Friendly reminder for tonights GW sale

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I am really having a hard time understanding all of the complaining about how the BCS is run.

BCS gets in a limited number of knives from Busse.
Skunk posts on the forums when they will go on sale.
If you want one you get online and try to get one.
Each and every one of us has the same chance to get one.
How can it be made any more fair than that?

I have snagged three knives from BCS, each and every time I get one I have a feeling like I hit the LOTTERY. I think the present system works great and is very exciting at the same time.
 
Here's a suggestion:

Limit the number anyone can purchase during the first 24 or 48 hours they are put on the web site for sale. Or, limit the number a person can buy immediately, but allow people to reserve extra items should they still be available after a set time period. For example, someone gets in and buys 2 (say that is the limit) and reserves 5 more. After a week, if there is anything left, these reserved orders get filed.

Here is another idea: instead of catering to the group of people that spend hours on line at the Busse forum (and generally buy large quantites of everything) and giving them an advantage by releasing info on when the items will hit the store solely to them, why not just put the items on your site without any announcement, at various times. At least that way people who can't spend hours on line at the Busse forum MIGHT get lucky....

You still sell everything, more people have access, and hopefully, people stop complaining about spending hours playing the f5 game and/or having to pay a premium on the secondary market to those few people who have the time to sit at the computer all the time....

Sure, you can continue to do things as you have, and all those who are benefitting will tell you there is no problem. Based on the complaints and the simple fact that most of these knives are ending up in the hands of a few, I find it hard to believe that any objective person couldn't agree that something isn't as fair as it could be....If you want to cater to the few, that is your option. Just be aware that there are people who will continue to see the present system as dysfuntional in the main and continue to complain....
 
idahoskunk said:
bld522, we do not use any sneaky software to run our web site. we do not sit here and personally take orders either. this is a online store just like cabelas or any other web store.

the warden is a limited run from busse combat. we may get in a crate or two of these blades. i can put them on the site at anytime i choose but i choose to do it at time when i figure most people would be available to get on line.

so why don't you just come clean and spell your problems out? just what is it that gripes YOU, and please forget what the other customers think.

123, you list your bitches and i will answer them.

ok?
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My bitches are I'm not getting any of that scotch with all of my orders, whats up with that???? :confused:
 
Skunk, Just wanted to say how impressed with the way things are run over there. got an email saying my two orders were combined and one of my shipping fees was refunded. Quality customer service.

Also did not take me hours to pop by BF and find the time line for when they would drop into the store. Whithout the hint I never would of had the time to track one down. Please add 10 more wardens to my order if it has not shipped yet!!!!:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
Way ta go Justabuyer!!! You get the prize for "Pot Stirer of the YEAR!!!"

Prize: Opened can o worms. :p
 
idahoskunk said:
bld522, we do not use any sneaky software to run our web site. we do not sit here and personally take orders either. this is a online store just like cabelas or any other web store.

the warden is a limited run from busse combat. we may get in a crate or two of these blades. i can put them on the site at anytime i choose but i choose to do it at time when i figure most people would be available to get on line.

so why don't you just come clean and spell your problems out? just what is it that gripes YOU, and please forget what the other customers think.

123, you list your bitches and i will answer them.

ok?
Click to expand...
Fair enough, Skunk. Give me some time to gather my thoughts and I'll post them later today. And thanks for being willing to engage me in this discussion. :)
 
kuribo said:
Here's a suggestion:

Limit the number anyone can purchase during the first 24 or 48 hours they are put on the web site for sale. Or, limit the number a person can buy immediately, but allow people to reserve extra items should they still be available after a set time period. For example, someone gets in and buys 2 (say that is the limit) and reserves 5 more. After a week, if there is anything left, these reserved orders get filed.

Here is another idea: instead of catering to the group of people that spend hours on line at the Busse forum (and generally buy large quantites of everything) and giving them an advantage by releasing info on when the items will hit the store solely to them, why not just put the items on your site without any announcement, at various times. At least that way people who can't spend hours on line at the Busse forum MIGHT get lucky....

You still sell everything, more people have access, and hopefully, people stop complaining about spending hours playing the f5 game and/or having to pay a premium on the secondary market to those few people who have the time to sit at the computer all the time....

