BNIB - why?

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

captaincaed

(____((__________()~~~
KKF Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Messages
3,859
Reaction score
7,163
Location
Pacific Northwest
For those of you who've sold BNIB knives (and aren't flippers) why did you do this? I see these on BST all the time, and don't understand why you wouldn't want to try it?
Was it a situation of needing to recoup funds after as stupid purchase (I've been there) or did you just want to see it in person?

Sincerely,
Confused
 
Sometimes it can take so long to get it that you are either no longer interest or you are broke when it finally arrives. Other reasons include: 1) because you know you can sell it for a profit, or 2) you didn't remember you already had one from that maker in that size and profile (yeah, that latter one was me :angiefavorite:)
 
I’ve sold one or two BNIB.

The first that springs to mind was very rare and I knew deep down that I probably wouldn’t keep it forever and that the kind of person who buys that type of knife generally wants to buy it new (and when I sold it, I was right. It got minimally tipped in shipment and although I offered an appropriate partial refund and to pay to have Jon at JKI fix it, the first buyer didn’t want to keep it because it wouldn’t have been ‘mint’. His loss was a friends gain so I was actually quite happy about it in the end)

There have also been one or two instances, after years at the hobby, where I picked up a knife and immediately thought, ‘nope not for me’, and put it right back in the box.
 
I have yet to sell a knife, but I do have one that I should have either sent back immediately or sold BNIB. It was a knife which had great popularity and hard to get. I am use to a good size flat spot and while I knew that this knife was not known to have a large flat spot, never the less everyone talked about the flat spot and every photo of it showed a flat spot. Upon receiving the knife I couldn't find a flat spot on it if you gave me a 300,000K microscope. For a knife so ill suited to me why should I cut something and diminish its resale value? Now my cutting style is evolving and there may be a chance I would find use for it, so maybe one day pull it out and give it a whirl.
Best
D.
 
If your waiting for one to arrive from Japan and see another(lets just say a beautiful Shi.Han) that you just can't live without, well you have to legitimize it somehow.:rolleyes:

I imagine BNIB sellers as having bought the knife to fondle it, caress its curves, and give it the old three finger treatment. Is a molested knife still BNIB? I lean towards full disclosure.
Alright you've got me
 
A few already mentioned reasons.

You see it in person and realize it is not what you thought. Either profile grind or mostly balance for me. Balance can't really be changed so why use it. You can adjust to it, and I would if I didn't have a million other knives.

You see it and realize it is too similar to another knife.

You get it in trade and sell to recoup some funds.

The knife is hard to get, but you happen to have opportunity to get it, so you buy it to pass it on to the community.

You buy a hard to get knife from a maker you already have to compare to the one you have to decide which to keep. Decide to keep the one you already have.
 
For those of you who've sold BNIB knives (and aren't flippers) why did you do this? I see these on BST all the time, and don't understand why you wouldn't want to try it?
Was it a situation of needing to recoup funds after as stupid purchase (I've been there) or did you just want to see it in person?

Sincerely,
Confused

Personally, I view knives like cars—once you drive a car off the lot, it's used. BNIB is a sellers hook to me.
 
I imagine BNIB sellers as having bought the knife to fondle it, caress its curves, and give it the old three finger treatment. Is a molested knife still BNIB? I lean towards full disclosure.

If it’s being fingered, then it’s not BNIB
 
I guess, I don't get it. When a knife goes to a dealer from a maker the dealer handles the knife, sometimes sharpens or corrects something, sometimes test cuts. Then a customer buys that knife opens the box and handles the knife without using it. What happened to the knife by this handling? What is not brand new about it? What is different in its condition vs how it left the dealer or maker?
 
Sometimes it can take so long to get it that you are either no longer interest or you are broke when it finally arrives. Other reasons include: 1) because you know you can sell it for a profit, or 2) you didn't remember you already had one from that maker in that size and profile (yeah, that latter one was me :angiefavorite:)
Hah!
Yeah, I found that I've "accidentally" ordered a couple duplicates that I wound up selling.
 
I guess, I don't get it. When a knife goes to a dealer from a maker the dealer handles the knife, sometimes sharpens or corrects something, sometimes test cuts. Then a customer buys that knife opens the box and handles the knife without using it. What happened to the knife by this handling? What is not brand new about it? What is different in its condition vs how it left the dealer or maker?
Because that breaks the extra value of BNIB? 🤷‍♂️
 
Because that breaks the extra value of BNIB? 🤷‍♂️
To me there is no extra value between BNIB and slightly used, unsharpened. I think this whole discussion stems from buyers not trusting sellers. In which case any description of use is suspect anyway. I've sold folders where I literally only opened the box to take pictures. Happens, you buy a bunch of knives at the same time and then see something else you want more so sell unopened knives and only open to take pics to prove the condition. Still in factory oil and everything, what is not new about these?
 
