New Mnandi Mammoth Bark - This Never Happens (to me)

mwschilling

mwschilling

Joined
Aug 29, 2012
Messages
1,355
So, I stop by a custom gun shop that happens to also sell CRK knives. I see a beautiful BNIB Mammoth Bark Mnandi with a sticker that showed just over half regular price. What did I do, I asked if he had any room to negotiate on this knife :). And he said no, we can't really discount CRK's. I asked is it brand new with COA? He said yes, here's the box, paperwork, etc. DOB Feb 2013. So, I sucked it up and paid the half price for this new Mnandi.


Mnandi Mammoth 7 (1024x768).jpgMnandi Mammoth 4 (1024x768).jpg
 
Dealers are allowed to sell for more $$, but not allowed to sell for less than CRK allows.
 
I went to a shop yesterday that had a scotch-brighted 21 for $545. I called the guy out on it after he tried to tell me it came from CRK like that.
 
Oddly enough, this was not an error. It had a nicely printed card describing the knife with the price. That price did not match a regular inlay or any other CRK. It was actually an ODD price. They also had other CRK's discounted off retail, which I am going back to buy today. I understand CRK dealers are not supposed to discount, I've asked, but this place does. Interestingly, they also had William Henry's marked down, 30% off ALL Benchmades, including Gold Class and even Randall's at factory price. This is not your typical gun shop. It is a high end, dark carpet, wood and glass cases that sells $20K shotguns. They even have a Loveless that was expensive but reasonable based upon prices I've seen elsewhere. They probably have 200 custom knives and twice that in ZT, Spyderco, Boker, Hinderer, etc. (nothing cheap).

Here's the kicker, the guy showing me the knives acted like I was bothering him, like he would rather be waiting on someone looking for a high end gun.
 
I would too if I were making the markup your dealer is making. It's hardly worth his time to sell them to you at those prices. Keep in mind that the NORMAL markup on cutlery is keystone, or 100% of cost. In other words, the MSRP price is twice what the dealer pays. I'm pretty sure that's the case with Chris Reeve Knives, and I have some evidence to back up that contention. And here's something to think about.

If an XM-18 costs $385.00 from the factory and Rick sells them to his dealers at keystone, dealer price for an XM-18 is $192.50. ;)
 
Wow, Congrats on the great find. I suggest you buy those all up and sell them to us for a reasonable markup:)
 
What he said ^^^

Wow! Go clean them out and lets have a private CRK forum member only sale!! ;)
 
100% mark up is a little too much for the economy these days for a non-essential item...hahaha. Today I'd be lucky if I can mark up my customers 40-60% on top of my costs!
Anyway, a great score for the OP!! If the numbers are about ballpark, then BM suggests MSRP at +30% and CRK at +100% maybe?
 
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