How many selling makers do this?

I offer a full refund for any reason except knife abuse. I have never had to buy one back. I had one customer 5 years ago the wasn't satisfied with his and I traded him fror another with the right to get a refund if he didn't like it. He is still using it.

It does not make sense to have customers out there that don't like the deal they got. At lest half of my business is return customers and people they have reffered to me, so it is in my interest to keep them happy.
 
I tell my customers to get over it. its not my fault the steel that i used was really lowes steel--some guy sold it to me and said it was s30v or was it d-2. anyway once you buy it its is your buddy. oh ya the wood that you may say is pine--well the guy i bought it from said it was desert ironwood . no refund from me.---------only kiddingREALLY---lol--marekz-- i have sold a few to friends for like dirt cheap, mostly gave them away.. when i do start selling for real i will start like everyone else--i will make the best product i can and start selling it at low prices, and ofcourse--NO QUESTIONS ASKED MONEY BACK QUARANTEE. thanks again-marekz
 
100% return if not happy unless knife shows wear or abuse. Your rep is worth more than the knife. Client should bear return cost however.
 
any online buying should come with a money back 30 day refund unused. Once they have used the knife ide say no . Internet buying can be very decieving picture can speak but to have the knife in your hand is another language. I would not sleep at night knowing people think im a scammer /con artist selling crap . Do what ever you think is right and fair. kellyw
 
100% money back, only had one.. Said when he got it he did not like.. Thats ok.. With the internet its hard for them to really get a feel for the knife and they can be resold pretty easy. I do not refund postage so there is a little penalty.
 
I'll share my experiences and my methods concerning this area of being a knifemaker.

There was a time when I trusted everyone. I would send a client a knife, without payment, telling them that if they approved of the knife, just send me payment, if they did not like the knife, then simply return it. That worked great for a number of years, until...... I sent a Hunter/Camp knife set to a client, and after not hearing from the client after a week, I called. The phone was disconnected. I tried several more times with the same results. I then sent a registered letter, and it came back "Return to sender, no longer at this address" That was over 15 years ago, and I never saw the knives, the money, or the client again.

At that time I instituted a policy of no knives leaving the shop until payment in full is received. Once I received the payment, the knife is shipped, with a full 7 calendar day inspection period for the client. (the inspection period begins the day the client receives the knife). If for any reason the client is not 100% happy, simply return the knife, and I return the payment. After the 7 day inspection period, I consider the knife has a new owner, and my lifetime warranty applies, with the exception of abuse.

Sometimes its difficult for a knifemaker to stipulate under what conditions a knife may be returned, simply because we tend to be very trusting, and do no want to appear anything less to potential clients. But, I can assure all the makers out there, that if you leave a crack in the door, there will be someone who exploits it. As much as I try to give each and every client the benefit of a doubt, I think it is only prudent to protect yourself, as a maker, from being exploited.

We are blessed in the respect that its not common place in our industry....but without some type of return policy, your leaving yourself wide open. Being fair to your clients, as well as yourself may take a little thought, but in the end your clients will appreciated it, and you will be preventing possible future problems for yourself as a Maker.
 
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We had a knife returned for damage that was obvious abuse. It was obvious because of the damage and the customer told us he had been throwing it at a tree. We looked at the knife and said yep that is what caused the problem. Made him another knife and asked him to not do that anymore. It didn't take a week for the word on what we had done for that customer to come back to us. He is a good customer and so are several others that have heard about it. It cost us a knife, but it made us some customers in this case. Should we have done it? Probably not. The customer said that he certainly didn't expect us to do anything. That he knew that damage sustained while throwing the knife would not be covered by our warranty. We could have been burned, but we didn't want a damaged knife out there with our name on it. It really needs to be a case by case decision. If the customer had lied about what he was doing, it likely would have been handled differently.

I guess this is another good reason to test your knives to destruction some times, because it gives you an idea of what the knife is going to look like if it is broken a certain way.
 
Ed Caffrey said:
I'll share my experiences and my methods concerning this area of being a knifemaker.

There was a time when I trusted everyone. I would send a client a knife, without payment, telling them that if they approved of the knife, just send me payment, if they did not like the knife, then simply return it. That worked great for a number of years, until...... I sent a Hunter/Camp knife set to a client, and after not hearing from the client after a week, I called. The phone was disconnected. I tried several more times with the same results. I then sent a registered letter, and it came back "Return to sender, no longer at this address" That was over 15 years ago, and I never saw the knives, the money, or the client again.

At that time I instituted a policy of no knives leaving the shop until payment in full is received. Once I received the payment, the knife is shipped, with a full 7 calendar day inspection period for the client. (the inspection period begins the day the client receives the knife). If for any reason the client is not 100% happy, simply return the knife, and I return the payment. After the 7 day inspection period, I consider the knife has a new owner, and my lifetime warranty applies, with the exception of abuse.

Sometimes its difficult for a knifemaker to stipulate under what conditions a knife may be returned, simply because we tend to be very trusting, and do no want to appear anything less to potential clients. But, I can assure all the makers out there, that if you leave a crack in the door, there will be someone who exploits it. As much as I try to give each and every client the benefit of a doubt, I think it is only prudent to protect yourself, as a maker, from being exploited.

We are blessed in the respect that its not common place in our industry....but without some type of return policy, your leaving yourself wide open. Being fair to your clients, as well as yourself may take a little thought, but it in the end your clients will appreciated it, and you will be preventing possible future problems for yourself as a Maker.
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Ed , was your client a repeat/return customer ? For return customers I have sent the knife out 1st. for their inspection and have had no problems yet . Trust needs to go in both directions . I should say here though that those customers kept in touch and there was good communication . I might not do this with the one who never even wrote me to tell me he received the knife .
 
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