Why is the price removed in the exchange after a knife is sold?

C

Critikill

Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Messages
150
Just curious if there was any reason it seems customary to remove the asking price from the knife exchange after an item is sold. Personally, I would like to see the prices some knives go for, especially the custom/no longer made/hard to find blades, but by the time I see the post, all I know is that the knife sold.

Is this to protect the buyer/seller somehow or is it simply tradition?

Is there a knife "blue book" so to speak for knives not currently produced (I know that would be impossible for customs)?
 
It isn't customary. Just some Sellers do this.

Sometimes the Seller doesn't want people to know what a knife finally sold for, and sometimes the Buyer specifically asks for the sales price to be removed, possibly so that he can flip it sometime down the road.

Your best way to check for pricing is to go to the 'Bay and look for solds of that knife. Don't look at the sales price, but at the second & third highest bids which is what the knife is probably valued at.
 
There are a few threads on this, and people have varying views. I would like to see the prices left for posterity, so we can search and see what these things are going for. Others will edit out the price for whatever reason. But each seller does whatever floats his boat and there is no rule as to how to proceed.
 
Everyone selling their knives decides what price they want it to sell for. The Exchange stresses fairness in all sales and equal chances to people trying to sell their knives. Where one viable reason may very well be privacy, I think fairness plays a role as well.

For instance, say there are two guys selling the same knife in the same condition. Lets say one guy wants to get close to what he paid for it, in this case $100, but the other guy just wants to get rid of it to free up some funds quickly so he's willing to let it go for plenty cheaper, say $75. Typically, the cheaper of the two will sell before the more expensive, but experienced consumers will research to see what they think they should pay for it, so when they see that someone just sold one for 25% less, the other guy might not have such a fair chance.
 
I usually take it out so that people don't email me asking if the knife is still available.
 
It's not mandatory that people leave the price in. If they want to edit the item out, it is their prerogative. Otherwise, we'd be chasing editors all day long.
 
I wish that sellers would leave the price in...just write SOLD in big letters in front or behind the price. If the price sells for less than the asking price, it's not necessary to reflect that within the post. Assume that it was an honest asking price, and many times it is the selling price. If I want a knife, I seldom dicker. While I'm screwing around waiting for the seller to answer me, someone else will get a good buy. Why take a chance for $15 or $25?
Sonny
 
Sonnydaze said:
I wish that sellers would leave the price in...just write SOLD in big letters in front or behind the price. If the price sells for less than the asking price, it's not necessary to reflect that within the post. Assume that it was an honest asking price, and many times it is the selling price. If I want a knife, I seldom dicker. While I'm screwing around waiting for the seller to answer me, someone else will get a good buy. Why take a chance for $15 or $25?
Sonny
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I'm in the same boat with ya. I just wasn't sure if there was a reason I didn't understand for all the prices being removed.
 
I am for removing the prices.

While I see nothing wrong with "flipping" the occasional knife, I don't do it.
I have profited on the sale of a knife, but that was not my intention or reason for buying it, just a nice side effect of buying right when i decide that a particular knife isn't right for me.
What I do like to do is to buy a knife that I am confident I can sell and recover my cost plus shipping if I decide I don't like it.
You see, I don't mind doing my homework when I want to buy a knife, like spending a lot of time watching the sales forums here (and taking note of the asking prices while they are still available) and auction site, as well as really searching for online retailer pricing.
I feel like it is to my advantage, as an informed buyer/seller, that the selling price is removed after the sale.
The uninformed/unconcerned buyer is more likely to pay top dollar for the knife they want.
The uninformed/unconcerned seller is just as likely to offer a knife for a low price as a high one, and the informed buyer will be ready to capitalize on the former.


Sonnydaze said:
I wish that sellers would leave the price in...just write SOLD in big letters in front or behind the price. If the price sells for less than the asking price, it's not necessary to reflect that within the post. Assume that it was an honest asking price, and many times it is the selling price. If I want a knife, I seldom dicker. While I'm screwing around waiting for the seller to answer me, someone else will get a good buy. Why take a chance for $15 or $25?
Sonny
Click to expand...

No offense meant, and I really don't look to profit on my knives ESPECIALLY not here, but you sound like exactly the kind of buyer I am looking for when selling a knife, and one that I hope can't easily find recent selling prices.
That way the patience and research that sometimes lets me buy a $100 knife for $85, can and often does let me easily sell it to you for $100 and not lose any money after shipping, insurance, and PayPal.
I get to coon finger a $100 knife for "free", and if I decide it's a keeper I got it for only $85.

