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Hahha....
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The rules for The Exchange can be found here. Please read and follow them. Stop using Paypal Friends & Family and follow our best practices to prevent getting ripped off or having a bad deal.
Bad More Scalpers, for-profit flippers and eBay sellers than ever. Whats with the blind eye?
- Thread starter Kettleman
- Start date
Peter Hartwig
Gold Member
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If it bothers you, and there is certainly good reason it would, you need to get familiar with who you are dealing with before transacting. The rule is still, you can sell to whomever you choose. This can also help solve other problems, such as problem buyers and scammers. I don't think it is a problem that mods will solve. There is always someone that will take advatage of and ruin a good thing.
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I just have an ignore list that grows every time I see one of these guys pop up. It saves me from having to tell them to piss off when they try to buy from me.
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What an awesome idea for a feature here...... Where members could share their "ignore lists" with other members here.... so it spreads out within the community.
Although I would probably be an unintended consequence, getting filtered out in many people's circles.....
*careful what I ask for!
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Ya I would be on a bunch of them!!!!What an awesome idea for a feature here...... Where members could share their "ignore lists" with other members here.... so it spreads out within the community.
Although I would probably be an unintended consequence, getting filtered out in many people's circles.....
*careful what I ask for!
Peter Hartwig
Gold Member
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In the past the administration has not endosed publicly calling flippers and such list threads, but it is their call.What an awesome idea for a feature here...... Where members could share their "ignore lists" with other members here.... so it spreads out within the community.
Although I would probably be an unintended consequence, getting filtered out in many people's circles.....
*careful what I ask for!
Maybe times have changed
Just like loqballing, there can be a lot of grey area between the black and white, and it is open to oppinion where the line in the sand is.
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I've said it before, but again, the prices here overall are definitely a lot higher than other places. Part is definitely removing prices, something that is banned other places. That means some folks don't know how to price their knife, and others use it as a shield to charge more. Another is inability to give feedback on prices, whether by posting or the emojis being removed; obviously that's a lot more controversial, but you get a lot less flipping and crazy prices when people can be called out for doing it. (It should also be helpful as a seller--if you're a legitimate seller and not flipping for profit--to find out you're way over market.)
I see quite a few knives get bought at those other places where market prices are better known, then resold here over market for profit. IMO that's those seller-focused rules to blame. Everything here protects sellers, bubble wraps them/us so knives can be flipped for high prices. It's good to protect folks, but at this point it's gone too far on the side of sellers, which has brought more and more flippers here. It's just hurt the exchange, not helped it. The market here is not as active as it used to be by my recollection, and knives sit a lot longer. Other markets aren't like it is here, so it's not the economy.
There are still good sellers here of course, but the percent of people flipping at higher prices and asking way over market has gone up like crazy over the last few years.
I see quite a few knives get bought at those other places where market prices are better known, then resold here over market for profit. IMO that's those seller-focused rules to blame. Everything here protects sellers, bubble wraps them/us so knives can be flipped for high prices. It's good to protect folks, but at this point it's gone too far on the side of sellers, which has brought more and more flippers here. It's just hurt the exchange, not helped it. The market here is not as active as it used to be by my recollection, and knives sit a lot longer. Other markets aren't like it is here, so it's not the economy.
There are still good sellers here of course, but the percent of people flipping at higher prices and asking way over market has gone up like crazy over the last few years.
SwissHeritageCo
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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How do you recognize them?
The reddit resellers list them again pretty soon after getting them usually, so if you're active on both you see the same knife pop up again about a week later (with enough market to make a profit after shipping and fees and often without the history/description that was provided by the previous seller on reddit :/). They don't list them back on reddit because they know they'll get called out for the price. (The reddit community actually treats the knife exchange as a community and don't appreciate people flipping for profit, whereas here the market is like a separate thing from the community discussions.)
There are a number of folks who aren't doing it super often, but they know when they got a good deal on reddit that can lead to profit here. There are a number of those hobbyist flippers here.
On a few of the other sites I frequent, it seems like the flippers pretty quickly get ostracized. Fewer to no members selling to them = a lot less to flip. I'm guessing the membership is significantly lower on those sites, but the same principle can apply, at least for those of us who are here as enthusiasts vs. profiteers. Devil's advocate though - everyone should be free to sell to whom they choose, and not everyone has the time nor the crystal ball to vet members and understand their motives...
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almost 50% feedback seems pretty high, Heck....idk that was even a thing (feedback) until after a couple years of being here and buyingWell this one was pretty obvious…
(sorry for all the ones I didn't do)
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I think his point was that he has been here for 48 days and has bought or sold a minimum of 70 different knives in that time, since he has 70 feedback already (which is 100% positive, I feel I must state in his favor). I have 72 feedback and have been here almost 20 years, although in fairness some good chunk of that time predates the current feedback system. And I estimate I only receive feedback on 2/3 of my transactions.
My mindset has changed a bit over the years towards this dilemma. On one hand, I can commiserate with the frustration that is brought by flippers/scalpers/predators to the community. On the other, I'm pretty certain that it's endemic of our present society overall. FOMO and the need for instant gratification make taking advantage of collectors quite the enterprise - I don't know that there is much to be done about it. You see it in many collectible commodities; knives, pens, trinkets, watches, bourbon, and so much more.
Unfortunately, I started to develop a bit of a laissez-faire outlook on it but apathy brings its owns frustrations so I pulled myself out of it. The problem these days lies with the buyer as much as the seller - if one MUST HAVE IT, then price is no object and the seller wins. I don't buy very much anymore, I've learned to be content with what I have been fortunate to acquire, and I've been satisfied with simply being a part of this community (for better or worse). In the words of more than one longstanding member here, "I came for the knives but stayed for the friends I made along the way".
On a separate note, I do think the mod team here is overworked and understaffed. We certainly do not have the same level of active mods that we did when I first started here. If membership has increased and behavior that runs counter to the values here is running rampant, it might be prudent to look at bringing on some extra help and hopefully assist in finding solutions to curb some of the poor behavioral trends.
Unfortunately, I started to develop a bit of a laissez-faire outlook on it but apathy brings its owns frustrations so I pulled myself out of it. The problem these days lies with the buyer as much as the seller - if one MUST HAVE IT, then price is no object and the seller wins. I don't buy very much anymore, I've learned to be content with what I have been fortunate to acquire, and I've been satisfied with simply being a part of this community (for better or worse). In the words of more than one longstanding member here, "I came for the knives but stayed for the friends I made along the way".
On a separate note, I do think the mod team here is overworked and understaffed. We certainly do not have the same level of active mods that we did when I first started here. If membership has increased and behavior that runs counter to the values here is running rampant, it might be prudent to look at bringing on some extra help and hopefully assist in finding solutions to curb some of the poor behavioral trends.
