Rising Custom Knife Prices and Your Budget

TheBadGuy

TheBadGuy

Joined
Jul 24, 2002
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I have a question mainly pointed to makers. With the rising prices of custom knives, it is hard for someone with a budget like me to shell out $300-$600 at a time to get a decent custom. I mean, damn that’s a car payment. So my question is, How many of you makers out there have a payment program?? I am not kidding, one of my favorite makers, Winston, lets me send cash threw PayPal any amount I want until I have the enough funds built up for a knife I want. This is VERY VERY convenient for me and helps me get some quality knives on my budget. See I doubt many other popular knife makers are willing to do this, especially with a back log. With the thinking of, Why take Joe Smoos $50 at a time, when I can sell them as fast as I make them for the full price. I understand this, but I am hoping there are more makers out there that are willing to work with us poor knife knuts. So lets here it. Anyone out there take payments on a knife or any buyers out there that have been able to make payments on one???
 
I've done deals with several people where I've let them send payments on knives I have for sale. I don't usually cash their checks or whatever until the deal is completed. I do this primarily for people with a good reputation on the Forums and it has worked out great.

I have even sent the knives in advance to well known individuals based on their reputations.

Win Heger
 
Originally posted by TheBadGuy
I have a question mainly pointed to makers. With the rising prices of custom knives, it is hard for someone with a budget like me to shell out $300-$600 at a time to get a decent custom. I mean, damn that’s a car payment
Click to expand...

Car payment? Man, you just got to get your priorities straight. :D

Seriously though, that is one of the beauties of working with a good maker. I seem to have the habit of ordering from gents' who have backlogs of 6 months or more. This gives me ample time to squander away the funds for when the knife comes due.
 
I think one reason makers are reluctant to do this, is the baclklog involved for many of them. Some makers have a backlog of 2 years or more. In that time frame, it would be easier for you to have a personal savings account and deposit money into it weekly or monthly to save up for the knife on order.
Theys lay-a-way/payment plan thing would work better for purveyors. They have the knife in stock without the backlog. They can set it aside while you keep making payments on the product until it is paid in full.
Most makers don't do it simply because they hate keeping up with the ammount of money a customer has sent on a knife. It requires more paperwork. The majority of makers don't like having any of the customer's money until the product is totally finished and ready for customer approval.
Good luck in finding makers/purveyors to help you out. I'm sure there are lots out there if you keep searching.

JR
 
I have and still will take payments from customers. I understand the budget constraint well.:rolleyes:

The practice Win hager outlined of not cashing checks or depositing cash is a very smart one. The main concern I have with taking payments is the chance the customer will back out half way through and want his money back. I have had this happen, and while it didn't get ugly, I did feel a bit taken advantage of. To extend a courtesy like this and have it rejected is pretty tacky at best. Be sure to have an agreement on this ahead of time to protect botht he maker and the customer. Good deals sometimes go bad. It is just one of those "IS"s.

Anyway, with the quality of people in this business, I wouldn't hesitate to take payments and am sure there are many other makers who would too.
 
I've taken installments on knives before and don't mind doing so. It has helped some of my buddies "ease" the money out of the family budget without being too noticeable ;)
 
Another option is to put those installments in a pass book savings account.

Deposits and Installments are a two edge sword. Customers change their mind, move and can't be reached and, even die (yes it does happen occasionally). Then the maker or dealer has a knife they can't sell to anyone else but it is also one that isn't paid for completely. What happens if it is lost or stolen or otherwise becomes unavailable (I had a knifemaker die on me while we were working on a knife).

These days, if I am saving up for a knife that is out of my current price range, I just set some money aside when I can in a pass book savings account. When that magic dollar amount is reached, I then purchase my knife. I first did this when I was really just a kid, when I purchased my first pistol for $400. That's a ton of money for a kid making $5 a week but, I eventually did get there and with my father's help even got the yellow form (4473) filled out. I still have that pistol ~20 years later and it brings back great memories know that my father has passed away.
 
I have in the past and will in the present and future try to accommodate most any type of payment plan with a customer to fit their budget. My M.S. dagger sold for 5,500 and the customer(a doctor I might add) made 3 installments. I let him go ahead and take the knife home from the Blade show in 2000 w/o paying in full. We already had a business relationship and friendship established since he had bought previous knives without utilizing a payment plan. I would be reluctant to letting the knife go to a total stranger.

I agree with Bailey......backing out halfway through the plan is not very professional but sometimes it can't be avoided due to unforseen circumstances. A written agreement is always best(even with friends).

I have a customer in New York that prefers to make installments on all his orders til paid in full then pick up the knife at the East Coast show. He usually orders in the 1800-3000 range and likes to send a couple hundred dollars at a time.Others prefer different methods.

