Cold Steel on eBay

[jeff-10]

I was thinking of purchasing a few knives to go with my gun collection and I headed over to the Cold Steel web site. Kinda pricey but I don't mind paying it if its worthwhile. Anyways I had my credit card out but decided to head over to eBay first and see if I could find them cheaper. I get there and I am amazed at the price difference. I don't understand why NIB Cold Steel Knives are 55-60% of the price on Cold Steels web site. Is there that much of a mark up on the knives or is something shady going on with the Ebay sellers? I know guns usually go for between 80-90% of there retail price but 55-60% seems like a huge difference. Thx.

 

[Plinkerton]

I'm not a big fan of Cold Steel knives. Check out the Benchmade's. Ebay is definitely the way to go though. I have seen such huge price differences just on different web sites. I don't think they are doing anything shady. They are just priced to sell fast. I've saved hundreds of dollars just shopping around different online stores. Ebay can save you even more.

 

[fjolnirsson]

They could be factory seconds.?

 

[madhatta]

Don't let the low prices on factory made items scare you from ebay. If anything, you can get them even LOWER than some of the prices on ebay.
A lot of those sellers are dealers who may also have a shop, do shows, and also sell on ebay. They are making money because of volume.
For instance if you see a factory knife on a companie's website or one of those knife 'rip-off' sites- the price listed is retail or close to it- 'msrp'.
For example- you see a knife for $100.00 msrp. This means the dealer gets the knife at wholesale, which is usually half of msrp or even less.
So the dealer gets the knife for $50.00 and if he does enough volume selling, he can still make money by charging ~$10.00 over their cost.

Hope this helps. Always check sellers FEEDBACK on ebay. Make sure if you are buying an item, that the seller's feedback shows that he has sold a number of similar or at least similarly priced items. I have bought over 200 items on ebay. I have NEVER been ripped off- and I have only been disappointed twice- and both those times could have been avoided if I had asked more questions of the seller.

 

[Zer000]

Cold steel's stuff is pretty overpriced from the factory. Even my local ripoff knive store that horribly overcharges for stuff has cold steel knives cheaper than the factory. Don't let the prices on ebay scare you.

I was just at the cold steel parking lot sale, and while I was there I got to handle pretty much every knife that Cold Steel makes. IMHO, their folders are not a good buy for the money. I personally dislike lockbacks, which disqualifies almost all their folders anyway, but as far as lockbacks go, Spyderco is a much better buy. Their fixed blade knives in their Carbon V steel are decent users though. I've got one of their kukris and an SRK, and they are both good working knives.

 

[Don Gwinn]

I've never checked this out myself, but supposedly www.coldsteel.com is not actually owned by Cold Steel. It's a reseller making an effort to look like the factory website. I think www. specialprojects.com or something along those lines is the real address for Cold Steel.

I'd check someplace like http://www.gpknives.com instead. Don't pay MSRP!

 

[fjolnirsson]

Hey, Don. Actually, both sites are owned by Cold Steel. I don't know why they have two. If you check carefully, you'll notice they both have the same address, also.

 

[glockman99]

The older Cold Steel fixed-blades are ok in AUS-8A or Carbon V, and SOME of the lockback AUS-8A folders are ok, but other than that, it's Benchmade (or Spyderco) all the way.

BTW...I've traded-off my ENTIRE Spyderco collection for Benchmades, and I couldn't be more pleased. (I'm also down to only 2 Cold Steel folders from a high of about 15 of 'em at one time.).

 

[c_yeager]

Factory direct isnt always the best way to buy knives. A lot of factories charge FULL MSRP for knives bought by consumers from them. They do this in part to protect their retailors.

Benchmade is just as bad. you COULD buy knives directly from them but, be prepared for some sticker shock.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

I placed an order to Cold Steel almost a month ago. No product. I emailed them for a status. No answer. I think they are out of business. I cancelled my order.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Sounds like you got lousy service, but I REALLY doubt Cold Steel is out of business.

 

[fjolnirsson]

I placed an order to Cold Steel almost a month ago. No product. I emailed them for a status. No answer. I think they are out of business. I cancelled my order.

That's very strange. I have never had trouble with them. I too, doubt they've gone out of business. I wonder what the trouble is?