Question for Collectors

tntbegg

tntbegg

Joined
May 27, 2003
Messages
456
As a buyer at a show, do you want to see the price of the knife displayed prominently, discreetly or not at all.


I personally don't like to put the price of the knives on display because I want to encourage conversation and interaction with the potential buyer. What are your thoughts?


Tanya
 
I would like to see it displayed. Walking up to a table and not seeing prices may make some people nervous to ask , also if there is a crowd and they cant see prices , they now have to wait there just to ask " How much ? " only to find it is out of their range.

if you know what you want to sell it for , why not show the price clearly and openly ?

I see this at gun shows all the time , people not marking items with a price , so you wait your turn just to ask how much , if the price is marked those who are in the market for an item of that amount will stop , those who aren't will keep on going.

Pretty much like when you go to shop on a website and everything is marked " Inquire " or " contact for pricing info ", that to me is a turn off and I go someplace else.
 
Displayed discreetly is preferred by me, I went to Blade and found a lot marked and some not marked, I loved handling them, but preferred not taking up a makers time if it was out of my price range. So, I guess the question is back to you, do you wish to just chat with someone who really can not afford your knife, and while engaged with that person, lose a possible sale to someone walking by but sees you are busy and does not see the prices. But who has a WAD of cash and keeps on walking. A lot to think about.

BTW: I was not the one with the wad of cash, I left it and the checkbook all at home trying to control my urges to buy. Little good it did, Too many said they would put the knife up and wait on my checks. :p
Small time Collector for a Long Time,
James Todd
 
Take a cue from another group that retails an expensive and somewhat esoteric, luxury product*: fine Jewlery. The price is very discreetly displayed. This is done to preserve the dignity of the buyer. The buyer can ask, "May I see that tennis bracelet there, yes, that one, the one with the pave diamonds down the middle and rows of emeralds on each side." Then, the buyer can discreetly notice that it's $60,000, smile and say, "Oh, very nice... but I don't think it quite matches my sweater. How about that other one... yes, that one... the one with the single ruby?" The alternative would be for the buyer to have to ask the price and then say, "No, thank you," after hearing the price which would be to shout across the store, "I CAN'T AFFORD IT!" which puts the buyer in a rather embarrasing situation. No, discrete is better.







* And yes, collectible knives of the caliber that Todd makes are a luxury product.
 
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Definitely clearly displayed. I believe makers miss opportunities by not displaying prices.
 
Discreetly displayed at the actual price you plan to sell the knife at!

I hate when folks give me the "wink" and say, "But for you, take 10% off..."
 
bluejaunte said:
Discreetly displayed at the actual price you plan to sell the knife at!

I hate when folks give me the "wink" and say, "But for you, take 10% off..."
Click to expand...


I NEVER wink!! I don't do those 10% off things either.....my math skills aren't good enough, and the calculator always seems to be on loan to another table holder.....probably figuring up that wink discount!!:p

We have not really had enough knives at a show that warranted multiple people looking at the same time, which is probably why it has not affected us yet....that and almost everything is sold the first hour. But, as our production increases and we have more knives available at shows, and we have enough inventory for all three days, Todd and I have been wondering if displaying the price is something we need to start doing.

So discreetly displayed seems the way to go.....on the knife itself or on the table under the knife?
 
tntbegg said:
So discreetly displayed seems the way to go.....on the knife itself or on the table under the knife?
Click to expand...

You can display it on an neon colored dot under the knife, also security alert that knife is off table.
Just my .02
James
 
DISPLAYED! I'm not sure what the benefit of "discretion" is in this context. Sure, you don't want some gigantic gaudy billboard, but if you're going to display the price (which you should, for the reasons already mentioned) make it visible and legible to a person standing at your table.

Any number of ways to go about it, but this works well - a little card with the relevant info on he knife - incuding price - that the buyer can take with him:

orig.jpg


Roger
 
The replies to this thread simply confirm what I have tried to tell knifemakers as long as I have been collecting knives: "A price tag defines your market." This applies to selling $500 custom knives and it applies to selling $2-million luxury condominiums - which is what my advertising agency did when no one even knew what a "condo" was. The agency that had the developer's account before us - and did "lifestyle" ads - sold one condo in 12 months. To the agency president's cousin. We took over the account, ran factual, descriptive ads - and sold out the project in 6 months.

