Knife Show - Dealer Price Switch

Fort Henry Custom Knives

Fort Henry Custom Knives

Feedback: +44 / =0 / -0
Joined
Nov 17, 1999
Messages
3,061
I would like to ask everyone's opinion of an event which I consider to be a very unethical practice.

I attended a Knife Show in Pigeon forge, TN this past December. There I met a small time Randall dealer from Florida who sells most of his knives through Ebay. I inquired about a particular Randall he had in his case that had some scrimshaw on the Stag handle. He quoted me a price and as I was looking more at the knife I noticed the same price written on a sticker on the butt of the knife. We talked more and I told him that I would think about it. We shook hands and as he gave me his card he stated that even if I went home after the show and decided I wanted the knife I could just send him the money for it, if he hadn't already sold it. I felt this was a nice gesture and told him I would be in touch.

A couple of hours later I had found nothing else at the show that I couldn't live without so I decided to go back and purchase the Scrimed Randall.

I was excited about the purchase and went straight back to his booth. I told him that I would take the knife, he just handed me the knife and smirked. He said that I should take another look at the sticker on the butt. Apparently during the time that I was wandering around the show he had spoken with someone else that sold Randalls and they explained to him that he was asking way too little for the knife, so he had almost doubled the price that was on the Sticker. I was irate and stated that I thought we had a deal, we even shook on it. He said he was afraid not, that's just the way it is. I tossed his card to the floor in front of him and left.

Since I haven't been collecting long I was just wandring if this was a normal practice and if it had ever happened to anyone else.


Thanks for the replies.


Semper Fi

-----------------------------------
Marine Sniper Motto

There's no use in running....you'll only die tired!!

 
It doesn't seem right, but in a free market economy people are free to charge whatever they feel, and you're free to not buy their product. It seems unfortunate that he wouldn't honor his original agreement, but if you got nothing in writing, you got nothing.
frown.gif


I would have done what you did. Speak with your cash...or withholding thereof. Maybe if he pissed enough people off that day, he'll learn his lesson...there are lots of better people out there to deal with anyway.

Good luck,
Mitch
 
I've been there too but for me I cursed myself for not grabbing it while I could have. Now, if it was such a great deal then I usually snap it up fast...but if it wasn't such a INCREDIBLE deal then I figure it's just as well. You know...sometimes the integrity of a product matches the integrity of the seller. Who knows, maybe the randall had some hidden defect that you wouldn't have caught until he was long gone. In any case, a merchant's conduct eventually catches up with him. Me, I have long memory and have a big mouth. I tell all my friends and usually he loses more than just a sale from me. You know, its people like that gave the word "merchant" a rancid taste.
 
Obviously, you were not dealing with a Marine. This man had no honor or integrity. A deal is a deal between men of honor. You should have ripped off his head and dumped in it.

------------------
Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
I think I have mixed feelings on this one. While working at a couple of gun stores we would CONSTANTLY get the "What kind of deal can you make me? / Is that the best you can do?" whiners. We invariably would strike an agreement of some sort and quite often the response would be, "Ok, I'll go shop that price / think about it / ask my wife / add your favorite excuse here." So we came up with the simple phrase, "That's the price now. Not an hour from now, not tomorrow." It takes time to dicker and time is money. Especially in a busy gun store / range environment. I don't want either wasted.
 
At last year's Blade Show, a fellow forumite was searching for a gift for his father. He found what he was looking for at a dealer's table and was quoted a price. A deal was made, but when the dealer went to get the box he realized that the item he had just sold was much more rare (and MUCH more expensive) than he had originally thought. He had actually brought two similar knives to the show. One was a rare custom with assosiated paperwork; the other was a more common production collaboration prototype. He told my buddy that, although he THOUGHT he was selling him the production piece, he would honor the price quoted for the custom piece my buddy was holding. The dealer smiled, shrugged, and stated that it wasn't going to break him and that his integrity was much more important. We walked away very pleased with the whole transaction. The dealer later tracked us down at the show and told us that the knife we had was the production piece, not the custom one as he had thought earlier. However, we appreciated the dealer's honesty and effort to track us down with the truth. The fact that my buddy now "only" had the original knife he was looking for in the first place didn't bother him in the least, but I'm sure the fact that the dealer kept up his end of the bargain when he realized his mistake will stick in his mind forever.

------------------
Kelly

SenatorsPlace.com
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice


 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top