If you buy hundreds (thousands?) of knives during your life of collecting, $15 here, $25 there can easily be thousands of dollars you could have spent on something you want, not postage and fees.
 
thought about it many times, the phenomenon seems to be increasing
I leave the price, I have a transparent behaviour and don't speculate, it's a matter of respect to each other
every knife or most have their price, that can vary depending on conditions, rarity etc, ok, so why remove it? It's mostly not hard to find (google, ebay, various forums, old posts, websites) for production and non one of a kind knives at least, a quick search and you have at least an idea

when you put them for sale you list a price, that is visible, arguable, that may reflect something about your personality ... so why hide it after you've sold it? if you speculate you speculate before and after selling

it's a matter of fairness, if you remove the price you're not fair to the fellow forumites or have something you want to hide, in my view
if you're "clean" why not help forumites to know how much that knife IS or COULD be worth? helping them to avoid inflated or speculated sales and not so "nice" sellers

protects the integrity of a market,of a community that shares a passion, makes people more fair to each other and eliminates speculation buy-to-resell behaviours and such

my idea regarding a forum community, we're here for the same stuff
after that, every one does what he wants, no offense to anyone :thumbup:
Maxx
 
Mad_Maxx said:
thought about it many times, the phenomenon seems to be increasing
I leave the price, I have a transparent behaviour and don't speculate, it's a matter of respect to each other
every knife or most have their price, that can vary depending on conditions, rarity etc, ok, so why remove it? It's mostly not hard to find (google, ebay, various forums, old posts, websites) for production and non one of a kind knives at least, a quick search and you have at least an idea

when you put them for sale you list a price, that is visible, arguable, that may reflect something about your personality ... so why hide it after you've sold it? if you speculate you speculate before and after selling

it's a matter of fairness, if you remove the price you're not fair to the fellow forumites or have something you want to hide, in my view
if you're "clean" why not help forumites to know how much that knife IS or COULD be worth? helping them to avoid inflated or speculated sales and not so "nice" sellers

protects the integrity of a market,of a community that shares a passion, makes people more fair to each other and eliminates speculation buy-to-resell behaviours and such

my idea regarding a forum community, we're here for the same stuff
after that, every one does what he wants, no offense to anyone :thumbup:
Maxx
Click to expand...

So what is the difference between removing just the price and editing out the entire listing and replacing it with something like "all gone", or "closed" after a sale?
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure how I would answer that one either if I were you. :foot:
 
Main difference I see is that the thread is no longer a wild goose chase in researching prices. Since the entire initial post is gone, a future search for specific knives to find their values will not bring these threads up as results. But if I'm trying to find out how much an "all gone" or "closed" is going for these days, they won't be much help.

I would rather the listings stay up with prices, but removing key words along with prices keeps from wasting the time of anyone searching the forums for information.
 
hardheart said:
Main difference I see is that the thread is no longer a wild goose chase in researching prices. Since the entire initial post is gone, a future search for specific knives to find their values will not bring these threads up as results. But if I'm trying to find out how much an "all gone" or "closed" is going for these days, they won't be much help.

I would rather the listings stay up with prices, but removing key words along with prices keeps from wasting the time of anyone searching the forums for information.
Click to expand...

That makes sense to me, and is a perfectly legitimate reason for doing so, it's just at odds with:

"it's a matter of fairness, if you remove the price you're not fair to the fellow forumites or have something you want to hide, in my view
if you're "clean" why not help forumites to know how much that knife IS or COULD be worth? helping them to avoid inflated or speculated sales and not so "nice" sellers
protects the integrity of a market,of a community that shares a passion, makes people more fair to each other and eliminates speculation buy-to-resell behaviours and such.."

Removing just the price leaves the rest of the listing (description of condition, terms of sale etc..) in place should either the buyer or seller need to refer to them in the event there is a dispute.
As far as "have(ing) something you want to hide" goes, removing the entire content of the post hides a whole lot more than removing just the price.
If someone really believes in all that "fairness", and being "clean", and displaying "transparent behavior", they should probably want to leave the whole record in place I would think.


Side note;
Anyone that really is bothered when the original price/listing is edited/removed, there is a simple way to "save" both.
Just quote the OP when posting your "I'll take it". The quote will remain as is (or as was) regardless of how the OP edits the post in the future.
When dealing with people who are prone to editing out their whle listing after the sale, I would recommend it actually.
 
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