How? Because the manufacturer/maker is able to SELL his products and have a profit
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At What Point is a Knife OVERPRICED?
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How? Because the manufacturer/maker is able to SELL his products and have a profit
Will Power
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Price MUST match quality.
A costly knife must perform better and be more durable than its cheap rival.
Also, it's whether you can convince yourself that you must have it...we've all been down that road and made an error or two!
A costly knife must perform better and be more durable than its cheap rival.
Also, it's whether you can convince yourself that you must have it...we've all been down that road and made an error or two!
Hyperborean
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How? Because the manufacturer/maker is able to his products and have a profit
What is able to? People are being brainwashed on a daily basis with tonnes of consumeristic propaganda. The type of demand for "survival", "tactical", high end folding knives, etc knives from well known knife companies is highly rigid (kind of a "knife addiction" or compulsion) and knifemakers know this so they can set disproportonaly high price). benchmade mimravus for example,that little piece of knife costs xy USD and the blade is not even satin polished but coated :barf:
Exactly right.
IF they can charge price this high AND still sell the amount they want then it's not overpriced. They will do whatever they can to persuade you that their product is "different" ("better", "used by special forces", "made by elves", whatever
) so they can limit the competition/substitutes (or more likely consumer's perception of these things) therefore create competition malfunction - which means they can affect price and have economic earnings higher than 0 (or in other words charge more than their average cost). Every company is trying to gain competetive advantage and marketing can help you get it VERY easily by influencing consumers.Not at all.
Price is affected only by demand.
This is only your decision rule:
Other might have their decision based on that costly knife must be good looking. Or it must be made by well known maker. It must be made in Czech Republic
(pick your favorite country ). Or that it must be pink or whatever else.But if I can manage to add little something to your rule, like it has to be marked Coca Cola or Harley Davidson then THIS small addition can justify higher price that I want to charge or it can lower your demand for substitutes. In both cases I'd be better off than I was before.
My opinion is that a knife is overpriced when you paid so much you are afraid to use it. This means it can be highly personal threshold. For instance, you won't see me buying myself a Chris Reeve Green Beret any time soon. It's not that I think that it is a bad knife, nor do I believe it won't do what is advertised. It is because I would be afraid to use it, and for me, my knives are tools, and I want to use them. A $40 K-Bar is in the right pricerange, or basically any tough fixed blade knife under 120 or so. Sure I sit here and dream about what I might buy if I won the lottery, but in the end I come back to the KISS principle and the realization that there is a limit I am willing to pay for utility.
If someone is willing to trade x number of dollars for a knife, then that knife is not overpriced to that person. Whether everyone else thinks that it is overpriced or not is irrelevant, as far as the transaction between the seller and buyer is concerned. The seller is under no obligation to sell at a perceived value lower than that he puts on his knife, and the buyer is under no obligation to buy if he does not put as high a perceived value on the knife. No one puts a gun to someone's head and forces them to buy a knife.
Some people pay what I think are ridiculous prices for watches, and own several. I own one borderline el cheapo and it keeps time just fine. If they want to buy several watches at prices that I would never pay, it isn't any of my business. It's worth it to them because it fulfills some need that they have.
Some people pay what I think are ridiculous prices for watches, and own several. I own one borderline el cheapo and it keeps time just fine. If they want to buy several watches at prices that I would never pay, it isn't any of my business. It's worth it to them because it fulfills some need that they have.
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I'll tell you this: It wasn't sheer cutting ability, as is displayed by that review, which I read months if not a year ago. I have long known that a good Spyderco will out cut pretty much anything right out of box, which is why 90% of the knives I've bought during my knife enthusiast journey have been Spydercos. Certain Spyderco models outperform every other knife I've ever owned, and I've owned from nearly every popular company, which makes them unique, in a way, justifying the price.
My Sebenza is unique and superior in different ways. It cuts, mind you, very well, with it's high hollow grind and thin edge, but admittedly not like my Military or Caly 3 do. However, those knives are covered with factory blemishes and rough angles, and the construction and action could almost be considered finicky and shaky compared to my Sebenza, which has rock solid fit and an action that is consistent and controlled with every opening regardless of what I put the knife through. You can completely unscrew the pivot pin and the action is still rock solid and controlled with no wiggle at any point during the action. I cannot say that for any other folder I've ever used or held. This is the only knife that displays this kind of perfection and solidarity, and that is unique, and therefore justifies the price in my opinion, and I won't even bring up the warranty and customer service. Materials aren't everything.
Personally, I don't think ANY production knife is worth more than $150.00 dollars.
To be totally honest, even $150.00 dollars is proabably too high.
A $30.00 dollar Buck 110 will cut as well as any high-dollar folder.
And if treated equally it will last as long as any high-dollar folder.
Knives are like wrenches and screwdrivers...a higher price does not always equal better performance.
To be totally honest, even $150.00 dollars is proabably too high.
A $30.00 dollar Buck 110 will cut as well as any high-dollar folder.
And if treated equally it will last as long as any high-dollar folder.
Knives are like wrenches and screwdrivers...a higher price does not always equal better performance.
Yeah, but the Opinel's lock is rather weak and you have to manually engage it.
And the handle swells with humidity down here in the Carolinas and sometimes the blade is very difficult to open or close...dangerously so.
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So will a $4 Stanley, and the blades are replaceable with spares in the handle! It's like dancing the Limbo.
