I’ve noticed that authorized dealers almost always sell knives at a large discount compared to the OEM sites themselves. The savings are considerable, sometimes up to $100. I know some OEMs don’t use authorized dealers or they demand the knife sells for the MSRP. I think Emerson did this. My question is why anyone would buy from the OEM and pay more money. That made me wonder if there’s any advantage in ordering straight from WE Knives, for instance, instead of from BladeHQ. Can anyone clarify this for me?
-
All For Sale threads must have a pic showing the knife being sold with written date listed, your username & Bladeforums or BFC to prevent photo harvesting from elsewhere - scammers hate this one trick! The rules for The Exchange can be found here. Please read and follow them. Stop using Paypal Friends & Family and follow our best practices to prevent getting ripped off or having a bad deal.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
OEMs vs. Authorized Dealers
- Thread starter Ironwil
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2001
- Messages
- 4,306
No advantage, other than potential availability. Dealers may not have stock, while the OEM might.
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2021
- Messages
- 1,439
Sometimes OEMs have customization options not available at dealers.
Dealers often have better return policies that OEMs, so I almost always order from dealers.
Dealers often have better return policies that OEMs, so I almost always order from dealers.
Most manufacturers simply don't want to be in the retail business. Retail has its own set of hassles that the manufacturers would prefer to avoid. So the OEMs don't want to compete with their authorized dealers. They want to keep their dealers happy and healthy. Even MAP policies are partially done to benefit the dealers, since they help ensure the dealer gets a decent margin too.
The manufacturer sites are usually limited to selling at RRP, since they are the ones recommending it, whereas dealers can sell a bit low.
You can, however, find cheaper products from OEMs if they make a product that gets rebranded and sold under a different, "premium" name., whereas they sell it under their own name.
You can, however, find cheaper products from OEMs if they make a product that gets rebranded and sold under a different, "premium" name., whereas they sell it under their own name.
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2004
- Messages
- 17,086
At least for Spyderco, it has to do with the MAP policies (and I've read about it being the same for some other well-known companies). They are "encouraging" you to buy from their dealers by charging more. In Spyderco's case, they charge full MSRP or up to 15% off on the website or at the factory store, whereas MAP for dealers is up to 30% off MSRP.