Dealer that doesn't want to sell knives?

OilMan

OilMan

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Ok, I guess I don't get it. I contact a dealer about a certain makers knives and find that the dealer has two of them in stock. One is listed on his website, the other isn't. The dealer offers me a good deal on the one listed on his site to which I reply that I'd like to see the other one. That email goes unanswered and I send another one after the weekend to see if my other email fell through the cracks as I still wanted to see the other knife. I get a reply that says "I list new knives on my site when I update,,please check back often as I try to update weekly." I guess this kinda pissed me off since I'm interested now but have to wait until said dealer gets around to listing it on his website. Which he doesn't say when is going to happen. And when it does get listed, unless I'm squatting on his website, I'm most likely going to miss it.:mad: To me it doesn't sound like the dealer wants to sell knives too bad? Am I the only one who doesn't 'get it'? (The lack of sales hunger, not the knife, which I'll probably miss too.)

confused,

oil
 
I say "move on", there'll be plenty of knives for you to buy and from dealers that are responsive. If it's that hot an item the dealer probably has others interested.

Win
 
Win Heger said:
I say "move on", there'll be plenty of knives for you to buy and from dealers that are responsive. If it's that hot an item the dealer probably has others interested.

Win
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Thats kinda what I was thinking. Sometimes it's not easy being a knifeknut.:(
 
Those are the easy ones Oilman.
The amount of competion from dealers as well as makers just keeps getting better in my experience.

"You dont want to help me? Next."
 
I guess I'm trying to understand a situation where a dealer wouldn't want to list or sell an item that someone specifically called them about but I can't. THe only thing I can think of is the dealer wants to list it on his site so he can say he had one but you could list it as sold if that's the case? Ah well, live and learn.:o
 
There are lots of reputable dealers out there who are more than willing to take your money.


And send you a knife in return ;).
 
OilMan said:
I guess I'm trying to understand a situation where a dealer wouldn't want to list or sell an item that someone specifically called them about but I can't. THe only thing I can think of is the dealer wants to list it on his site so he can say he had one but you could list it as sold if that's the case? Ah well, live and learn.:o
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Hi OilMan,
It's actually simple so let me explain in detail.
Some dealers show favoritism to certain customers. Before I was a dealer, I felt like I was a victim of this kind of favoritism where a dealer sold his "hot" knives to his pals before the general public had a shot. When I became a dealer I decided that would never happen, so I post knives randomly on my site and they are sold first come first served.
I appreciate every drop of business I get but treating folks equally is much more important to me than making a single sale.

Thanks,
Phillip :)
 
Thanks for weighing in Phillip. I'm not sure how a customer that took the time to contact you about something that they are/were interested in is a special circumstance though. Or sneaking it out from underneath anyone who didn't take the time to make contact. Couldn't/can't all customers contact a dealer proactively? And since they can isn't that a level playing field? And I never thought of myself as a "certain customer" with any dealer, just a guy who got off his duff and contacted a dealer about something I was interested in and was told yes I have another one, no you may not see it. Why even bring it up if you aren't going to show the customer a picture of it? Had I seen it I might not have wanted it anyway. I don't see the harm and don't follow the reasoning.

thanks,

oil
 
I apologize if I'm not explaining it clearly. If I tried to sell every hot knife I receive to every person that had asked me about them (again to be fair) I'd have to maintain a waiting list years long. Since that's not realistic, I simply post and sell allowing the first/fastest/luckiest to score.
At this moment there are guys on the four corners of the planet hitting refresh on my site and many other sites hoping that knives from the hottest makers will pop up. As a courtesy, I will tell a customer about knives that are coming soon so they'll know to be watching,,which is just one of the ways I acquire new customers. Some customers are willing to spend many hours a week watching the various knife websites for new stuff, others aren't. The ones that do typically score the most.

