I've been following Busse knives for sometime now. I've owned a few, sold a few, owned a few more, sold a few more throughout the years and I'm always shocked when I see some of the prices on the secondary market.
Perhaps I'm just overly frugal, maybe downright miserly, but I'd never pay for a Busse with a $100 markup, let alone a $300 markup, particularly for blades that are somewhat popular (meaning readily available) or were recently in production.
It's crazy to me that (a) people actually buy em at that price and (b) someone has the chutzpah to list em at that price.
I know, I know, I'm not the first person to gripe about such things, and I'm sure all you free-marketeers will reflexively quip, "A knife is worth what someone is willing to pay for it," but that doesn't in any way lessen my state of bewilderment.
Though, the more I think about it, I suppose my sticker shock is not so much a product of my frugality, but of the fact that I'm a savvy consumer of Busse knives.
In this respect, I'd like to offer some advice for those who have less experience at the trough:
1. Always buy directly from Busse, Swamp Rat or Scrapyard.
2. Remember, all Busse models come back around. It may take "2 weeks" aka a decade, but all models come back around. I remember years ago folks spending $1,000 on an A2 badger. Now one can purchase a SOB -- virtually the same knife -- for considerably less. Same holds true for SHBM and a bunch of other models (Sabre-ground SNFOs used to go for $900 bucks or more on the secondary market before they were re-released). Even when Jerry holds limited runs of certain knives and posts them as one-offs or LEs or one of a certain number, in most cases (meaning there are some exceptions) those knives or cooler custom versions of those knives come around again.
3. Consider the custom shop. While I've never personally dealt with the custom shop personnel, partly because I'm often too boozed up to dial the right digits and partly because they may be too boozed up to answer the phone if I were to correctly dial the number, I've heard great things.
4. Proxy. Hogs can't be trusted when competing at the trough. But you can trust them to do right by you as a proxy at Blade, during ganzas, or at other knife-related shows.
5. Functionally speaking, an SFNO is only marginally different than a TGLB, a TGLB is only marginally different than a SH; by that logic an AD is only marginally different than a MS, a MS is only marginally different than a GW. ETC. Point being, if you need a small Busse knife, buy what small knife they have at the store and wait until the one you really want comes along. The small knife you purchase that's currently available at the store will likely hold you over until your desired knife comes around. But by that time you may have learned to love that small, initially undesired knife a whole lot and may not actually want the initially desired knife but nonetheless you can still purchase it and compare the two yourself and make an informed decision about which is superior for yourself. Make sense? In cases where there is no small knife available at the store, buy/order whatever knife they have currently in production. This knife will hold you over until the next ganza/offering. (Also, don't forget about SW and SY knives too. A RMD is a perfect small knife, assuming you wanted a small knife to being with. Likewise, a Ratweiler is a perfect medium/large knife).
6. Research, do the 10 mins or less of research it takes to determine what the knife originally sold for. This will certainly help you to determine if the seller or dealer is a grifter.
So, there ya go. There's some free advice on how not to get taken to the cleaners when it comes to buying Busse knives.
Happy hunting.
Terry Blinski
LOL, this thread is laughable as the other....so I really hope you all see what good sports we are here when dealing with trolls.
I hope all you whinning drive all the way to Atlanta every time you want a Coca cola because you have to have it direct and wont dare put money in anyone elses pocket.
Many of you seem penny wise and a dollar foolish.
I hope you go in and raise cane at every store you buy from, and demand all the owners to divulge what they paid for the items your buying
Would you hate Jerry if you thought he paid $tens for a blade but charge you hundreds? I think not.
Do you hate the guy that makes you sheaths from pennies of plastic or leather and charges you tens and possibly hundreds?
One thing I will never understand here is makers, service providers, etc get a forum and pay hardly anything for it, and they turn pennies into $tens. Makers turn $tens into $hundreds and thousands and they get worshiped like Gods with the least amount of risk. If it was more selective and expensive for their competitors and more inviting to investors like most of the business world.
Investors or as haters call flippers etc take the absolute most amount of risk for the least percentage of profit. The investors, dealers, in many cases are willing to lay out large amounts of cash for makers to enable them to grow, put food on their tables, and sometimes even buy a new home.
The legitimate dealers also pay a lot of the expenses here, are honest and pay taxes unlike many of the hipocrits that lambash them here....you know the ones that are too cheap to even pay for platinum much less green, but they are always snagging up stuff at the show to only come back here and pretend their not selling for profit and delete all their sales threads cause they fear the tax man, and looking like they made money....chicken chits.
Hell, I praise all those that have come before me and helped pave the way to make Busse what it is today. Heck, I buy stuff in the x all the time that is marked up. Go look if you dont believe it.
I guess, some of you dont care for Jerry, Garth, Lexi, Pokey, Josh, Beef, Lora, Kendra, Alan, Waz and everyone else at Busse cause if Busse only sold what was bought for collection, or use only and not the total of us all ....Busse wouldnt be what it is today as we know it.
It might still look like the Boss behind the table by himself from long ago.
Gauranteed it wouldnt be the biggest set of booths and the show of blade. Jerry couldnt afford Fudruckers Friday night, and the bar tab later that night, much less do it all again the following night at Jock and Jills
Then you get back to the basics of economics....the reason Jerry can price blades as low as he does now is because he is able to make a lot more of them with the crew and equipment that the HOGS have provided over the years.
Anyway, its easier if everyone would learn to appreciate each others roll. Those of you that only buy one or two knives a year have no right to hate on anyone else cause you get a heck of a deal because so many spend so much more that enables Busse to be what it is....
and we will promise not to hate on you for not pulling more of your weight cause lets face it you dont generate enough to keep the lights on.
Lets drink
If this is an attack on people who make profit, it is also wrong for BUSSE to make profit? Does anyone know of a non-profit knife maker? 