If it was a car, you would not be the first owner. To me BNIB means "I still have the box".
 
I guess, I don't get it. When a knife goes to a dealer from a maker the dealer handles the knife, sometimes sharpens or corrects something, sometimes test cuts. Then a customer buys that knife opens the box and handles the knife without using it. What happened to the knife by this handling? What is not brand new about it? What is different in its condition vs how it left the dealer or maker?

IMO, it's very different when a vendor handles a knife before releasing at point of sale. When I bought my Heiji from JKI, Jon put a lot of work into the knife before shipping, but when I received it I was the first to open the box. Acceptable for a seller to handle merchandise, I do it with what my biz sells, to inspect, etc. With BST, I don't know many of the sellers personally, and do take 'BNIB' with a big grain of salt, just being honest here—I'll generally have more trust in a vendor than sellers on BST if told a knife has "never been used to cut anything." Same is true if I'm buying a "never been worn" suit online from some random person.
 
Interesting thread ... for me it makes no difference at all.

In fact I have a slight preference for knives used by experienced kitchen professionals, makers or very knowledgeable collectors. I appreciate their comments. Even with that I want to use every knife and form my own opinions.

But then I intend to use every knife I own. I like to try to understand what the differences are between makers and what the maker was trying to accomplish. I can only do this through use and I don’t give a wit whether the knife I buy has been previously used. I like to sharpen them to form my own opinions about steel and heat treatment. Of the many many used knives that I’ve bought I’ve only bought one where I’ve said “this knife has seen a lot of use in a commercial kitchen and is desperately in need of thinning? Beyond that I don’t own a knife where I think the average home user could wear out in a lifetime.

Just my .02.
 
IMO, it's very different when a vendor handles a knife before releasing at point of sale. When I bought my Heiji from JKI, Jon put a lot of work into the knife before shipping, but when I received it I was the first to open the box. Acceptable for a seller to handle merchandise, I do it with what my biz sells, to inspect, etc. With BST, I don't know many of the sellers personally, and do take 'BNIB' with a big grain of salt, just being honest here—I'll generally have more trust in a vendor than sellers on BST if told a knife has "never been used to cut anything." Same is true if I'm buying a "never been worn" suit online from some random person.
Right, so it is the trust issue like I said. Perfectly fine and any condition or use description on BST falls under the same umbrella of lack of trust. Maybe I am naive, but there are plenty of long time members here that if they told me it was BNIB or any other condition I would trust them. I am sort of of the mind for people who've been around for a while that I'll believe you until you prove me otherwise. I've received knives in worse condition from very well respected makers than I have from members on this forum. Not every single time, but in majority of cases the descriptions are spot on or even sometimes the knife is in a better condition than the seller described. My anecdotal experience only.
 
Right, so it is the trust issue like I said. Perfectly fine and any condition or use description on BST falls under the same umbrella of lack of trust. Maybe I am naive, but there are plenty of long time members here that if they told me it was BNIB or any other condition I would trust them. I am sort of of the mind for people who've been around for a while that I'll believe you until you prove me otherwise. I've received knives in worse condition from very well respected makers than I have from members on this forum. Not every single time, but in majority of cases the descriptions are spot on or even sometimes the knife is in a better condition than the seller described. My anecdotal experience only.
Enough common sense, there isn't enough for everyone.
 
Right, so it is the trust issue like I said. Perfectly fine and any condition or use description on BST falls under the same umbrella of lack of trust. Maybe I am naive, but there are plenty of long time members here that if they told me it was BNIB or any other condition I would trust them. I am sort of of the mind for people who've been around for a while that I'll believe you until you prove me otherwise. I've received knives in worse condition from very well respected makers than I have from members on this forum. Not every single time, but in majority of cases the descriptions are spot on or even sometimes the knife is in a better condition than the seller described. My anecdotal experience only.

Yes, comes down to 'trust'—you're better with words than I. There're some BST sellers that I know personally and trust, and wouldn't hesitate to buy a knife sight unseen based just on a texted message, whereas I'm a bit more cautious with others.
 
It's important how a knife feels in your hand. You can't really tell from photos, or even from other people's comments, everybody is different. Online sales need to accommodate catch and release purchases.

To quote some else on this forum:
CiderBear said:
But I won't know unless I get to try one, arghhhhh
 
Back
Top