I bet they'd sell if anyone could figure out how to buy them....

[Hondo.3]

If SRKW doesn't want to raise prices, and can't expand without raising more funds, then maybe they need to start selling stock.

 

[rosconey2]

its just a pain in the ass-


i just aint into hunting around and having to become a regular reader at numerous forums to understand how and when to order-too much of a pain in the ass no matter how good the product -imho

 

[Eric Isaacson]

its just a pain in the ass-


i just aint into hunting around and having to become a regular reader at numerous forums to understand how and when to order-too much of a pain in the ass no matter how good the product -imho

Check in once a week on either forums and you'll be up-to-date on everything in minutes. If you don't care to do that it is fine, but let's be honest it isn't that big of a deal. Or you could just check into the Company Store periodically to see what's in stock www.shop.ratknives.com

 

[TurnerIII]

Well I think the timming and hunting is part of the fun!

And above all else - its not like they are not going to make more. And I have scored some nice one on the WTS/WTT forum as the greedy Hogs and Piglets bite off more than they can chew and have to sell older ones to feed thier habit!!

I have a feeling that as things get rolling here there will be plenty to go around - so Eric Lets Get Rolling!! :thumbup:

 

[Rich_S]

If SRKW doesn't want to raise prices, and can't expand without raising more funds, then maybe they need to start selling stock.

From a purely economic standpoint, the answer is for them to just raise their prices and bring supply and demand back into balance. I realize that they are trying to offer knives at an affordable price, and that's a noble goal. However, it is somewhat self-defeating when people rush to buy all of them up only to turn around and sell them at a big markup on ebay. I was disappointed that I missed out on a Battle Rat at the last Busse extravanganza (despite getting my email in 3-4 minutes after the post) only to see some of the knives end up on the Exchange for a big markup a few days later. If someone is going to make big money on these knives, I'd MUCH rather it be Swamp Rat/Busse/Scrapyard than whoever is buying them just to flip them.

Then again, maybe I'm just bummed that I lost the ebay auction for the Camp Tramp last night - once it got to around $300, I decided it was a little too rich for me.

 

[bigbcustom]

If you think about it, the marketing strategy ie. extravaganza, special models, etc. is absolutely genius....Let's produce a great product, build anticipation, cause confusion, and then release them in a "special" sale. Every time a knife gets released in one of these events, or on the busse company store (the hell razor and pbs being exceptions) they all sell out immediately. All the billing, shipping, and emails in one lump sum. Then, everybody starts getting worked up for the next "special" sale. Like I said in an earlier post....as long as they sell every bit of product that is made as soon as it is made....there isn't a problem...at least from their perspective. I like the knives enough to wait till I get mine, and to spend time figuring out how, when, and where to get the "special" sale knives. It annoys the piss out of me, but I, along with many, many others must be willing to do it because every blade they make is sold as soon as it is finished.

 

[TurnerIII]

Have you tried to buy a Harley in the past few years?? Same problem - cept Harley does not have Extravaganzas on the net!!

 

[mogmz]

I gota hand it to you Eric Isaacson, no matter what you always respond professionally and are a great representative for SwampRat :thumbup:

 

[Pietrzakp]

As an owner of a Busse Knife, I am a huge fan of Busse and SR business model for the exact reason people complain about them. For me it boils down to this: exceptional product- high demand- low supply- yields … a great investment! Due to the fact that they are not readily available (waiting lists, extravaganzas, dysfunctional web-sites, etc&#8230 most of these knives will appreciate over time. How great is this as a collector, consumer, or knife enthusiast to know that your purchase is a true asset (in addition to being an awesome and extremely useful piece of steel)?

In addition, part of the allure of Busse and SR is created by limited availability of a great product.

The bottom line is this, the due diligence, the jumping through hoops, and time it takes to locate and purchase your desired Busse or SW knife is worth it!

 

[Rich Senecal]

I gota hand it to you Eric Isaacson, no matter what you always respond professionally and are a great representative for SwampRat :thumbup:

Amen to that! In all of my dealings with them Eric and all of the other at Swamp Rat and Busse have always been just as kind, courteous and professional as I could ever hope for. They are a great bunch of folks and it is a pleasure to deal with them.:thumbup:

(Eric, can I order a knife now?)

 

[SSCamaro99_3]

I am just disappointed that they discontinued the Resiprine-C Battle Rat. I just got started on here, and had finally made up my mind. The new line is being pushed upmarket. I know the Scrapyard line is being brought in to fill the gap, but I wanted SR-101 not S-77. I will probably not notice the difference, but that is my choice as a consumer. I also refuse to pay $200+ for something listed on their site at $148.95, especially since it would be a field knife, and not a showpiece. Miscellaneous grumbling, I know.

