I always see a few makers that use ebay quite often. Does anyobe here use it regularly and do you get the prices you want for your knives?

Who are making a so called living that way. Brad Duncan seems to be one such. Sells all his knives for $500 each. Unfortunately I also see them on the after market for about $250.00 so who knows?



Peace
Paul Vandine
Custom Knife Purveyor

Circle P Knives (http://www.circlepknives.com)

Bob, good question. I have been wonering the same thing.

It appears to me that ebay knives are consistently undervalued.

I was contemplating making a few and posting there to see what happens anyway.

I have looked at a few knives on Ebay, the only ones i bid for are cheap!
There are some nice pieces of Damascus out there but in general I think that trading on Ebay might have the effect of cheapening a maker's reputation. That's a comment which could get me shot in some states i'm sure :) so I'm glad to be the Right Side of the Pond!

There is the undervalue aspect too. Suppose a maker lists a knife on his website for $300 and also puts it up on Ebay and it sells for $200. Will anyone then buy a knife from him for $300? No, they'll try to buy at $200 .... so all his hard work has gone for less than it deserves. Assuming he could command $300 in the first place.

Something of a ramble I know....

Roger

Darn good question ...

In the auction buying business, the goal is to lowball the prices initially.

I would love to see where the market stands on the effect of this type of service.

Nice one Bob!

Alex

Roger has a point there about valuation on EBay. If you get the reputation of charging different prices for the same product or even similar product the customer who paid the higher price will begin to feel cheated. About the only way you can do business on EBay is to create a product line which is sold ONLY on EBay, in my opinion at least.

The some reason, price stability, is one reason for not getting a reputation of haggling over the price of a knife, the fellow who paid full price or cose to it will feel cheated if his buddy gets the same product at a lower price.

If any of my knives show up on ebay, it won't be because I put them out there. I think it's a fine venue for aftermarket sales, but I agree with the sentiment that it cheapens a maker to put his own work out there.

With places on the net like CirclePKnives,CKD,free web sites,and all the links that can be had for the asking,I personally would note use E-Bay.I have several friends that are already set up to sale on there ,but have declined all offers for the very reasons stated above.

Just my 2 cent$

I watch Custom Knives on Ebay closely and have seldom seen a fine Custom knife sell for what I would consider a great price. Conversely, if I change my collecting interests or if I need money for knife making equipment I will SELL some of my collection on Ebay and have had success in doing so.

In my experience when tracking the number of Hits on my Auctions I have found that I normally receive approx 40 Hits (just Looking) for each Bid. I think most folks use Ebay as a Shopping Mall, they wander around their favorite Shops (or Areas) to see if anything catches their eye. In my opinion few serious collectors shop Ebay.

There are several fairly well known Makers that sell on Ebay periodically and I have noticed that some of these will sell their knives much less than what their Website prices list (if they have a site). On the other hand, most Makers that I see selling on Ebay list their pieces for exactly what you would normally pay from them.

Like any other upscale commodity, Custom Knives will always have an aftermarket whether it is via Ebay, Gun & Knife Shows, Second Hand Purveyors, etc. But.. if the question is should a Knife Maker sell via Ebay..... I personally don't think so. It just doesn't fit into the equation of creating a Demand for your Product. Just my $0.02

i sell almost all of my knives there, Granted they do go for less than i would like but ebay is the only outlet i have right know. I am trying to find a person to make me up a web page and maybe that might happen sometime down the road but for the moment that's all i have and at least they are selling and getting my name out there and i am only a partime maker so i really dont have to worry about getting top dollar...at least for now :)

Paul Vandine at www.circlepknives (http://www.circlepknives) can probablt help you sell your knives and put your name out there too.You will be listed with other makers.Don't know what you are getting at EBAY , but what I have seen of you work you are good and hould probably get more than you already are.
As for the web sites there are some easy ,free ones out there to get you started.If nothing else they will give you an idea of what you want yours to look like when you have one built professional.

I don't mean to ruffle feathers,but isn't E-bay a big electronic flea market? I do not have any experience myself selling there,but I have customers that do sell there.I think E-bay shoppers are looking for bargains not sales.
The only thing I have heard is that the prices are less than they should be.Again,I don't know.

eBay does have it's uses, but I cringe when I see a maker selling his off the bench stuff there exclusively. It says something to me at least. For a person to auction of his work and accept what the for the most part, are people who are not really knowledgable about custom knives. I see makers who start out low with no rserve. They get burned. But if you set your reserve to what you want for the knife(ves) people seldom get to the reserve, so you pay for the listing, and try again.

I would say if I maker wanted to sell one as a test to see what people think of their work, great. But to do it exclusively to me demeans the person's art and craft. As someone said earlier, there are places you can show your work that is not prohibitive costwise.

As a member of the Atlanta Auto Auction, I can tell you this ...

1. When buying, I go to the sale to try to steal cars, so to speak.

2. If selling, I'm there to get out of a piece that won't sell, so I steal on that will.

Art auctions are a little different, but e-bay is not "Southerby's", it's a "Steal/Liquidate" type of environment.

If you need to move work, and you want to do it consistantly, there are better and more cost effective ways.

Alex

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Yep, I hate to do it, but when I need the cash, E-bay usually comes through. The advantage is that you have a definite day by which you know if you have sold something. The price you pay is that the knives seem to consistently sell for less than they should.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp I don't think that a customer is going to feel "cheated," if they find out a buddy got a knife for less- after all, an auction is all about the fluctuating price, but I do agree that it starts to undercut their value.
&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Bottom line for me is, I need the bucks. I love what I do and I hate working for others. I'll do whatever it takes! E-bay is a last resort and a decent way to start selling online. Honestly I have made only a few sales off of my web-site as I do not have the funds to advertise heavily. Some link exchanges do seem to help, and I just know that Alex will come through with a sale for me here anyday! ;-)

-Jonathan A. Loose
www.jloose.com (http://www.jloose.com)