Every rationale for showing a price, discretely, posted above is valid - and it made my evening just to read them (someone call Murray White and make him aware of this thread! :) ) We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in research to come to the same conclusions. And if you still don't believe - test. Do one show without price tags and the next show with price tags. See which one is more successful.
 
tntbegg said:
As a buyer at a show, do you want to see the price of the knife displayed prominently, discreetly or not at all.


I personally don't like to put the price of the knives on display because I want to encourage conversation and interaction with the potential buyer. What are your thoughts?


Tanya
Click to expand...

Personally, I am in a situation where I can't buy right now (driving one hundred miles a day :eek:etc). However, if I see a knife I like, I will talk to the maker about it. If I see a price, no price or a card that says please ask for prices, I'm going to talk to the maker pretty much if I like it or not. And I do like Begg knives :).
 
I say clearly display the price as RogerP has shown. Why worry about discrete? If a buyer is going to pay $300 or more for a knife, I believe he knows enough about knives to have the prices shown. The buyer can look at the knife and the price as it sits on the table. He then knows if he can afford it without looking all over the knife and around the table for a price. As a new maker and novice collector one of the most frustrating things to me is seeing a knife I really like, looking at it, wanting it, having to ask the maker what the price is and then having to put it back on the table because the price is more than I could afford. I have seen several knives over the past year that I would have purchased if I could have afforded them. Problem is I don't know if I could have afforded them because they were not marked and I didn't stop to ask the price. Had they been clearly marked, I may have purchased several of them.
 
tntbegg said:
I personally don't like to put the price of the knives on display because I want to encourage conversation and interaction with the potential buyer. What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...

To what level are you counting on un-displayed knife prices to generate conversation and interaction? It's not like if the prices are shown you're unable start a chat with anyone at all, right?

I get the idea that the price may be the easiest starting point, but as a customer having the price shown is more convenient for me and it doesn't make a difference as to whether or not I would talk with the maker. I see Howard Hitchmough most times at the local shows I go to. It doesn't matter that his prices are clearly marked, and well beyond what I can afford, because more often than not he has engaged me in conversation by offering up a fact about the steel or the reason behind the styling. If the maker reaches out and interested customers respond, I don't see price as something that should necessarily arrest conversation. If some folks don't want to say anything once they know a knife isn't in their budget, so be it, that's their prerogative. You can't force anyone to talk if they don't want to.
 
I vote for clearly displaying the price of the items you wish to sell.

As an owner of a retail business, if the products I had for sale had no price tags on them, I would expect to burn out from frustration, and go under in short order.

Not clearly stating the price is a good way to ensure you get a lot of '10% winks';)
 
Not many knife shows around here, but there are some occassional events where knife dealers/makers have stands. The same question applies to other items besides knives too.

I would like the prices displayed. Roger's signs are great, but small tags would be OK too.

#1 - my memory's not that good. Ask about prices on a few items, and promptly get them confused.
#2 - don't want to ask about every single item that might interest me.
#3 - prices are going to immediately eliminate a certain % of items from consideration. Don't want to waste my time, or the maker's time, by having to 'learn' their prices verbally.
 
Display the price clearly, please, in such a way that we don't have to pick up the knife to know what it is. Why make the potential customer jump through hoops to learn such a basic piece of info? You want the info flow to be fast and smooth, and written signs are the best way to do that. If the knife is too expensive for a given collector, you don't want to waste their time and yours having to make that clear. It doesn't prevent anyone from becoming friendly, if such is the inclination.

In addition to all the good comments by RogerP, Bob W, and others, consider the case where the maker is already in conversation with collector A when collector B approaches. Collector B would have no way to enquire of the price without waiting or rudely interrupting. Bad idea.

Clearly displayed prices also make it clear that the price is the same for everyone and (generally) not open for discussion.
 
tntbegg said:
As a buyer at a show, do you want to see the price of the knife displayed prominently, discreetly or not at all.
Click to expand...

I like to see the price displayed. Sometimes there are so much people around a makers table that it's very difficult to engage the maker in conversation. If I see the price (and maybe some specs like steel type and handle material) displayed, I can already see if I can afford it or not.

Kind regards,

Jos

Edit: like in the picture in post #9 is exactly what I mean.
 
Displaying the price is the way to go. I can't speak for anyone else but if I can't see the price and there are others at the table, I'm likely to keep walking.
 
No prices generally leads me to believe the maker/purveyor will try and guage the customers wallet size before sharing the price. Thats BS in my book.

Nothing more frustrating than a maker or their table watcher NOT KNOWING the price of something because they can't find their little black book. Duh.
 
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