I look at it this way, if someone is willing to invest in my work I feel I should be willing to help them do that however I can regardless if it is a 300 dollar knife or a three thousand dollar knife.
 
Good thread Badguy -- it's great to see that some of you do that sort of thing.
 
This is something I have done for a number of years for my customers and have never had a problem with a deal yet. Since I am a maker and not a collector I need to move my work as quickly as possible. This arrangement not only helps the buyer but also helps me. The knife is not just laying there, it is working while I am working. One thing the buyer should be aware of is that when he sends money to start payment, the knife gets put away with his name on it. His money goes in my bank account. If he does not want to complete the deal he does not need to start it. However I will give him the option of applying the payments to a different knife if he changes his mind.
 
Allot of great responses so far. I am impressed with the amount of makers willing to go out of there way to take payments. Thanks :)
 
About the only way that I can see this layaway idea being useful is for getting knives that are already finished, or ordering a knife from a maker that doesn't have much of a backlog. If a maker has a six month or longer backlog then I would think it would be just as easy to save the money and send it all when the knife is ready. I guess that for some people it is better to send the money when they have it so that they are not tempted to use it for other things.

All the makers that I have dealt with prefer to have the money arrive when the knife is ready to ship. Ron Newton suggested that rather than make payments, I put the money in a savings or interest bearing account. Actually, I just put the money in a cigar because that pays just about as much interest as a bank does.

I have had a couple of makers that were kind enough to send me a knife when I only had about 80% of the required funds. I paid the rest of quickly to stay in their good books. This is not something that I expected or would every expect in the future, but it sure was appreciated.

Edited because my brain obviously wasn't working at the same speed as my typing.
 
The main area I am refering to is you send money perhaps with no knife even picked out, b/c you know that you like the makers work and once you send enough you just pick out a knife they have on the market or one that will hit the market in the near future.

When you gentlemen are talking about savings accounts and such instead. I am refering to a month or so time span, not a half a year or anything. Unfortunatly I am one of those people whos money burns threw my pocket. I can't save money in hand for a month or more. I will end up buying lesser production knives and would much rather send the money to a maker. Also, in the past, Mr.Winston has offered to send knives before i had them paid off and I told him what I will tell anyone. NOOOOOO Things seem to get paid off faster when you don't have the item already :)
 
So you like the idea of building up an account that you can use at a later date; interesting. The only real problem that I can see this being for a maker is the added accounting that would be necessay to keep track of the payments.

Actually there is another problem that can arise here. The money comes in and is used to pay the makers bills, he/she is once again in a situation where the rent is due and has a couple of knives to sell to cover it. Then you call and say that you would really like that knife. The maker owes it to you, but if it is supplied to you he/she could be in deep trouble. I have seen taking payment in advance for knives be the ultimate downfall of more than one maker. If this is only done upon occasion I can not see it being a problem. If it becomes a standard way of doing business, it could be disastrous.
 
Keith, I can see the keping track a problem. Everytime I send a payment in when I am doing this I put something like "Payment #2 Amount $50, Money sent to date= $120, Balance due= $200 Something of that nature to help not only the maker but me keep track. As far as the senerio you mentioned above. That wouldn't be a problem with me, as the maker waited for went out of his way to accomodate me, I can alway get the next one he makes that I like if he needed the money at the time. :)
 
Or you could use the pickle jar method.
Just throw $2 a day in the jar. At the end of the year you're ready for a knife :)
 
It's nice to be able to get that type of service with a dealer. The knife is sitting right there, staring at you and you know it's going to get sold unless you make a move. And you might be strapped at that particular time.

One dealer and I did a gentleman's agreement and now I'm making payments toward something I would not otherwise afford at that particular point in time, but can afford very soon.

The flip side is: You're making payments and then see something else that bowls you over, but you're committed already. - Hey - answer is- make another lay-away deal!

Just don't fall down on the promised payments.
 
Originally posted by Ebbtide
Or you could use the pickle jar method.
Just throw $2 a day in the jar. At the end of the year you're ready for a knife :)
Click to expand...

This is a good suggestion for a normal person, but not me. It would be off at around a $100 or so for a production model. I have tried this before. I went and bought a small Rubbermaid container and went so far as to drive 10 screws threw the edges and cut out a slot. A couple of weeks later I busted the screwdriver out and emptied it. I know this leaves one true explanation. That’s to adjust my priorities and develop some will power, but since that’s not happened, I have to make other arrangements :D

Boink, as easy as that would be to do the dual layway method, I can restrain myself to do one at a time:)
 
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