Got to be a joke !

bush-haus

bush-haus

Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Messages
911
So I went to a huge knife shop today cause I wanted to look at their Beckers and see what else they had to offer. They have thousands of knives... if you want it they probably have it, within reason. Went over to the Ka-Bar/Becker section and couldn't believe their prices. over $100 for everything. Where as the Becker lineup normally sells between $60-90 online, they were between $100-150. :jerkit: Nothing out of the ordinary about them. Made by Ka-bar and with grivory scales.

What gives? I told them they were REALLY out of line but they just gave me the whole... "if you buy online, they won't resharpen them for you, and won't warranty the products like we do."

WOW! They have some research to do! I bought a pocket knife and walked out. It was an hour drive so I didn't want to go home empty handed! :D

Beckerhead #32
 
Um, yeah, thats a joke alright. A bad one. Resharpen? If anyone here doesn't know how to sharpen their Becker/Kabar knives, let me know and I'll set you up on a tutorial of how to do this or that in the world of sharpening. That is a service every knife owner should be able to do in their sleep.

Warranty? If you have any issues with the products that Kabar/Becker makes, call 1-800-282-0130. Tell them what you got and hold on, they'll resolve it so fast you might puke from the momentum.

I have seen this practice at alot of stores and all it boils down too, it they are hedging their profit margin by offering something that you get anyway.

I am a guy that likes to handle knives before I buy them. I like to see the grinds and see how the edge is setup. I have been buying Beckers blind of the interweb for a couple of years now, and have not been worried one time before I hit confirm order.

Good luck, and I hope that guy has good prices on the gumball machine, 'cause his Becker prices suck.

Moose
 
One thing to consider is that Brick and Mortar stores have a lot more overhead on production knives than online retailers. It depends on if having the knife in hand the day you first handle it matters to you, and if you prefer to have a place you can go to and handle knives you are interested in.

Around here we have Plaza Cutlery, their prices are high on production knives, but semi-customs, and low production knives are spot on, but I give them patronage, because they are my local knife store, and without them I lose the ability to handle knives before purchase.
 
Things at B&M stores cost more always ! They have to pay employees , rent , heating& cooling bills , electric bills , ect!!! Where as alot if these online stores have much less or no overhead ! My local knife shop is also more pricey (usually by 20 or 30 bucks) than the online dealers I use, but for the few times a year I go I don't mind the extra cost as it's nice to be able to handle the blades in person before I buy !!
 
Brick and mortar stores have overhead that online stores do not. You can ALWAYS find a better deal on line. What you cannot do online is talk to a person, examine the item before purchase, or get the instant gratification of walking out of a store with your new item. And, you have an actual address to which you can aim your ire if something goes wrong...
 
I agree with the "overhead" point of view, but for instance a knife that sells online for $37 (BK-11) was selling for around $70 at this B&M store. The BK-02 ($58 online) was selling for $105. The BK-09 ($70 online) was selling for $150. There is a difference between covering overhead costs, and not even TRYING to give the local patronage any value. Two different employees told me the pricing discrepency was because they will "resharpen the knife for as long as I own it."

Beckerhead #32
 
It's still cool to have a knife store close by.I understand what you're saying though.
 
I understand that and agree with it. But, the only Becker knife that should cost over $100 is the BK3 TacTool. I always figure price plus shipping, should get you close to what a B&M should be selling it for. At SMKW (granted they buy hellacious volume) a BK2 is $70. Ok, that's a little more than I want to pay, but its within reason. A BK9 is $90, OK, more than I want to pay, but its under $100.

The main selling point and basic principle behind Becker knives is the affordablility. When companies start jacking thier prices up to and slightly over MSRP, then its time to hit the web, and take a chance.

Beckers are supposed to be inexpensive, and paying over $100 for a production knife in the Becker lineup, is a little extreme for me. YMMV.

Moose
 
I would love to see a knife sharpening tutorial, can always learn something new.
 
because they will "resharpen the knife for as long as I own it."
Click to expand...

I'd rather they'd offer sharpening services for $3 per blade.
That would get me back in the store and paying for the privilege of browsing.
(of course I'd sharpen my own, but nevermind that)

-Daizee
 
wow. i understand overhead and all that, but wow, talk about markup... i'd call them on that BS next time, esp the warranty part ;)

my local bangbang store typically can beat anything i find online, unless i find a good deal. he's making money, but he's out to provide good service, and have what we need, rather than rape us on a few sales. long haul. many many many sales and referrals.

now, we do have a guy in town that has ridiculous prices. if you're unlucky, you buy from him once before finding out. if you're lucky, you just laugh at all the people who buy there ;>
 
My local B&M is the same way, with prices at or over msrp on all their new knives. On the other end of the spectrum though, they always mark their used stuff very low even for used. I keep going there for the conversation, the "buy local" feel goodness, and because I've scored more than one awesome find in their consignment section.
That being said though, when it came time to buy my BK2 I went straight to the interwebs :D
$110 for a BK2? Player please.
 
makes you wonder how they stay in business.. :confused:

Lets assume a dealer pays around $40 for a BK2 and sells for $60-75 that's what I call overhead, not buy at $40 and add 120% or more.. that's ludicrous !!

Some manufacturers have a 'cap' at what dealer can sell for, perhaps Ka-Bar doesn't ??? either way in re-sale it will not help their reputation when the new owner of a $120 BK2 comes into a hard spot and has to sell it to find out its only worth $50-60 in the resale market.. he'll bad mouth Becker til he dies, we're talking about a buyer that obviously knows NOTHING about knives to begin with..
 
Prior to having Internet access, I got a few knives from a store in the Mall. Yeah, I paid way too much. Looking back, I feel raped on a few of those.
 
TheLastDaze said:
makes you wonder how they stay in business.. :confused:
Click to expand...

In my local store's case its just the area they're in. They have the usual mark-up to cover overhead as most B&M's do but they can get away with charging even more simply because Freeport, Maine is like the yuppie shopping mecca of New England. Everything is marked up here from knives to Big Macs and yet people drive from all over New England and further to come spend their money here.
Damn Massholes ;)
 
some people just 'get off' on spending more money then need.. why pay a measly $400 for a coach purse at a common named store when you can go to 'bling-a-d-bling' in such and such city and pay $600.
 
TheLastDaze said:
makes you wonder how they stay in business.. :confused:

Lets assume a dealer pays around $40 for a BK2 and sells for $60-75 that's what I call overhead, not buy at $40 and add 120% or more.. that's ludicrous !!

Some manufacturers have a 'cap' at what dealer can sell for, perhaps Ka-Bar doesn't ??? either way in re-sale it will not help their reputation when the new owner of a $120 BK2 comes into a hard spot and has to sell it to find out its only worth $50-60 in the resale market.. he'll bad mouth Becker til he dies, we're talking about a buyer that obviously knows NOTHING about knives to begin with..
Click to expand...

Really? Do you want all B&M stores go out of business due to super cheap Internet prices ?? Wouldbt it be great if all those jobs went away so you can save 20 or 30 dollars on a knife !!!! I honestly don't think your mark up at 120% is accurate! If i had to guess the Internet stores are buying in mass amounts and their profit margin is very small... And that the real stores are selling a few of them at just enough to make a profit ...
 
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