Shop Loyalty or Cheapest Price?

I spread my wealth out..;) I learned long ago not to keep all your eggs in 1 basket!!!:p
John
 
b00n said:
Considerable amount. Although it depends a bit on the overall price. On a 1100$ Shiro it is less significant than a 10$ Opinel. :D
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Very true. The knife I'm looking at is in the $400 range.

I really like this dealer so I'll probably just suck it up and pay the extra 35.
 
Wolverine666 said:
Very true. The knife I'm looking at is in the $400 range.

I really like this dealer so I'll probably just suck it up and pay the extra 35.
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Have you bought from them before a few times? If so, ask if they could know off a little. Worked for me.
If they don't you can still buy from them and might get a discount on your next purchase (also worked for me)
 
b00n said:
Have you bought from them before a few times? If so, ask if they could know off a little. Worked for me.
If they don't you can still buy from them and might get a discount on your next purchase (also worked for me)
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I suppose that's an option. I've been buying from them for 12 years now but not just from them.
 
I buy from bladeforum supporters mostly. I know I won’t get a knock off and if there’s something wrong with it they’re pretty good at fixing things.

I don’t really have any brick and mortar stores that have what I would want but my rule is this on everything, even outside of knives.

If I go to a brick and mortar to try something out and end up wanting it, I buy it from that store regardless of price(within reason). My thinking is there’s value added there because I was able to try before I buy and I’m willing to pay for that extra value.
 
My "local" knife store is an hour away, but I buy from them when I can. Being able to handle the knives makes it worth paying a little bit more, although their prices are generally not much more than online, if at all.
 
Where does one find a list of BF approved vendors? It sure isn't someplace obvious.
 
If the owner or a few select employees are working the day I'm looking, they'll price match Blade HQ for me and I drive home with it that day.
If some of the new blood is in, it's too much of a hassle to call the owner and price match and I don't want to bother him while he's away, so I crank up the computer
and find the cheapest reputable dealer.
Other times I just pay that little bit of extra since they're providing me a service where I can bring the knife home the same day and hold it, flip it, see how it feels in the pocket.
Plus the guys at my local shop are actual knife nuts like us retired from their main careers, so I like to support the shop when I can.
They can't/ won't price match custom/ semi-custom pieces like Busse, Swamp Rat etc. so for those I definitely go online and they don't blame me, they recommend it :p
 
I do all my knife shopping with several of the Blade Forums Dealers with the exception of an occasional purchase of something no longer in production where I can find it.
 
b00n said:
As the title indicates I was wondering what everybodys preference was? Do you stick to 1-2 shops who provide excellent service and okay prices? Do you look everywhere for the lowest price? Do you pay a bit more if it's a local business you want to support?
We all got our budgets so money is always a question and nobody would grossly overpay just to help a store, at least I wouldn't and imagine most others wouldn't either.
I have settled on 3-4 shops that I buy from depending on the knife brand, I at least try to buy from vendors I bought from before, I paid a bit more at times but it was never more than about 5%.
And when I paid that bit extra it was from a store where I had great service before.
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Both. If my shop has it or can get it I will get them to do it since I want a healthy knife shop near me.

Everything else I am shopping 100% based on personal criteria.
 
l will occasionally buy a new knife...from one of our BF-supporting dealers. However, the great majority of my blades come from the Exchange...to me it seems pretty natural to save 30% or so for the "almost new" or "anib" sample. I sell mine the same way...
 
I'm limited to online and usually go with best price from a source that seems at least somewhat trustworthy . I have been burned trying for absolute bottom dollar and had to spend much time and effort seeking restitution . Sometimes cheaping-out can result in way more trouble than it's worth ! :(:thumbsdown:
 
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I don’t have a knife shop less than 2 hours away. Even so, most all of the few that are located within 3 hours drive are selling at full MSRP!

I mostly buy on the secondary market now. However, I have certain online dealers that I check first for availability. These also all happen to be BF Dealers.

Pricing on most brands seems to be a non-issue anymore with all of the price fixing going on in the knife industry.
 
I wouldn't mind buying locally if we had a decent knife store anywhere near me. We have one retail ($$$) dealer locally, and the rest are knives that show up as seasonal goods at the sporting good stores. Years ago we had a couple of nice stores but they are gone now. I never minded paying more to support them.

I don't buy much anymore as I really can't justify adding to a couple hundred knives. It has to be something really special to get me interested although I still like to look. I have had spotty results buying from vendors online so I try to check here first. But most of the time any/all vendors are so busy that they don't have a chance to take a look at their product before they ship so I feel like we wind up doing quality control for them.

I have had good and bad responses even from the BF recommended vendors so I usually check here to see if they fallen on the blacklist before purchasing. the only vendor I have bought from that has a perfect record (even though I use their customer service after receiving a poor quality product) is AG Russell. Not the cheapest, but in my experience the best for me. So I always look there first.

Robert
 
Why! But of course everyone has their sights set on the lowest price possible.
Store loyalty would probably not stand the test of time.
However i stll have this old skool habit of physically wanting to inspect any possible purchase.
No brick and mortar store will ever get my patronage if store representatives aren't going to be helpful with my request.
Guess mail ordering or online shopping is fine for some goods but not my choice for knives though...
But the pricing is certainly the top deciding factor in any event, with service s close second.
 
Most of purchases the last few years are from here.

Not too many brick and mortar shops by me have good prices on knives so I go online too. I stick with the bigger, well known boys: Bladehq, knifecenter, etc.

I'm willing to pay a little extra to support a good company. Everyone has a bad day and can experience a bad customer situation but I usually give a company another chance if I have a problem. If it's a few problem situations, I will move on to another dealer.

When it comes to eating out, I only go to mom and pop restaurants. I avoid the big chain restaurants.
 
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