 

[Cutshaw]

I don't know, SSC. From everything I've read the SR77 might be a better choice as an impact steel than SR101. Since the BR is typically used as a chopper, you might not be trading down in steel. BTW - There were some thru-hardened BR's at the Saturday-before-last Extravaganza.

Ballwin, huh? I looked at houses around there when I first moved to St. Louis 5 years ago. Welcome to the Swamp!

 

[fireballxl5]

Regrading the "Battle Rat", I made a correction to my earlier post. The SRKW extravaganza I participated in was for a RatMastiff. My gripe was with the inventory control/ordering software which allowed me to add a Rat Mastiff to my shopping cart and continue to checkout only to have it removed. This was also the case with quite a few others as I understand it.

This is almost certainly a technical issue that is present in 99% of all online stores.

The problem is the web was not really designed to doa lot of the stuff we do with it today, so there are a lot of hacks ot make it "work". By and large it does work, however with a site like SRKW where there may be a rush on a product that may only nbbe avaiable for a few minutes/hours, then some of the problems inherrent in the underlying web protocol (HTTP) may haunt us.

The particular problem I am talkiing about here is the fact that HTTP is stateless. OIf you google for "stateless" and "http" you will probalby find tons of pages explaining the issue.

However I must agree, even ignoring this problem the sites suck - though it has been said before in other thread, both here and in the Swamp..

 

[smithsnoh]

Yeah, the Swamp Rat internet sites are baffling. :thumbdn: It does takes some persistence to figure things out on your own regarding availability, etc. I had no real idea what the Rat Trap folder even looked like (but an internet search revealed a pic on the German site).

However, I emailed Swamp Rat that first night about 2 months ago now and Eric answered my newbie questions promptly and courteously and brought me up to date. :thumbup::thumbup: :thumbup: So I ordered the Rat Trap.

Also, didn't Eric say that the SR M6's will be ready in a couple of weeks??

Now I have to tell you and warn you that in my case, wandering into a "Rat Trap" was just what happened to me, because since then, I have pre-ordered the Crash-Axe, purchased a SR Bandicoot at a decent price from a forum member, and have bought "way too many" (7) Busses "way too easily" from the company store :thumbup: and from forum members :thumbup:.

FYI, here're my other knife-buying experiences, virtually all of which are centered around this forum:

The Busse Company Store is lightning fast at filling orders, (but doesn't answer email ). Busse/SR forum members I've dealt with have been exceptionally honest, responsive and literally "over the top" to deal with. Prices I've paid to forum members have been very reasonable. When I posted on "Wanted to Buy," I got several responses in a week and an exceptional deal. Guys on the forum have even sent numerous private emails to introduce themselves and clarify my confusion.

BTW, regarding availability, when I started typing this, 3 separate Busse Steel Heart variants were currently posted and available at around $400, just about what they bought 'em for.

 

[fireballxl5]

We do have a little trouble with websites, and I understand how frustrating it can be when you can't find the info you want, however a single email to swamprat.com or ratknives.com or a post on this forum will get you an answer within 24-48 hours, usually much quicker if I'm online. While we may suck at computers, we really rock at making the highest performing knives that money can buy

Conversly a single update to the site would help many people. An email reply only helps one person.

Before I go any further a little perspective.
Been doing web stuff for around 10 years plus. I.e. nearly as long as there has been a web, I have been workign with it. Everything from answering "my internet is broken" phone support to writing and adminsitering all sorts of online systems, including some pretty big online services. So I sort of feel like I am qualified to comment on the web and web users/consumers.
- I'm not sure how you (Eric) are connected with that.

I don't want to disrepect you or the companies, but I KNOW (absolutely positively KNOW) that the way the SRKW and bBusse sites are at the moment and have been for months is going to turn away all but the most perisitant potential customers, and even some peristant people who just don't know how you guys operate.

Eric it's great you do answer the forums and emails quickly, but if the sites were up to date, you probably would not need to answer so many questions.
My bet is that many questions are fundamentally the same, how and when can I order, why when I click on Battle Rat do I get to a page to order Rat Trap, when knives be available again, etc.

In any case your quick an timely replies won't help most people. Most people won't bother to ask, they will just click on some competitors "add to cart" button. That is just the way the web is. People are impatient, and want things to just work. If your site doesn't just work or work the way they think it should, or at least make it very obvious very quickly whatis going on, then most people will simply go elsewhere.

Sucking at computers is in my opinion a poor excuse for not updating a website.

