The Best Places To Sell Knives

If you’ve mastered the art of knife making, selling the finished product is a great way to earn extra income or even start a new business. To be successful as a knife seller, however, you need to be more than an accomplished craftsman. You also need to understand the market, including the best places to sell your knives.

While some outlets are straightforward to deal with, others have complicated rules regarding the selling of knives and other products classified as weapons. In this blog, we’ll go over the different options and how to make the most out of each one.

Word of Mouth

Ask anyone who’s started a business- depending on what they sell, chances are that their first customers were family and friends. Show them your knives in person or, for those who don’t live nearby, send an email or social media message inviting them to check out your website (more on that below). If your site isn’t built yet, attach quality photos to your messages.

If you sell knives suitable for hunting and camping, consider selling them to local hunters. If you don't hunt yourself, ask your friends or family members if they know anyone who does. You can also look for event flyers at outdoor sports stores or search online for local chapters of hunting organizations. Consider providing a few of your knives to local hunters who can test them out. You can trade them the knife for a review if they’re happy with the performance.

Your Business Website

If you intend to start a business and sell knives outside of your local area, you’ll need a website. Your choices run the gamut from a basic WordPress site that you set up yourself to a complete package from a digital marketing agency. 

Many new knife makers tend to start small and invest in a more powerful platform as their business grows, but there are some basic principles that apply no matter how large or complex your site may be.

• Your website should be as fast as possible.  For every extra second it is taking your page to load, you are losing a potential customer. (Aim for three seconds. Any more than six seconds is too long). Your site speed (and other useful activities like visitor engagement) can be monitored through Google Analytics.
• Every product (e.g. hunting knives, kitchen knives, cleavers) should have its own page. Assign a unique description to each product- do not copy and paste from one section to the next. 

• Use a simple shopping cart system. People will be more likely to abandon their carts if there are too many pages and clicks between adding the product to the cart and completing payment.
• Email your customer a few weeks after the transaction and ask them to leave a review of the knife they just bought. Customer reviews will not only give your product pages more unique content, they will also encourage others to buy the product.

Eventually, you may want to try using Google AdWords to attract traffic to your site. To get the most out of your advertising dollars, you’ll want to utilize all of Google’s machine learning features. Your performance can improve over time with responsive ad copy and an automated bidding strategy.

Online Stores

There are some great online knife stores that may take your custom knives off your hands. One popular site is BladeHQ: according to their buyers’ guidelines, if you send them an email with pictures of any knives you have for sale, they will make you an offer within five business days if interested.

Certain online retailers will advertise and sell knives for you, but they tend to impose restrictions. For example:

• Amazon only permits kitchen knives and non-folding hunting and throwing knives.
• Shopify lets you set up an online storefront for your knife business, but you won’t be able to use the Shopify Payments gateway to sell anything classified as a weapon as outlined in the Shopify Payments Terms of Service. You would have to use a different payment gateway. 
• Etsy allows the sale of knives intended for use as tools, provided that they otherwise qualify for sale and meet appropriate legal requirements, such as age verification upon delivery where required by law. Examples of allowed knives include hunting knives, utility knives, and cutlery.

If you’re considering an online store that doesn’t cater specifically to knife enthusiasts, check its terms of service to see whether knives are prohibited. If there’s no mention of them, play it safe by contacting the site to ask.

Knife Forums

Online knife forums are an excellent opportunity to not only sell your blades but connect with other enthusiasts and make good connections in the community. Here are some of the more popular forums:

• The BladeForums Knife Maker’s Market
• Glock Talk (has a subforum for edged weaponshere)
• Benchmade
• Jerzee Devil

You will have to register for a membership before you can post. If you're unclear about any selling policies, contact a moderator.

Markets

If you have a large variety of knives, rent a booth at a local market. Consider attending flea markets in the areas where you want to sell and finding out if knife vendors are already established. If there are knives for sale, don’t assume that there isn’t room for one more vendor. If you can offer something better or more unique, it could be worth your whole, so contact the market organizers about getting a space.

Social Media

The vast majority of people now spend considerable amounts of time on and within social networks. As a result, the buying process has been integrated into the major social media platforms in the form of marketplaces. However, not all of them allow knife sales and those that do impose certain conditions.

• Facebook does not allow the advertising of knives on its site, but you can set up a company page and start dialogues that send customers to your website.
• Pinterest can be used the same as Facebook. Post attractive images of your knives and make connections with other knife enthusiasts who might buy your products.

YouTube

A YouTube channel is a great way to reach new customers. You can make videos showcasing your knives, depicting you at work in your shop, or sharing tips that help customers get the most out of their purchase. To get a good idea of what videos work for your market, watch other knifemaker channels and see how they do it.

Once you set your channel up, put your contact information and website link in the ‘About’ section so interested parties who like your videos know where they can go to get more information or make a purchase. 

eBay

On eBay, you can find blades from various manufacturers, brands, and models. Although the site lets you sell knives, there are certain provisions on which kinds you can list. In general, you’re fine if you sell any of the following:

• Kitchen knives
• Throwing knives
• Spring-assisted knives
• Butterfly knives that can’t be sharpened

Automatic knives, dual-action knives, switchblades, and similar actions are prohibited. 

Knife Enthusiast

Knife Enthusiast is both a market and informational hub for knife makers and knife enthusiasts. Makers can create an account and list their knives for sale on the site. Knives can either be sold at an auction or for a fixed price. It is completely free to create an account and list your knives for sale on the Knife Enthusiast site.

Talk to an Abrasive Specialist

Before you can go into business, you want to be sure that your blades are of the utmost quality. Here at Red Label Abrasives, we provide dedicated knife making kits that can create a blade any enthusiast would be glad to buy. For more information on our abrasives or for help in selecting the right product for your needs, please call 844-824-1956 or fill out our contact form.

Shop Our Knife Making Belts

Red Label Abrasives sells some of the best performing and longest-lasting sanding belts for knife making on the market. Shop our knife making belts to take your knives to the next level.