I've been ordering a few SAKs lately off eBay.

I'm wondering if they are really NIB ("New in box") as the seller claims in his listings... I receive the knives in small gray boxes which appear to be original Victorinox boxes. The box is unwrapped though. Inside, there is a small piece of white plastic molded to the shape of the knife. On top of this, there is a small sheet of folded paper, which are the instructions and guarantee information.

Even though all of it seems new, the scales are not perfect. My scales are translucent red, or what they call "ruby". They are definately not "perfect", with some strange glue-like stains that don't go off when scratched with my nails... Also, oil seems to be oozing from between the blades the first time I opened up the implements.

Does this seem normal? The tool still works nicely, but i'm wondering if this is what people find when they get new in box SAKs... <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

If he ordered them in bulk boxing, which is most likely the case, rather than "on card" or "carded" then they probably weren't wrapped by the manufacturer and could have come as you described. A lot of manufacturers do this. There are some knock offs out there, but you can usually distinguish them by their "Close but no cigar" SAK logo.

The oil is most likely to keep the blade from rusting during storage. At times they are oiled so much that it seems like they tested the knife out on baitfish before boxing it up. However, I haven't purchased a SAK in quite some time with the exception as gifts and they were all back carded in a blister pack, so I could only get a mediocre look and can't tell you if they were dipped in oil before packaging.

The ruby scales are recent as far as I know. I don't know how long they've been doing that, so please don't qoute me. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> As much as I like Apple 'puters, I blame them and specifically the iMac for this "New Age" transparent or translucent look in design. It also can show off flaws that normally may not have been noticable otherwise. I think it's fine on tech stuff, but I like my Victorinox Old School. LOL Back to the point... I can't imagine what the issue with the glue and ink is. Victorinox has always seemed to have pretty good quality control. I haven't seen that before.

Other than the slightly marred scales all seems perfectly normal to me.

The slide out matchbox type grey boxes, the oil, the molded plastic insert all are what I expect. The scale mar is hard to evaluate without pictures, but I would be fairly confident that it was a new knife.

It all sound ok except the scales. Ive never seen a SAK out of the box with less than perfect scales. (except fro shop spoils)
I have seen a friend use his SAK to score the blade of a SAK copy to prove to the person that the SAKs were worth the extra money.
He took the SAK and ran the knife edge across the edge of the other knife at right angles. The SAK cut into the other edge, but there was no mark on the SAK blade when tried the other way.

Long time ebay shopper. couple of hints when using e bay. Its kind of a game with people who sell on e bay . if you don't ask they won't tell. Always ask lots of questions before you buy. I see alot of seconds being sold as new. yes they are new "never used" but they aren't first quality. cosmetic flaws mostly but some are selling seconds that most of the time should end up at flea markets. E bay is a great place to buy but ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS!! If you don't get the answers you need ,don't buy from them. and check out the feed back section.
one other thing ,check out amazon. i just picked up first quality new SAK for less than i could buy it anywhere on e bay, trust me I look long and hard before i buy anything to get the best price, and shipping was free!