Wow! What a thread. Mike & Spark have built quite a site here. We all appreciate it and, speaking for myself, have enjoyed contributing and benefiting from the tremendous flow of information and knowledge in here.
There are other forums out there on this same subject and some are quite good. It is their management and business skills, though, that have made this one the place to go to and, yes, I'll freely admit, it has helped my business. I have made some good contacts and have met some really great people through this medium, as have most of us, and I have made some money, as have many of us. They have, basically, built the biggest knife show in the world, in cyberspace.
Now, when I set up at a gun or knife show, I have to pay for my tables and space in order to sell my wares. My costs, just for tables are $300.00 and, sometimes, more. When I include travel expenses, such as lodging, food,
GASOLINE , etc. Each show costs me anywhere from $500.00 to $1000.00 per weekend, depending on where I go. Those of you who do shows know what I'm talking about. This, BTW, is before I sell one item. It comes off the top. Depending on the schedule, my costs per month can be as much as $3000.00, or more, just for shows.
Why do I report this? Does anyone care? Well, in the light of all that, $50.00 per month for a banner to sell at the biggest knife show in the world, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, seems to be a pretty good bargain, wouldn't you think? I would.
Besides, This site is a
business. It wasn't started as a charitable or non-profit organization. Think about it. Why would anyone, in their right mind, invest so much money and time in such an endeavor without some expectation of a reasonable return? Would anyone? I don't think so. Mike and Spark have every right to charge for advertizing and selling on this site. I repeat, it is a business.
Zinger time...
Spark, you started this thread by saying that you were disappointed and angry at the comments that were being made about your latest changes.
Well, What did you expect??? Did you really think that the dealers who had paid for advertizing and the other dealers who had set themselves up to the point that they were dependent on this site to sit quietly when they were sandbagged? Yes, sandbagged. That was exactly how they saw it and they have good reason.
We were all invited to "come on in" and join the club. We were all invited, without condition, to set up and sell here for free. The ones who paid for advertizing were led to believe that they wouldn't have to worry about you stepping in front of them and selling in competition with them.
Every one of us understands that the situation became untenable, the way it was going, and that you had to do something. Understandable. The problem, as I see it, wasn't what you did. It was with the way you did it. Did you go to the dealers, especially the advertizing ones, and say "Sorry guy and gals but this is the situation and we are going to have to do something about it or this site is history." ? Did you give some kind of warning that it was coming at all? Did you stand up like men and admit that there were serious problems? Nope.
You sprung the policy about advertizing dealers only on the dealer forum and then you sprung the 1SKS out of the blue. No warning, no nothing. The analogy? Try this:
The promoter of the show offeres the selling space for free, and even helps to set them up and makes sure that these businesses are dependent on their being there now comes up and says, "Oh, by the way, you are going to have to pay if you want to stay here and,... see that huge booth over there in the best spot in the show? That's mine. I know I said that I wouldn't compete with you, but I've changed my mind."
Does that about cover the perception end of this? Whether you intended for it to work out that way or not, that's how it looks. Are you really surprised that they hollered? Really? Patrick and the others have every right to complain.
Then, your response added more fuel to the fire. Did you show any sign that you understood their concern or consternation? Again, nope.
You responded by attacking, calling all of us freeloaders and leeches and worse, implying that all of us were the cause of the problem. We made you do it. Even though
you were the ones to start this business and
you were the ones who invited us all to come here and sell for free. All of us were sucking you dry and benefiting from the sweat of your brow. We didn't deserve to have it so good and, now, we were going to
PAY.
Richard, back in the middle of this thread, got it exactly right. (Richard your perception is flawless in this case. Good show.)
Did we all really deserve that? Are we all such scumbags that we deserve to be shafted in any way possible? You guys didn't give us credit for the capacity to understand what was going on and your reaction was way out of line.
I have kept quiet, for the most part on this subject because, frankly, I understand the need to do what you did and I didn't figure that you had much choice. Besides, I don't post on the for sale forums, I don't have a website to promote so I don't have a banner and didn't figure that I had anything to complain about. I still feel that way as far as that goes. If I wanted to play in that arena, I would pay. If I decide to, I will pay. Like I said, in the light of other expenses, this isn't that bad.
I guess, what bothers me more than anything in all this is the polarization of the non-dealers and the dealers as a result of it. It disturbs me to see the consumer side of the forums taking sides here, as if you aren't dealers yourselves. You even have people sending in "donations".
You have managed to give the impression that this site could evaporate tomorrow, (and it could, if it is no longer producing whatever it is that you need) and people don't want that to happen.
I truly believe that there are many out there who don't realize that this is a
business, no different than mine or any other dealer out here. I gotta hand it to you. Who else could have people sending them free money, just to keep the doors open.
It's amazing. they will beat us up to save $2.00 on a $10.00 knife that we paid $7.00 for and yet they have no problem sending $20.00 or $30.00 just to make sure you stay in business. What a racket.
If someone came into my store and offered me money without buying anything I wouldn't take it, figuring they need it to get some help.
I'm sorry folks. I realize that this is an open forum and I know that a lot of you have done this and God bless you for your concern but think about it. Would you walk into any store and give them money without buying anything? There is no difference here. I'm not making fun of you but I thought knife people were smarter than that.
As far as the competition through 1SKS is concerned, that is a different story. Regardless of what you say, I don't believe that this was a spur of the moment decision. The ad in Blade magazine could not have been comissioned overnight. The "selloff" of WOW and the dissolution of ABC Direct all combine to indicate that this had to have been planned for some time. That and the connection to ABC direct, which had been denied for so long, leads me to suspect that your promise to not compete with the other, paying dealers was less than genuine. Sorry, Mike, but that's how it looks to me and some others. That was tacky.
I know that business is business and to some it is tantamount to war. That doesn't excuse, in my book, duplicity or dishonesty. Winning at any cost is not winning if that cost includes one's good name.
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Dennis Wright
Wright Knife & Sporting Goods
1-800-400-1980
("Have a knife day!")
wrightknife@ixpres.com
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 03-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 03-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 03-17-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Dennis Wright (edited 03-17-2000).]
