Knife Purchase Ethics Question

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Say you went to a flea market, and saw someone selling an extremely rare, and valuable Spyderco knife (example: Say an original model Mariner, Police, or Worker, or a later one you really want) at a ridiculously low price, say, 30-40 dollars, or 20 dollars, and it was even in decent condition. Like a Spyderhawk for 30 dollars.

Would you buy it immediately, and ask no questions, or, would you be curious and ask the seller as to why they are selling such a rare and potentially expensive knife at such a low price, and perhaps take the risk of them saying "Wow, now I need to charge you more for it, since it is worth so much more." Has anyone here ever come close to such a situation happening and what is the best balance between getting yourself a great deal like that, and not feeling bad that the seller could have or should have received more for such a knife?

I once had a similar situation: I went to such a large flea market and a man was selling an original Normark folding knife for something like 15 dollars. He had other knives, and some really good ones, too, like American-made Old Timers and Case folders, and the Normark was worth more, at least in my eyes. I told him I was glad to see that knife for that price and he told me he could sell it for twice that much but because he could tell I am into knives he would sell it to me for fifteen bucks. I thanked him greatly and was on cloud nine for quite some time with that purchase.

[remnar]

I have never been in that situation but I have paid more than I should have simply because It was more convenient to buy it on the spot than to look or wait for the better deal.

If your question is about buying something at an unbelievably low price from an ignorant seller, then I would say that there is nothing unethical about it.

[Malfeasant]

I'd say try to bargain and see how low you can get them to go. :)

[The Deacon]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

[tvenuto]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

The Deacon is my honorary grandfather, and you should always listen to your grandfather. (I'm not saying he's old enough to be my grandfather)

That being said, I would certainly use context clues to try and discern whether or not the item was stolen. I don't really go to flea markets, though, so this isn't a situation I'm likely to encounter often.

[twinboysdad]

The few RARE times this happened to me, I paid what was asked and said nothing. I also say nothing when I pay more than internet price at the brick and mortar. Win some, lose some. Now I think "practically stealing" a blade that you only intend to flip is kind of douchie

[chaps]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

^^^^ This. Had a widow ask me to clean out her husbands shooting shed, hadn't been opened for 8 years since he passed. She said she just wanted to throw it all away but I could keep all I wanted. Opened the door and when I say this guy was a serious firearms enthusiast, I wouldn't do it justice. The value of the items in that shed was ... well a lot. It took several months of evenings and weekends, but I helped her sell most of it at good prices to other enthusiasts that knew her husband, or donate it to some institutions he founded in his name, and she came out with a very nice nest egg that she hadn't expected. She didn't know what she had, and would've been happy just to see it gone, but knowing its worth I couldn't let that happen. I bought some of it, and she gave me some as well. I would like to think someone will do that for my wife after I'm gone.

[TheKnifeCollector]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

This. Always.

[Bodog]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

I so badly want to agree but I can't. That statement essentially says it's ok for women to be stupid/ignorant and the man in shining armor will save her from her own stupidity whereas a man deserves to get shafted if he doesn't guard against you.

I say just be a decent person. Nothing wrong with getting a good deal but if some innocent person is really screwing up I'll help them, man or woman.

And yes, I do expect a woman to be as intelligent and capable at pricing something as a man. I'd consider myself a generally chivalrous guy but I won't give a woman a free pass that I wouldn't give to a man when it comes to business. They demanded equality and they deserve it. The bad along with the good.

Little old woman selling her deceased husbands guns probably deserves some slack, the same thing applies to a little old man selling his deceased wife's sewing equipment (or guns if she was into them and he wasn't).

But then again, I'm against affirmative action, too. I believe it's a program that essentially says black people aren't good enough to earn something without help whereas white people are. At one time it was well intentioned. Now it's systematic racism. Not against white people, against those who seek it's benefits.

[The Deacon]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

I so badly want to agree but I can't. That statement essentially says it's ok for women to be stupid/ignorant and the man in shining armor will save her from her own stupidity whereas a man deserves to get shafted if he doesn't guard against you.

I say just be a decent person. Nothing wrong with getting a good deal but if some innocent person is really screwing up I'll help them, man or woman.

And yes, I do expect a woman to be as intelligent and capable at pricing something as a man. I'd consider myself a generally chivalrous guy but I won't give a woman a free pass that I wouldn't give to a man when it comes to business. They demanded equality and they deserve it. The bad along with the good.

Little old woman selling her deceased husbands guns probably deserves some slack, the same thing applies to a little old man selling his deceased wife's sewing equipment (or guns if she was into them and he wasn't).

But then again, I'm against affirmative action, too. I believe it's a program that essentially says black people aren't good enough to earn something without help whereas white people are. At one time it was well intentioned. Now it's systematic racism. Not against white people, against those who seek it's benefits.

I guess that's one way to look at it. Mine is that, for the things I'm likely to be interested in buying on the secondary market, women are less likely than men to be familiar with their value. How many times have you read of someone who keeps their wife in the dark as to what they paid for a knife? Same applies to guns, tools, cameras, and other "hobby" items. So yes, if by ignorant you mean unfamiliar, then a woman is more likely to be ignorant of the real value of these items. As for the sewing equipment, I would be as ignorant as the husband or more so.

