Talk of Benchmade availability problems?

A

AWGunS

Joined
Sep 16, 2006
Messages
616
I have seen two posts of a potential problem with Benchmade availability. One here from New Graham Knives, and another from a benchmade forum.

Any truth, and whats the problem if there is one?
 
Distributorship is gone as of Jan 1.
All sellers of Benchmade products will have to buy directly from Benchmade, on their terms.

I imagine you'll see a lot of places to cease carrying their line.

mike
 
Interesting.

I wonder if I should spend a little at the distributor I deal with that carries them-for the time being anyway...
 
BM wants to be considered more high-end, it seems. Minimum advertised pricing, now trying to cut out a large portion of online sellers by restricting and controlling sales totally. Wonder if they're gonna be able to make it with the huge drop in volume purchased by B&M stores only, plus the huge drop in number sold through at near MSRP.
 
We'll see how it goes for them. Considering how much less disposable income a lot of folks have these days, if they've got any at all, the idea that the sort of street prices we've gotten used to could vanish seems almost certain to dent their sales.
 
Sigarms did this with their firearms sales a few years ago. Some very conservative court decisions in the last few years at SCOTUS and in some circuits have led to this. We'll see. It may be that demand for BM products goes down due to cost.
 
Are Bm products gonna raise in price at online retailers?
Click to expand...
Just guessing here, but I've seen it with other companies too, that BM doesn't wish for their products to be sold at discount. They'll be available at far fewer retail stores, and at prices close to the MSRP.

That's just speculation, but it fits with the news so far.
 
I think Benchmade is shooting themselves in the foot by doing this. They do not fill a Niche market like Strider or Sebenza. Demand will go down, along with their sales. They may still do Government / Military sales but that's about it. Now that they are making Harley-Davidson knives (hugely overpriced), they will have all these Harley fanatics forking out $200+ dollars for knives that are worth about $80.
 
This is a typical direction a manufacturer goes when they want to boost the wholesale cost of their products. The elements they will proibably have to weigh are:

* Will the downturn in sales due to higher prices be negated by the uptick in final product price. In other words, will they sell enough at the higher prices to make up for the reduction in sales due to price increases?

* Will they be able to sell their products in sufficient volumes without going factory direct?

I know one thing for sure, if street prices for any top of the line production knife started anywhere near the MSRP I will certainly start the next phase in my knife life and start looking at and buying some high end knives from small mfg's and custom builders.

The bottom line is if I'm going to pay close to $300 for a Blue Class BM then I'm going to start looking around at some smaller knifemakers and shops who make top end knives in the $400 to $500 range much more.
 
Reeek said:
....I know one thing for sure, if street prices for any top of the line production knife started anywhere near the MSRP I will certainly start the next phase in my knife life and start looking at and buying some high end knives from small mfg's and custom builders.

The bottom line is if I'm going to pay close to $300 for a Blue Class BM then I'm going to start looking around at some smaller knifemakers and shops who make top end knives in the $400 to $500 range much more.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I am getting to that point right now that certain Benchmade's and Spyderco's are reaching the $200+ price. I'd rather buy from a 'mom & pop' knife shop custom fixed blade or folder.
 
If they start charging close to MSRP I will not be buying from them....

I cant see paying $130 for a Griptillian.
 
Not smart on Benchmade's part, IMO. They're going to alienate a lot of their customers this way. It seems to me that they don't seem terribly interested in selling knives. One of the gun stores here in town has been trying to carry the Benchmade line for a while, but can't get the regional salesperson to even return their calls.

Who knows if Benchmade is trying to stay afloat by reducing production (laying people off) and jacking up the price of the knives they do make. It doesn't sound good to me, no matter how you slice it.
 
Esp. with the state of the economy at this point....Any increase in the bottom dollar that the consumer has to pay whether directly through BM or through a limited number of distributors....will hurt their pockets deeply; and not mine...
 
I just bought a BM615 from NG the yesterday, now seeing this I think I'll buy a few more!

I paid full retail for my BM610 from a local shop I /wanted/ to support, but MSRP on BM knives are ridiculous!
 
There's not a benchmade I will pay full MSRP for. None. Other than that, I'd buy at least 4 this year, possibly more. We'll see what happens. If they can still discount, just cutting out the middleman, no problem. Full MSRP, No way. Joe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top