BLADEFORUMS.COM - SUPPORT QUESTION

DaveH,

They would not do that because Spyderco already advertises in competing magazines.

David1967,

I could not do that because wholesale knife distributors can not sale directly to the public. If I close out an item or brand I may list it here as I have already done to give you all a great deal. But those deals are limited to stock on hand.



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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!

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I agree with what has been said regarding the issue of paying to post...I would consider it..but, inevitably it would kill traffic.

I think that raising costs of advertizing banners would be an idea to consider. As well, an honor system in the "for sale" forum of paying BF $2-5 pending a sale, has distinct possibilities.

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Yeah! Drop the chalupa...


 
Maybe I am missing here something but cannot you sell to retail dealers (many of them advertise here).

What is the difference between paying your bills form money you get from wholesale or retail business? I am sure you have your reasons but I do not understand. I thought you were quite successful with your WOW. Now you are looking for business to fund BF. For me it looks like you are starting over again or better it looks like you jumped from running train and you are sitting at the station again.

I know this question is not relevant now but: Was not it possible to include BF expenses in your WOW total expenses? If not you are living in a strange country and you should move off shore....

David
 
David1967,

I started WOW in 1991 with one table at a local flea market.
I started my wholesale operation in 1994 so I will start there.
In 1994 I did $548,000
In 1995 I did $1.2 Million
In 1996 I did $1.8 Million
In 1997 I did $2.4 Million
In 1998 I did $1.8 Million

My personal income in the last 4 years actually decreased each year as we took on new products and more overhead. This past year I decided the pattern was not going to change and I had no bank financing to build WOW beyond what it was. I bulit my business with no bank loans and basically just fed everything back into the business.

Also I could not compete with other distribtuors who discounted. So I decided to back out of distribtuion and formed an aliance with JRS distributors. That allowed me to transfer my customers over to them. That deal will be over on January 1st and we will in no way be a distributor for knife products after that date.

This allows me much leeway in what I can do. I know plan to expand my Internet Business which has the greatest potential for growth, not to mention I will be able to control my own destiny and not be subject to 30 manufacturers policies.

In December of 1997 a large manufacturer changed their distribution policies which effected a large portion of my business. I had done about $300,000 in their product alone. After losing that product line I also noticed that many of the customers I had left us to buy from suppliers who still carried that line. This actually amounted to over $500,000 in lost sales and that is a hard pill to swallow.

I realized then that I can not allow any other business to have that much control over me and I started to look for another way.

I have been building web sites for several years. I brought Spark on board last December to help me in this area as he has more expertise than I do. I shut down World Of Weapons on September 27th of this year. WOW is now WOW-Distribution and WOW Internet Solutions. This complete new direction will hopefully take us down a much more profitable path. Plus it allows me to contol all aspects of my business.

I did sell to many Interent businesses but not all. The reason is I could not stock merchandise in the quantities needed. Also some manuafcturers stop selling to me because they thought I was the distributor mainly responsible for supplying net dealers. No matter what I told them they would not beleive it.

So for the record I have never sold to Discount Knives, KnifeCenter, Confederate Cutlery and others. I am also not the sole source for knives nor can I control dealers pricing. I have been called by several manufacturers asking me to not sell to specific dealers. When I tell them that I am not the problem here they would not beleive. So other distributors would get product and not me.

Oh well, I am sick of the game. The funny thing is I have been out of X brand knives for several months and yet those dealers are still on the net and have the same prices. So I guess I was not the source huh?

Anyway I am giving more info than necessary but the short of it is that I see more potential in my Internet business than I do being a knife distributor.

Need a web site?

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!

Support BladeForums! Check out the BFC Store!
www.bladeforums.com/store
Subscribe our NEW online magazine!
www.bladeforums.com/magazine
Enter our Raffle!
www.bladeforums.com/raffle
 
Mike, I don't think that many folks will pay full price to you for a standard production knife. I know that I probably would not. I would go a bit more, say $10-$15, but no more, if that. I have subscribed to the magazine. And, for Sal, reading BladeForums has sold me an Endura98, a Delica98, a Military, a StarMate, a BF Native, and now a BenchMade Pardue Axis. Note the increasing value of the choices. This is a result of my education (?) at the forums. Before, I thought that Buck and Gerber were good quality knives, although I had found some Spydercos.

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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
Arlington, Virginia

 
Would you guys still buy from us or just go buy from the discount houses, or both.
Click to expand...