[Bodog]

When it comes to buying things from individuals, I have a simple philosophy. Never cheat a woman by giving her less than what I honestly feel something is worth, and never insult a man by telling him he doesn't know the value of something he's selling.

I so badly want to agree but I can't. That statement essentially says it's ok for women to be stupid/ignorant and the man in shining armor will save her from her own stupidity whereas a man deserves to get shafted if he doesn't guard against you.

I say just be a decent person. Nothing wrong with getting a good deal but if some innocent person is really screwing up I'll help them, man or woman.

And yes, I do expect a woman to be as intelligent and capable at pricing something as a man. I'd consider myself a generally chivalrous guy but I won't give a woman a free pass that I wouldn't give to a man when it comes to business. They demanded equality and they deserve it. The bad along with the good.

Little old woman selling her deceased husbands guns probably deserves some slack, the same thing applies to a little old man selling his deceased wife's sewing equipment (or guns if she was into them and he wasn't).

But then again, I'm against affirmative action, too. I believe it's a program that essentially says black people aren't good enough to earn something without help whereas white people are. At one time it was well intentioned. Now it's systematic racism. Not against white people, against those who seek it's benefits.

I guess that's one way to look at it. Mine is that, for the things I'm likely to be interested in buying on the secondary market, women are less likely than men to be familiar with their value. How many times have you read of someone who keeps their wife in the dark as to what they paid for a knife? Same applies to guns, tools, cameras, and other "hobby" items. So yes, if by ignorant you mean unfamiliar, then a woman is more likely to be ignorant of the real value of these items. As for the sewing equipment, I would be as ignorant as the husband or more so.

There's a problem in the police forces throughout the US. It seems that the minorities applying for the job and taking the entrance tests have a hard time passing. White men generally score much, much higher than blacks, Hispanics, etc. There are too few Asians to take a good statistical sample. So what do they do? Demand the tests be made easier and then force departments to meet quotas of "brown" people. Same thing with women. They don't seem to be able to pass PT standards so they demand easier tests. Not for everyone, but for women alone.

All this does is tell women that it's ok to be weak, tells "brown" people it's ok to be stupid, and tells white men they will be offered no concessions. It's a systematic statement that white men ARE stronger and smarter than women and minority men. I don't believe that. I've seen women that can pass the same PT standards as men. They can smoke men on certain portions but they may be weak in other areas. That's why it's not just one specific physical test. Same with minority men. They're not any more or any less stupid than whites.

Blanket statements that discount the intelligence or physicality or ability to learn does a disservice to those people. It's sending our society into an irreversible tailspin. I get what you're saying about helping old women sell knives or guns or whatever, but is it REALLY about not cheating old women or is it more about just helping an innocently ignorant person of whatever sex? I genuinely hope it's just about helping any innocent person otherwise it's reverse sexism and says that women are too stupid to find a proper appraiser to sell their own stuff.

[tvenuto]

2 points:

The meaning of ignorant.
"Ignorant" is thrown around a lot nowadays, and people don't seem to know what it actually means. My daughter, who is 13 months old, is ignorant of the consequences of falling down the stairs, so she constantly tries to crawl down them. This is not her fault, she just doesn't know. I'm sure she will turn out to be a perfectly intelligent person, and her lack of knowledge in this area does not reflect on her intelligence. Ignorance is actually largely blameless, unless you mean willful ignorance, but that isn't built into the meaning of "ignorant" like most people seem to think it is. My own personal opinion on the cause of this incorrect connotation is actually that the word "ignorant" sounds ugly to say and thus seems like a bad thing to be, and thereby becomes a more biting insult than "dumb" or "stupid." (BTW: Deacon didn't go into it, but pointed out the correct meaning of ignorant, sans negative connotation, in his post)

Tests are not reality.
There is a very high likelihood that the tests white men score higher on were written by white men. It may not be readily apparent how the tests are biased in their favor, but as you correctly point out, the reason is not intelligence. It is an unfortunate fact that almost no human alive seems to understand proper testing, and this ignorance (tie-in!) is passed on from generation to generation. Since those in charge of the tests don't understand why their biases have been inserted, they merely make the test easier. They correctly chose to attempt to fix a broken test, but they are misguided in how to correct the situation. This also applies to the fitness testing you mention. It is generally misunderstood how women differ from men in a fitness testing scenario, and so they merely scale the tests to be easier. Also most fitness testing is completely asinine when compared to the actual tasks the population will be required to perform. In most cases, "fitness testing" is better labeled as "compliance testing," i.e. did you care enough to train yourself to pass the test?

[Monocrom]

Nope, never been in that situation. But to be completely honest, if a seller is too lazy to do a bit of basic research on what they have.... I'm not going to educate them. Why? It's their responsibility.

Only exception I make is if the seller is very elderly, or visibly handicapped. Yes, I pity the handicapped and give money if they ask for it. Yes, many individuals are handi-capable. Some are not. I'm not changing the way I treat them. So that's it. Either the very eldery or the visibly handicapped. Everyone else?..... Do your freakin' research!

[MacLaren]

A lot of times, items like that are usually hot.
The seller may have bought it from someone else for an even lower amount.
Stiil, it would be hard not to buy for the price they are asking.