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Buying up knives to sell on ebay

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Aug 9, 2020
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Is this a problem? Do the same people buy up certain knives from certain brands (Hinderer) and than turnaround and sell them on eBay for a large markup? Does blade forum monitor multiple purchases of the same knife buy the same individual? Should there be a limit on how many knives you can purchase in a week or month to prevent this? Anyone have some perspective on this. Is it good ole capitalism, or is it ruining it for the collector that isn’t doing this as a business and can’t live one blade forum.
 
Happens all the time, Hinderer, Busse, Spyderco, etc. Might make you cringe, but the way I look at it is: once they pay the price that you are comfortable with, it's their knife, they can do whatever they want with it.

I suggest not to worry about it.

The only thing that really bugs me is if they use my photos. They didn't buy them.
 
And how many Hinderer's say "second owner"...but who really knows? That's the risk you take buying/selling on the secondary market.
 
Happens all the time, Hinderer, Busse, Spyderco, etc. Might make you cringe, but the way I look at it is: once they pay the price that you are comfortable with, it's their knife, they can do whatever they want with it.

I suggest not to worry about it.

The only thing that really bugs me is if they use my photos. They didn't buy them.

That's one of the reasons that I make a compressed copy of my photos so that only I have the originals.
 
Do the same people buy up certain knives from certain brands (Hinderer) and than turnaround and sell them on eBay for a large markup?
Some do, mainly GEC knives.
Does blade forum monitor multiple purchases of the same knife buy the same individual?
Not purchases, selling multiples of the same knife on BF's, yes.
Should there be a limit on how many knives you can purchase in a week or month to prevent this?
No
Anyone have some perspective on this.
Look at a members profile and see what their post history is, this will give you some insight as to their purpose on BF's.
 
I don’t view it any differently than what’s being done here on the exchange. Folks buy the sprints, exclusives, small batch knives and sell them here and a stupidly high mark up. If someone, including myself is willing to pay the asking price, then the problem is that people are willing to pay the mark up price and not drive the prices down into a more reasonable range.
Members buy from the exchange and turn around and sell the same knife for more than what they paid. If you do a little digging, you’ll learn who the flippers are that sell here.
Personally, I don’t think it effects the collector if they’re looking for a certain knife. It may aggravate them, but given enough patience, it can be had at a reasonable price.
 
OP, look at it this way (that's what I do, anyways)

1) in the higher-end market segment (say $200-500), many manufacturers and distributors encourage this behavior, via short sprint runs, limited and timed releases, "blind grab-bags", etc. Meaning it is what it is by design, part of the hobby, actually.
2) it takes a lot of time, energy and some money to "flip": the flipper has to sit and wait on the exchange, or continuously refresh the DLT web-page, etc. Then (s)he waits to receive the knife, has to take photos, list on ebay, re-package and send, and pay respective overheads. Also, the flipper takes additional risks: every so often a package gets lost or stolen, the PayPal account might get frozen, etc. Also note that many knives being flipped on ebay sit their for a long time .... In the end the flipper makes ~50-150 bucks (?). If one has enough disposable income to play with - say - a Hinderer or Busse - there might be easier ways to make more money with less time and effort.

Roland.
 
At some point, though, a line is crossed. By the definition used when I joined, there are a quite a few members that should probably be considered dealers (and be participating at that membership level).
As to the subject of buying here to sell on ebay, I recall a particular case in which a member was doing just that. Hard to deny being a dealer when there's an eBay store involved)
 
As a seller, I don't care what the buyer does with the knife. Dunno why anyone would.

And I don't see why BF should care either. If they're buying here and selling on eBay or wherever else, they don't need to have a dealer membership. They don't actually need any membership at all.

No thank you to limits. Even beyond whether it should be a thing, how are mods supposed to verify that, go through thread by thread and count?
 
I fail to see the logic here? There are some good, and some great deals here from time to time. Are there members watching prices and buying up good deals for resale? Same as what's been said here, but if the seller here gets paid their asking price or whatever, WHO CARES what the buyer does with that knife after the transaction here has been successfully completed? 😒
 
There was a quite famous reddit buyer who would haggle “bro” prices using excuses like he was buying them for his nephews, or would ask for discounts after receiving the knife because some nit-pick detail. He would then go on eBay under his alt and flip them for a profit. This is the type of person who gets 5 hype knives like the shamWEri and sells them on ebay for something gross.

I think there are probably a lot of people who flip knives, he did it so much it became very obvious. Lots of community dislike, ended up getting banned.

It really hit a nerve with a lot of people. There is a big difference between doing it sometimes and people who are trying to make a living or second income off it (which is rare TBH). I also know a lot of people who have no issue selling knifes low if it will go to someone who will enjoy them.

He somehow would scoop up all the great deals very quickly, to the annoyance of others.

As a side note, I've noticed people who ask for discounts after receiving the knife is one of the shadiest practices, I've seen a couple bad apples who made a habit of doing it, taking advantage of nicer members.
 
I've been here since (before) day one. We've tried all manner of enforcement, protocols, rules, inducements etc but it always comes down to the fact that we are a volunteer staff, limited in what we can accomplish on a practical level, have only so many hours in a day...and people are people.

We try to deal with the most egregious cases and then end up in disputes that make some of the courtroom dramas I've been involved in professionally seem timid by comparison.

Inevitably, mistakes will be made even with the best of intentions. (Yes, I've gotten an earful in the past day, and I don't say it is without merit, though the scales of justice continue to move up and down.)

It would be nice to use the Potter Stewart method of "I know it when I see it" in making decisions, but then there would be little to use as "common law" as it were.

So, we do the best we can. We accept it won't always work out the best and we hope that most members will understand and support us nonetheless.

(P.S. to ferider ferider ...I hope you don't mind me using the images of knives I've bought from you. Your pictures are so much better...and I won't be selling the knives. :cool: )
 
(P.S. to ferider ferider ...I hope you don't mind me using the images of knives I've bought from you. Your pictures are so much better...and I won't be selling the knives. :cool: )
NP at all, B. I should have clarified: i don't sell my images, but asking to be mentioned as who took a pic is fair, I feel. Which you always do anyways.
 
There was a quite famous reddit buyer who would haggle “bro” prices using excuses like he was buying them for his nephews, or would ask for discounts after receiving the knife because some nit-pick detail. He would then go on eBay under his alt and flip them for a profit. This is the type of person who gets 5 hype knives like the shamWEri and sells them on ebay for something gross.

I think there are probably a lot of people who flip knives, he did it so much it became very obvious. Lots of community dislike, ended up getting banned.

It really hit a nerve with a lot of people. There is a big difference between doing it sometimes and people who are trying to make a living or second income off it (which is rare TBH). I also know a lot of people who have no issue selling knifes low if it will go to someone who will enjoy them.

He somehow would scoop up all the great deals very quickly, to the annoyance of others.

As a side note, I've noticed people who ask for discounts after receiving the knife is one of the shadiest practices, I've seen a couple bad apples who made a habit of doing it, taking advantage of nicer members.
I've never had this happen to me, but if it ever does, I'll be politely and firmly asking for the return of the knife, and I'll grant a full refund, block that person and move on. I'm not playing that game.
 
I've never had this happen to me, but if it ever does, I'll be politely and firmly asking for the return of the knife, and I'll grant a full refund, block that person and move on. I'm not playing that game.

Amen to that one. I've seen two cases here in GB&U lately where a buyer fussed about some detail and negotiated some sort of reduced price. Not hardly. Send it back and I'll find another buyer.
 
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