The Importance of Sales Source

By Prof. Roland Phlip

Why does the Market Watch Page indicate the venue for the sale?

Because collectible balisongs are not a commodity item. There is no fixed price. Each sale helps determine the value a specific model or type of knife. What we're trying to do here is arrive at a general agreement of what each knife is worth.

The price set in a private transaction is the value assigned to that knife by two people, the buyer and the seller. These can vary widely.

The price set in on of the for sale forums is a bit more valid, but these generally work on a first-to-ask-sold basis. If the seller values the knife to low and astute buyer sees the post quickly, then the knife will be sold to low. Another buyer may come along a few hours later and offer more for the knife, but it is already sold. So, the value is often set to low. On the other hand, if the seller posts the knife to high, but one silly buyer decides he wants it that bad, then it may sell above what the general consensus of the knife's worth would be.

Catalog sales are generally at a fixed price. Hopefully, the appraiser who prepared the catalog knows what he's doing.

Shows are nice, but the number of buyers who come can be limited.

Online auctions are a bit more valid, and certainly can involve the most people. The www in a URL stands for World Wide Web -- world wide. But, there's lots of games that savvy buyers play on these auctions. The fact that the auction ends at a specific time means that another bidder who might bid higher can get cut off at the buzzer.

A live auction is the best if good buyers are there. In a live auction, the buyers are allowed to bid against each other until the last bid is heard. But, sometimes they're poorly attended.

Recently, we've added a new source code for balisongs sold by The Balisong Collector's Shameless Commerce Division . The Balisong Collector Himself in consultation with the experts and authorities here at The Institute for Advanced Baliosong Studies personally inspected all of the balisongs sold by the SCD. He set the grades based on a strict application of the definitions given on the Market Watch page . He writes the descriptions. And he set the prices. So, depending on what you think of him and his opinions, you can weigh those sales accordingly as you consider the value of any similar knives you may have.

So, when considering the results presented on the Market Watch pages, you have to decide how much to weigh each venue as you interpret the results to decide how a similar balisong is worth.