Spyderco moving to MAP pricing!

If this means cabelas and bass pro will have more models, I'm all for it! I don't shop on the internet,
 
I'll buy a PM2 or two before it takes effect---then I'm done.

Have no use for overpriced Benchmade's ............. or Spyderco's

Its a shame because they were just starting to win me back to their products---oh well

I'm sure Buck or somebody else will appreciate my business.
 
omaha-beenglockin said:
I'll buy a PM2 or two before it takes effect---then I'm done.

Have no use for overpriced Benchmade's ............. or Spyderco's

Its a shame because they were just starting to win me back to their products---oh well

I'm sure Buck or somebody else will appreciate my business.
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Have you figured the price difference? Some of the knives arent going up much. The pm2 on a internet website is only going to be around $8 higher. Your already spending over $100 on a knife.
 
danthaman1980 said:
For a variety of reasons, this is a much bigger risk for Spyderco than it was for KAI and Benchmade. I think Spyderco is underestimating the amount of business they get from enthusiasts and overestimating their ability to compete with KAI and ZT in the mainstream market. Not everyone (or, nobody at all) likes the trademark hole at first sight. Oh well, maybe a few more brick and mortars will purchase your knives, and maybe a few more people will spontaneously decide they like the opening hole more than the tacticool Cold Steels, beautiful Benchmades, or tank-like ZTs.
BTW, I have like 15 Spydercos, 7 Benchmades, and 2 ZTs. If Spyderco had been operating under MAP for the past 3 years, I would have like 7 Spydercos, 7 Benchmades, and 2 ZTs.
So, Spyderco, you can count on your enthusiasts purchasing like 50% fewer knives from you and just as many knives from your competitors.
So thanks, Spyderco, for putting yourselves on the same plane as Benchmade and ZT.
Does this mean Spyderco's warranty will be as good as theirs now? No? So what additional value will we be getting for the extra money?
I'm not gonna go out on a limb and say I'm never buying another Spyderco. But I will buy fewer of them.

EDIT: Oh, and one more thing. This does not help out the good online retailers, it HURTS them. Why? The 'big river' site and sellers on the 'big auction' site DO NOT abide by MAP, and they don't care. You don't like it, they don't really care. Take it or leave it. So MAP only serves to disadvantage the GOOD sites like KW, GP, BHQ, USAMB, etc., that actually abide by the MAP policies. Oh but I'm sure the big river site LOVES when manufacturers implement MAP policies. Gives them a big advantage.
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Interesting post. I thought all dealers, including those on the big river, had to abide by map policies. I still prefer free enterprise among dealers.
 
If all of your living costs increased 8% you would feel it.
Smooth_Operater said:
Have you figured the price difference? Some of the knives arent going up much. The pm2 on a internet website is only going to be around $8 higher. Your already spending over $100 on a knife.
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Insipid Moniker said:
I actually got the price wrong, $94 shipped from a large online retailer. Still available at that price, just checked. Below cost or not, those are the kinds of deals I can find on Spyderco products with some regularity and MAP represents around a 25% price increase from that. Again, I think it's worth that, but I don't think the argument that all the price increases will just be pocket change holds any water either.
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Agree.
 
powernoodle said:
That's goofy. Spyderco will never implement any business model that reduces their revenue stream. The sole reason Spyderco exists is to generate revenue.

Protecting - and in fact increasing - the number of dealers protects and increases Spyderco's revenue stream. This is the whole point of Map pricing.

It screws the consumer, however, because as I beautifully articulated in another thread, the cost of a gray Delica (just as an example) will go up 22% next year relative to its current cost on Amazon Prime. So Spyderco has kicked us in the shins while telling us what a great idea it is.

Map pricing can be good for the manufacturer, for low volume vendors and for brick-and-mortar sellers. If consumers don't fight back. But it hoses the consumer in the process, because it artificially inflates consumer costs. How any consumer can be happy about this is beyond my comprehension.

