BM going direct dealer only?

When you price yourself out of your own market, that too is capitalism. I wonder if BM's gov't contracts are lucrative enough to make thier (assumed) loss in civilian sales worth it. Very few production knives are subjectively worth the MSRP. We all know this and very few of us buy from brick and mortars that sell at that price point. I would be surprised if this policy ends up making Benchmade money. Time will tell.
 
Para Power said:
That's right. I don't remember all this hand wringing and teeth gnashing when Spyderco went up on their prices. :D
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Spyderco's prices went up? :confused: New '09 stuff is generally higher end though.... Lots of carbon fiber and such.
 
I haven't seen any BM knives being sold near MSRP. When I called knifeworks they said to expect a small price bump though
 
I like BM knives and their business practices do not change the fact that I think that they make very good knives. However, New Graham is my brick and mortar knife store as they are about 5 minutes away from me and the fact that NGK will no longer be selling BM causes me to have a problem with BM's business practices. I have had several people tell me to just buy spyderco, but I am not a fan of their knives though I know that they are probably just as good as a BM. All this just means that BM will be losing a customer because of this rule, sorry for the rant.
 
Welcome to the forums, macwv!

As long as I get a good product for a fair price, I could care less if I get it from a B&M or a web store. It is not like Benchmade is clubbing seal pups or making nerve gas on the side. Benchmade have made an executive decision to take a more 'hands on' approach to marketing and time will tell if it is the right choice. Don't forget, Benchmade has been around for 20 years, so they must be doing something right.
 
macwv said:
I like BM knives and their business practices do not change the fact that I think that they make very good knives. However, New Graham is my brick and mortar knife store as they are about 5 minutes away from me and the fact that NGK will no longer be selling BM causes me to have a problem with BM's business practices. I have had several people tell me to just buy spyderco, but I am not a fan of their knives though I know that they are probably just as good as a BM. All this just means that BM will be losing a customer because of this rule, sorry for the rant.
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It seems they are still getting a good supply of the HK and Bradley knives. Those are some of the best products that Benchmade makes, IMO. :thumbup:
 
A.P.F. I appreciate the welcome and understand that what they are doing is really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme, but it still rubs me the wrong way. I like to support local businesses if at all possible and having NGK basically on my doorstep has made it easy to do that when it comes to knives. If Benchmade comes out with a knife that I feel like I can not live without I will probably buy one but for now I will tell myself that I am done with them.

Para Power the HK knives really do not appeal to me that much, a little to tactical for my tastes, and I was not aware that the Bradly knives were made by Benchmade. I like the look of the Bradley knives as the are nearly identical to my Sebenzas, but if I am going to be mad at the parent company I guess I have to be mad at them as well.
 
There appears to be a lot of bad blood about this topic and I don't know why. Whatever is going to happen, is going to happen. I can understand there being some concern, but I see no reason for members here to be getting in each others faces about it.

Prices on products tend to rise a little every year, and if that is all that happens with Benchmade then I can see no problem.
 
macwv said:
A.P.F. I appreciate the welcome and understand that what they are doing is really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme, but it still rubs me the wrong way. I like to support local businesses if at all possible and having NGK basically on my doorstep has made it easy to do that when it comes to knives. If Benchmade comes out with a knife that I feel like I can not live without I will probably buy one but for now I will tell myself that I am done with them.

Para Power the HK knives really do not appeal to me that much, a little to tactical for my tastes, and I was not aware that the Bradly knives were made by Benchmade. I like the look of the Bradley knives as the are nearly identical to my Sebenzas, but if I am going to be mad at the parent company I guess I have to be mad at them as well.
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I respect your point of view. Also, sorry I forgot to say "welcome to the forum". :)
 
If a distributor is forced to have a price floor
I think they will offer "tie ins" to make THEIR price more attractive
For example, "Get a free sheath and sharpening stone with purchase"

What is the "penalty" for selling below the MSRP?
BM will no longer "authorize" you to distribute it?
Say the MSRP is 100 bucks
I go into Joe Bob's Knife Shack and make a deal to buy 10 knives at 80 bucks a piece
Then I sell them on EBAY for 90 bucks
How will BM know where I got the knives from and "punish" Joe Bob for selling below the MSRP?

