Chicago Knife Works legit?

[bax229]

Just placed an order for the Viper MAGA. Checkout seemed normal and got an email verification of my order right away. Had a bad time with CKW a few years ago and never went back to them after that. That one encounter made me think they were scam artists. Looking online today they appear to be legit. If this deal goes bad ill chime in. jloh got his stuff,so that’s reassuring to me.

I just ordered a Spyderco Manix XL cruwear/micarta from CKW. Took about 2 weeks to ship. I wasn't in a hurry and saved around $50, so worth it to me. This was my 3rd order with them.

 

[luethge]

I order from Chicago Knife Works somewhat often.. no issues whatsoever ( like the member above mentioned, 14 days is about average shipping time - or you can pay for faster shipping. ). CKW has the best prices around.

 

[Mick Boardman]

I order from Chicago Knife Works somewhat often.. no issues whatsoever ( like the member above mentioned, 14 days is about average shipping time - or you can pay for faster shipping. ). CKW has the best prices around.

good to know this. My first contact with CKW 5+ years ago was bad, guy with arab accent was jerking me around. Can’t remember the details, but I was convinced it was a scam site and never until today went and tried doing business with them again.

 

[Railsplitter]

I just ordered a Spyderco Manix XL cruwear/micarta from CKW. Took about 2 weeks to ship. I wasn't in a hurry and saved around $50, so worth it to me. This was my 3rd order with them.

I order from Chicago Knife Works somewhat often.. no issues whatsoever ( like the member above mentioned, 14 days is about average shipping time - or you can pay for faster shipping. ). CKW has the best prices around.

You guys have some serious patience! I would personally rather pay the extra $50 from a different dealer than go crazy waiting 2 weeks for a shipping notification. The uncertainty alone would cause me to lose interest in the knife and the dealer by then.

How fast do they ship if you pay for faster shipping?

My one and only purchase from Chicago Knife Works shipped a heck of a lot faster than that. Like one or two days after I placed the order but that was several years ago.

Did they tell you up front that it would take 2 weeks to ship?

 

[luethge]

You guys have some serious patience! I would personally rather pay the extra $50 from a different dealer than go crazy waiting 2 weeks for a shipping notification. The uncertainty alone would cause me to lose interest in the knife and the dealer by then.

How fast do they ship if you pay for faster shipping?

My one and only purchase from Chicago Knife Works shipped a heck of a lot faster than that. Like one or two days after I placed the order but that was several years ago.

Did they tell you up front that it would take 2 weeks to ship?

Free shipping takes two weeks. Orders processed within 4-5 days. Option to pay for expedited shipping is ( I assume ) the same cost it would be at any other online retailer.

I think I’ve ordered 6 or 7 times from them over the past 4-5 years.. no issues whatsoever.

 

[Daniel L]

I have always had great shipping from them to overseas address. Best prices, but sadly they recently (since July I think) stopped international shipping.
I've always assumed they were drop shipping / ordering on demand hence the delays.

 

[thatguymark]

As usual it seems many people are quick to chime in with not having issues. To put it in context if there's negative experience 20% of the time there's still 80% where people have no issues and people who personally have not had any bad experience will ignore the rest, even though 20% would be a high rate. Of course the logic is as long as they haven't done it with me, they're good and who cares what others experience - at least until it happens to them. And as is often the case price is what matters to people and that's often the only specifics mentioned. My most recent and last experience is them (Mobeen Ashiq) offering something for a mistake and proceeding to ghost me. (the one offer email reply was under an hour, no reply to 2 emails after that for days)

They have a 2 star rating average on Trustpilot, the listing is claimed but they have not responded to anyone in 12 months - that should be a clear indicator they don't care.

Free shipping takes two weeks. Orders processed within 4-5 days. Option to pay for expedited shipping is ( I assume ) the same cost it would be at any other online retailer.

