Spyderco Factory Outlet Prices

Shmackey

Shmackey

Joined
May 5, 2000
Messages
1,478
I'm fortunate enough to pass the SFO on my daily commute, so I stop in every so often. The people there are pretty cool and they usually even offer to sharpen whatever knife I'm carrying.
I have a question about their pricing, though: why so high? In my experience, "factory outlet" means a place where you can go to get certain items from a manufacturer at great prices. Sometimes they're seconds, or discontinued items; sometimes you just benefit from proximity to the factory. The prices at the SFO, though, are all far higher than I'd pay by going to any internet knife store--not even shopping around--and paying shipping too. Some of the prices are okay, and I'll buy those knives, but I can't bring myself to pay $40 or $50 more than I would online.
 
I think other Spyderco dealers would feel like Spyderco was unfairly competing with them if they offered extremely low prices. Just a guess. Every once in a while they will offer some closeout stuff at a fairly good price. Plus if you actually get to go there in person, you can hand pick your knife. Though Spyderco QC is quite good, there are subtle variations in most companies knives. If you order through the internet or catalog, an employee simply grabs the next knife on the shelf. You might also want to keep an eye open for their next seconds sale. I'm envious everytime I hear about that on the forums.

Paul
 
Most of the prices at SFO are around 25% off retail. That makes their knives slightly more expensive than an internet dealer's, which are usually around 30% to 35% off retail. However, new knives and knives that are in high demand are full retail at the factory outlet store. Plus, if you order from SFO over the internet, then all of their prices are full retail.

The problem is that Spyderco can't give the impression that they're competing with their dealers. If the prices at SFO were lower than (or really even equal to) prices from internet dealers or just dealers around Colorado, then the dealers would get pissed off. They would say, "Hey, wait a minute! Why am I bothering to carry your product if you're my main competition?"

It sucks if you're a customer who lives near SFO, but I don't see any solution really. I don't mind paying up to 10% more if I can handle the knife in person. However, I'm not going to pay full retail if it can be found for 35% less at an online dealer (and Spyderco has such good quality control that buying online isn't going to be a total crap-shoot).

The prices aren't great, but there are other benefits of the Factory Outlet. For one thing, you get to see almost the full lineup of Spyderco knives in one place. Plus, there are knives at SFO that are very difficult to find elsewhere. Also, the hard-core collector doesn't care about paying full retail for a knife that has just come out; he's just happy to get the knife a few days before anybody else.

------------------
Cerulean

"My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off." - J.K.M.
 
I don't know...I don't hear retailers howling about what goes on at those gigantic outlet malls where you can get name-brand clothes, electronics, and whatever else for great prices.
Maybe if they gave away a Sharpmaker with each $200 purchase...
 
you'd have found their pricing policy of a couple years' ago much more to your liking. That was much more like what's usually thought of as a factory outlet. They've undergone a major change in that regard, presumably for the reasons mentioned above. It is still great fun, though, to have all those models laid out there for you to handle. And they've got a cool video running now on their knife making processes.
 
Anyone notice how the inlay Military was $25 LESS than the basic model?
biggrin.gif


Kudos!

W.A.

------------------
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
Founding president and member number 1! Wana join?
 
Cerulean is spot-on re pricing.

I personally know three different knife dealers who stopped carrying one brand of knife altogether after arriving at gun shows, only to find the manufacturer in question (NOT Spyderco, BTW) selling knives to the public for less than the wholesale price to the dealers.

I'm not going to "out" the manufacturer here, although I will give 2 hints as to their identity:
1) They don't have a forum here or anywhere else AFAIK;
2) People have a love or hate relationship with them--there's no in-between.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top