Mike,
To be honest, my preference is to do both. I can't expect the BF store to compete price-wise on standard production items, so those I will continue to buy from the discount houses. But if there was something of interest that I could only get from BF, that would be a different story. Also, like FullerH, I would be willing to spend $10-$15 more for a standard production knife in order to buy from BF, the same as I would be willing to spend extra to buy from a dealer who provides exceptional service, or is otherwise deserving of my support.

Dave


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Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives

 
Mike,

I've only been a member for 3-1/2 months. I don't know if sounding off helps you gauge the newbie contingent but here goes anyway.

My general knife business would have to stay with my internet dealer. The prices are nice but the service is excellent. I feel I "owe" him my business on standard knives.

I bought two BF blue Natives; one of each blade type, there's a SIFU on order and a subscription was purchased early on.

Anything similar in concept to the blue Native or the SIFU I'll likely purchase.


A coworker got an e-mail from Spyderco that mentioned bladeforums (a response to a catalog request, I think). If a box insert wouldn't be PC, I'd assume there's no harm in a BF reference in an e-mail signature.

I'm a sucker for relatively unique knives in the store. Newbie idea for store item: Speedtech. They're great for custom colors, you couldn't PO any dealers since they've got none and maybe Jim can find you enough markup to make it worthwhile selling for Speedtech direct prices. If he can't find a discount, I'd still pay a premium for a "BF edition".

Sure hope this helps - you're doing a fine job.

Jim
 
Mike,

Thank you for your explanation. I am sure you will not regret your decision about the web business. I have been working in this area (APS/SCM) for some time now and there is FUTURE in it. Manufacturers and distributors (even retail sellers) who do not realize this will be unpleasantly surprised in very short time. I think that your decision was wise and I wish you good luck.

David
 
Mike,

Regarding your question about paying a bit more in support of the forum, my experience with the Bladforum store hasn't been the greatest. I ordered a Sentry cloth and a Photon on 11/12, mainly to help support you all. I emailed Spark on 12/3 because I hadn't received my order. He said the Photons hadn't come in, but were due that day or the following Monday. I haven't heard any more nor have I received my order. I don't think most people are going to pay more and wait a month to get something they can get quicker and cheaper from other dealers.

Mark

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Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with
confidence.


 
marklee,

I went round and round on that very issue. In fact I make it a practice to not sell what I do not stock. The problem we face is that if it is not in my warehouse, we must order it from another source. We have the disclaimer on our store but no one ever reads it. The Krills and the Photons will need to be removed from our BFC Store for the above reason. If we can not ship within 7 days I don't want it.

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!

Support BladeForums! Check out the BFC Store!
www.bladeforums.com/store
Subscribe our NEW online magazine!
www.bladeforums.com/magazine
Enter our Raffle!
www.bladeforums.com/raffle
 
Actually I did read it and when it said generally 7 - 14 days I emailed Spark because I thought there might be a problem. I don't think you can keep a bunch of stock on hand as that wouldn't help your cash flow either. Sorry I don't have any good suggestions. If the added exposure you get from running the forum isn't worth the expense you need to make a tough business decision.

Mark

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Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with
confidence.


 
HI Mike,
I'm sure i'm not important to you as overseas members are only about 10%(or less) of the whole 4 thousand +. But i will stress how as an "outsider" feel about this issue.

Paying $29.90 for the Inter-mag IS not expensive if you are earning U.S currency but after conversion, it'll cost me $120 Malaysian Ringgit! I don't mind the cost as i like BF very much but charging $25 to post? I'll start thinking about it, honestly!
Can you imagine any other member who is in a country with a currency rate that is lower than of Malaysia? Gone!

I'm not sure how or even give any suggestions to maintain this site, but i sure will support it! Some poeple give two hoots about me but mostly don't but that's o.k, cause i don't expect everyone to like each other. One things for sure though, i learn quite a bit and found some friends too. BF is like a place without boundaries where everyone from different country, race and sex comes together with a single passion.......KNIVES!

 
Provide a knife Mall.
Charge some sort of flat fee??
Let the vendors price their own products you charge a flat rate no %. You provide the vehicle just like blade forums. Stay out of the middle. Let the vendors fight over price.
Be a great place for one stop shopping.

John Yeackley

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[This message has been edited by John Yeackley (edited 14 December 1999).]
 
Now there's an interesting idea -- one stop knife shopping. Works for me.

Dave

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Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of More Knives

 
I've got an extra kidney I don't need. I suppose I could donate it to help raise some $$.

David Rock

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AKTI Member # A000846
Stop when you get to bone.
 
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