Why do people remove prices of sold knives?

Phixt said:
I do it cus it's what the veterans do. Some remove the pics too and even all the info. Sites like bay and etsy do it too -- remove the final sell price.

I dunno. Maybe so noobs can't be like, 'This one sold for $200, so why are you asking $800 for the same item'? Because that $200 sale thread is 15 years old...noob. Just a guess. Really no idea.
Click to expand...

Ebay doesn't. You often see "sold for XX", and you can check the full bidding history on auctions.

All the arguments for removing the prices are weak nonsense. Such as the claims of harassment weeks or months later: If you put SOLD next to the price, it has no reason to happen, ever. That is exactly the caliber of argument in favour of removing the price.

People like to remove the price because if you allow them to express their natural cheapsakeness, they scramble to act on it.

Gaston
 
Personally, I don't think there's a good solution to this issue.

I think there are probably quite a few sellers who won't appreciate it at all if they have a knife listed for $160, then you post "I'll take it for $135 per our email / PM."

Especially if they have multiple knives listed, and one or more are still for sale, OR if they are active buyers/sellers. Because not only is this telegraphing to anyone who sees the thread that "seller is discounting some of his knives around 20% less than his asking price" but then of course someone else is going to come along and say "you gave the other buyer $25 off on the Benchmade, how about giving me $25 off the Spyderco?" So the seller begins negotiations for his next sale, already at a disadvantage.

It's my opinion that negotiations in private via PM or email should be kept private, unless both parties AGREE to disclose terms!

Of course, if the asking price is $160 and you post "I'll take it for $160" then no harm, no foul.

jpm2 said:
Think I'll start quoting it in the thread if I'm willing to give the asking price.
Example:

I'll take the military for $100
Click to expand...
 
Gaston444 said:
Ebay doesn't. You often see "sold for XX", and you can check the full bidding history on auctions.

All the arguments for removing the prices are weak nonsense. Such as the claims of harassment weeks or months later: If you put SOLD next to the price, it has no reason to happen, ever. That is exactly the caliber of argument in favour of removing the price.

People like to remove the price because if you allow them to express their natural cheapsakeness, they scramble to act on it.

Gaston
Click to expand...
Are you okay?
 
rje58 said:
Personally, I don't think there's a good solution to this issue.

I think there are probably quite a few sellers who won't appreciate it at all if they have a knife listed for $160, then you post "I'll take it for $135 per our email / PM."

Especially if they have multiple knives listed, and one or more are still for sale, OR if they are active buyers/sellers. Because not only is this telegraphing to anyone who sees the thread that "seller is discounting some of his knives around 20% less than his asking price" but then of course someone else is going to come along and say "you gave the other buyer $25 off on the Benchmade, how about giving me $25 off the Spyderco?"
Click to expand...

jpm2 was talking about quoting the listed asking price so that the seller can't erase it, not posting a private offer in the sale thread.

I very much agree with you on that though.
 
rje58 said:
Personally, I don't think there's a good solution to this issue.

I think there are probably quite a few sellers who won't appreciate it at all if they have a knife listed for $160, then you post "I'll take it for $135 per our email / PM."

Especially if they have multiple knives listed, and one or more are still for sale, OR if they are active buyers/sellers. Because not only is this telegraphing to anyone who sees the thread that "seller is discounting some of his knives around 20% less than his asking price" but then of course someone else is going to come along and say "you gave the other buyer $25 off on the Benchmade, how about giving me $25 off the Spyderco?"

It's my opinion that negotiations in private via PM or email should be kept private, unless both parties AGREE to disclose terms!
Click to expand...
You didn't read my post very well...
Read it again, slowly.
 
I wasn't speaking of ONLY exactly what you posted, but I won't be condescending and arrogant in my reply to you.

The point I was making that if it became a common practice to post "I'll take it for $160" or whatever in sales threads, that would mean there would be quite a few people doing it. Which would mean that given the variances in human nature and behavior, it's very likely that a certain number of those would post the purchase price, regardless of whether it matched the listed asking price, or not. Which in my opinion would not be a good thing.