I won't buy from manufacturers that engage in price-fixing, which is repugnant to me on many levels. Its sad that Spyderco is going this route, but there are many excellent alternatives currently available to the consumer.
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Well said PN.
 
whp said:
Interesting post. I thought all dealers, including those on the big river, had to abide by map policies. I still prefer free enterprise among dealers.
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Generally the big river site abides by MAP for most products, most of the time. But almost every day of the week, I can find at least one or two Benchmades or ZTs for below MAP. While typing this, I found a ZT for $20 under MAP and a Benchmade for $2 under MAP. They make their own rules.
I rarely buy knives from them because I like to support local B&Ms or trusted smaller online retailers - but I try to buy based on getting the most value for my dollar. Price, customer service, shipping times, and BF membership status all play a part.
The auction site is worse, because the manufacturers may not know where the sellers are getting the product from! It really is a gray market and manufacturers can't cut off supply to individual sellers on the auction site if they don't know who they are!
 
In the end I guess it doesn't matter that much - I can buy BMs and ZTs for under MAP any time, just have to know where and how. I'll figure out how to beat Spyderco MAP as well. So the only thing MAP does to me is eliminate the implulse buys and makes me focus only on the knives I want the most. I don't like it, but at least my wallet will thank me.
 
Curious how this will work out overseas here in Europe. From what I could find MAP pricing is illegal in Europe.
 
When they add an Internet tax combined with map pricing maybe we will see more brick and mortar stores offering a larger selection!
 
danthaman1980 said:
.... This does not help out the good online retailers, it HURTS them. Why? The 'big river' site and sellers on the 'big auction' site DO NOT abide by MAP, and they don't care.... Oh but I'm sure the big river site LOVES when manufacturers implement MAP policies. Gives them a big advantage.
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I don't know about the "big auction" site but the "big river" site's prices have been in line with Benchmade's MAP for, at least, the last few months. There are a few sellers on the site that are a little under the MAP but not by much (I don't consider a low price of $148.95 to be significant on a $153.00 knife). Amazon itself has pretty much been sticking to what Benchmade has designated in its pricing. I know because I've bought several Benchmade knives through Amazon in recent months and only one was significantly lower than the MAP. That one knife that was below the MAP was a used knife.

Since I already own every Spyderco knife that interests me, I don't expect this will affect me personally. I've only bought one Spyderco this year and I have more than I'll ever use. I only wonder if it might affect close out pricing on discontinued models. Those close out sale prices are a big draw to many cutlery dealers both online and in B&M stores.
 
hatchettjack said:
When they add an Internet tax combined with map pricing maybe we will see more brick and mortar stores offering a larger selection!
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Maybe. Maybe not. Many of us have become so used to buying stuff by clicking a mouse and waiting for the UPS guy I wonder if added taxes and MAP will have any affect on shopping habits in the future. After all, who wants to go to the store and listen to screaming kids, bad and loud background muzak and other people's conversations on their phones? Not when you can sit comfortably at home with a glass of something good.
 
It was interesting to follow the furor on the forums when Benchmade instituted their MAP policy, so I'll be curious to see how it all plays out with Spyderco. I'm sure they put a lot of thought into it and determined it was for the best. The best for whom though I don't know.

One thing I'm curious about. Who is the bulk of Spyderco buyers? Is it the forum members, and other knife guys, that follow this stuff pretty closely, or is most sales from the general public who wouldn't know the difference either way between MAP or not.

My first inclination would be that forum knife members, while a vocal and loyal group, tend to make up a small percentage of knife buyers. I may be wrong though as forum members tend to buy several knives a year, as opposed to the "regular folks" who buy one, maybe two.

I recall reading several different BM loyalists who were pretty P.O.'ed at the price jump for the plastic handled Grip series. And often times I found myself in agreement with them. I would guess the initial R & D, templates, computer programming, all that jazz that goes into creating a knife, has been paid off long ago, so their manufacturing cost today, has to be pretty reasonable for Benchmade. And they sell a ton of the Grip series knives.

Hopefully my rambling made a little sense towards what I was trying to get across. Lol.
 
