Website. Real or fake

[Graybeard]

AGAknives.com anyone ordered from there?

[Killgar]

There's no way I can believe that site is legit.

Selling a 13" batwing swing guard for $99? A 13" wasp-waist pick-lock for $91? No way. Even second-hand those knives are worth several hundreds of dollars each.

And it's pretty obvious from the BladeHQ logo behind the knives that whoever is running that site took the pictures of the knives directly from BladeHQ, which is highly suspicious to me.

[Graybeard]

Thanks for getting back. I put in address and all it shows is residential property.

[Killgar]

You're welcome. Always happy to help.

It's the prices, pictures, and availability that says "FAKE" to me. Many of the knives listed on that site are rare and pretty much impossible to find anywhere, unless one just happens to show up on the secondary market. Not even the Campolins themselves have most of those knives for sale.

And like I mentioned, many of the knives on that site are worth several hundreds of dollars.

As far as residential addresses, some legit vendors are one-man operations who sell out of their homes. So I wouldn't be turned off by just that.

That site is a perfect example of why it's good to ask before buying .

[Graybeard]

A.G.A.CAMPOLIN are the special runs of knives?? Why are they so hard to find??

[Killgar]

The Campolin family have been making knives in Italy for a long time, and under different brands (Campolin, Falcon, AGA Campolin, AKC Italy). If I recall correctly, the "A.G.A" in A.G.A Campolin stands for Angelo Sr, his son Gianni, and Gianni's son Angelo Jr.

I'd say their knives are "special runs" only in the sense that they don't produce large numbers of them. We're talking about a small, family run operation assembling their "traditional" switchblades by hand, hammering them together at a workbench the old-fashioned way. The same can be said about Frank Beltrame knives, another small family business in Italy.

The reasons some Campolin knives are so hard to find these days is a combination of the fact that they only made a limited number of them, they seem to have stopped making certain models in recent years (like the larger 13" and over stilettos), and the fact that their larger stilettos are very popular.

For several decades now, with the exception of a few custom makers, there are certain types of switchblades that I have only seen the Campolins make. Like the 13" swing guards, and the 13" and larger pick locks, ring pull locks, and fulcrum locks. So if someone wanted a large, heavy, solid, "production" stiletto switchblade, the Campolins have really been the only source, and at prices far below custom.

[whippersnapper]

I just tool a quick look but it's not a bad looking web site for fraudster (except for the BladeHQ pics). Has a phone number and address etc. If I remember I may call it tomorrow and see who answers.

But pricing seems way to cheap.

[QGofLake]

That is an absolute scam website. Killgar id the most overt giveaways.

It is part of a VERY large network of such scam websites operated by the same person(s). There is a batch of these sites targeted at the knife collector community. The strategy is to profit from search engine traffic, leaving social marketing alone. Here is another one aimed at the knife community...

www.akcknives.com

This scam approach by this same person(s) is targeting fashion, sports gear, big ticker Husquavarna mowers and so much more. Its a substantial problem.

I've reported this to the FTC, FBI, Google, PayPal and Stripe. There has been some success but shutting this ring down will take the big tech players.

*whippersnapper - not only the pricing you mentioned, but there is also the inventory. I sure do wish I could get my hands on a Piccolo with stag scales.