The News from ElephantToenails.com

 As I shared with you in my last post- you know the one about the many branches of the tree trunk, my interest in bringing knife news and interesting tidbits to knife collectors has branched out. I have published a new weblog called Cutlery News Journal. 

You guys have supported me greatly here at The News and I appreciate the encouragement expressed to me in this effort. One thing I have learned during that time is while I have a tremendous interest in all things related to elephant toenails, I have experienced a growing interest in knives and cutlery history on a broader scale.

The Cutlery News Journal will provide me an avenue to share with all collectors, of all types of knives, news relating to all of knife collecting. You know I have worked very hard to keep The News as toenail specific as possible. I have intentionally passed up on other topics in an effort to stay true to my original goal here at The News. 

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In the recent series of What determines Price in Part II we looked at how the price paid for a particular knife doesn’t always reflect the market value of that knife due to either an over-motivated buyer or seller.

Now in this final installment I want to examine these sales approaches (alternatives) from a price perspective. I know there are other factors and we examined those in What is the best approach to sale for you individually based on your personal criteria. Then in Part two- Sales Alternatives we looked at the pros and cons of the different sales approaches.

The question before us now is- “Are there times the method used actually affects the price (the outcome)?” I’m talking something like a glitch or problem with the system itself that would affect the results.

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This is Part II of our topic of “What is the best approach to use to sell your collection?” In Part I we looked at questions to ask yourself. These questions are pointers to help determine which approach best fits your needs, now I want to look at the pros and cons of the different approaches.

In general, a knife is only worth what someone is willing to pay. We must ask ourselves what factors/set of circumstances can I create to create the ultimate buying environment so that when that “offer” comes in it is the maximum offer I could/can expect.

As both an auctioneer and a knife collector, I have been asked on numerous occasions which is more advantageous to sell through, the auction method, or the one-on-one negotiated sales approach. This question typically then leads to online auction, such as eBay compared to the traditional live auction format.

To look into the answers involved here we examine several aspects; first, we must examine each method’s pros and cons. (more…)