Buying knives on Ebay

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T Abell

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I was considering selling a few knives on Ebay and got to looking around. There are some decent knives on there, assuming they are what they are said to be.

Has anyone here had any experience buying knives off of Ebay? Obviously there is always a risk of counterfeit knives. Is there a way to have any confidence at all?
 
I will buy knives from trusted online dealers (especially ones that support this site) or brick and mortar stores. Ebay can take a flying leap!;)

ETA: The makers on this site offer exceptional value for the money too.:thumbsup:
 
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If you're going to sell there, it would be better to buy a gold membership here and sell here on the forum. By the time you pay the fees there for each knife, you would have paid for your membership here. Selling here is virtually hassle free, better quality of buyers, virtually no scammers.
I don't buy from there because this place has given me better confidence that if there is an issue, it will be resolved without any issues. I have seen knives listed here that have been on eBay, the prices are marked up to reflect the fees and since I know that, I will not pay the asking price.
The last time I bought a knife from there, it was from a authorized dealer because none of the supporting dealers had what I was looking for.
 
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The risks are the same on Ebay as elsewhere. It is up to you to know what you are buying, when in doubt ask question and obtain additional photos and information; and don't buy pricey items until you are comfortable with identifying them. Just consider, that buying the wrong stuff is your cost of education; learn from your mistakes and try your best not to repeat them. I have been buying on Ebay since its inception. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it is usually better than what we had before Ebay and the internet came along.

n2s
 
Ebay has many dealers that are authorized and private sales of legit knives. They also have some that aren't, not that hard to tell the difference. Selling there is a gamble because of their policy of siding with the buyer. A buyer can return anything for made up reasons and send you back anything and ebay will refund their money. We used to sell there, but have mostly stopped due to a couple of bad buyers. Also, ebay and paypal are going to charge you right at 14% combined.
 
Ebay is always a bit of a gamble, but there are good sellers and buyers of knives as well as bad. The uninformed are at the greatest risk. It makes better sense to me to sell here in a more secure environment. Also Ebay costs can add up . Unless what you are selling fits the Ebay format better than here I would pass
 
When my collection was mostly CRKT Squids and Buck Vantages, I probably bought 20 knives on ebay. I found looking at the seller's rating and items for sell was a good indicator of how well the transaction would go. I only received one obvious knockoff. The rest I'm confident were authentic. The prices fluctuate heavily on rarer knives. If you can wait for a price you're comfortable with, it might be worth it. These days, I prefer new newly-released knives, so the benefits of shopping on ebay aren't there for me.
 
Before I found Bladeforums and BushcraftUsA, I had both bought and sold knives on eBay and never had any issues with scammers or counterfeits. I have been scammed as both a buyer and seller, but not regarding knives. It is just a matter of time before it happens. Yes, the fees are quite a lot, and you have a tendency to raise the asking price just to help cover your costs, whereas selling on this forum, you can ask a fair price and deal with reasonable folks who are genuinely passionate about knives. eBay has it's uses, but Bladeforums is the place to do business, and it's a great community that has your back if someone tries to deal sideways with you.
 
The points above really wrap it all up. As said above... There are bad Ebay buyers who will get away with lying and cheating you and it’s only a matter of time until one of them does. In addition, the Ebay/PayPal fees will come to at least the equal of a gold membership here and selling here is considerably less risky and problematic than going the Ebay route. When I look at that picture, I just don’t see any benefit Ebay has over selling in the Exchange here.
 
I typically use eBay to get an idea of what certain knives are selling for on the open market. As has been mentioned here, I don't like the 15% road tax one has to stomach, but, you can find odd or unusual/rare knives on the bay and sometimes you meet nice vendors to boot.

I agree that you need to review photos carefully and ask any questions which you may have before hitting that button. Also, consider the fact that you can learn a ton of stuff by reading the product details etc. Checking out the feedback score is an absolute must. I have found that small blips in the radar screen can signal trouble up ahead...
 
I won't buy any ol' regular production knife there, that I can buy from a trusted dealer (here or elsewhere) just to "save" a couple bucks.

I will (and have) however bought a few vintage, discontinued, and/or limited production knives there that can't be easily found elsewhere. But even then I buy with extreme prejudice from reputable authorized dealers who so happen to also have a store there, or from reputable sellers with great ratings...

