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Recommendation? New Guys Selling and Trading on BF?

Would you buy any knife over $100.00 form a brand new member with zero feedback?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 69 56.1%
  • No

    Votes: 54 43.9%

  • Total voters
    123
Sell - Maybe. Hmmm. Never know who the guy is on the other end and what he's up to without a track record.
As someone else mentioned, a new member buying used knives on here has most likely bought used items elsewhere before - usually, Ebay. I've sold ~$1,000 knives on here to new members, after confirming they have long-standing Ebay accounts with 100% feedback over hundreds of transactions. And, by confirming, I mean messaging them on Ebay to make sure it's actually them. All of those sales went perfectly smoothly.

If a new member wants to buy a knife, and they can't (or won't) provide references to accounts with solid standing on other sites, then I get suspicious. It'd be odd for someone's first foray into the world of used items to be on BladeForums.

As for trading, as others have mentioned, stay away unless the other person has a very strong reputation. I've only traded less than a dozen times, and I've gotten burned twice - both with new-ish members.
 
So as not to skew your poll data, I am not going to vote.

$100 is way out of my price range, so I won't buy a knife that costs that much from anyone, be it from an individual or a store.
:rolleyes: I probably shouldn't speak for the OP, but I think the point of saying $100 dollars is: that's sort of the average amount of money most people start to feel cautious about risking. If your dollar amount is lower, that's fine, some other folks wouldn't feel much stress about losing twice that.

I don't buy, sell, or trade much, but I have done all three. I'm certainly more cautious dealing with someone who doesn't have any presence in discussion threads. As has been said, I don't worry much when buying with G&S, am more nervous to sell or trade.

It'd be odd for someone's first foray into the world of used items to be on BladeForums.
Mine was, at least for online stuff. :oops: Bladeforums is the only social media I do, and only recently started an ebay account for buying. Haven't figured out how to sell yet. I'm an old Luddite. ;)
 
Somewhat related subject.
I guess it would hinder a new seller more, but I think a buyer is more likely to leave feedback for the seller than a seller is for a buyer. I’ve had about 8 transactions as a buyer and have only received 4 feedbacks.

Same here. Pretty sure I have left feedback for all of my purchases, but have not received any feedback as a buyer, only as a seller. And even then, think only about half of the buyers have left feedback.
 
I'm pretty new here. If I were dealing with myself, I'd buy from myself using G&S. I'd probably sell using G&S to myself unless it seemed like a suspiciously good deal.

I don't think I'd trade with myself. If I absolutely wanted to trade, I think I'd seek out a well established member. As a newer member, I would likely insist that I send my item first, let them check it out, and then ask them to send their item once/if they were happy.

It never occurred to me until I saw this thread, but has anyone that traded ever considered or heard of both sides paying each other using G&S? That'd make it a sort of double sale where both sides would have some protection if anything went wrong. Both sides would be out the G&S fees, but it'd be a little bit of insurance for dealing with a member with an unknown history.
 
Goods and Services. Though after a few hundred bucks i'd have to think more about it. And as mentioned about, the use of the term vouches might make me cringe hard enough that i'd rethink the deal.
 
has anyone that traded ever considered or heard of both sides paying each other using G&S? That'd make it a sort of double sale where both sides would have some protection if anything went wrong. Both sides would be out the G&S fees, but it'd be a little bit of insurance for dealing with a member with an unknown history.

This concept has been mentioned in the past but I haven’t done it and not sure about everyone else. It’s a better concept than worrying about a 3rd party being the go-between.
 
I would with Paypal G&S as mentioned many times previously.

I have only done one trade here that I remember, and that was with a long-time member with prolific feedback.

The other wrinkle that I have had to consider is the long-time member with zero feedback and almost no posts in years. I had a person here purchase a moderately expensive Busse from me and this fine member was in the aforementioned category.

The sale worked out just perfectly, but I did have to do some soul-searching when I was sending out that package.

best

mqqqn
 
Has anyone noticed an influx of new 'members' on the for sale and trade threads?

I feel like i have and I'm not sure what to think of it. On one hand, I'm glad we're bringing new members to the group. On the other hand, it's hard to tell if they can be trusted yet since they are brand new with no history and zero to few trade ratings.
I guess we all had to have a first sale or trade to get started but i remember starting with a gold or knifemaker membership.
I've seen some good deals on knives and the prices were not unrealistically low nor were they online secondary market outrageous either.
I was just hesitant to pull the trigger on $150 to buy a knife from a member who just started here last month.
I had one guy tell me he joined last month just to sell his knife.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Depends on several factors for me. I prefer a person who has been a member a little while and participates in the community outside of the exchange
 
Depends on several factors for me. I prefer a person who has been a member a little while and participates in the community outside of the exchange

Absolutely agree. Most of the buying and selling I’ve done here has been through PM’S with people I’ve interacted with and became friends with. I’ll also look at the WTB forum to see if I’ve got anything someone is looking for. That gives me time to see how active someone is in the community.
I guess I’m over the gotta have it now phase and would prefer to buy/sell without it being a pain in the butt.
 
I like to look and see where a member has been active on BF. If they are a genuine knife enthusiast or simply a trader/dealer using BF as a vehicle for sales.

Whenever I see a deal going south on GBU I always look at the forum post counts and often I find that the problem eminates with someone who has obviously joined BF only to trade/deal. They have zero interest in interacting with the community apart from the sale/purchase.
In the past we have also had people like this gouging vulnerable members in a purchase and then putting those same knives back up for sale at a huge profit.

If a new active member on the Busse forum posted a high Dollar knife for sale and I wanted it I would definitely go ahead. But if that same knife was for sale from someone with almost no posts anywhere except the sales forums.......no chance.
 
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Perfect example on the Exchange (fixed) right now...$9500 and only 5 posts. No idea if the price is reasonable for what it is, but doubt many would be willing to take the chance.
 
Perfect example on the Exchange (fixed) right now...$9500 and only 5 posts. No idea if the price is reasonable for what it is, but doubt many would be willing to take the chance.
That and the guy doesn't know how to post images. Sorry, but I can't trust someone via an internet sale if they don't even know how to use the internet.
 
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That and the guy doesn't know how to post images. Sorry, but I can't trust someone via an internet sale if they don't even know how to use the internet.
There are a lot of senior guys out there that have some older mint collections that never use the internet and they are stand up guys. I know how to post images but hardly ever do it and I have a reasonable collection. I have never sold on the exchange and have only purchased a few on the exchange. My entire GEC collection is almost all new in tube knives purchased from retailers.
 
I guess that guy with 12 posts flipping limited run PM2s at 100% markup would slot right in here.
 
I notice most (not all) new guys tend to price their knives higher than seasoned BF members, sometimes much higher (flippers?).

To the OP question, I am in full agreement with what craytab said.
 
I might buy a $100+ knife from a brand new member, but as has been briefly mentioned already, if said new member appears to be a flipper, I won't buy regardless of price or trustworthiness of the individual. Even if they don't appear to be a flipper per se, if they contribute basically nothing to the community at large (i.e., only here to sell their wares), they can sell to someone else.
 
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