How should Collector Knives sell GEC SFO's

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knifeswapper said:
OK, this has turned out to be way more expensive and time consuming that I am interested. After this run of #77's is gone I am thinking about some other solutions and want input.

A) Add them to the Early Reserve System unannounced and hope the server doesn't crash
B) Make 500 of the same knife in addition to letter A
C) Put them on eBay with a buy it now that has 15% built in to cover the extra costs
D) Any other option that is less work and people won't show up and beat me with a stick

I have been cussed like a dog by several customers aggravated that they are 0-2 via emails. Personally if that is what they have in their heart they can go, but I don't want to aggravate others in the future.
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D: Charge an annual membership fee to use the Early Reserve system and use the money to upgrade your servers. I don't know what a reasonable amount would be, and reasonable for me may not be the same for someone else. It is very reasonable for people to pay for your time and investment. If you charged $20 annually for membership I would assume, over the long run, that would help cover some cost of upgrading the servers and your time.

A: You will likely have the same problem. Within 5 minutes of you dropping the knives unannounced I'm sure it will be posted on FB, BF, IG....

B: 500 of the same knife sounds crummy to me. Why, I've waited 2 years for this drop. I don't want to wait for 4 drops... almost a decade for my preferred blade combination and cover material.

Hope this helps, good luck with whatever you decide to do!
 
I was selected for a Micarta, but that wouldn't be my first choice. I actually like the idea of one big draw listing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice. Then if you didn't necessarily get what you want you could trade. I get it that several on here are collectors and would like to get one of every material but this would spread the wealth a bit. Just a thought....
 
315 said:
I was selected for a Micarta, but that wouldn't be my first choice. I actually like the idea of one big draw listing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choice. Then if you didn't necessarily get what you want you could trade. I get it that several on here are collectors and would like to get one of every material but this would spread the wealth a bit. Just a thought....
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That would take thousands more dollars invested, and my budget is tapped.
 
knifeswapper said:
That would take thousands more dollars invested, and my budget is tapped.
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Not knowing what it takes to do a draw I didn't think it'd be that difficult to set up, or expensive. Ouch...I was merely thinking about how big game permits are done for special draws. You only get one tag, maybe, and it might be your 1st,2nd,3rd or 4th choice. Well....if I come up with another idea I'll throw it out there.
 
Well I'm 0 for 2 on the first couple of drawings... :( Hopefully my luck will turn for any future draws. I haven't even heard how many different variations of the 77s are coming out. Maybe someone can let me know? Even though my luck stinks I'd like to thank Mike for everything he does for us knife nuts... Mike is as nice of a guy to work with that I've come across and Collector knives is still my go-to for traditionals.
 
willythekid said:
Well I'm 0 for 2 on the first couple of drawings... :( Hopefully my luck will turn for any future draws. I haven't even heard how many different variations of the 77s are coming out. Maybe someone can let me know? Even though my luck stinks I'd like to thank Mike for everything he does for us knife nuts... Mike is as nice of a guy to work with that I've come across and Collector knives is still my go-to for traditionals.
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https://www.collectorknives.net/posts/ers_product/gec-77-barlow/
 
Mr. Mike,
I think this has worked well. I was lucky enough to win a reserve for the Micarta, though I wanted a red bone. If it had been the usual ers scrabble and I had missed the red bone, I’d have gone after a camel bone or Micarta(and may have gotten none). So really, IMHO, it worked out the same. I was really only after the blade combo (not a fan of single blade slipjoints, though my shuffler is swaying me) on this one and it will be my first 77.
However, regardless of my individual result it was, again imho, a very good effort to ease the “stress” on both sides of the transaction. I would feel the same if I had not won any of these offers, I am certain.
Keep up the good work as it is always a pleasure doing Buisiness with you, even though your from Oklahoma (Hook’em!).

-Josh
 
I’m good with the new system.

We (buyers) need to also consider Mike’s time and budget. At some point, he could just get fed up and stop doing the 77 Barlows.

I hope that doesn’t happen, but it’s a real possibility.
 
knifeswapper knifeswapper I haven't participated in any draw due to funds issues and lack of personal interest in this model however I find the method used to be fair. My opinion is anyone jumping up and down screaming at 0-2 when we are essentially half way through are behaving like a spoiled brat. This lottery is only half over and people are acting completely defeated that is a poor attitude to a situation that still has plenty of opportunity. While statistic of the situation are difficult to calculate I think those given earlier are near enough to accept and those also paint an optimistic view even when it is half over. I don't know the numbers but I feel that you are just getting an beaten down by a vocal minority while there is a favorable silent majority. I would consider running a lottery again but some things I would consider would be having a run of a single option and thus a single lottery.
 
Alas, I too am 0 for 2... but I shall persevere to the end. Sorry for your trouble Mike. You are a victim of your own success.
 
For reference, North Arm ended up selling the Skaha 2 by identifying a two-day window in which they would randomly post the knife. Of course, it was posted during the only time I wasn't refreshing the page every two minutes yesterday, so I missed it. By comparison, I think that process was much worse than the 77 system. The 77's hour windows and drawings seem much more fair.

I'm probably biased based on my 77 luck and Skaha unluckiness, but I think I would feel the same way regardless.
 
Postlapsaria said:
For reference, North Arm ended up selling the Skaha 2 by identifying a two-day window in which they would randomly post the knife. Of course, it was posted during the only time I wasn't refreshing the page every two minutes yesterday, so I missed it.
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That is one reason that is not a solution for me either. You get a couple hundred people hitting refresh, refresh, refresh - nothing is harder on a server than a few hundred folks doing that. And many employ bots to do the work for them and send an alert. Once the first guy gets his bought, he posts it everywhere in the world anyway - so the rush is only delayed by a couple minutes.

The new GEC early reserves this morning (don't panic, not the 77) really stressed the ERS. I was checking it the whole time and got one load error, but for the most part it was slow but sure. But that was around half the traffic of a TC or NF Barlow drop.
 
Indeed, the store got very slow for a minute or two after the announcement hit on my phone. But it's not like the URL was timing out or anything. Just slow to repond.
 
I was 2-0 on the first two lotteries so I sat out today. A sawcut bone and a micarta is greedy enough for me on this run. It would be nice to have a camel bone but while I collect, I do not try and complete sets or anything. Better to sit out and increase the odds for others. Good luck guys.
 
knifeswapper knifeswapper Mike, I do not know if anyone else suggested this, but, next time, maybe you could draw for all the knives in one drawing. Then from the pool of winners you could either just ship them out randomly or have a random ranking for each to select the version they would like to have. Everyone would at least get a knife.

M mas113m Way to go, you are a stand up person!
 
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