There are few stores if any that carry Spyderco knives where I live. When I ask why its because the profit margin is very low compared to other knives. Online dealers aren't making more then $20 profit per knife compared to others which have a higher margin.

The MAP gives the dealer more incentive to carry product and gives consumers more expose to make more Spydie fans.

But I can't help but to feel let down by the price increase, I wish I could say I wouldn't buy them anymore but that's childish. I love Spydercos.
I'm just sad that I won't get my caly3.5 untill next year and it might be out of budget then.

First world problems hahaha
 
This is good discussion and input.

Hey, we don't yet whether Spyderco will go directly to strictly enforced MAP for onlinine dealers versus the old way BM's and ZT's were sold via add to cart to avoid those companies MAP policies before strict enforcement.
 
powernoodle said:
That's goofy. Spyderco will never implement any business model that reduces their revenue stream. The sole reason Spyderco exists is to generate revenue.

Protecting - and in fact increasing - the number of dealers protects and increases Spyderco's revenue stream. This is the whole point of Map pricing.

It screws the consumer, however, because as I beautifully articulated in another thread, the cost of a gray Delica (just as an example) will go up 22% next year relative to its current cost on Amazon Prime. So Spyderco has kicked us in the shins while telling us what a great idea it is.

Map pricing can be good for the manufacturer, for low volume vendors and for brick-and-mortar sellers. If consumers don't fight back. But it hoses the consumer in the process, because it artificially inflates consumer costs. How any consumer can be happy about this is beyond my comprehension.

I won't buy from manufacturers that engage in price-fixing, which is repugnant to me on many levels. Its sad that Spyderco is going this route, but there are many excellent alternatives currently available to the consumer.
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This needs to be on every page of this thread and posted as a sticky here and on the Spyderco forum. The albatross around the neck, as it were.

The whole "...and here's why this is good for YOU!" spiel reminds me so much of my own company. We raised insurance premiums for employees and heavily promoted it as a way to "help us all live healthier lifestyles." Because if your insurance costs more, you benefit because now you can't AFFORD to get sick, so you'll quit eating junk food and starting jogging 5 miles a day. We all knew it was a money-making gig but no one in any position to do anything about it was willing to admit it.

So, Spyderco, I love your stuff dearly, but please just say "we are raising our prices to make more money." It's okay, most of us can understand that position. Especially if it is followed by something like "...because we can use the extra money to design and produce more models," "...because we can then afford to continue producing a low-cost line," etc. Raising prices is one of those usual commercial activities that most people have to live with, but when it comes to stuff no one will ever need (every one of your products, for instance), having good reasons is essential.
 
CapitalizedLiving said:
So, Spyderco, I love your stuff dearly, but please just say "we are raising our prices to make more money."
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The dealer gets it FOR THE SAME PRICE AS ALWAYS.
The dealer is WHERE SPYDERCO GETS THE MONEY FROM.
Hence, THEY DON'T MAKE MORE MONEY.

A lot of you guys just can't get that point.
Any extra money made will be made by the dealer who sells the knife to you or me.
 
stabman said:
The dealer gets it FOR THE SAME PRICE AS ALWAYS.
The dealer is WHERE SPYDERCO GETS THE MONEY FROM.
Hence, THEY DON'T MAKE MORE MONEY.

A lot of you guys just can't get that point.
Any extra money made will be made by the dealer who sells the knife to you or me.
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Correct. Same with Other companies including Chris Reeve.

Comprehension of the details is fundamental.

A manufacturer's relationship with its dealers is fundamental.

While I dislike the move to MAP for all the valid reasons already brought up, this is not one of them.
 
stabman said:
The dealer gets it FOR THE SAME PRICE AS ALWAYS.
The dealer is WHERE SPYDERCO GETS THE MONEY FROM.
Hence, THEY DON'T MAKE MORE MONEY.

A lot of you guys just can't get that point.
Any extra money made will be made by the dealer who sells the knife to you or me.
Click to expand...

They don't make any money if dealers would rather make better margin with other products
 
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