Brick n' Mortar VS. online sales

J

JoePhysician

Joined
Mar 29, 2015
Messages
75
New to the collecting aspect but have edc'd a knife since I was a kid, 49 now. I have never bought a knife online as I have been fortunate to live close to a quality knife shoppe my entire life.
I've been reading (thanks to this site and youtube) about new to me knifes and love the fact that all I have to do to test drive a knife is hop in my transport and head the mile and 1/4 to check it out. Eric usually has the knife in question.
Today was the Spyderco Endura.
I was underwhelmed, it seemed...cheap isn't the right word, and keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about, this is just my opinion...old school maybe? Bottom line, for my hand it didn't feel 'right'.
Now to my point; if I had purchased this untouched, tested and held knife online would I have gone to the trouble to return it? I don't know.
How do people who are not fortunate to have a knife outlet close by deal with this 'problem'?
 
I have a knife store 15 miles from me. But they carry mostly tactical and custom knives. So to get my slipjoint knives I have to buy online. I have bought a lot of knives here, a few on one of the auction sites and the rest from three of the main knife sites for traditional knives.

If I don't like a knife I usually resale it here. If it was brand new I'll take a small loss just as I would selling almost any 'now used' item--even if it's like new.

But I do this because I can't really tell if I am going to like a knife until I have one in my hands.

...Mike
 
If I don't like a knife for one reason or another, it goes back in the box, taped up, and shipped back, not a big deal...

I combat this by buying knives that I know I will like, like knives by certain custom makers and such.
 
Lots of trial and error. I have owned many knives and the ones that didn't work out were usually sold or traded at a loss. I just chalk it up to part of the hobby. Eventually you will figure out what makers or companies you like and will have confidence enough to buy their products online.

If that doesn't work for you just be happy you have a knife shop so close by.
 
Most stores in my area have generic high volume knives. No variety. For a model that's harder to find, online is the King. With vendors here on bladeforums, you know they will make it right if you're not satisfied.
 
Last time I went to the local store they had a Techno for $350. An Endura was $115.

No. Thank. You.
 
I prefer buying in a store. I've only ordered about 10 knives to be delivered in my life and of them 10, 4 have been stolen or "lost" during delivery. My brother in the past two months has had three stolen or "lost" In The past two months that he has ordered.

A real pita to fix sometimes.
 
Boris74 said:
I prefer buying in a store. I've only ordered about 10 knives to be delivered in my life and of them 10, 4 have been stolen or "lost" during delivery. My brother in the past two months has had three stolen or "lost" In The past two months that he has ordered.

A real pita to fix sometimes.
Click to expand...

lol stay away from Vegas with your luck. Ive had several hundred knives shipped to me with only one that never made it.
 
Goosey said:
Last time I went to the local store they had a Techno for $350. An Endura was $115.

No. Thank. You.
Click to expand...

The closest place that sell knives near me is an "Army Navy Store". They carry a lot of paint ball guns, which is why they got the quotes on the name. The prices there are similar to the ones that Goosey mentions. They priced themselves out of my market.
 
I have no knife store nearby at all. The local Gander Mtn. has a Benchmade display case, overpriced just like everything else Gander sells. (except for H&R rifles, some of the best local prices I've seen, and H&R is belly up now) I just spend hours researching a knife before ever buying it. I watch videos of it to see how it looks and works, and to get a general idea of the size. Then after tons of debating, I order it. Haven't been let down yet; though with the CS Pocket Bushman I did expect it to be a little smaller, while I expected the regular Bushman to be bigger. Sometimes the camera fools you.
 
The only brick-n-mortar store within driving distance charges full retail, even over retail on some popular models from Benchmade and Spyderco.

Occasionally, I'll get a knife online I don't care for and either sell it or trade it, usually at a loss. But, considering what I saved from paying full retail, I just consider the loss as a 'rental fee'.

I also do a lot more research, reviewing the specs and Youtube reviews, before buying online. I've only returned 1 knife and that one was defective.

Here's the list of dealers that support Bladeforums. I have 100% confidence in buying from them.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1089879-Paid-Dealer-Members-List-(Updated-9-3-14)
 
Blade HQ has a pretty large brick and mortar store that is also their HQ and warehouse its a pretty neat set up. You walk in the front of the BladeHQ warehouse itself and enter a large retail area with many meters of glass cases across the room stuffed with everything you could think of. GPKnives is set up like that to but I get that you gotta either fly there or hopefully live nearby.

Big box stores like Walmart can actually get nearly any blade you want. Go online to the walmart site and search any knife or knife brand you want and they will list everything say Ka Bar for example makes. Want to test it out before you buy it? Still cannot do that here but its the next best thing. Have the knife you bought on their site delivered to your local walmart. When you go to pick it up whomever is getting for you out of the call bins in the back most of the time will wait for you to open and inspect it before you leave the store with it. Should you not like it just hand it back to them right there and get your refund.

That was how I got my Civilian. I remember how shocked the poor customer service guy was when I pulled the Civilian out of its pouch and opened it LOL. Everything was fine so I took delivery and left the store.
 
Just got my first SOG Vulcan the same way as well. CS guy asked me to check it out and approve of it before I left the store with it. Fortunately I was beyond impressed with the Vulcan wasnt expecting it to be anywhere near as nice as it is. Still though had I checked it out at the counter and not liked it I could have just handed it right back and got a refund right there.
 
I've probably only bought one or two knives at an actual store, the rest have been mail order or online. Of course it's hard to tell everything about a knife by pictures so not every knife is what you thought/wanted it to be.

I can usually sell a knife hear for a modest loss. When you factor in the cost of gas to drive to the closest knife store (about two hours away) plus sales tax it's worth the risk to order online.
 
Boris74 said:
I prefer buying in a store. I've only ordered about 10 knives to be delivered in my life and of them 10, 4 have been stolen or "lost" during delivery. My brother in the past two months has had three stolen or "lost" In The past two months that he has ordered.

A real pita to fix sometimes.
Click to expand...

If that is true it is time to relocate.
 
I buy online, not only do many of them have great videos and photos, technical specs of the products, great service too. Generally I research any product online before its in my hands. Great experiences with BladeHQ and knives ship free, returned a few with BladeHQ no hassles. Can't imagine a brick and mortar store that could offer the same inventory, knowledge and service. Shopping at gander mountain, basspro, or Walmart is basically telling some Cleary, no that one, I mean that one, no, the one to the left, or holding it in hard plastic wrapper anyway.
 
Only recently has a decent knife store opened near me - and their selection is... alright. They get the new ZTs and most of the new Spyderco knives in, and have reasonable prices, but that's about it as far as the brands and knives I'd be interested in.

I just haunt the exchange and eBay and wait for the desired knife to come up at a price that I can resell at at least a net wash with shipping. If possible, I trade and sell up towards my next knife, and then lather rinse and repeat. I've had some windfalls and some crushing losses, but it all averages out in the end.
 
I'm lucky enough to live right by BladeHQ. It's been great to be able to actually handle knives before I buy them.
 
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