Can you make money collecting and re-selling knives?

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monkapotamus

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As a frank caveat to this question I have neither the funds nor the inclination to purse this seriously so this is more just out of "How is it done?" curiosity question than anything else.

I have a small scale ebay hobby business selling better quality shoes and boots and in the past when I have seen deals on some popular sale priced multi-tools from online sources I have occasionally gotten 10 or 15 or so to flip and re-sell on ebay. The problem was that I was not the only one with this idea and beyond the ebay price competition from other sellers and the ebay shipping and selling fees and the paypal fees the profit per item was pretty meager relative to the time investment. I know how hard it is to be profitable just dealing in shoes and making a buck hobby selling knives would seem to be doubly so.

Investing in anything but "boutique" individually crafted knives or limited runs from large manufacturers would seem to be foolish as knives are (seemingly) a commodity where they will just crank more units out of it's popular. These boutique knives seem to be a little different in that are a number of limited editions and exclusive(ish) knives you can't just get off Amazon. So a few questions..

Are there people that make real money collecting and selling knives?
Are the arty collectible knives actually where the money is?
How do you get the "in" to be first in line for these special knives? Luck, buying relationships, bottles of premium scotch?
Where do you get them? Knife shows, dealer relationships, do you have to be a dealer?
With respect to choosing what's going to be potentially hot and going to be an also ran is it just following your "gut" based on past knowledge, or is there more to it?

Any replies appreciated!
 
I look at knife collecting in much the same way as musical instrument collecting, as I've been buying and playing electric guitars for 25 years or so. The old saying "they don't build `em like that anymore" tends to be true, at least at certain price points. Whether due to inflation or changing business models, buying a production model guitar of the same specs and workmanship as one I bought in the mid `90s is going to cost roughly double, as many brands have shifted to overseas production or less expensive materials. Meanwhile - and this is an important detail - the number of properly maintained guitars of a particular model built in a particular year (with features or materials specific to that year) will only decrease, either because people use them to the point of being worn out, those in collections are neglected for whatever reason, and some are actually destroyed by flood or fire or whatever. Lawsuits over copyright/trademark/patent infringement can lead to design changes. Companies go out of business with only a handful of a particular model ever made available for sale. I have a couple that, while certainly not babied, have or will have potential for significant increases in value for reasons like these. Only a few of each were made, and the people who value them are buying them for well more than I paid. Of course, that demand could always dry up, leaving me as one more owner of something nobody wants.

Meanwhile, although I do buy some knives for the purpose of collecting, it is with heavy emphasis on designs that appeal to me. Over the past couple of years, I've gained a greater appreciation for better components and workmanship, but will still sometimes buy one simply because of how it looks. That being said, the only knives I've bought with any consideration toward resale are typically those that are fairly straight-forward styles made of good steel, preferably in the USA (or sometimes Europe or Japan) and scarce enough that a well-maintained specimen will at least hold its value and hopefully gain a bit. With only a couple of exceptions, all of mine are production knives, but being limited by available knife-buying funds, I watch for good deals on discontinued models rather than try to jump on limited runs. It could be that I never make a penny selling knives, but I'd like to hope that I couple recoup my "investment" if I ever lost interest or found myself in a bind.

So, anyway, I don't buy anything unless I'm interested in owning and keeping it, but there are some things I'm a bit more likely to buy in the first place if increased value seems likely.
 
My observations on the market and I'm certainly not an expert- The knife market is very cutthroat right now. There are scammers that really try hard to get rich by buying up Spyderco sprints and reselling them immediately after release for 50% profit. They make some money at it but can't get rich doing it. There are a good number of online knife retailers that compete with each other. They probably do well enough but they are in a small margin business with low pricing to compete and a lot of inventory to maintain. There may be a way to find a niche and sell in it, I notice that some brands sell at high prices so if you have an in at the factory you might do better than average. I think the only way you can do well at selling expensive knives is if you can get models that are in demand due to long waiting times and sell them to someone that wants a knife quicker.

I have a friend that sells at gun shows. He brings a modest selection of good brand knives and he also has a website. Even though I am in a big metropolitan area we have very few stores where you can see or buy a good knife. I don't know how much business my friend does but at least he brings good knives to a public that has few other options.
 