I have said it to people who pay my wages (my clients) and I will say it to you. It's not that I don't understand how difficult it can be, it's just that I know it does not have to be difficult and painful and in fact should be quite easy. What is sometimes difficult is for the average website owner/online store oeprator to know that it should not be hard.
But now you know. I'm telling you. Updating your site should not be hard.

I suck at making knives, but that is no excuse for me not to use a knife.
I still cut stuff every day and I do a good job cutting stuff.
I just buy my knives from someone who does not suck at making knives.

Similarly if you obtain the services of an IT/web professional, then updating your site(s) should be easyand fiarly quick.
A well designed modern site, should make updating it as easy as posting to these forums.
The biggest problem should be working out what you want to say and how to say it, followed by spellchecking, i.e. copy writing and taking the photos.

i.e. you should simply need to fill out a form to add/delete or edit the content, once the site is set up.
If it is harder than that for you then I suggest you would be well served engaging the services of a competant and honest web/IT person, because your current person has given you bad advice (or maybe you have ignored it).

The software required is not expensive (though paying someone to customise it, if you want to change it a lot can be pricey).
You can get software to do this for free (though you still probably need someone to set it up for you), or you can buy software.
You can buy very good online store software for around $700USD.

I believe Q has offered to fix the sites for payment in kind, and I would happily make the same offer if Q had not done so already.

Seriously it should be a one off investment and I imagine it would save you a lot of time answering the same few questions over and over, as well as sending a message to your customers (both potential and realised).

That message would be that SRKW is an organisation that respects it's customers and cares enough not to waste their time, or to make them jump through hoops to get really basic information.

I imagine that for evey one who asks you a question several more people will just turn away and go elsewhere.

Typically most potenetial consumers will not join a forum - it is a lot of trouble when all you want to do is click the "buy me" button. I can almost garauntee you that most potential customers won't think about joining a forum to get product/ordering info.

They will instead, foolishly, but understandably click on the link that says "Place Order". If they are wondering why when they click on the BattleRat link they end up on page to buy Rat Trap, they are very likely to look at the "FAQ" page, but not at all likely to click the "Rat Chat" link.
simple.

There are other reasons for this too, the main one being that very few retailers do most of their business in their forums, so generally speaking if you know the web well, you kow that it is normally a waste of time to ask questions in aforum and expect useful answers from someone within the company.

In these respects the SRKW and the Busse sites are very counter intuitive and I am positve fail a lot more users than they help.

In other words the way you do things "around here" is not the way the rest of the web and other web retailers do things, which means most people will have problems with your site, because they are used to sites and purchasing/information mechanisms that work like the other 99.999% of online stores.

And the web being what it is, you probably won't be told about it by the vast majority.

They'll just go to www.coldsteel.com, or wherever, where they can buy a knife and where the site works as expected.

That's fine I guess while you are having problems keeping up with demand, but if your supply situtation ever gets better, you may well find that your sales are hindered by your site(s).

 

[Cobalt]

Swamprat sells knives? Here all this time I just thought they were a referral service for busse knives

yah, that's what I thought as well.

Man, I don't even like Swamp Rats and I have no trouble getting them. What's up with that? I think it's a plot against me to try and convert me or something.

 

[leatherman]

They'll just go to www.coldsteel.com,

Now thats a good one! lol!

Now...........

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

I like quality tools and I don't mind waiting.
If you are impatient, go buy some Cold Steal.

 

[9mm4me]

Why change what they are doing when they sell every knife they make?

SO what that the website sucks.

SO what that I have been planning a camping trip for over 6 mos and can't have a SR knife for it.

SO what that Eric said the new line would be ready last February.

Demand exceeds supply.

It just sucks for average joes that want a decent knife but don't want to jump through hoops and a bunch of BS.

SR has the power to change the way they do things. Why should they?

Signed, Average internet customer.


ETA: Justin @ Ranger Knives has no problem taking my money!

 

[C. STORR]

As an owner of a Busse Knife, I am a huge fan of Busse and SR business model for the exact reason people complain about them. For me it boils down to this: exceptional product- high demand- low supply- yields … a great investment! Due to the fact that they are not readily available (waiting lists, extravaganzas, dysfunctional web-sites, etc…) most of these knives will appreciate over time. How great is this as a collector, consumer, or knife enthusiast to know that your purchase is a true asset (in addition to being an awesome and extremely useful piece of steel)?

In addition, part of the allure of Busse and SR is created by limited availability of a great product.

The bottom line is this, the due diligence, the jumping through hoops, and time it takes to locate and purchase your desired Busse or SW knife is worth it!

I agree. I would rather be put through the "hassle" of watching and waiting than buy something from Cold Steel. Not many knives you can buy, use, and then sell for the same price you paid, or more.