Divesting from collecting Spyderco's - question on moving collectible models

[EricJohn]

Hello All,

I used to spend tons of time on this forum and I built up quite a collection of rare Spyderco's. However over the past few years, I have been doing the "responsible adult thing" and got married, bought a house and had a baby. I have not really devoted any time to the hobby of collecting rare Spyderco's so I sold off a number of those which were not as rare and now I am left with a few of the more rare knives.

My question is what is the best way to sell the few remaining knives I possess? I can't recall if there is a classifieds section on this site, but I don't believe they have one. I have sold some knives on eBay, and that may be the place to do so, but I thought I'd check with you all first.

Thanks,

John

[Drahkis]

You are correct that there is no buying or selling on this forum, eBay is definitely an option as are other forums with buy/sell/trade sections. You could always try craigslist but for a rare spydie you'll have to hope someone like us sees it!

Good luck.

[jalcon]

Bladeforums b/s/t

[Tubpbs]

I would go the eBay route...

And I think the above reply means to say there is NO buying and selling on here...

[Clip]

Bladeforums BST gets a heck of a lot of traffic.

[Halfneck]

Personally when I am selling a knife I put it up on the various knife forums & ebay. More exposure equals more potential buyers. That said, I find the knife forums to be less of a hassle in selling knives. The buyers are knife people, and generally you don't have to worry about getting scammed as much.

[Holland]

bladeforums is your best bet, i would avoid fleabay, may get a higher selling price (not guaranteed) but the fees are very high, so from my experience, not worth it.

[xceptnl]

bladeforums is your best bet, i would avoid fleabay, may get a higher selling price (not guaranteed) but the fees are very high, so from my experience, not worth it.

This ^^^

[Blerv]

The times I've had to sell, even after fees, eBay has given me the best returns. As with everything I would do a bit of research but an educated secondary market should be decent at setting price for your knives. It only takes two bidders who know what they are buying to get things off on the right foot.

[mikerestivo]

I have sold a few Spyderco knives via Ebay over the past month. I had to make some painful choices as I am also married, with kids, and I am trying to scrape together some money for a new bike frame. Selling my gray PM2 sprint about made me cry, along with my CF Dodo sprint - they were among my favorites and I enjoyed using/carrying them both. I still have a small stable of good knives left, thankfully.

I agree with Blake - Ebay has given me the best sales in terms of dollars, but the fees are a bummer, with Paypal fees on top.

I have used Bladeforums and CandlePowerForums before with success.

Paul ("The Deacon") gave some great advice about Ebay on this forum some years ago that I have used: I always use auction formats and start the bidding at $.99. This lets the market determine the price and encourages folks to get involved in watching or bidding. Sometimes this sets off a bidding competition that really becomes active.

I usually try and project what I think something will sell for on Ebay before I list, and about 85% of the time the sale exceeds my expectation. It gets knocked back a bit after fees, but sometimes folks will pay more for something than I would myself, and this is good from a seller's standpoint. Most often I don't make a profit, but most times I don't lose too much either. Resale value on Spyderco knives is great. There are not many hobbies where you can buy something, use it, and then later sell it and not take a huge loss.

[Fancier]

It kind of depends on how good you are at writing ad copy and taking photos whether your auction works.

[twinboysdad]

I always anticipate the OP getting a bunch of PM's after a post like this...

[RadioactiveSpyder]

I always anticipate the OP getting a bunch of PM's after a post like this...

They smell the blood in the water...

[mikerestivo]

It kind of depends on how good you are at writing ad copy and taking photos whether your auction works.

OR you could cut and paste someone else's auction text into your own, like some dude did to me once.

The guy stole the complete text of my auction, font and all, and put it into his own auction for the same knife - at the same time mine was still running. After a somewhat heated exchange via Ebay messaging, I think he got my point - I don't care if you copy my text, but have the decency to wait until my auction is over before competing with me.

[bengaiser]

It kind of depends on how good you are at writing ad copy and taking photos whether your auction works.

For the truly rare Spyderco models, I would say having a professional listing doesn't matter quite so much. The majority of the "rare" items listed on eBay are actually far from it.

As long as the item is described well, has decent pictures and you answer questions promptly, the people bidding on these items already know exactly what they are. They just need the details of the one listed.

[EricJohn]

Thanks all- I am going to give Bladeforums BST a try. There are only three knives left in the collection I'm looking to move, so the list isn't comprehensive to speak of.

-John

[euphorbioid]

As a collector I much prefer buying from a Bladeforums listing. I think there is much more honesty there than ebay. I find listings that include the exact model number in the title and a pic of the box label, if you have it, to be very helpful. Good luck.

[VeloWeave]

I have used only eBay or The Cove. You can figure giving up about 20% after shipping and fees on eBay but then again I've always gotten a better price on ebay so maybe it's close to a wash. Never tried Bladeforums.

[jalcon]

Selling on ebay is typically about 13% of fees. Between payal/ebay.

[VeloWeave]

yeah true but I was factoring in shipping as well as fees.