Paying full MSRP at a dealer vs buying online

In my whole life, I have never even been to a knife shop. I just can't say what I would do.
 
I haven't run into this with knives yet, but I have with music equipment. A couple years ago I was looking for a guitar seat that was $110 online. I went to my local music shop and it was over $200, and that was after I haggled them. It's one thing to support local businesses and it's another to be completely insane, which is what someone on a budget would have to be to overpay $100 on something. The day I become Donald Trump I will be more than happy to spread the love around local businesses, but right now it is just not realistic or reasonable to foot the bill on that large a discrepancy. A 15% markup, sure. But 50-100%? No way.

It's unfortunate that this is the way it is, but I'm not going to feel personally responsible for every casualty this horrid economy leaves in its wake. Once you start playing that game there's no end to it.
 
I'm in the camp that'll pay a reasonable markup, maybe 25% or so, but not close to double to buy from a B&M. I've gone a bit higher than that at times, but that was an exception because of great service where I needed to pick someone's brain, or something hard to find and what the shop had was exactly what I wanted.
 
What bothers me are places that have both internet AND a physical shop, and charge different prices... (although sometimes i see outrageous shipping prices to make up the difference).
Good shops will usually give me the best price if i ask... In crappy shops i've been told too bad and to order it online, and i tell them that i will, from their competitors... I don't give them the satisfaction of trying to retract it either...

Back in the day, there was no internet... Stores or mail-order catalog... We had a couple of decent local stores, i'd get to talk directly with the owner and usually got decent deals... Then they started getting popular, opened new stores and hired a bunch of zit-faced punks and it was all downhill from there...
 
I buy just about everything over 20 bucks online. Customer service isn't that important when you're working like a dog for 8.50 an hour. I work too hard to be paying a premium for good advice and pleasant conversation.
 
joe-bob said:
I agree. I'd like to be able to support local dealers, but selling items at list price is unreasonable on their part, too. I look at it this way, if it's going to cost more than AG Russell's (prices + shipping) + local sales tax, then you've blown a sale, (not that I always buy from AG, but I have a bunch of times. They're a great company to do businesss with.).
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Selling something at the list price is unreasonable? There are a number of companies (thank god no knife companies I can think of) who will not sell to a retailer if that retailer doesn't respect their MSRP. I know of one local tackle shop that no longer carries Shimano products because his attitude was, "I paid for it, I can sell it for whatever I want". Shimano stopped selling to him. Aqua Lung and a few other companies do the same thing for scuba products, and Electra protects their prices on bikes that way. Getting a deal below MSRP is great, but charging full MSRP by a brick and mortar retailer may lose them some business, but it is not unreasonable.

Dave
 
I buy online exclusively for knives. Retail is for suckers !! Why spend more than you have too?? My concern isn't for knife shop owners it is for my own wallet. Free market says evolve or die.
 
Southside112 said:
I buy online exclusively for knives. Retail is for suckers !! Why spend more than you have too?? My concern isn't for knife shop owners it is for my own wallet. Free market says evolve or die.
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That's true but I just got a great looking, recommended here many times, and in a good s30v steel...but I have a large hand with long thin fingers and now the handle doesn't fit my hand, the front finger stop is in the wrong place that pushes the second finger back over the other finger groove...so now I'm SOL

Wish I had held one at a shop before dropping the $400 :(
 
You'd think if you show the owner the online price + shipping they would match it to get a sale.
 
I generally go online. If there were any decent retailers in my area, I'd consider going to them, though - I generally prefer buying stuff in person given the choice.
 
flash900 said:
There was another dealer I dealt with when I was getting started, largely because of price and a great recommendation (paid, it turns out) from a well-known YT reviewer.

The dealer never did respond to any of my written requests with purchases to check for QC.

I found that lack of response puzzling, so I sent an email query and found out that he's a drop-shipper: his cheap prices are based upon never seeing the products he sells.

I've since learned that many of the items this dealer lists for sale, he not only never stocks, he can't sell because he's not an authorized reseller -- he can't even order those items.

There's more of this going on than we know, I suspect. Just like with B&M stores, consumers must decide how much they're willing to pay for service vs rock-bottom price.

Before I knew any of this, I simply went for the lowest possible price (with shipping.)

Now, I shop all the dealers (to find out the lowest price) and then buy from the dealer who will give me the level of service that I need. That let's me know how much I'm paying for service. If it's too much for my wallet, I won't buy -- and I won't buy without service.

Six months from now, I probably won't remember what I paid for the merchandise. But if the item has a flaw, I'll be pissed off for as long as I own it.
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WOW!! a thinking man.
 
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