How should Collector Knives sell GEC SFO's

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Seems like more than average number of flipping on this run . Wonder if they figured out a way to game this new approach.
 
Txjohn said:
Seems like more than average number of flipping on this run . Wonder if they figured out a way to game this new approach.
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Or people wanted A but got C so they hope to flip C and pick up and A not saying it is the case but it might be the cause for some of the increase in flips.
 
As long as there is high demand, there will always be flippers. As detestable as that is to many of us, it is still a free market. Flippers, which is a topic that is covered quite frequently, will continue to sell at inflated prices as long as there are people willing to pay such amounts. I cannot fathom how flippers see this as some sort of opportunity for significant monetary gain but then perhaps my way of thinking does not fall in line with theirs.

I sold one of the three Barlows I secured, for the amount I paid plus 7 and some change for shipping. Even so, I paid extra for increased insurance and paid the PayPal fees, so I didn't get all of my money back. Still, the gentleman I sold it to was very happy to acquire one and I was pleased to find an enthusiastic recipient for what I deemed a ridiculously hued knife. I am quite happy with the other two I obtained and will likely never sell them, they are such terrific knives.

I suspect that there will be a lot of wheeling and dealing, as evidenced already, in the months to come as folks find the covers they most desire from this run. Hopefully things will settle down a bit and folks can really start to enjoy these fine examples of cutlery. In the meantime, I choose not to lose sleep over the shenanigans perpetuated by those out for an easy buck or three, they simply aren't worth it.
 
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I've looked out of curiosity and it's just crazy some of the prices they are asking. I get it that it's a free country but wow. You're entering into the realm of custom prices. To each his own I guess.
 
Seems like many more flippers are buying up the 77 barlows just to make a bunch of money at collector expense; they seem to have faster software or are more skilled at e-purchasing, or just spend more time at buying all the product they can finance. The whole thing sucks, and it is driven by greed. It is made worse because the sfo's are sold only by one dealer instead of through GEC's dealer network. SFO patterns may end up killing the goose that lays the golden egg. :poop:
 
I agree Barry, gunstockjack gunstockjack . I have purchased two very nice Lloyd knives brand new for $325 each. As much as I like the TC's or the 77's, they are still just factory knives. As people realize that they could save up the money for a custom by just passing on a few factory knives, you could see demand for factory knives go down. Or, another way to put it, as the difference in price between factory knives and customs narrows, more people will go custom. Some will go the other direction and switch to Case or a less expensive factory knife. I myself have begun to purchase a few Case knives from the 70's and 80's. $150 to $200 does not seem like a bad price at all for these classics when compared to the popular GEC and Northwood knives. I never even considered paying $325 for a custom or $200 for a classic until the price of factory knives began to creep up so much. Having said all that, I believe the current frenzy will not end any time soon.
 
I think the concern over flipping the recent 77 SFO may be overblown.

I have only seen a very few of each cover for sale on auction sites or this site. Maybe 5-6 of each cover at most. I think there were around 125 of each cover, so less than 5 percent hitting auctions right away.

The ones selling very high seem to have exceptional covers of well figured ironwood, or very even vibrant coloring for the bone models. They are standouts.

You micarta people have your own thing so I won’t try to understand the appeal of glue and old t-shirts for a knife handle.

I did not get drawn for any 77, but I have had some good fortune, after some hard work, on other patterns and covers.

Also, if they made enough for everyone it would be a 39 dollar Buck 301. Win some, lose some, trade some!

The financial outlay could be 50k or more for 600 knives (just a guess), and so if you double those numbers for more availability, you increase dealer financial risk a lot. Would demand be that much lower if the order was double? Not sure, but it seemed like each group of 125 knives had 500 people in for the drawing, and that is not including the world outside knife nerd world which is far larger.

I love the SFO’s from all the dealers, and I think they are sort of like the GEC custom shop. Many of the best configurations come from SFO’s.

I favor more SFO models not less. If anything, the dealer of super popular SFO models should consider adding 20-40 dollars to price so he is getting full value for his creativity, design, and risk.
 
Man if they go up 20-40 bucks just because they can, I will probably come up with a new avenue of collecting. I think that is part of what Barry is referring to. This current knife economy seems to be a bubble. I would imagine that dealers and manufacturers want to insure that the market is there for the long term rather than just cashing in when there is a spike in demand based on collector’s tastes which can be fickle. I get the impression a lot of buyers are as much into the thrill of landing a popular knife as they are into the knife itself. A lot of those type of buyers could take off for the next new thing without much warning.
 
