Question for Collectors

RogerP said:
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:

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Roger
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I love this way of doing it. All the info the customer needs to make an informed decision is right in front of them.

Brad
www.AndersonKnives.ca
 
Outstanding thread. Murray White, were are you? ;) Isn't this what we have been babbling on about for years and years?
 
cockroachfarm said:
Outstanding thread. Murray White, were are you? ;) Isn't this what we have been babbling on about for years and years?
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Indeed, he has. :thumbup:

Joss - just about every show I have attended I have found myself in exactly that situation - maker busy with other customers, I'm interested in a knife on the table - no price displayed (or hidden somewhere and I'm not going to search for it). I move on. By the time I make my way back (if I make my way back) odds are my pockets are now empty.

I should have added to my earlier post that the knives and informative display cards in the photo are by Burt Foster, from his table at this past Blade Show.

Roger
 
RogerP said:
Joss - just about every show I have attended I have found myself in exactly that situation - maker busy with other customers, I'm interested in a knife on the table - no price displayed (or hidden somewhere and I'm not going to search for it). I move on. By the time I make my way back (if I make my way back) odds are my pockets are now empty.


Roger
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I like to be able to see the prices of a knife, clearly. I like what Roger P. had posted. It just makes it easier for me. If I like the knife, I will talk to the maker anyway.
 
Here is a good reason for the maker or dealer to mark prices. At the Blade Show, I was looking at a folder by a well known maker that was on a dealer/resellers table. It was not marked so I did ask the price. It was $750 (less than the makers price $800 but he was sold out anyway). I walked around the show for a few hours then returned to take a second look at the knife. I knew the price because I had asked earlier but figured since he did not have the prices marked or displayed I would ask again. This time he said, without looking at anything, $625. I immediately bought the knife. This dealer must have had 150-200 knives on his table. How did he remember the price of that knife without checking anything and so many there and give me 2 different prices within hours at the largest show in the country. I believe he was making the prices as he went along based on what he thought the buyer might pay. That does not look very well for the knife industry.
 
OK, for once Todd wins the argument!!! All of the points were persuasive and made sense. Thank you all for the input, and I will make the necessary changes at the next show!



Truth be told.... I was against displaying the prices because guess who's job it will be to make those nifty little display cards with knife info and price?????:p
I'm going to ask for a raise...............

Tanya
 
tntbegg said:
I'm going to ask for a raise...............
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You should, after all if you quit Todd would have to deal with us crazies. ;)

FWIW, I don't mind getting winked at by a pretty lady. It's the used-car-salesman types that give me the heebie-jeebies. :barf:
 
Roger's post was dead on, I do it as he posted and it sure makes things simpler for both the maker and the customer. ;)

Bill
 
Holger -- I first started reading this thread at about 3:30 am and was just too tired to begin responding so after awaking at 1 pm and calling my friend Paul Kessler for about an hour and then having some lunch and reading a bit of the paper, I have now gotten to the point of making a response.

Before I do so, let me give some info that might be of value for those folks doing a lot of long distance phone calling. Check out this website www.magicjack.com I have absolutely nothing to do with the company but was referred to it by a friend and am now using the device and find it to work extremely well.

Anyway, it is great to see not one negative comment about this idea of knifemakers putting prices and easily visible prices on knives. Even better is to use a card with the info about the knife so that a customer can read about the knife even if the knifemaker is away from his table or speaking with other buyers.

I thought for so long I was a "voice crying in the wilderness". What I'd now ask is that anytime you are talking to a maker and don't see prices, suggest to the maker that putting prices on his knives is good for both the customer and his business.

Bob, I'm kind of like you and simply walk by tables that don't show prices on knives but once in awhile still try to engage a maker into adjusting his thinking.

I always get the argument that "I want to talk to the custome". All well and good if you are not busy -- maybe not busy because there are no prices on the product? or I don't want sticky things on my knives.

For all those makers thinking about the latter, check what Roger posted or please go to this link re the Blade show 2008 and read the thread about the show and see near the end what some of the makers did at the show.

Two ways to get there www.customknifecollectorsassociation.com > Forums > General Discussion > Reviews > Blade show 2008 or

try this direct link which is long and hopefully does not get truncated

http://www.customknifecollectorsass...=26&t=61&sid=1333ba82b511dcf218b570f5d1ffb20a

BTW -- in the thread will be photos of both Tanya and Todd even Roger too among the 169 photos of the show.

Also mentioned in the thread is the idea of makers offering the use of both Visa and Mastercard. Again the famous argument is "I'll lose 5%" well, if you don't make the sale you lose 100% -- take your pick. I know of one maker at a show could have made 10 additional sales if he had had a credit card available and after the show made arrangements for that option and ha never looked back. I recall 35 years ago at The One of a Kind arts and craft show held a couple times a year in Toronto that few vendors used credit cards and now almost none would not have credit cards as they facilitate sales to both those with $ to spend and those that make impulse purchases or other that may have spent all the cash they have and yet have to have "this one last piece".