But I agree with the sentiment, it is easier to pay for a gold membership here, and sell knives to an exclusive knife crowd, rather then pay their fees and take your chances, but, I have sold there as well over the years, so, to each their own. G/L
 
I have been buying and selling knives and other stuff on the bay for years...probably 80% of my knife collection came from there. Out of hundreds of transactions, I've only been screwed once...the seller said he never got the package and I submitted a claim to USPS, but they said it was delivered, so the claim was rejected. I refunded the money (was only like $40), and then later the buyer said he found out someone was stealing stuff off his porch.

As for being sure the products are authentic, kind of up to the buyer to do the research...even Amazon has fakes. There are some easy red flags, like sellers in China, and/or the price being way less than it should be. Other than that, comparing the pictures to known good ones will help weed out the fakes...the fit/finish and/or markings are usually off, or the knife doesn't even resemble anything the company actually offers.

In my case, I haven't sold anything in a while, as the great state of Taxachusetts (and VT so far; others will probably follow) has decided to ignore the federal $20,000 or 200 transaction threshold and start taxing anything over $600...got a 1099 from PayPal last year for $3k and ~40 transactions. So this combined with the eBay and PP fees kind of makes it pointless.
 
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Avoid buying on eBay or Amazon. Your likely to get a fake unless you know all the signs and are experienced.

It would be idea to support the forum and buy from an authorized dealer here.
 
orangejoe35 said:
When my collection was mostly CRKT Squids and Buck Vantages, I probably bought 20 knives on ebay. I found looking at the seller's rating and items for sell was a good indicator of how well the transaction would go. I only received one obvious knockoff. The rest I'm confident were authentic. The prices fluctuate heavily on rarer knives. If you can wait for a price you're comfortable with, it might be worth it. These days, I prefer new newly-released knives, so the benefits of shopping on ebay aren't there for me.
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The stuff I would consider selling isn't all that great (Schrade, Bear Manufacturing, etc) - it's mostly gifts that I don't want to throw away but if I could get anything for I'd sell. I would just like to thin down the "knife box" a bit. Though I'm not sure which ones I'd get rid of.

Mo2 said:
It would be idea to support the forum and buy from an authorized dealer here.
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Actually I have a very good reason for not using that option........

(I didn't realize it existed when I made the post). :eek:

Hell - I'm new here.
 
Ajack60 said:
If you're going to sell there, it would be better to buy a gold membership here and sell here on the forum. By the time you pay the fees there for each knife, you would have paid for your membership here. Selling here is virtually hassle free, better quality of buyers, virtually no scammers.
I don't buy from there because this place has given me better confidence that if there is an issue, it will be resolved without any issues. I have seen knives listed here that have been on eBay, the prices are marked up to reflect the fees and since I know that, I will not pay the asking price.
The last time I bought a knife from there, it was from a authorized dealer because none of the supporting dealers had what I was looking for.
Click to expand...

This. I sell a lot of knives on Ebay and they tale 15-20 after every $100 I sell. At this point they're eating up almost my entire profit from selling. Ebay is also hostile towards sellers in a lot of situations. I will be upgrading to gold to sell here very soon.

As for buying off ebay, there are reputable sellers and then there's random dudes selling knives on there. I've seen a lot of counterfeits and also a lot of people trying to hide blems and imperfections.
 
T Abell said:
The stuff I would consider selling isn't all that great (Schrade, Bear Manufacturing, etc) - it's mostly gifts that I don't want to throw away but if I could get anything for I'd sell. I would just like to thin down the "knife box" a bit. Though I'm not sure which ones I'd get rid of.



Actually I have a very good reason for not using that option........

(I didn't realize it existed when I made the post). :eek:

Hell - I'm new here.
Click to expand...

If you're trying to sell of a lot of inexpensive knives, you could always group them together and sell them in a lot. I do that frequently on Ebay when I overestimate the value or condition of a knife I buy to flip.
 
I buy a lot of knives from eBay, and seldom have had any trouble. I look for good descriptions from somebody who seems to know what he's describing. Three or four good photos help a lot. If you know model numbers, be sure to include them in the title and the description. If I ask the seller a question and he doesn't answer I just move on. I won't buy anything with an inflated shipping cost, no matter what the price of the knife is.

Every once in a while I'll take a flyer on something that I think is miscatalogued, but generally I look for a seller who seems to know what he's selling.

Mostly, I try to know what I'm looking at, or research things I'm not familiar with. If I buy something that's honestly described, but it turns out that it's not what I was expecting, that's on me.

I don't claim that the above makes any sense for anyone else, it's just what seems to work for me.
 
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