Sure, you can continue to do things as you have, and all those who are benefitting will tell you there is no problem. Based on the complaints and the simple fact that most of these knives are ending up in the hands of a few, I find it hard to believe that any objective person couldn't agree that something isn't as fair as it could be....If you want to cater to the few, that is your option. Just be aware that there are people who will continue to see the present system as dysfuntional in the main and continue to complain....
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First come first serve, that is the way the world is ran. If you could just go down to your local Walmart or Kmart and buy a Busse knife, it wouldn't be the same quality or be very special, it would be just like any other cheap mass produced knife. I think Skunk is doing us a favor by saying when the new knives are going on sale, you only have to be at the store for an hour rather than 24 hours a day!

What the people that are complaining have to remember, is that custom/semi custom knives are a luxury, not a staple of life like food, water and shelter. If you are not happy with the Busse business model or any other aspect of Busse knives, no one is making you participate.

The other thing to remember as far as the secondary market goes, if you guys would quit pay twice what the knives are worth, the people in it only for the money/profit would have to come down in price and they would go away! :eek:
 
bld522 said:
Fair enough, Skunk. Give me some time to gather my thoughts and I'll post them later today. And thanks for being willing to engage me in this discussion. :)
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OK, Skunk. Here we go:

I’d like to present my views in terms of a proposal. I’m not interested in complaining without offering a solution. And while I’m certain others could come up with a better solution, this is the best I can do for now.

The problem as I see it is that a number of people feel that they are not being given a fair and equitable opportunity to purchase knives from the BCS. These people believe, rightly or wrongly, that the activities of resellers are to blame. The resellers buy up all the available merchandise before individual purchasers have a chance to get any. As a result, individuals are forced to purchase the knives they want from resellers on the secondary market, often at highly-inflated prices.

IMHO, the best way to eliminate the problem would be to reinstate the pre-order system, but with a twist. I’d recommend that you list every knife you sell and every possible combination and permutation of each knife. (This is PRECISELY the way Busse sells knives from their web site today.) Then create an order form and allow people to pre-order knives based on their exact preferences. Preferences would include finish, handle material/color, blade thickness, etc. Those who place pre-orders would have to make a deposit of the full purchase price for the number of knives they order. They could cancel their pre-orders at any time and obtain a full refund of their deposits.

When the number of pre-orders for a particular knife reaches a critical mass determined solely by you, you’d have Jerry create a run of knives that fill the outstanding orders PLUS, and here’s the twist, an additional amount. The additional amount could vary, but its purpose would be to continue to sell the remainder as you have in the past, i.e., first-come, first-served, no order limit. So, for example, let’s say you get orders for 50 Orange Wardens and that’s your critical mass. At that time, you could have Jerry run, say, 100 Orange Wardens. When they arrive, you’d fill the pre-orders first and hang onto the rest until the pre-ordered knives had time to arrive at their destinations. Then you’d let everyone know that you’re going to have a ‘ganza on Orange Wardens and let the tackle fly.

What are the advantages to this approach. First, no one could complain about not being able to buy knives from the BCS at store pricing. As long as you received enough knives to fill their orders, they’d receive theirs. Second, you’d have the use of the money from their deposits until the knives were shipped. Depending upon how long it took to fill their orders, interest income earned from outstanding deposits could amount to a tidy little piece of change. Third, reseller activity would slow to a crawl. Only resellers with more money than sense would place large pre-orders for specific knives without knowing when those knives might arrive. Fourth, it would broaden your customer base. Keep in mind that people who resell knives they purchase from you on the secondary market aren’t your friends. They’re your competition. And fifth, and this is absolutely precious, nothing would have changed from the perspective of the resellers. They'd have absolutely no idea how many pre-orders you might have filled yourself. So for a while at least, they'd continue to purchase knives off the 'ganza for resale thinking that they had a market to sell to. You'd not only be able to continue to sell to your resellers, you'd sell direct to their customers as well.

Well there you have it. Do with it as you will. And thanks again for being willing to hear me out.
 
The problem as I see it is that a number of people feel that they are not being given a fair and equitable opportunity to purchase knives from the BCS. These people believe, rightly or wrongly, that the activities of resellers are to blame. The resellers buy up all the available merchandise before individual purchasers have a chance to get any. As a result, individuals are forced to purchase the knives they want from resellers on the secondary market at often highly-inflated prices.
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I've asked you this on another forum and never received a reply (once Dan posted)...how are people not given a fair chance? "Unfair" means that some are given an advantage while others are given a disadvantage. You seem convinced that all three of these companies are run "unfairly" and I've been waiting for you to explain how they've set up their businesses to put YOU at a disadvantage.

