Ebay charges 10%, and PP charges 2.9% + .30. With a bid of $746.51, it comes to $649.91 after fees, a difference of 9 cents less. I never said I could go $750 outside Ebay. I said I could make a second chance offer to the second highest bidder on the first auction at $746.51. As a collector and a buyer, I realize a person would rather save $100. As a seller, with everything else being equal, I'd rather go through Ebay and PP. First, you supposedly get some fraud protection for both parties. I understand the merits of that protection could be debated. Second, if someone is disgruntled with me, they could report me to Ebay and I could lose my ability to sell. The same thing could happen to a buyer. A collector could lose the ability to bid on Ebay, at least for a period of time. After all, this is an open forum we're having this discussion on... Enough about fees vs. offers.
Collecting is about chasing something you like. Sometimes it can be frustrating. I took some of the fun out of it by the way I approached the second auction. I realize that. But talking trash about a seller and encouraging others not to bid on an item in a public forum is not cool. I should've just extended the second chance offer. Then no one else would've had a chance to bid on the second one and we wouldn't have this discussion thread.
For what it's worth, I think Poolhustler is right about the origins of the Purple Blurs. I was a knife dealer in 2003. Matthews Cutlery was one of my suppliers. We could only order two from Matthews. The next time we tried to order from them they said they were no longer available. Since we couldn't get any more, those two went right on our collection. I have no idea how many were made. I have no idea what kind of stainless steel the blade is. I assume the same as the other blurs made at the time. Kershaw hadn't started using many exotic blade steels, yet. The knives are not fake.
Now, also like Poolhustler, I'm tired of talking about Purple Blurs. My troubled auction ends in approx 24 hours. I have nothing else to say on the topic.