Insults to knifemakers

W

WilsonKnives

Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
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I just left my shop after a 14 hr day. Check out the forum and e-mail only to find someone who has never made a knife or saw one made, asking me would I take $100 for a knife that I was asking $140 for.Does that chap your but.This is happening quite often. Do people try to talk the grocery stores down on a loaf of bread and the gas station down on a gallon of gasoline,I don't think so.And it don"t work on my knives either. What do some of you full time maker feel about this?????????
 
Personally I don't know how you sell them for 140 bucks. You must be quick at making them. It would be more than that to him if it were me. I'd just say no thanks; the price is $140 and if he breaks over he will understand the difference between a knife and something at the Walmart that only looks like a knife.

RL
 
Mike, I just tried to visit your website and I got 13 pop ups open and a .exe file to automatically download to my computer and execute itself.... :mad: :eek:

Good thing I'm on a Mac...

You might want to check that out :confused: :confused:

Take care :)

Nestor
 
I don't mean any insult to any knifemaker and I ain't even talking about knives anyway. BUT, I will try to talk down money on anything no matter what it is or how much. Not gas of course but anything else. I earn this money why not try to save as much as possible? Example, I bought a mountain bike off my neighbor who was wanting beer money the other day. Full suspension newer wal-mart special. He told me $15 and I offered $10. Just because. He took it of course. It was abused and of course needed a bunch of tweaking, but worth that. Someones hard work and heart and soul I can see your point. But I wouldn't take it to be an insult to your work. Just someone probably trying to save a buck. BTW, IT WAS NOT ME!!! :D
Just my two corroded zinc cents and not meant to offend anyone.
 
I'd bargain with someone selling a used blade, but not a maker selling his work. If it doesn't sell, he may lower the price. Lowballing an artisan is insulting! Especially when you're getting a handmade knife for $140!?!
Btw Mike, the friction folder is excellent, I love it. And it was a bargain at your asking price, I couldn't imagine haggling over it.
 
this is an interesting thread

while i have never "low balled" a knifemaker.... i sure am going to negotiate my next vehicle purchase...as well as my next house

many things in life are negotiable ... i would not take it as an insult if someone offered you less...



this from a doctor who treats a lot of folks who have no intention of EVER paying one cent of their bill...............
 
Well, I'm with Roger on this one. Anyone who'd dicker on any handmade work (at least from the artist) apparently has never made anything himself. I'm amazed your prices are so reasonable, and I'd be offended if someone lowballed me too. I surely wouldn't respond to him in any way.

Someone once started asking me about making him a knife; when I told him the starting price range he got all huffy with "I can buy a knife for $30 at Walmart!" I shrugged and walked off. I spend more than that on materials for a knife, and a whole lot of my life making it. Those folks deserve what they buy and don't merit your attention.
 
Sometimes it is hard not to be offended, but I try to look at it from my potential customers viewpoint and it helps. A lot of my customers work very hard for their money and want to make it go as far as pos., and some new customers just don't know what goes into a handmade knife. This is a great place to start to sell your knife (at the asking price). This is where you educate your potential customer. Let him know what to expect out of your knife, let him know what materials are going into his knife and why. You might be supprised at how many potential customers have no idea about what it takes to make a handmade knife.

Many times these newly educated enthusiest will purchase the knife at your asking price, and many of these new customers become repeat customers. Of course there are always some potential customers that never really get what you are telling them, but it seems they are the exception and not the rule.

Tom
 
if I were selling at $140
and I was asked about selling at $100

Then what we are actually talking about is an agreement at $120.........

getting $120 for something that I was asking $140 is not all that bad...
 
I've never offered a maker less than his asking price - I personally think it's bad form. Makers put a lot of thought into pricing their knives - I certainly don't regard their asking pricing as merely their "opening position".

Having said that, I don't know that I really see such a request as a highly offensive personal insult to the maker. An awful lot of purchases in life are negotiable - more than many people realize - and this may have informed his request. Also could be that this would be his first custom knife and he is used to "dealing" on his production knife purchases. Also could be that $100 is all he has. Or he could just be a cheap SOB. In any event, he has made an offer (or something close to one). Completely ignoring it would be rude on your part - two wrongs don't make a right. Just say no thanks.

I'm also not sure what the import of your observation that "someone who has never made a knife or saw one made" is? If he had made a knife or seen one made, would the lowball offer be somehow less offensive to you?

Cheers,

Roger

Edited to add: I think Tom Krein's observation above is spot on.
 
I would tell him yes, as long as you would give me a roll in the sack with your Ole Lady. Maybe he would understand the insult he has committed. :eek:
 
RL has it right, some people have no idea how much time goes into a hand made Knife. I had a Gift Shop owner contact me from Florida wanting to stock my Knives. She didn't like the idea that I wanted a order of 5 knives to get a discount and didn't like my discount 35% She wanted 50%. When we build a Knife and only get $5 a hr for our time then some one wants to only pay us $2 or $3 a hr. This burns my B!!! Gib
 
Gib,
Once again I think this is lack of information. Most manufactured items are "keystoned" this means that the store owners can purchase the items for 50% of retail, some items are even less. The answer is to educate them, all the reasons why you can't discount your knives less than (blank)% are also great selling points. Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

Tom
 
I need to take a course in public relations.

It would be nice to have some Q & A with guys that can put some perspective on how to sell and how to talk with customers. I'm not a big talker ( even though I play one on tv.

For instance.

Potential Customer : You want how much? Gee wizz, I can get 10 knives at Wal mart for that.

Me : But my knife will take up less space in your a$$ than the 10 from Wal Mart.

What would be a better way to explain why they should buy my knife? :D
 
Tom, I did this when I quoted the discount explaining why a 35% instead of a keystone, the reason is it puts the price too high or I don't make any money.
It turned out that there was a hobby maker there that was selling them knives at a very low price whenever he had knives to sell and thy didn't know when that would be. And I think that he must be in the $2 per hr. category or baying premade blades and putting handles on them. Then She wanted me to sell Her forged blades which I would, but not small hunters 5 at a time. Gib
 
Mark and Gib,
There are always some people that you will never be able to sell to. But you also might be supprised. I have sold to several of these "uneducated" enthusiest, and after being educated they have become repeat customers.

Mark if you are really interested in learning about selling go to your local book store. There is alot of really good information about selling and marketing at most large book stores.

Tom
 
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