Can you make some cash rebaying knives? sure. But you wont make many friends doing it. IMHO you are either a collector or a dealer. People will notice if all you are doing is posing a new knife day post and then a day later its in the exchange. I know a few guys on other forums who developed a reputation for only being members to take advantage of the relaxed selling rules. They would buy a knife if they saw it for sale really cheap and on that very forum they were making for sale threads with a higher price before they even had it in hand to confirm its condition. Now dont get me wrong I totally respect free enterprise. You have the right to buy a knife and sell it at a profit. But I dont think its polite by any means. I have had plenty of opportunities to buy for the sole purpose of flipping for a profit but I dont do it. I have made a profit on a few but it was never my intentions to buy it for that purpose. It just happened to bring in more than I expected at auction. But these guys who have absolutely no interest in acquiring knives except to turn a profit? It doesnt bother me if they proclaim this as their intentions. Its the guys who arent actual dealers who sit and stalk the for sale threads waiting for a deal to come along just so they can nab it from someone who could really have used that opportunity to get the knife they wanted at a decent price and then resell it as soon as they have a tracking number. Either way even though it can be done knives are poor investments. And I would always look at it as a slight gamble.
 
Personally, I won't own knives for the sole purpose of reselling. I buy knives that I like and will probably continue to like. If those knives so happen to increase in value over time and I make some money by selling them, then I'm cool with that. If I lose money on a knife that I enjoyed I'm ok with that too.
My advice to you, is to not make your favorite hobby a full time job. Unless you want to pursure being the next BladeHq, I'd avoid trying to become a small time dealer.
 
The only way you could reliably make money from knife resale other than becoming a dealer would be to attend knife shows and win the lotteries for custom knifemakers' knives and then sell them at a 200%+ markup. That's assuming you won the lotteries, and people will also resent you if you do this.
 
The balisong game is real a great example of this .

Guys but a new alpha beast for $370, and resell for up to $700 when they are sold out.

Replicants are going for up to $450, when new they are $270

Look at the old benchmade 4x series.
Years ago they were less than two hundred bucks. Now a mint 47 costs $700

Crazy.

I agree with the above post, that sure you can make the money if you know the market, but your not going to make friends
 
My experience has been this. If you want to get $10,000 selling knives, first purchase $12,000 worth of knives here on the Forum and then resell them all.:)
 
You can but you t have a very very very good knowledge base of who's hot and who's not. Then you need a pile of cash, a pile of luck and go to shows. But its not a way to make a living.

Over my lifetime buying and selling, I've probably broke even or am a little in the positive. For every knife you make 100-200 bucks profit on, there are 3 or 4 where you lost money. That being said, my three most valuable knives are still in my collection and unlikely to be sold so I will likely never realize the potential $4000+ in pure profit those three knives represent. That's also part of the reason why secondary prices are high on a lot of maker's knives, people still keep them despite the high resale potential.
 
I was just talking with someone this weekend about this type of market, but with guns. I think the same holds true to a certain extent with knives. Several years ago, this gentleman did a lot of buying a reselling of guns and made a good chunk of change doing it. He's extremely knowledgeable, so when he walks into a show he knows what he's looking at and what it's worth. Years ago, that was priceless as many people did not. He could snatch up a good deal and often flip it during that very same show for a solid profit, just because he knew what he had and what it was worth. However, with the advent of smartphones, people have the world at their fingertips with regard to pricing, value, reviews, etc. and therefore that knowledge base my friend has is not such a rarity anymore.

I'm sure there's something to be said for knives as well. Sure it can be done, but it's going to be a lot more difficult to make good money on it than perhaps it once was.
 
I've yet to sale a knife for profit, but you definitely can make some money with high-end knives. You just won't be able to do it for a long-time before you get blacklisted.
Makers do not like you getting a knife from them & then turning around and flipping it for a ridiculous price. If they were going to charge that much, they would of sold it to you for that price.

Knife collectors also don't like getting gouged and will eventually stop dealing with you. For instance, I had an opportunity to buy a custom knife from one of the best makers on the planet for $2500 at a show. He had made me a knife before & it just so happened I saw him at a show and he wanted to hook me up for something I had did for him. When I saw the knife, it really wasn't my style so I passed. He decided to put it up as a lottery. The guy that won it was a "flipper". He knew I was a big collector of this knife and emailed saying "hey bro, I want to do you a solid and offer you this knife I just got, $5000, its a steal". That pretty much ended any communications & dealings I will have with this guy. I also contacted the maker & other makers I know about him. He has been blacklisted by some of these makers.

Most of us that collect high-end customs are not "throwing money around" or dumbasses. We have a passion for knife collecting. I love seeing people getting their dream knives, it inspires all of us. Can you? hell yeah, its a part of a free market. Should you? not if you want to be a part of the community for long.
 
I never sell knives but I have noticed that most of them go down in price if they are not direct from the maker. I look for knives from the makers here on BF that the original buyer has had buyers remorse.
 
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