I see several sellers who include the comment in their sale thread "DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD!" I suspect the number of those will increase if people start posting much other than "I'll take it" or "PM / email sent" in sales threads.

jpm2 said:
You didn't read my post very well...
Read it again, slowly.
Click to expand...
 
Gaston444 said:
All the arguments for removing the prices are weak nonsense. Such as the claims of harassment weeks or months later: If you put SOLD next to the price, it has no reason to happen, ever. That is exactly the caliber of argument in favour of removing the price.
Click to expand...

Exactly - there is an option to cross out text on the forum. I cross out the asking price and put SOLD next to it, plus at the start of the thread title. If that's not enough to give people the hint that it's sold, well...

The one thing I am guilty of doing is, if I list multiple items in one thread and some of them sell, I mostly remove the sold items to clean up the post. Really, that's probably the best way of keeping a clean ad for the unsold items within the forum's rules.
 
I think the rules state that people are not to post offers or comments in sales threads unless specifically welcomed by the seller.
 
rje58 said:
I wasn't speaking of ONLY exactly what you posted, but I won't be condescending and arrogant in my reply to you.

The point I was making that if it became a common practice to post "I'll take it for $160" or whatever in sales threads, that would mean there would be quite a few people doing it. Which would mean that given the variances in human nature and behavior, it's very likely that a certain number of those would post the purchase price, regardless of whether it matched the listed asking price, or not. Which in my opinion would not be a good thing.
Click to expand...


I don't really think it would come to that. People that prefer to deal privately tend to keep it that way throughout the transaction. If anything, initially contact is made publicly then the rest is done privately. The only times I really ever recall seeing it happen the other way around is when there is an issue present.
 
Yes, but I've seen it happening more and more lately. Just today I saw where someone had a knife listed for $150, and somebody posted in the sales thread "If you decide to take $100 for it, I'll take it." And I've seen other recent examples of people crapping in someone else's sales thread.

But that doesn't have anything to do with removing prices from sales threads, so we should get back on topic.

danbot said:
I think the rules state that people are not to post offers or comments in sales threads unless specifically welcomed by the seller.
Click to expand...
 
There is some very focused passion against removing prices, wow. Why not make it a forum rule to list sale prices then? But do you list the initial price and every negotiation down to the actual sale price or what? Teach us crude hucksters please!
 
rje58 said:
Yes, but I've seen it happening more and more lately. Just today I saw where someone had a knife listed for $150, and somebody posted in the sales thread "If you decide to take $100 for it, I'll take it." And I've seen other recent examples of people crapping in someone else's sales thread.

But that doesn't have anything to do with removing prices from sales threads, so we should get back on topic.
Click to expand...
True.
I think people do it because they feel it's a private sale and they feel that the final price is private for both parties as well. I really couldn't care less myself. Any knife is worth what some is willing to pay for it in the end and a lot of factors come into play for any individual knife regardless of popularity etc.
 
I think both the original asking price and the sold price should remain. I don't see the privacy thing.

It's for sale not for trade.... :D
 
rje58 said:
It's my opinion that negotiations in private via PM or email should be kept private, unless both parties AGREE to disclose terms!

Of course, if the asking price is $160 and you post "I'll take it for $160" then no harm, no foul.
Click to expand...

This seems reasonable. Of course this IS a forum, as someone mentioned, but when a deal is being completed...it is BETWEEN the buyer and the seller, and is NOT the business of any other party. IMO
 
The only time that ever bugs me is when the listed price is taken off of a unique item that rarely pops up for sale, mostly for just curiosities sake.

I also don't really get why there can be such a dividing line on this topic, I mean this isn't rocket science or creating a budget for million dollar company.

(Excluding rare or higher end customs/production knives, mostly.)
As a buyer or seller that intends to jump in on the secondary market, look at what the pieces are priced at new. For the secondary market, A NIB, LNIB, Mint Chocolatey piece should be a little bit less than what you can get from a dealer. Lightly used yet in good shape a bit less than that. If it's a bit more used than lightly then the price should be a little bit lower. If it's beat to hell then you should probably price it accordingly.

