Share your thoughts on proxy buying please.

Thank you, Justin, for initiating this discussion in such a thoughtful and positive way. It's a great thread with lots of good thoughts.

Rather than rehash the comments above, I'll just make a personal observation regarding use of proxies. That is, I would be extremely uncomfortable asking someone to proxy for me who wasn't already a good friend. I don't like asking favors from friends,much less strangers. Just not the way I was brought up and have lived.

I have a "potato knife" and am on the preorder list for a field knife. I'd like to get an EDC and hope there will be a list for that. These knives will be used hard, not acquired for collecting (though I covet one of Nathan's daggers). Bottom line: Nathan has offered a viable option and if everyone else is OK with proxies, especially Nathan, I don't really care.

A final repeat thanks to Nathan for establishing the CPK forum. It seems the epitome of what this kind of forum can be.
 
Thanks for the well thought out reply timichango. I appreciate it.

At this point, the aftermarket has been really tame. Lots of people selling, I would say 30 knives+ have transferred hands between friends or friends of friends, and all at cost or very close to it. So no one I know is jacking the prices up.

There have been some sales that were nominally priced above cost but they were generally not from someone who bought multiples, looked more like they bought and didn't like it, know there is a demand and sold to come out slightly ahead.

This speaks to the high quality people that compose the majority of Nathan's customers IMO.

I agree no one can please all the people all the time, and I don't even want to say we should try to keep everyone who is new to the brand happy as a community.

But I do think the sub forum should be a welcoming positive place where people can feel free to post without getting jumped on, get to know more about the CPK models and find help on how to acquire a knife. I want to try to avoid doing anything that will contribute to this place becoming toxic like some of the other high demand brands that have developed a culture that in of itself is enough to make me never want to even try a knife from said brand. Poorly worded but I think everyone know what I mean.

Ok, enough said I believe. Thank you again!
 
Bob Leedy said:
Thank you, Justin, for initiating this discussion in such a thoughtful and positive way. It's a great thread with lots of good thoughts.

Rather than rehash the comments above, I'll just make a personal observation regarding use of proxies. That is, I would be extremely uncomfortable asking someone to proxy for me who wasn't already a good friend. I don't like asking favors from friends,much less strangers. Just not the way I was brought up and have lived.
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You are welcome. I got that impression after our very brief conversation via PM a while back! No problem there. Being the personality type I am, I do not like asking for favors or receiving gifts. So I never get gifts (not even from family), and I often do favors, but almost never ask for one if there is a reasonable alternative. I am getting better at asking for help but still not something I do more than extremely infrequently. Perhaps in time you will make some good friends here as I have. I've met several people I trust very much whom I speak to regularly on the phone, email or sms. I have sent them knives, and received knives from them before a cent ever changed hands.

Bob Leedy said:
I'd like to get an EDC and hope there will be a list for that.

Bottom line: Nathan has offered a viable option and if everyone else is OK with proxies, especially Nathan, I don't really care.
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I hope you are able to get on the potential EDC list that is likely to come up once the FK list has been completed. If not, I will offer to help since you won't ask :)

Thanks for your thoughts, and hope to see you around the forums more often!
 
Justin,
I was not going to post, but you asked so nicely :)
I have been buying CPK knives for a while now, from the NtM days. They are amazing knives and it was love at first sight! Sometimes you just know. That was based just on the pictures, the videos, and Nathan's aura, I guess. I am the very satisfied owner of a 6" fighter, a first gen FK, and more recently an LC, which is an MVP in my lineup. I had an 8" in A2 that I sold some time back because I never used it. I'm more a knife user and accumulator than a collector, but if a knife never comes out of storage, I eventually give someone else a chance to appreciate it. But the input exceeds the outflow, so I own way more knives than any one person really needs.
That gives me a more relaxed view of the Friday sales, I guess, but I still really wanted an LC, missed by a hair on the first sale, and never really came close again for many sales until I finally scored. I confess it was frustrating and probably took me longer to let that go than it took for the knives to sell (in other words, a minute or two :) ).
I have also followed the sales thread discussions and the discussions about what is acceptable (multiples, etc). I completely respect what Nathan and Jo are doing and how they are doing it. I'm ok with any plan that is ok with them. The most "fair" thing might be a random draw of whoever posts I want it in the first minute or two or whatever, but that starts to creep into Nathan's receptivity to extra complications. That is his call. At the end of the day, it is still a knife and there are lots of knives we can buy from other makers, so not worth too much angst, at least for me.
Having said that, I am seriously blown away and impressed by your handling of this question and for even keeping the discussion on an even keel. Thank you, this is internet unusual :)
Now that I have taken your time, I just wanted to say, I am ok with whatever you decide within the rules laid out by CPK. I hope everyone gets the knife they want. I will still be on the hunt for an EDC and looking forward to seeing what comes next!

bob
 
I think if people post that they will take a knife then they should have to be the one to buy the knife, and have the knife shipped to them. They then can then send it to whomever they were acting as a proxy for. The whole "this post is for person X" is a bit ridiculous IMO. Everybody is of course entitled to their own opinions, and Nathan is of course free to run things however he sees fit, I just personally don't like it.
 
