wrxguyusa, the unfortunate thing is that "premium" folks usually charge. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Sometimes as much as 2x+ the original price for certain blades. Oh well. Free market and all that.

There are some good deals that show up now and then--people selling at or below cost; people selling at a slight mark up; people selling gently used blades at good prices (blades you might not ever know had been used); etc.

Keep in mind that in many cases, folks who sell there are often just recouping costs. There's the prices you see on the site (this site for instance, shows what the blades originally went for) which doesn't include the shipping you pay to get it from the company or the price the forumite needs to pay for shipping to you. If there's a sheath involved, that's usually an extra cost the original buyer incurred. Kydex sheaths can run anywhere from $20-60+ to have made depending on the maker and options (firesteel loop, tek lok, etc) and leather can run considerably more. So in many cases, what might appear to be an overly high price on the forums is actually fairly reasonable one everything is taken into account.

There are dealers as well that buy the knives in bulk on the assumption that they can flip them for a significant profit. Folks gotta make a living I suppose.

And you can always privately offer the seller what you think a fair price is (or what you can afford at the moment). Worst they can do is say no. Folks are generally fairly civil and respectful.

No value judgments, just noting what I've observed. May be a little off topic and I apologize if I've strayed a bit outside the boundaries of this forum <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />