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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/
Just need to vent a little :grumpy:
- Thread starter lmcq784
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I'm in a similar position. I pre-ordered before christmas, at No. 11 on the P/O list. And now, their initial shipment was only like 6 knives! And they have 120 total pre-orders! That's a lot of disappointed people!
However, I'd suggest we wait and see what happens. There are probably a good amount of them that haven't been shipped to the distributors yet.
However, I'd suggest we wait and see what happens. There are probably a good amount of them that haven't been shipped to the distributors yet.
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I guess we'll have to disagree. Paying an extra $85 over what the knife sells for (and for a knife that was ordered and resold within a week or so) does not seem very fair to me, it seems like scalping. The CF S90V Para 2 wasn't even that much new. It's not the end of the world, just a bummer to see here at this forum.
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Agreed. If the manufacturer prices it's knives for XXX dollars, then I'd say that that is the fair price based on materials and manufacturing costs. People may be willing to pay XXX dollars, doesn't make it fair to everyone.
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In my opinion, a knife that has good materials (CF and S90V as an example) and is no longer in production will always go up in price/percieved value. Look at the S90V Military for example. About a year ago I saw it all over ebay for $250, now if you see one it's probably $100-150 more. The same goes for just about anything that is collectible, from motorcycles to cars, firearms, coins, baseball cards, stamps, you name it. The only constant in everything is time. I understand that the value of an S90V Military is around $300 (example again), but when I see them for sale at $550+ I just laugh. To my eyes that is an obvious "scalp". That is just the way it goes, some get lucky because they are quick on the trigger with preorders and others are not. The best way to assure yourself of a spring run knife is to preorder from several stores, all at once. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you might not get what you think you are entitled to. Just my $.02 folks.
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Oh I agree but I think this holds true if it's long out of production. An obvious scalp is getting one and the day after putting it up for sale for 50-80 bucks more.
Spyderco doesn't usually get paid MSRP by the dealers.
I would still say a fair price is one that the manufacturer puts on the knife upon release. If you don't happen to get one then, you'll be paying "scalped" prices. But then this only my opinion.
Last edited:
ssblood
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MSRP is fine. I personally have no qualms paying up to MSRP for a sprint run. It's not scalping even though the person may have paid a 100 less. I've seen an Emerson go for 170 at NGK and another dealer sell it for 220. Up to the consumer to look out for themselves.
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I've heard that the SFO charges MSRP to protect the dealers. So no, they are not "scalping", which I define as trying to make a fast buck.
Would you pay MSRP for a regular production? If not, why?
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How about dealers who sell for more than they paid for a knife?
Ok, so what would you call a fair profit margin? Apparently a lot of people believe it's different with knives than with other consumer items.
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Yes, from what I know, most manufacturers charge MSRP to protect the dealers. Nobody can undercut the profit margin of the manufacturer (unless something is either stolen or gotten at below cost somehow). And yes, the dealers sell the knife for more than what they paid for it. But that is an agreement between the dealer and the manufacturer, and they aren't "scalping", since they're not trying to "dry up availability" in order to flip it, drive up the prices and make profit.
How about dealers who sell for more than they paid for a knife?
An official dealer is the manufacturer's official gateway to promoting and selling product. The dealer's job is to sell and promote the manufacturer's products, and they get paid for doing their job in the form of the profit margin between dealer pricing and retail price.
A scalper tries to limit availability at other consumers' expense (w/o appreciation to the actual product) and the only goal is to resell for profit. The difference between them and collectors is the "appreciation" aspect of it.
If I bought an item (a custom knife?) for $XXX, the attached value on that item to me is at least $XXX or higher, since I was willing to pay $XXX to have it (and further emotional attachment may increase that subjective value to me). However, if someone approaches me for $YYYY because they value it more, and it out weighs my subjective value for said item, then true value is created when I parted with an item for an amount greater than it was worth to me, and the buyer got something they value and appreciate for an amount less than or equal to the value attached to that item.
Scalpers lack that appreciation aspect of it, and only do it for the cash return. And what Sal said was that Sprint runs were never meant to be for scalpers for profit - rather, the whole Sprint run's goal is for people who appreciate these knives to try something different (different combos of steel and knife design).
That's why I'm frustrated that these scalpers are limiting chances for people like me, who just want something I appreciate. If it were a custom piece that they value at that much, I'm fine with it. If it's a dealer's pricing, I'm fine with it. But scalpers? No. If the price of a knife is too expensive, I simply think it's over-priced and won't buy it. But if I know I (and everyone else) had pre-ordered a knife at a certain price, and couldn't get it because of scalpers, that upsets me.
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Well said!
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Just curious but how many people do you think "scalp" Spyderco knives? I can't imagine there are many individuals and I would bet there are more dealers that sell at an inflated price on Ebay. I think there are many collectors and enthusiasts that buy the knives and then realize it is not for them or that the going price is more valuable to them than the knife. I would also bet any profit that is made goes back to buying knives. I have bought a lot of knives over the years and there is not much money in it and I would be lucky if I broke even if I sold my collection. If the price of a knife goes up then it is because people are willing to pay that price and ARE paying that much. It is simple supply and demand and the price increase is due to the buyers who are paying inflated prices. I buy multiples of knives sometimes and they sit in my collection and I definitely don't consider myself a scalper even if I occasionally sell a knife for the going rate. I think there are many AFIs like me who have similar buying habits and I just don't think there are many knife "scalpers" out there. If there are some I doubt they are very wealthy.
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I do not disagree with any of the above. But when the knives are popping up on eBay and the exchange here left and right while dealers are still waiting for their second shipment, it says something.
Selling a knife got the going rate doesn't make someone a scalper. Like I said, if you have or tried to appreciate the knife, and then decided to sell it at the going rate, that's just fine. But if they're buying them up in order to limit availability to others, and inflate the prices when others have no choice, that's scalping. I used to know several people who do things like that, and I never liked it.
I think that most of the sprint run buyers are members of this forum, or somewhat active here, or on knifeforums, or the other several forums. This makes me think that this problem could be remedied if everyone simply stopped buying knives for ridiculous price points. If everyone agreed to this for a few sprint run the scalping would stop and everything would be great. This probably isn't ever going to happen though, which puts the blame squarely on the buyers to be honest. Its like complaining that walmart is driving mom and pop shops out of business, an then going there to shop. Rather than exercise self control, people would rather complain to the government and have them pass legislation that takes the difficulty of self control out of the buyers hands. Its the same thing with trans fats, drugs, or any number of things. Now rather than solve the problem with the obvious, but difficult, solution, people have to go to Sal to create a whole new system out of a plea for "fairness".
You can commit to a knife and pay for it 9 or 10 months ahead of time, you can increase production at the dismay of collectors, or you can cause enough frustration that Sal just shuts down the whole thing. You could also get together and STOP FEEDING THE SCALPERS. Sure there are some non forum active people who will buy sprint runs, but im willing to bet that there are enough on accessible forms of media that you could get together and make scalping fiscally impractical. Sure, you might not get a sprint run or 2 that you want, but at the end of the day, its a knife, and the long term benefits have to outweigh the short term discomfort.
You can commit to a knife and pay for it 9 or 10 months ahead of time, you can increase production at the dismay of collectors, or you can cause enough frustration that Sal just shuts down the whole thing. You could also get together and STOP FEEDING THE SCALPERS. Sure there are some non forum active people who will buy sprint runs, but im willing to bet that there are enough on accessible forms of media that you could get together and make scalping fiscally impractical. Sure, you might not get a sprint run or 2 that you want, but at the end of the day, its a knife, and the long term benefits have to outweigh the short term discomfort.
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I hear ya on not buying these production knives at the ridiculous prices. It's just disheartening that most of these knives aren't going to be used, just sold at huge markup. I guess I'm just frustrated, I put in my pre order about a week after it first became available back in November (when I first saw saw the option) and still missed out. Oh well, so it goes.