Advice from an old knife collector: Don’t play the game unless you have a chance to win.
Buying knives is a game. I’m taking about the actual negotiation here. We love it when we win, that is, successfully coming to terms with a seller and getting the knife for our collection. But you have to understand it is a game- pure and simple. And most old timers are experts at it too.
The harsh truth, and one we must accept, is-
We will not be able to buy every knife we want.
I’m not saying this because it will be out of our price range either. No, I’ll telling you this, instead, because it is a game and we won’t win every time.
Today, I want to share with you advice to increase your chances of winning.
Let’s say you are approached by a knife owner about a specific knife. It is one you decide you want. And while the seller may act as if he’s really not interested in selling it- your intuition tells you he really is.
Remember- it is a game. He has interested you in the knife (either because he approached you, or had it on his list of “For Sale” knives). Eventually, he asks- “So, what’ll you give? This point in the “Game” is a critical juncture. What you say and do at this moment will determine if you can come to terms and acquire this next trophy for your collection, or not. Understand too- they routinely use this approach and never even price the knife.
If you say a price, or make what appears to that seller as an offer, you will probably lose.
What you must do is this. You must establish he wants and is ready to sell. Otherwise, you’ll end up negotiating against yourself. So, instead of saying “Oh, I’ll give you X,” you must say, “Have you decided to sell that knife?” You’d expect him to say something to the effect of “Well, it depends on what you’ll give.”
Understand, if the owner of the knife hasn’t made the decision he wants to sell you are going to make an offer that simply “hangs in the air.” This happens when you throw out a number/price and he says, “Oh, I’m really not interested in selling that knife right now.”
If he pulls this- “Oh, I’ll think about it” or “I don’t think I really want to sell it”- all he will do then is use your offer to shop for a better price or try to get you to continue increasing your offer price- remember he originally approached or solicited you!
Instead, once you determine you are interested tell him-
“Have you decided to sell this knife? I’m not sure I’m a buyer, but if we were able to come to a fair price are you ready to sell it today?”
I know you may feel you are showing your hand at this point, but you must establish if he is ready to sell, otherwise you are wasting your time and will be standing there making offers while he plays the “Oh, I don’t really want to sell it.”
If he doesn’t acknowledge he’ll sell it if you can come to terms, then walk away. Tell him when he is ready to sell it to let you know.
Nothing is more frustrating than to allow a seller to get you excited about a knife only then to tell you he doesn’t want to sell it- when in actuality all he did was to get your best price and will then either shop your offer or try to get you to increase it.
Remember: Get a seller to commit he is interested in selling the knife and what he will take for it, before you try to buy it.