zmbhntr said:
I think if people post that they will take a knife then they should have to be the one to buy the knife, and have the knife shipped to them. They then can then send it to whomever they were acting as a proxy for. The whole "this post is for person X" is a bit ridiculous IMO. Everybody is of course entitled to their own opinions, and Nathan is of course free to run things however he sees fit, I just personally don't like it.
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I actually agree with that. But then again i don't really give a shit lol
 
zmbhntr said:
I think if people post that they will take a knife then they should have to be the one to buy the knife, and have the knife shipped to them. They then can then send it to whomever they were acting as a proxy for. The whole "this post is for person X" is a bit ridiculous IMO. Everybody is of course entitled to their own opinions, and Nathan is of course free to run things however he sees fit, I just personally don't like it.
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I second your sentiment even though I had no skin in today's game. I just looked up the sale's thread and saw what I would also consider as a turn off to me.
 
Casinostocks said:
I second your sentiment even though I had no skin in today's game. I just looked up the sale's thread and saw what I would also consider as a turn off to me.
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I'll concur on being bummed about getting proxied out of a field knife. Can't complain too much, as I did snag an EDC, which actually fills a gap in my fixed blade size lineup, as I have other good knives in the FK size range. Still... ultimately, whether that spot-holding is happening above or below the table, the end result is the same to me, and the only folks who benefit from forcing the piece to get shipped twice are the postal carriers.
 
timichango said:
I'll concur on being bummed about getting proxied out of a field knife. Can't complain too much, as I did snag an EDC, which actually fills a gap in my fixed blade size lineup, as I have other good knives in the FK size range. Still... ultimately, whether that spot-holding is happening above or below the table, the end result is the same to me, and the only folks who benefit from forcing the piece to get shipped twice are the postal carriers.
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No issues here whatsoever with the proxy buying, just the technique (passing the ball if you will) as posted in today's sales thread. IMHO, the burden of the sale and collecting the payment ought not be placed on CPK (Jo) as it ought to become an internal matter between the proxy bidder and his buyer. Otherwise, first come and first served is totally fine. I think that is what ZombieHunter was referring to, but I could be wrong!
 
timichango said:
I'll concur on being bummed about getting proxied out of a field knife. Can't complain too much, as I did snag an EDC, which actually fills a gap in my fixed blade size lineup, as I have other good knives in the FK size range. Still... ultimately, whether that spot-holding is happening above or below the table, the end result is the same to me, and the only folks who benefit from forcing the piece to get shipped twice are the postal carriers.
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First off, congrats on scoring an EDC, I'm sure you'll like it a lot. Ultimately, you are correct about the postal carriers being the champion on this approach; however, it takes more commitment on the part of the proxy for this case, which is the key here in my opinion. It's easy to copy/paste something into a forum for someone, but if it requires some amount of real effort it will at a minimum make proxies think about it more, and probably make life easier for Nathan and Jo.
 
zmbhntr said:
First off, congrats on scoring an EDC, I'm sure you'll like it a lot. Ultimately, you are correct about the postal carriers being the champion on this approach; however, it takes more commitment on the part of the proxy for this case, which is the key here in my opinion. It's easy to copy/paste something into a forum for someone, but if it requires some amount of real effort it will at a minimum make proxies think about it more, and probably make life easier for Nathan and Jo.
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No argument here!
 
zmbhntr said:
First off, congrats on scoring an EDC, I'm sure you'll like it a lot. Ultimately, you are correct about the postal carriers being the champion on this approach; however, it takes more commitment on the part of the proxy for this case, which is the key here in my opinion. It's easy to copy/paste something into a forum for someone, but if it requires some amount of real effort it will at a minimum make people think about it more.
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While it is true that an encore shipment could potentially cause further complications, it does not make it OK by shifting that burden and responsibly to CPK! I could see some merit in that argument if the proxy bidder is someone like Justin who as a Canadian will have to pay import taxes and much more in shipping than a domestic buyer, but this new pattern of spot holding will not sit well with some folks. Again with all due respect my own opinion on the matter and I could very well be way off. CPK's knives, sub forum and sales threads meaning that my opinion may and probably will count for naught :D
 
Nathan should try and get a CPK into every set of hands he can. And if it takes proxy buying to do it, so be it. .
 
I agree it does feel wrong, but I'd rather the proxies be open and visible rather than gouging and profiteering. I also want to avoid shipping knives around unnecessarily <---- that's not just wasteful of time and money, it also increases risk of damaged or lost work.

The real answer is sales that last long enough for ordinary people to get in, and I'm the only one who can control that. And I'm doing the best I can.

Every year our output improves. Eventually we're going to hit saturation and things will slow down a little and we'll all look back at these proxies and laugh that they were even necessary.
 
I work for a medical practice that works for what is now the largest hospital in the nation. If it wasn't for a few friends on the forums I'd never own some of these knives. I recently bought my EDC off the secondary market and paid a bit more but that's OK by me. It's called supply and demand and works due to a free market. You can always go to China where my ex wife is from (green card scam thanks to our illustrious politicians and the bad laws that they all helped put on the books while most Americans slept). The communist party is very good at controlling the Chinese populace. I've seen things most Americans will never hear about. So I'm a bit partial to the small freedoms we have here....such as proxy buying.
 
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