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is the secondary marked a pain for knife manufacturers?
- Thread starter sogflash
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2011
- Messages
- 710
I would have to say it doesn't effect the knife manufactures like it does the entertainment industry.
a video game u play for a few weeks, then head to game stop to swap it for a new one. and this is happening with almost every game now a days the way kids are addicted to the tv's. Meanwhile i might buy a knife, edc it and then leave it in the collection for a while. then i might feel like changing it up and i swap or trade a few. I don't see the amount of secondary knife sales being an issue for manufactureers the way it is for almost monopolistic companies in the entertainment industry
a video game u play for a few weeks, then head to game stop to swap it for a new one. and this is happening with almost every game now a days the way kids are addicted to the tv's. Meanwhile i might buy a knife, edc it and then leave it in the collection for a while. then i might feel like changing it up and i swap or trade a few. I don't see the amount of secondary knife sales being an issue for manufactureers the way it is for almost monopolistic companies in the entertainment industry
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 26,274
Video game producers rely on squeezing every drop of profit they can out of the market before the next new console comes out and they have to start producing for a new wave of systems. So there's an effective shelf life to that kind of product and anything that hurts sales volume is killer to them. With knives, there are either the folks who have one knife and never buy another unless that one gets lost or breaks, and then the folks like us that have many. Chances are the person who sold the knife on the secondary market is just gonna' buy another one a few weeks later from the same company. 
- Joined
- May 5, 2005
- Messages
- 955
It is COMPLETELY different market.
Knives are real, material product, where every piece uses materials, and resources, while entertainment business sells products they spend million on producing at first, but it cost them next to NOTHING to make additional copies.
This is one thing.
Another one - knife market we have on bladeforums is in mostly based on collectors. It means that producers and products are judged and priced based on emotional or other uncountable value. And secondary market is crucial to keep that.
The only "ugly step" knife companies are doing is producing "spirit runs" of classic, yet cancelled designs. They have machinery, they have injection forms, they have old cnc programs - they could easily produce "classic" models in low price and high number. But spirit runs are more profitable.
Just because someone's whining about something doesn't mean it's a problem. The ones complaining about the secondary market are making billions of dollars a year, don't believe them for a moment, and don't put up with this kind of crap when they actually try to do something about it. The industry is fine the way it is, growing at unprecedented rates through the worst recession in nearly a hundred years.
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2011
- Messages
- 326
I think the used knife market actually enhances a manufacturers prestige. Many of us are more than happy to find/buy discontinued knives from Buck, Kershaw, Spyderco, Schrade, etc.
I examine new models from known manufacturers very closely for this reason.
Example: In the last two months, I've purchased a used Buck 184 and a new 124 (patiently awaiting delivery)!
A knife that passes to the "collector" market means the manufacturer is:
Quality oriented, well known and trusted.
Having said that, some manufacturers (fill in your own preferences), should never have discontinued certain of their models, as they have come to be known as "classics". Buck's 124 comes to mind.
I examine new models from known manufacturers very closely for this reason.
Example: In the last two months, I've purchased a used Buck 184 and a new 124 (patiently awaiting delivery)!
A knife that passes to the "collector" market means the manufacturer is:
Quality oriented, well known and trusted.
Having said that, some manufacturers (fill in your own preferences), should never have discontinued certain of their models, as they have come to be known as "classics". Buck's 124 comes to mind.