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I don't think this line of thinking on SFO's / High Market Value / Distribution is very well thought thru. Any run of only 500 knives in a highly demanded pattern are going to have some flippers show up and find those with more money than patience. But, I have noticed that evenly distributed high demand knives (TC, etc.) - just help the flippers. Because then they can get on 3-4 dealers list and score the same knife from each. GEC could not care less what the dealers sells the knife for - it is simply not their concern. Maybe allowing SFO's to have higher production numbers would help, but that choice was made because of a whole other set of problems.

You can't stop flippers or anyone else that wants to take advantage of a highly marketable knives. I have actually seen dealers hold back high demand items and run them on eBay themselves after a few weeks just to retain the windfall.
 
knifeswapper said:
I don't think this line of thinking on SFO's / High Market Value / Distribution is very well thought thru. Any run of only 500 knives in a highly demanded pattern are going to have some flippers show up and find those with more money than patience. But, I have noticed that evenly distributed high demand knives (TC, etc.) - just help the flippers. Because then they can get on 3-4 dealers list and score the same knife from each. GEC could not care less what the dealers sells the knife for - it is simply not their concern. Maybe allowing SFO's to have higher production numbers would help, but that choice was made because of a whole other set of problems.

You can't stop flippers or anyone else that wants to take advantage of a highly marketable knives. I have actually seen dealers hold back high demand items and run them on eBay themselves after a few weeks just to retain the windfall.
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Mike, I've been a loyal customer for close to a decade, but that bubble is ready to burst. Almost every purchase I made with you was for two (2) knives in the same pattern.. .. One for me, and one for who I was going to gift a knife.

This reserve-list "exclusive issue" sfo nonsense has run me off.

When GE is running nothing but single-blade Barlows (sfo, get in line) only there's a problem.

Queen has just closed their doors due to ignoring their QC issues. GE will be right behind them after alienating their core support base by chasing the easy dollar. Once the flippers can't flip, no one else will care.
 
bonky said:
Mike, I've been a loyal customer for close to a decade, but that bubble is ready to burst. Almost every purchase I made with you was for two (2) knives in the same pattern.. .. One for me, and one for who I was going to gift a knife.

This reserve-list "exclusive issue" sfo nonsense has run me off.

When GE is running nothing but single-blade Barlows (sfo, get in line) only there's a problem.

Queen has just closed their doors due to ignoring their QC issues. GE will be right behind them after alienating their core support base by chasing the easy dollar. Once the flippers can't flip, no one else will care.
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You are not communicating your thoughts very well here. Are you saying he shouldn't do SFOs anymore?
 
Norcaldude said:
You are not communicating your thoughts very well here. Are you saying he shouldn't do SFOs anymore?
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I suppose I didn't communicate it very well in hindsight. I was just expressing my frustration with the current situation and how it is going to eventually be Great Eastern's undoing.

I've been a fan of GE since their early days, when they were available for months in multiple options and patterns. They were well made and although a little more expensive than Case or Queen, they were priced competitively and well worth the price difference. There were larger runs and although not quite as polished as today's releases, they were kind of a "secret" cutlery company.

Those days are long gone. I am still a fan of GE, and wish for their continued success, but the reality is that they are only going to be able to sustain their current business model for so long. Making subtle changes to small releases of the same pattern year after year will eventually saturate the market. By the time that happens, most of their customers will either be flippers or the few diehards trying to build a complete collection of that pattern.

What created Great Eastern's initial success was their creation of their spin on old patterns. If a person didn't have interest in one release, then there would be something completely different coming soon in the next release for them to anticipate.

I'm not suggesting that Mike or anyone else stop offering SFOs. I think that devoting a lot of resources and time to fix a broken system is a losing battle, however. I respect the heck out Mike for all his efforts both now and in the past for trying to make things fair, but it's a losing battle. The fad with Barlows will end eventually, and leave quite a few people holding the bag. The shame is that when that happens, many of the people who would have otherwise continued to sustain GEs business will have moved on to other things.

At the end of the day, it's a factory knife. No more, no less.
 
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^...or the market continues to grow in popularity and never becomes saturated. Heck Blade HQ just did that video last year trying to understand traditionals. And that's a knife shop that didn't have a clue.

I saw Mike's comment somewhere about not camping out on the site, refreshing and waiting for a release. And I saw the text about TC's not being on the notification system any more. So, I guess I need some clarity on what gets you blocked from the site exactly. It will take some frequent visits to catch one the "old" way.
 
RE: Ancient Spear TC barlow - On standby at 5:49pm EST. Reservations now closed. Seems like they went fast! Grats to all who got a sure thing. :thumbsup:
 
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