Thanks again,
Phillip :)
 
We'll have to agree to disagree I guess.:) The other dealers I've dealt with in the past were happy if they could take a couple of quick pictures of a knife and not have to actually list the item. But hey, everyone is entitled to run their biz any way they choose.:)

regards,

Greg
 
PS. Would any other dealers like to chime in about their policies on people that call looking for something in particular? Not to say anyone else is wrong but just to know your thoughts.:thumbup:
 
OilMan said:
PS. Would any other dealers like to chime in about their policies on people that call looking for something in particular? Not to say anyone else is wrong but just to know your thoughts.:thumbup:
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I'm not a dealer but why'd he bring up the other knife? If it were a face to face deal, I'd be scratchin my head all the way home. Maybe it's different on this world wide interweb infomercial highway thing.
 
He's trying not to show favoritism to certain clients but still let a potential customer that a knife will be coming up on his website soon so he will have an EQUAL chance at getting it.
 
shappa said:
He's trying not to show favoritism to certain clients but still let a potential customer that a knife will be coming up on his website soon so he will have an EQUAL chance at getting it.
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Well, equal if you have an inside job that you also have access to a pc 24/7. And while I was in the shower today I remembered that Phillip and I have made at least one deal in the past for stuff that wasn't on his site but it was when he was at Classic. Kinda odd that it didn't matter then but it does now.:confused: Or maybe it was because those makers weren't hot? (Although they were.) But again, Phillips store, Phillips policies. Personally, I would rather wait a little longer than squat on someones site in the hopes that the knife I couldn't even look at shows up eventually.:(
 
I've had a somewhat similar experience with a popular dealer - I enquired about a knife, the dealer answered the first email, then didn't bother replying my second when I said I was interested. next thing I know, the knife is listed as sold.

ah well, just move on....there are many dealers and there's the FS forums on quite a number of forums. if they don't want my business, so be it.

thanks for chiming in Notdos - I know favouritism exists (just as with knifemakers) so your approach is nice. damn, I don't know how I missed that special Fraley I mentioned I was interested in!
 
Alls well that ends well I guess. I got a hold of my "goto" dealer who didn't mind me privately asking about what I was looking for and is going to go an extra mile for me to get it. I'll let you know who and what when it happens. Which will hopefully be in the next two weeks or so.:thumbup: :thumbup: Some guys get my repeat biz for the lack of game playing and the willingness to go that extra bit.:thumbup: :thumbup:
 
Hi Oilman,
Congrats on the score! I'm glad you found what you were looking for. That's the great thing about the internet,,you have lots of knife dealers to choose from,,,if you don't like one there are lots of others you can buy from.

For those that are interested,,I have knives in-bound from Burke, Mayo, Blackwood, McGinnis, Marlowe and several others so check my site frequently.

Thanks,
Phillip :)
 
Phillip,
I never said I didn't like the dealer in question, I said I didn't understand why someone who was serious about selling knives wouldn't even show a prospective customer a picture of a knife.

But at least you got to spam the thread for free.:thumbdn:

oil
 
I have got to believe a dealer will show preferential treatment to a long time customer as opposed to a new customer.

To think both stand on equal ground in the eye of a dealer goes beyond my comprehension.

*****This is MY Opinion only!!!!!
 
OilMan said:
Ok, I guess I don't get it. I contact a dealer about a certain makers knives and find that the dealer has two of them in stock. One is listed on his website, the other isn't. The dealer offers me a good deal on the one listed on his site to which I reply that I'd like to see the other one. That email goes unanswered and I send another one after the weekend to see if my other email fell through the cracks as I still wanted to see the other knife. I get a reply that says "I list new knives on my site when I update,,please check back often as I try to update weekly." I guess this kinda pissed me off since I'm interested now but have to wait until said dealer gets around to listing it on his website. Which he doesn't say when is going to happen. And when it does get listed, unless I'm squatting on his website, I'm most likely going to miss it.:mad: To me it doesn't sound like the dealer wants to sell knives too bad? Am I the only one who doesn't 'get it'? (The lack of sales hunger, not the knife, which I'll probably miss too.)

confused,

oil
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While it's true a dealer can sell to whomever they want, telling a perspective customer, "I've got two - one listed and one not" opens a purchase opportunity, IMO. The dealer then replying with, "I list new knives on my site when I update,,please check back often as I try to update weekly" is BS !

Sounds like the dealer was playing the "secondary market, highest bidder" game. :jerkit:

Fuckers like that. . . ."I wouldn't piss on their guts if they were on fire". . . .is a mild understatement. ;)
 
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