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I'll not purchase a Busse but I do have a Ferhman I really like. Outside of that one large knife, the most I've ever spent on a working fixed blade was $75.
I'd never spent over $50 on a folder until last year; my last folder purchase was 1982. Then a friend trashed that one and I had to go shopping. I found an Emerson CQC7 Mini-A. Say what you will about Ernie Emerson but the CQC-7 is a finely engineered knife . . . even if I did get tired of the left-hand grind.
I went through four folders under $100 without satisfaction and then I found this forum and the rest is CRK history.
The small Sebenza is my EDC. I do have a large plain one I carry afield if I don't carry a fixed blade but it is too large for an EDC knife in an office environment.
There are a lot of good looking folders out there with excellent steel but, with the exception of the Sebenza, they all suffer from the same flaw. It doesn't matter if it costs $10 or $500, the pivot screw is still the same adjustment hassle. Every CRK folder does away with that problem by design.
Plus, the Sebbie is an absolute minimalist's dream. After my first purchase, I kept thinking of things I would have done differently only to discover Chris Reeve has already done so. My only outstanding request would be more belly in the blade . . . more of a drop point shape.
Cliff Stamp
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If you lie in order to convince someone that the higher price is worth it - is the knife still not overpriced?
-Cliff
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I routinley spend in some peoples views "way too much" on guns, knives and gear. I have cringed before and gotten rid of knives and other items that did not perform to thier price tag. I guess that would be "overpriced" to me, though i do agree that "if no one buys it due to cost, its overpriced". However I do have some knives that are very near equal in performance but very seperate in cost. Overpriced? No because many times tolerances/materials/quantity come into play.
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What about supply?
[The guy who makes 12 knives a year] VS [a factory that makes 12 knives an hour]
You don't think there should be a price difference?
That's part of what gives "high dollar" knives their value...Their scarcity
Am I wrong Donny?
Hyperborean
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Exactly right.
IF they can charge price this high AND still sell the amount they want then it's not overpriced. They will do whatever they can to persuade you that their product is "different" ("better", "used by special forces", "made by elves", whatever
Not at all.
Price is affected only by demand.
This is only your decision rule:
Price is not affected only by demand. That would be the case only in certain goods which are naturaly limited in quantities like gold for example or land (supply is totaly rigid). The prices in industrial sector of economy are set by producers to cover their production costs and get desired profit. The question is what % are production costs in relation to wholesale price ? How much does it cost to produce knife which sells for 200 or 300 USD or more? 100? 150 USD? The rest is profit for producers.
I'm not Donny but since you quoted me...
No.
You (maker/mfg) are "creating" supply (or more precisely supplying certain amount for given price) by considering your average costs and marginal revenue.
Your example of maker and factory isn't appropriate. IF they were to create substitutes (to each other) and (I think it's fair to assume this) economies of scale apply then factory has advantage of lower price.
But that's why makers focus mostly on high level of fit&finish, exotic materials, specific designs, their (well known) "brandname" etc. - because they can't compete with factories utilizing economies of scale. But if makers produce DIFFERENT(iated) product they can find their niche with specific demand. Ideally demand for just and only their own product therefore gaining monopolistic position (or oligopolistic position if there are makers that can offer similar product (substitute)).
As for the scarcity - example: Let's have Bighugegiganticcompany, Ltd., producing their 12 knives an hour, selling each knife for $10 (and let's assume they can sell everything they make and they don't want to contract or expand, ergo 12pcs*8hrs*5 days a week*52 weeks = 24960pcs a year) and I decide to compete, with exactly same knife (let's not bother with patents and copyrights) but I can only make 12 a year (2080 times less) - so I should charge more, shouldn't I? What would be appropriate price? $20800 a piece? Or can I be fine with $1000 a piece? Or $20 a piece? No, only price I can sell my knives at is $10 (and less, obviously ). Unless I add something else to diversify my product there is absolutely no reason why anyone would want to buy my knife for more than $10.
No.
You (maker/mfg) are "creating" supply (or more precisely supplying certain amount for given price) by considering your average costs and marginal revenue.
Your example of maker and factory isn't appropriate. IF they were to create substitutes (to each other) and (I think it's fair to assume this) economies of scale apply then factory has advantage of lower price.
But that's why makers focus mostly on high level of fit&finish, exotic materials, specific designs, their (well known) "brandname" etc. - because they can't compete with factories utilizing economies of scale. But if makers produce DIFFERENT(iated) product they can find their niche with specific demand. Ideally demand for just and only their own product therefore gaining monopolistic position (or oligopolistic position if there are makers that can offer similar product (substitute)).
As for the scarcity - example: Let's have Bighugegiganticcompany, Ltd., producing their 12 knives an hour, selling each knife for $10 (and let's assume they can sell everything they make and they don't want to contract or expand, ergo 12pcs*8hrs*5 days a week*52 weeks = 24960pcs a year) and I decide to compete, with exactly same knife (let's not bother with patents and copyrights
) but I can only make 12 a year (2080 times less) - so I should charge more, shouldn't I? What would be appropriate price? $20800 a piece? Or can I be fine with $1000 a piece? Or $20 a piece? No, only price I can sell my knives at is $10 (and less, obviously ). Unless I add something else to diversify my product there is absolutely no reason why anyone would want to buy my knife for more than $10.Sorry for that missing word. It's edited now.
Have you ever tried to slice a block of cheese with a Stanley utility knife?
Or fillet a fish with one?:thumbdn:
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