To me it hinges how far off the MSRP is from the ACTUAL "market value" of the knife
There will either be consumer surplus or producer surplus
A price floor set above the market equilibrium price has several side-effects. Consumers find they must now pay a higher price for the same product. As a result, they reduce their purchases or drop out of the market entirely. Meanwhile, suppliers find they are guaranteed a new, higher price than they were charging before. As a result, they increase production.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resale_price_maintenance

It looks like the legality is based on the rule of reason
Given its policy of refusing to sell to retailers that discount its goods below suggested prices, petitioner (Leegin) stopped selling to respon-dent’s (PSKS) store. PSKS filed suit, alleging, inter alia, that Leeginviolated the antitrust laws by entering into vertical agreements withits retailers to set minimum resale prices. The District Court ex-cluded expert testimony about Leegin’s pricing policy’s procompeti-tive effects on the ground that Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., 220 U. S. 373, makes it per se illegal under §1 of the Sherman Act for a manufacturer and its distributor to agree on the minimum price the distributor can charge for the manufacturer’s goods. At trial, PSKS alleged that Leegin and its retailers hadagreed to fix prices, but Leegin argued that its pricing policy was law-ful under §1. The jury found for PSKS. On appeal, the Fifth Circuitdeclined to apply the rule of reason to Leegin’s vertical price-fixing agreements and affirmed, finding that Dr. Miles’ per se rule rendered irrelevant any procompetitive justifications for Leegin’s policy.
Held: Dr. Miles is overruled and vertical price restraints are to be judged by the rule of reason. Pp. 5–28.
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http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/06-480.pdf

I really don't think this will be good for the knife consumer:mad:
It reeks of cartel like behavior
If BM sees of reduction of revenue and/or profit===>
I'm sure they will reverse the policy
It will be interesting to see the sales figures (if they are publicly available)

Then again
Maybe "cutting out the middle man" will allow them to LOWER the prices
You never know......:cool:
 
Its pretty simple. Either they will price themselves out of this market or not. I think if you pull out the MSRP for BM or Spyderco (just picking this pair because they are my two favorites) you will find that the "list" price is way too high, hence the mark downs that we are all familiar with. I own multiples of the 94x series BM, one of my all time favorite designs. I can buy one for around 100ish. If the new policy is MSRP, I won't be buying at nearly 200 dollars a pop. I will find something more in line with what I think is a reasonable price. I suspect if this new pricing policy is strictly enforced, the Spydercos, Kershaws, etc. will be the beneficiaries. Especially in this down economic cycle. Even if I agree with their policy and certainly their right to manage their own business in their own manner, I would politely state that their timing could not be worse. Good luck with this one.

Pete
 
pedropcola said:
Its pretty simple. Either they will price themselves out of this market or not. I think if you pull out the MSRP for BM or Spyderco (just picking this pair because they are my two favorites) you will find that the "list" price is way too high, hence the mark downs that we are all familiar with. I own multiples of the 94x series BM, one of my all time favorite designs. I can buy one for around 100ish. If the new policy is MSRP, I won't be buying at nearly 200 dollars a pop. I will find something more in line with what I think is a reasonable price. I suspect if this new pricing policy is strictly enforced, the Spydercos, Kershaws, etc. will be the beneficiaries. Especially in this down economic cycle. Even if I agree with their policy and certainly their right to manage their own business in their own manner, I would politely state that their timing could not be worse. Good luck with this one.

Pete
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All MSRP's are crap. We know this, they know this. There is no way I'm going to pay $339 for a Superhawk. Amazing knife, but not when it's $50 shy of a Strider or a Sebenza. MSRP's are a price point that is calculated by how much it would cost if they weren't sold in bulk. You sell your product at a discount for a bulk purchase, and then the retailer can make any markup's they want.
 
I just have a small question, i got my griptilian today from NGK and i love it.
Its my first Bm so i dont really know how i should use the axis lock on it, do i need to pull on the luck from both side at the same time? because i tried only pulling one and it didnt really move smooth. thanks lol
 
SchneiderMan said:
I just have a small question, i got my griptilian today from NGK and i love it.
Its my first Bm so i dont really know how i should use the axis lock on it, do i need to pull on the luck from both side at the same time? because i tried only pulling one and it didnt really move smooth. thanks lol
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yes, pull on both sides at once. i think pulling on only one side could cause damage to it.
 
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