I ask this again in order to understand the problem, which frankly I just don't see.

IMO, the resellers are an entirely different problem. What people choose to do with their knives once they've bought them "fairly" is their business. If they're overpriced, I choose not to buy from them.
 
bld522 said:
No disrespect intended, 360joules. But right now, this is between me and Skunk. I'll hold my comments until he responds. :)
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I'm just trying to understand the problem that has led you to make these same accusations on so many forums.
You continue to accuse these companies of being unfair, yet refuse to explain yourself.
 
I am shocked.

I am shocked.

Some is telling SKUNK how to do business now, I thought Jerry was the only one that was told how to operate and when and where to do things.

I'll take one for the team here and state my opinion, this is going to haunt me so I am not taking this lightly.

If there is someone out there that knows so much about how to sell knives why not open up a shop and sell some knives yourself. Mr. Busse does things the way that he wants to and seems to be doing ok so far, I mean he has been in business for a couple of weeks and it looks like he gets enough to eat, maybe even enough to drink once in a while.

If you can't wrap your head around the idea of a knife going to the one with the most persistance on the F5 key I suggest you wrap your head around the reality of what shipping and handling charges normally cost. I have seen many knives selling for $300 which on the surface looks like a big markup over $247 for LEs, add shipping from SKUNK for a few bucks shipping from the seller for a few more and there is something like $20 being made, oh the humanity. Get over it. Just look at it as a discount if you can score one at the store.

Oh and BTW the store is based on selling knives that are in stock period, that's the way it's run. If you have issues with that I'm sure that Harbor Freight has a grinder for sale. All you have to do is spend a couple of decades developing a steel that's better than anything else on the market.

Good luck with that.
 
thegratenate said:
Some is telling SKUNK how to do business now,
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No one is TELLING Skunk how to do anything. I'm simply responding to Skunk at his request and as proactively as I can. If some are offended by my SUGGESTION, so be it. Fact is, I expect some people to attack my suggestion voraciously. Their names can easily be culled off the Exchange.
 
I would have no problem with this discussion if it weren't accusatory. It's one thing to say "[Skunk, Dan, Eric, Jerry], I appreciate that knives are available at the [insert appropriate store here], but have you considered this as an alternative method?" and saying "The way things are done is UNFAIR and cater to those with big wallets!!". One version is open discussion, the other is accusations, which you have yet to substantiate.

I agree that people may have ideas for ways of doing business that they prefer...bring those discussions up in a civil manner, not a "you owe me this and I won't stop blasting the forums with my agenda until you defer to my will" manner...which is what I'm getting.
 
thegratenate said:
I am shocked.

I am shocked.

Some one is suggesting to SKUNK how to do business now, I thought Jerry was the only one that was told how to operate and when and where to do things.

I'll take one for the team here and state my opinion, this is going to haunt me so I am not taking this lightly.

If there is someone out there that knows so much about how to sell knives why not open up a shop and sell some knives yourself. Mr. Busse does things the way that he wants to and seems to be doing ok so far, I mean he has been in business for a couple of weeks and it looks like he gets enough to eat, maybe even enough to drink once in a while.

If you can't wrap your head around the idea of a knife going to the one with the most persistance on the F5 key I suggest you wrap your head around the reality of what shipping and handling charges normally cost. I have seen many knives selling for $300 which on the surface looks like a big markup over $247 for LEs, add shipping from SKUNK for a few bucks shipping from the seller for a few more and there is something like $20 being made, oh the humanity. Get over it. Just look at it as a discount if you can score one at the store.

Oh and BTW the store is based on selling knives that are in stock period, that's the way it's run. If you have issues with that I'm sure that Harbor Freight has a grinder for sale. All you have to do is spend a couple of decades developing a steel that's better than anything else on the market.

Good luck with that.
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I apologize for the miswording.
My bad.
I won't change what I said but I will post a correction.

Once again good luck with that.
 
360joules said:
I would have no problem with this discussion if it weren't accusatory.
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I'm not accusing anyone of anything. I'm simply suggesting a sales model that may be fairer and more equitable for everyone . . . except resellers, of course. Whether or not Skunk decides to adopt my suggestion is none of my business.
 
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