Frankly, if you can get knives for 99 cents each from ƈhıną (etc.) then
A) they are obviously cheap knives -- you can mark them up a bit yes, but there is work involved with selling at retail on places like eBay. You have to deal with customer service, returns, etc.
B) If you can get such products wholesale, then so can others. Your business is NOT unique, and you can't expect to make a mint. There's not as much pent up demand for cheap knives on eBay as you might think.
The same goes for EVERY SINGLE get-rich-quick scheme or pyramid scheme on the Net. So many products claim you can be a "Boss Babe" and own your own business -- but it's all bogus. You're just ONE seller out of thousands hawking the same product. You have *zero* to differentiate yourself from your competition.
My advice to would-be business owners: Find a niche, and start a REAL business of your own. Takes more creativity and work, yes, but that's the point!
If it's drop-dead easy, then any moron can do it -- and plenty do! You won't be able to rise above the noise.
That's my advice that comes from living on this earth for close to a half-century, and doing business on the Internet since it existed. I've tried many bandwagons, especially different forms of free advertising. Remember Free links pages? You end up with pages full of crap links that no one ever visits. The easier something is for YOU to do, the easier it is for OTHERS to do, and the noise is deafening. The only way to rise above the noise level is to put in SOME level of work and/or money.