing what I have that I don't want against what someone else has that I do want regardless of the dollar cost of either knife. If do end up selling a knife, I try to give the buyer a good deal and move the knife along quickly, so I don't set high prices on the ones I'm selling. I've had my look at the knife and now I need to give someone else a chance.

I also like to try to make sure that the knife goes to someone who's really interested in it. All of these knives are created to be used as a knife was meant to be used. I try to honor the spirit of the knife by getting it to someone who will appreciate it and use it.
 
I buy used knives, I use them more, then I sell them for the same price or less than what I paid for them (depending on how good a deal I got on them). I like giving others the option of getting a good knife for a good deal, I certainly am not out to make money.
 
I lose money on every knife I sell with the exception of one limited edition knife I sold and it was way undervalued. No big deal for me. I feel like I rented them and at least got to see and feel them so it helps me in the direction I want to go. It's like collecting most anything else, your tastes change and when they do it usually costs you money.
 
80% lose, 10% even, 10% profit. Overall, not the way to build up your retirement account.
 
I always seem to sell at a loss because I rarely sell before carrying the knife for a while, scuffing it up a bit, and usually sharpening it, all of which lowers the resale value.

That said, I'm perfectly happy loosing a bit of money if it means getting to try out a knife I've always wanted to try. I think of it almost like I'm renting the blade for the amount that I loose when I resell it.
 
wroughndt said:
I lose money every time. I also know I going to lose money going into it and I'm ok with it. Getting to try knives of all different shapes, sizes, brands, steels, etc. is a blast to me and worth every cent.
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. I usually take a hit. More cause I like to check out different models and move it to someone else who may like it if it doesn't suit me. And I'd rather take a bit of a loss and make the sale quickly rather than continually bumping and dropping to try and get every bit I can. No offense meant to any sellers. I'm just speaking for myself.
 
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