Selling of GEC SFO's. How to do it fairly?

knifeswapper

knifeswapper

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jc57 said:
Seems like with the demand for these being what they are, there's no reason to even have an early reserve type of thing. Just place the SFO and when they show up, put 'em up for sale first-come, first-served.
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The Early Reserve really helps by knowing what quantities of each to order; but I will definitely do it differently next time. Either a free for all or everyone goes to the standby list automatically.
 
knifeswapper said:
The Early Reserve really helps by knowing what quantities of each to order; but I will definitely do it differently next time. Either a free for all or everyone goes to the standby list automatically.
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Would not like to see that !!!!!!!

Harry
 
I like the way it is now too. No matter how you do it there will always be a scramble. This way allows people to commit even before seeing the scales which adds to the fun and excitement. On the subject of the knives themselves, I love the way Mike and GEC selected and executed the options. Beautiful all around, from design to the final finished product.
 
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rye_a said:
I like the way it is now too. No matter how you do it there will always be a scramble. This way allows people to commit even before seeing the scales which adds to the fun and excitement. On the subject of the knives and selves, I love the way Mike and GEC selected and executed the options. Beautiful all around, from design to the final finished product.
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I agree Mike, your method is much appreciated. I know it causes you more hassles in some regards, but it also gives you an indication of how many to set the run for. Otherwise how would you know other than to guess? This way enables more of us to get one than would otherwise be possible.

Keep up the good work Mike and GEC! :thumbup:
 
knifeswapper said:
The Early Reserve really helps by knowing what quantities of each to order; but I will definitely do it differently next time. Either a free for all or everyone goes to the standby list automatically.
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Please no free for all process Mike. Another dealer does this and it becomes a stress induced frenzy/rat race and quite honestly very un fun. Gives me a real headache.

Those photos of your 77 spearpoints look fantastic all..especially love that blood red 77 John!
 
Personally, I think a fair way would be:
►Each person puts in a numbered chit with a list of what he wants. He puts a priority to each one that he wants. There is a time limit on submitting chits of at least a few days. One chit per person.
►Knives get made and shipped.
►Lottery is held. Chit numbers are drawn. For each time a chit number is drawn, one knife on the list on that chit gets fulfilled. Then if there are more knives on the chit, the chit goes back in the hat with a chance of getting drawn again. Each time that chit gets drawn, another knife on the list is fulfilled.
►lottery continues until all knives are assigned.
►Each Person who put in a chit gets contacted.
►Person pays for whatever knives he won. Person gets the knives.

This would reduce occurrences of brascals reserving all the knives then selling on the aftermarket for big bucks. Gives more folks an even chance to get a knife.
 
knarfeng said:
Personally, I think a fair way would be:
►Each person puts in a numbered chit with a list of what he wants. He puts a priority to each one that he wants. There is a time limit on submitting chits of at least a few days. One chit per person.
►Knives get made and shipped.
►Lottery is held. Chit numbers are drawn. For each time a chit number is drawn, one knife on the list on that chit gets fulfilled. Then if there are more knives on the chit, the chit goes back in the hat with a chance of getting drawn again. Each time that chit gets drawn, another knife on the list is fulfilled.
►lottery continues until all knives are assigned.
►Each Person who put in a chit gets contacted.
►Person pays for whatever knives he won. Person gets the knives.

This would reduce occurrences of brascals reserving all the knives then selling on the aftermarket for big bucks. Gives more folks an even chance to get a knife.
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I like this idea, Frank, but I expect it would be a lot of effort for Mike.
 
Shaggy said:
I like this idea, Frank, but I expect it would be a lot of effort for Mike.
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I agree with Shaggy Frank, innovative idea that is very fair and combats the secondary price heep but it might be alot of work for Mike going down the line vs automated reserves.
 
honestly, i remember the sign up for charlie's version of the bladeforums knife. if there wasnt a slow moment in the clinic i wouldnt have seen it. i hesitated for 10 seconds and the reserves were full. i was on stand by because i was figuring out your reserve system. i had never sign up other wise id have a 77. i had signed up to late. but i saw the text, went to the site and by time i clicked submit, i was on stand by.
 
I appreciate that you are reviewing the situation, as some people have been upset:thumbup:

I also think a lotto style system, each applicant gets a No. then it's drawn by random and they get a knife, if it's not taken up then the knife goes on general sale. This would prevent any kind of 'bulk buying' or mass reservation with the intention of selling on as soon as possible for huge profits.

I really don't understand what is fun about ordering a knife if you have no idea what the scales or perhaps even what the blade will be? A knife enthusiast really should care what it is and what it looks like. It might suggest other motivations...
 
knarfeng said:
Personally, I think a fair way would be:
►Each person puts in a numbered chit with a list of what he wants. He puts a priority to each one that he wants. There is a time limit on submitting chits of at least a few days. One chit per person.
►Knives get made and shipped.
►Lottery is held. Chit numbers are drawn. For each time a chit number is drawn, one knife on the list on that chit gets fulfilled. Then if there are more knives on the chit, the chit goes back in the hat with a chance of getting drawn again. Each time that chit gets drawn, another knife on the list is fulfilled.
►lottery continues until all knives are assigned.
►Each Person who put in a chit gets contacted.
►Person pays for whatever knives he won. Person gets the knives.