While we are discussing knife pricing at shows, let me add that this concept holds true for websites. Makers or anyone selling knives from a website, put the price on the knife. Describe fully the knife and have photographs of all aspects of the knife.

Once the knife has been sold, remove the knife from the "available" section and put the photose and LEAVE the price on the knife in youir Gallery or archives. Nothing worse than finding sold knives the only thing on the "Available" section -- this holds true for dealers also. I soon stop looking if after a few checks of knives for sale all that is found is "sold". However, let me look in Gallery or archives and see the knife and what it went for. Be collector friendly. It will always pay off.

As mentioned in another post regarding dealers that don't price knives and then try to sell and price based on the perceived notion of whom it is they are trying to sell to. This does not bosst consumer confidence in the product, price nor the reliabiltiy of the dealer. Customers want things to be "up front"

I'm glad that TnT Begg raised this and am thrilled to read the response of collectors to this thread. Hopefully makers and dealers are reading and will take the appropriate action on both websites and at shows. If they do, I'll need more $ as there will be more knives of interest to me.
 
I wonder if some makers choose not to post prices in order to keep their colleagues from gaining some sort of advantage.
Is not clearly indicating a price part of a strategy? I wonder...
 
I think is better if the maker put a certificate card saying what blade, bolsters, handle, fitting... and the price on the certificate. Just ask youself. would you go on ebay and buy a knife with no info about the knife? I never been to a knife show befor. Next time if they do have one in new york city. i would mostly go.
 
I definitely prefer the prices to be clearly displayed.
One advantage is that the lack of a price implies that the knife is sold or otherwise unavailable. Some makers have 'sold' signs, others imply that by the absence of a price. I don't like to have to ask the maker the prices on several different knives.
Just my preference.
 
I can tell you why I don't do it (when I don't).

It's not some strategy to stay competitive. It's not to guage the wealth of my potential customer and base the price off of that. It's not because I think collectors are into discretion.

It's 'cuz I'm usually finishing up a knife two hours before my plane to the show is scheduled to leave and I've been up in the shop all night, so I don't have time. :p ;)


So long as I plan ahead and manage my time, I always have something like Burt had in that photo.

One thing I have seen SOOOOOOO MANY times is proof that a lot of folks don't read tags like Burts though. I would include info like: blade steel, dimensions, hardware material, handle material, even blade finish and such, as well as price. It's inevitable you have people come up and ask, what steel did you use? how much does it cost? what is this handle material? :p

I still think it's much better TO HAVE the info tag like Burt's than NOT have it.
 
I like to see the price displayed.

I bring a finite amount of money to shows to spend on knives. At shows like New York, the only ones I have attended, where the popular makers sell out in the first couple of minutes, I want to be able to see the price so I can either buy or move on to the next maker on my list. Knife buying shouldn't be a race but sometimes it is. Knives that I can't afford, or can't afford at that moment, I will go back and talk to the makers later in the show, and possible order a knife and save up for it while I wait. Plus the popular makers usually have a crowd around their table, with the price dispalyed I can make a buy decision, without interrupting their conversation, and come back to talk to the maker when he is less crowded. Great question by the way.
 
As I said earlier, I definitely prefer that all knives are priced.
I also think the little information cards look good and add a professional touch. However I agree with Nick in that most people don't read them and those who do will remember the information about as long as it takes to turn from the table.
 
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I dont understand the need for knife price discretion at a knife show. I mean this is a show to sell knives. If you are confident in your prices and feel it is fair then why not show your prices?
 
RogerP said:
DISPLAYED! I'm not sure what the benefit of "discretion" is in this context.
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severedthumbs said:
I dont understand the need for knife price discretion at a knife show.
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Again going back to the almost-universal practice of jewelers, the price is displayed discreetly so as not to immediately put off a potential buyer.

Imagine my $60,000 tennis bracelet example: a well-heeled customer may come in thinking to himself, "I want to spend about $55,000 on a birthday gift for my wife." He may see the bracelet and think to himself, "That's something she'd like." But then see the prominent tag from a distance and say to himself, "No, just a little out of my range" and walk away without even taking a closer look.

Instead, the jeweler wants him to ask to see the bracelet, to pick it up, hold it, look closely at it and say to himself upon seeing the little tag, "What's five grand more? This piece is worth it." And so a smart jeweler uses a small, discrete tag. This effect will be especially powerful if the wife is there shopping with Mr. Moneybags; once she holds it, tries it on, he really can't argue about 5K.

Similarly, a knife collector often has two voices inside of his head, the one that runs the collection and the other that balances the checkbook. A sly knife maker doesn't want the later voice vetoing his knife before the first voice has a chance to handle the knife, feel it, hold it, fall in love with it. What's 5K more?
 
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