Unexplained ebay phenomenon...
So I have a dealer exclusive knife up for sale. It is even used, and you can still buy it from the dealer for $169. With a couple hours to go it is at $182, and will not be shocked if it gets to $200 maybe more.
You can literally buy it new for $169.
I had another dealer exclusive on a relatively cheap knife, I bought if for $39 and you could still buy it from the dealer at that time. It sold for over $100.
I even included the dealers they were exclusives for...
Makes no sense.
Sometimes I know people use a broker/proxy to buy knives, when dealers will not ship internationally. Maybe that is the case? If not... Makes no sense.
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Bidding wars are always nice. I've had it happen a few times, $20 item sells for $1200+
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You guys know that I watch the second hand markets pretty well. The bay being probably the one I watch the most. What I'm noticing beside I very high influx of counterfeits is a trend where Benchmade Exclusives, Limited Editions and Discontinueds are fetching almost ridiculous amounts. Many of them starting at the actual retail price of the knife and then watching as they go $100- $300 over. And as you mention Mark knives that you can still get at the dealer that BMC made the exclusive for! It is truly phenomenonal! Definitely a good time to go sell those LEs and Exs that you have dups of!
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I just got to thinking about this subject again while out checking the bay and noticed that ole jmeyer just dropped a number of collector knives with his standard overpriced madness. I can't help but think, that as we've discussed before, that this would probably happen as other sellers follow his lead. Makes me just shake my head and hope that the dominos fall when it comes to this crazy pricing especially when it comes to models that are still available from online dealers at retail or MAP.
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Starting price of $494.00.
Proof in the pudding of markg's post. I paid half that for both of mine less than a year ago.
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Love that one.. but not that much.
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I have a couple of theories...
There are many shops that will not ship internationally, and many ebay sellers who will not ship out of the USA. There are folks who will buy as a proxy for a buyer and then ship it internationally for them. Since this is the only way they have to access the knife they are willing to spend considerably more for the item.
Second, there are people who are Paypal only buyers. Paypal will not do work with many knife retailers (they will for some) however in general they will not allow them to use the service. There are guys who have a ton of funds in Paypal and eBay is one way to get knives and use Paypal. Maybe they are hiding funds and purchases from a spouse this way. Since options are limited they are willing to overpay.
Third, there is a strange eCommerce trend I have seen. There are people who will only buy something on Amazon and only Amazon. There are folks who will only buy on eBay. I know they could go to the original dealer and pay a faction of the cost but they just won't do it.
And lastly, it is a sellers market for everything right now. Houses, guns, knives, etc. I have walked into my local gun store and sold firearms at what I paid for them. A used gun and I get full retail. Normally they will offer 50% of what they will put it out for, not at the moment. If you have stuff to sell, do it now.
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Don't forget about the ones who have trouble with Caveat emptor or sobriety
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[@mention:589599268366343161] posted:
Don't forget about the ones who have trouble with Caveat emptor or sobriety
True, however most drunk bidders seem to end up non paying winners.
Or they send you an email asking you to cancel their bid because of some sob story.
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Interesting question...
I was told long ago from a pawn store manager that a quick and dirty way to check market prices on an item was to look at the completed auction prices on ebay. I just did a quick ebay search for a BM model that came up with prices ranging all over the place.
I did notice that some of the sales were "best offer accepted." This might give the seller more control over the price... not always a good thing, and makes it harder for me to assess the typical valuation of similar items.
I also don't know how scams, fakes, stolen items, etc. might figure into a sellers strategy.
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[@mention:589599268366293806] posted:
Interesting question...
I was told long ago from a pawn store manager that a quick and dirty way to check market prices on an item was to look at the completed auction prices on ebay. I just did a quick ebay search for a BM model that came up with prices ranging all over the place.
I did notice that some of the sales were "best offer accepted." This might give the seller more control over the price... not always a good thing, and makes it harder for me to assess the typical valuation of similar items.
I also don't know how scams, fakes, stolen items, etc. might figure into a sellers strategy.
"Offers" don't help the seller control the price, it will just help them get a sale, or get one more quickly. Some dealers use it to skirt MAP pricing. They will list at MAP but will take offers below MAP. This is a violation of your dealer agreement and they do have people looking out for it, or another dealer will turn you in. If you also know what you want for an item you can set up what an acceptable offer would be. Frankly I turn off offers when I sell something, they are a pain in the butt. You set a lowest offer accepted price with ebay and then you get notified if a seller is offering at that or above.
To control your selling price you need to set a reserve. High reserves limit bidding on your item however. If you are willing to take a gamble, then set your opening price really low and watch the bidding war start. Once people start bidding they will often pay way more than they wanted, or even what it is worth because they want to "win."
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Ouch!
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I have an alternate theory about these ridiculous prices.. what if US currency is just losing value? As in, inflation is here and it's just going to take more dollars to get something bought than it used to? I'm not trying to scare anyone, but the idea makes more sense to me than other thoughts I have seen floated. We have seen it with lumber and used vehicle prices (especially pickups) and a number of other goods. Maybe it carries over to collectibles as well.
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[@mention:589599268365959589] posted:
I have an alternate theory about these ridiculous prices.. what if US currency is just losing value? As in, inflation is here and it's just going to take more dollars to get something bought than it used to? I'm not trying to scare anyone, but the idea makes more sense to me than other thoughts I have seen floated. We have seen it with lumber and used vehicle prices (especially pickups) and a number of other goods. Maybe it carries over to collectibles as well.
Not sure that would apply to collectables per say. However the currency issue might carry some weight. There are a lot of people who use a proxy to get stuff shipped internationally. They get a US buyer to buy the item on their behalf and the buyer then ships it to them. If they happen to be using a currency that is strong against the dollar than they have more purchasing power.
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