This would reduce occurrences of brascals reserving all the knives then selling on the aftermarket for big bucks. Gives more folks an even chance to get a knife.
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Brascals? Chits?
I got a headache just trying to read through that mess...You are only allowed to buy 1! 1 of each knife !!
I like the reserve system as it is. Maybe just lower the limits a little. More people on standby that end up getting a knife. Then realize, there will still be people that complain because, they didn't know, weren't signed up, didn't know how it worked, or were too slow. etc. etc.
 
Will Power said:
I appreciate that you are reviewing the situation, as some people have been upset:thumbup:

I also think a lotto style system, each applicant gets a No. then it's drawn by random and they get a knife, if it's not taken up then the knife goes on general sale. This would prevent any kind of 'bulk buying' or mass reservation with the intention of selling on as soon as possible for huge profits.

I really don't understand what is fun about ordering a knife if you have no idea what the scales or perhaps even what the blade will be? A knife enthusiast really should care what it is and what it looks like. It might suggest other motivations...
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Are you folks seriously suggesting that Mike should try to hold 500 individual lotterys?? unbelievable.
"Bulk Buying"? "Mass reservation"? People, You can only buy ONE of each. ONE!! What more needs to be said?
What is fun about ordering a knife that you don't know all the details about? First off, you did know the details,( only thing that changed was linen/ canvas). Its fun when you know they will all be good , no matter what they are.
 
I think the fact that the reserves fill up nearly instantly and sell out nearly instantly shows that the reserve system isn't exactly telling anyone how many "should" be ordered. It seems clear that two to three times as many as were ordered "should" be ordered.
 
I'm not sure what you mean.
You do know that GEC has a limit on what can be ordered right? That Mike could not have ordered 2 or 3 times as many?
 
I'm happy with the early reserve system as is.

Some things are out of Mike's hands, as far as production issues at GEC, but you have to know that going in and be a grown-up about it. The system does not allow someone to bulk buy them all up, unless you consider reserving one in each cover material to be bulk buying, and perhaps that could be tweaked to only allow one knife total per customer to be reserved.

I suppose just throwing them up on the site when they arrive is another option for Mike, (and it's his decision, of course) it would save me some money, since I'm one of those folks who can't seem to get through an online checkout in under two minutes. :o
 
I still think it's an excellent method, and if left unchanged would still be the best way to guarantee you get the knife you want.

The extreme desirables seem to be the only issue, but they would be anywhere else too. Whether they're all reserved in 30 seconds, or put up for sale in a free for all, people will be left out, and upset.

Even popular knives, like the Beer Scouts have given plenty of opportunity to guarantee you get what you want. It's just the super desirable and less produced product that puts us into a frenzy.

My only suggestion for knives like this is to tweak the system so that after the general details are posted, you can reserve one knife. When the knives are done - in the order of reservation- you choose which one knife and check out.

Less people get all four, but more people get one. I would have been delighted to get any of the 77s.

It's just my opinion though. I couldn't run a business like Mike does, and am sure this not an easy endeavor.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
SFO's where I am only going to get 5-10 knives are the only ones that have a scramble to register a reserve - nothing will change that and it is a rare occurrence. If you just drop them on the site, it is a different group of "watchers" that grab them; as opposed to sending an SMS when they are available for reserve.

knarfeng: I like the system, but the system I have today confuses a lot - it would take an 500 page document to line that out. I am liking the thought of a "preference list" to help spread the knives out a bit; but I have to be honest - if I were on the other side of the system I would just use that to have all my neighbors registering reservations for me. So, although we are all rule abiding knife-nuts, some of us will "skirt" the system to get what we want. And you have to consider all the ways to "finesse" a system before implementing a ruleset or else you just move the aggravation from one point to another.

On items that are way over-subscribed, each person can only buy one of each variant anyway. And, although I am aware it occurs from time to time, there are very few buyers that are not known knife-hoarders like myself. Obviously sometimes there are people that are buying just to re-sell; but they generally find themselves on the "restricted" list anyway when they realize they reserved a knife that will not be extremely sought after - and do not fulfill the reservation.

The one change I am playing with is making sure that these tiny allocations (waynorth sfo's) are first offered to a subset of folks that are actually general CollectorKnives customers instead of those that just buy SFO's. Because in reality many of those folks are getting on EVERY dealers early reservation and ending up with several of each variant. And of the known "resellers" I am aware of - they only buy SFO's or tiny runs.

Thanks to the mods for moving/creating this thread for a specific discussion.
 
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