Calling Dibs on knives...

I got a bunch of PM's today from people wanting to call dibs on knives from this last batch if the customers don't take them. I think there must be some confusion.

Guys, you cannot "call dibs" on a knife that was made for an order if the customer does not claim it. That's not what the "dibs" system is. When you call dibs on a knife, you are calling dibs on the next available of whatever you want. You may specify details about handle material if you want, or just say "first available any configuration". There is a list of dibs on every design, and calling dibs puts you in that que.

Please see this thread.

 

Right now, my turn around time is about 3 months.

That is indeed the case. What everyone has to understand is that most model's "dibs" lists have 10 to 20 people on them. Where the confusion was coming in is that a few people who are not on the dibs list yet were trying to call dibs on knives in the current batch, as in "if the customer doesn't want that one, I'll take it." If the customer doesn't take the knife, it does become available, but goes to the next person with dibs on the list. You get what I'm saying?

At any point, people can ask me anything they want, including where they are on the list and how long the estimated time is. I make myself very accessable to my customers. I actually spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 hours a day talking to customers through email and phone calls.

I guess I have to change the wording on that or further elaborate that someone who has purchased a knife from Fletcher Knives LLC is a returning customer.

I only send out emails to the email list when i have something to tell everyone that they need to know or if there is a special offer etc. I don't send out regular monthly newsletters or anything like that.

It usually takes me a couple of days to answer emails. I get somewhere around 40 emails a day. I saw the email you sent yesterday about getting dibs on a Bush Operator. Just haven't gotten a chance to answer it yet. Everyone who asks to be on the email or calls dibs gets a confirmation email within a few days letting them know that I have them down and asking any questions.

Most of the knives you see come up for sale by Andy have a very specific handle combination that was specified in an order by the customer, not just "green canvas micarta, but like, "I want 19 pins in the top bolster, bakanakawaka wood on the left side, orange yellowish toenailskinwood on the right, bla bla bla." There typically isn't someone someone else waiting for that specific combo if that customer doesn't take it. Plus, since he no longer takes orders, any form of dibs or anything, that's why you see his knives come up for sale on the forums when the customer doesn't take it. He doesn't have a list anymore so everything is available.

Any time I have a customer refuse a knife, which VERY rarely ever happens, there is someone else waiting on that handle combo or doesn't have a preference at all and it goes to them. That's why you almost never see knives come up available from me. There's always someone waiting for that knife with that handle combo. When there isn't, as was the case not too long ago with a B&G, first there is an email sent out to everyone on the email list saying that's it's available. Then it goes up for sale on the forums.

The dibs list is the only form of orders I take. The reason it is the way it is is so I have the freedom to do what I want to do at my own pace and not get held down by timeframes and all kinds of specifics. I think that even though I take full advantage of that occupational freedom, I still get people what they want in a relatively timely fashion and do my best to keep everyone satisfied. A lot of makers have turnaround times of a year or more. I don't. My goal is to get people an awesome custom knife pretty quickly and for a very reasonable price.

I hope that this clears everything up.

 

By the way. I hope you don't take my sectioning out your post as me trying to be a dickhead to you or attack you. It was just a long post and had enough questions that I wanted to answer them separately. I will say say though, that answering that one post made my breakfast cold, so try to cut down on that next time.