In the end, the seller will only sell at a price they are comfortable with and the buyer will only buy at a price they are comfortable with. If both are happy with what they put in their pocket, then what does it really matter if Joe Schmoe happened to get the same thing for 12% less 3 and a half weeks prior?


The rare/high end side of the market can work a little differently as their prices are more likely to deviate from a dealers price based of scarcity or demand of said item. That can make it trickier to gauge what a fair price for be for each side on the secondary. The only answer I can think of is if you're willing to drop mad cash then you should do your due diligence to know the market further than just scoping out a few old sales thread (which can be $10's - $100's off of what it actually sold for) , especially if you're playing the game on a budget. Doesn't matter as much for those with a solid disposable income.

Either way the same end game applies, you'll only pay or let it go for what you are comfortable with. If what Joe Schmoe bought/sold it for last month puts you in a personal or financial tizzy, well then your issues lie beyond someone taking their price off their sale listing.
 
rje58 said:
I wasn't speaking of ONLY exactly what you posted, but I won't be condescending and arrogant in my reply to you.

The point I was making that if it became a common practice to post "I'll take it for $160" or whatever in sales threads, that would mean there would be quite a few people doing it. Which would mean that given the variances in human nature and behavior, it's very likely that a certain number of those would post the purchase price, regardless of whether it matched the listed asking price, or not. Which in my opinion would not be a good thing.

I see several sellers who include the comment in their sale thread "DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD!" I suspect the number of those will increase if people start posting much other than "I'll take it" or "PM / email sent" in sales threads.
Click to expand...
Well that's more like it. Had you posted this in your first reply, it wouldn't have sounded like I was saying something I wasn't. I see you edited it.
with that last line. ;)
Sorry for being condescending and arrogant.
I had an issue in the past where I agreed to the asking price, and then the seller wanted pp fees too, without ever mentioning pp fees, or "net" in the OP.
I like to quote so there's no doubts.
 
The best reason I can think of to remove the pricing is that Member A may buy a knife from Member B. Member A may then decide to sell the knife, and maybe even at a higher price than he paid to Member B, which is fine. In that situation he may not want whomever to look back at the sale thread and hassle him for his asking price which is above what he paid. This can happen since sometimes knives get sold under market value because the seller needs money or whatever, and the buyer grabs it knowing this and then tries to make a profit. I have sold knives for less that what they are "worth" - if my buyer wants to try to get more than I got, and is willing to sit and wait, I certainly don't want a price in my old sales thread to be used against them. Anyway, I don't care one way of the other really - I just wish sometimes the price was there so I could see what something I missed/was looking for sold for.
 
Yes, BF is a forum for knife aficionados but not (to my way of thinking) a research forum for gauging the value of knives, new, rare, used or otherwise. The exchange process is largely two individuals agreeing on the terms of buying/selling/ trading a knife. Sometimes you get a sweet deal, sometimes not so much. I have so rarely made any money (maybe $ 20.00 absolute tops) on a knife sale that it is laughable to think that my sales educate the public.

For those who make the argument that leaving the price in the thread enables research or historical context - I say that you can get a good idea of the value of a knife by checking past sale prices from web retailers or auction sites.

I have often wished the sale price was left in the old threads for my own selfish purpose of pricing my knife competitively. As a seller however I can more appreciate the reasoning behind deleting the sale price once the thread is closed so as not to open myself up for after the fact price quibbling or locking myself in to a sale price if I ever re-list. Sometime I lower the price throughout a sale and then later re-list for the original price (or more) and get my asking price - the vagary of the market place.

I get the frustration of those who favor leaving the price in. I have shared your frustration. As a seller however, I delete old pricing without hesitation. I'm pretty certain that most knives DO NOT sell for the asking price in any case. My 2¢ 1¢.

Ray
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top