Of course the method of shipping is what matters and not whether it's free. I can only assume this is the items on the free shipping page under Special Deals. At this point they are not offering free shipping anymore even if your total is over $100. There used to be a loophole where any knife that ships free ends up making the whole order ship free but testing this right now even one knife on the FS list and another at $170 that's not on the FS list will pop up with a message saying it disqualifies the order from FS.** My guess is because a good percentage of knives over $100 are on the free ship list (nothing under, you can confirm sorting by price) some people just don't pay attention to notice that's no longer the case across the board. People who don't buy budget probably don't care but their shipping costs are also higher than most other popular stores.

** Edit: Even adding a 10ml bottle of KPL by itself will disqualify the order from free ship now.

The website currently says orders are processing 3-5 business days (not the same as calendar days) but recent experience was actually 7 business days, which is 3 more for a total of 10 calendar days given Labor Day. This of course doesn't include however long USPS takes to deliver it. In this case they did actually give it to USPS and didn't just create the label and have it sit there for days, which has happened before.

the tldr for many would probably be if you don't care about slow shipping time and just want the lowest price sure, of course with this kind of business the only option is to return it if there's any issue, and they are already slow to ship so if anything maybe figure that in to the simplistic linear measure of time and money.

As an alternative I find White Mountain Knives (no affiliation just a customer) much better to deal with, has consistent prompt shipping and when something is on sale it can be the best price of all, including compared with CKW at times.

 

[thatguymark]

Regarding expedited shipping being the same here is one side by side comparison with the exact same knive, Civivi Elementum II 18062PD2:

Standard: WMK: Free - CKW: $6.24
USPS Priority: WMK: $5.95 - CKW: $17.04
UPS Ground: WMK: $7.99 - CKW: $12.11
USPS Express: WMK: $34.99* - CKW: $58.31 (*WMK has note that it may be Overnight UPS based on cost)

I don't know what Chicago Knife Works is doing for USPS Priority that's clearly not actual shipping cost, as anyone who has sent a package by Priority mail knows. That option White Mountain has for UPS Overnight clearly shows they think about it and if it costs them less and gets it to you faster they'll use that.

BTW that knife is the same price at both stores, both have a 10% off code but White Mountain always have 10% codes on everything anyway which cannot be said of CKW.

 

[KentuckyBlackBird]

Regarding expedited shipping being the same here is one side by side comparison with the exact same knive, Civivi Elementum II 18062PD2:

Standard: WMK: Free - CKW: $6.24
USPS Priority: WMK: $5.95 - CKW: $17.04
UPS Ground: WMK: $7.99 - CKW: $12.11
USPS Express: WMK: $34.99* - CKW: $58.31 (*WMK has note that it may be Overnight UPS based on cost)

I don't know what Chicago Knife Works is doing for USPS Priority that's clearly not actual shipping cost, as anyone who has sent a package by Priority mail knows. That option White Mountain has for UPS Overnight clearly shows they think about it and if it costs them less and gets it to you faster they'll use that.

BTW that knife is the same price at both stores, both have a 10% off code but White Mountain always have 10% codes on everything anyway which cannot be said of CKW.

If I felt that strongly, then I wouldn’t use them. I for one, have had no issues with multiple purchases from them. I have no problem with the prices, be it shipping or product. The fact is they have some things you just can’t find anywhere else. I just wouldn’t drag them through the mud if you aren’t going to or haven’t used them. No single business is 100 percent. Anyone who moves freely in this world gets that idea.

 

[thatguymark]

If I felt that strongly, then I wouldn’t use them. I for one, have had no issues with multiple purchases from them. I have no problem with the prices, be it shipping or product. The fact is they have some things you just can’t find anywhere else. I just wouldn’t drag them through the mud if you aren’t going to or haven’t used them. No single business is 100 percent. Anyone who moves freely in this world gets that idea.

I think it's evident by the first part of the first post above I have used them since I was in communication with the owner. Also everything I posted is objective data, I wouldn't call that dragging someone through the mud. People are free to choose as you said, I posted actual information which can help people decide not supposition of people's motivations which does not inform in any useful way. I don't see the point of being defensive for them when it's a matter of presenting more specific information. Not everything is about how someone feels, or if it is there may actually be objective reasons (plural) that build up to the point where someone feels a certain way.