The knife's in their catalog - but you can't have it.

S

swedgie

Joined
Feb 17, 2008
Messages
47
Knife companies say they make them. You see photos of their knives online at the big knife-selling sites. Some of these knives have won big awards and accolades. And you just can't buy them.

It occurred to me that I've never seen the Emerson A-100 available to buy. Ditto with the CQC7A. Or the the Kershaw Tilt. Or Kershaw's 2012 knife of the year, that beautiful-looking one they say they make. On another note, I was interested in the ZT 0780 for many months. I checked it's availability regularly until it was released and immediately discontinued. How does that happen? It's not uncommon to see a knife listed online by a seller for over a year before the knife actually appears. And when it does it's practically unavailable anyway. I am naiive to the knife business, and my rant is a bit half-baked for sure. But if you were KnifeCenter or the like, wouldn't you consider saying something like: "OK (knife company), we've listed your knife here for six months without there actually being a knife. Put up or we remove the listing!"??

They say they make it. OK -- Where is it?

What knives have you been waiting for?
 
I would agree with this observation....Hinderer, TAD, et al come to mind when it comes to one not being able to buy a knife even though they're listed in their current online catalog; worse yet, they don't discontinue a particular knife, but do list it as out of stock for months on end.
 
ZT 0780 had a lot of problems. I sent one in and they wouldn't even try to fix it, just had to pick a different knife.
 
Some companies purposely do this to keep interest high. A great case in point is the watchmaker, Rolex. They have listed the stainless steel Rolex Daytona in their catalog for years. There is a huge demand for that watch, and Rolex purposely makes far below what the market demands to keep everyone wanting it. You have to get on a waiting list to get one, and it typically is a two year (or longer) waiting list.
 
They exist, you just have to be savvy. I've owned a Tilt, see CWC-7A's a lot, and there was a run of A-100s recently.
 
There are a few marketing concepts that fall into your disscussion.
The first is to keep the demand far ahead of the supply.
Auto MFG's do this as well on some new or speciality models of trucks & sport vehicles . It helps keep the buzz and excitement in the blogs and rags along with the price, High. So the dealer makes a premium on say a Corvette, and the MFG says to the dealer, You want some Corvettes? You need to buy some of these plain jane midsize cars with that order.

Another way this can be used in marketing is to make the company look much bigger.
Look at all the models we offer! When only about half of them are really available.
 
On the Kershaw and Zt side it's important to note that the TiLT and the 0888 were L.E. knives produced in low numbers that were mostly spoken for with pre-orders a month after they were announced. The 0780 was supposed to be a regular production piece but had production problems as Jill eluded to. About 300-400 made it out the door and some were returned as Jill's was, and scrapped. I can remember the TiLT's at least were all over the exchange forum regularly for a good 2 years after initial release. I know it can be frustrating but it's the nature of the beast! Hope this helps you some.
 
As mentioned this isnt exclusive to knives- cars, high end watches, guns, jewelry and designer clothing... Its all marketing and its not about to change.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
There are a few marketing concepts that fall into your disscussion.
The first is to keep the demand far ahead of the supply.
Click to expand...

I get the marketing angles somewhat, but I just don't understand how it helps the company's bottom line.
I'll use the Marlin 1894C for example. I've checked all 4 of what I consider to be my Local Gun Stores
(two big box, two small business concerns) on a routine basis for 4 years now.
Yes, Marlin has KEPT MY INTEREST UP for sure. But how has it helped their bottom line for the last
4 fiscal years to keep my interest up, and have none of my money??????
 
I've had a A-100 on b/o with a local authorized Emerson retailer for about 5 months; they were originally
told the wait would be "2 weeks on longer". I suppose that's half true....
 
CARRERA50 said:
I've had a A-100 on b/o with a local authorized Emerson retailer for about 5 months; they were originally
told the wait would be "2 weeks on longer". I suppose that's half true....
Click to expand...

Half right? Its been 2 weeks and longer. Afterall everyone likes and better than or!
 
Some do hit the market, but in limited quantities. You mentioned the Kershaw Tilt. It was a limited run and thus very hard to find. I was finally able to get my hands on two of them. You just have to actively seek them.
 
MDQBox said:
Some do hit the market, but in limited quantities. You mentioned the Kershaw Tilt. It was a limited run and thus very hard to find. I was finally able to get my hands on two of them. You just have to actively seek them.
Click to expand...

And now they are really high dollar, so you might find one but be ready to pay $$$!!!
 
In my experience the people who can't find what they're looking for can't find it at the price they're willing to pay. I can find almost all of those knives, the Marlin Rifle, or a Rolex Daytona easily. But trying to find one for say, half SRP? not going to happen right away. And if I was waiting four years to find something I'd pay whatever it took to get it.

Put it this way, if you don't like the price, you just don't want it bad enough.
 
eisman said:
In my experience the people who can't find what they're looking for can't find it at the price they're willing to pay. I can find almost all of those knives, the Marlin Rifle, or a Rolex Daytona easily. But trying to find one for say, half SRP? not going to happen right away. And if I was waiting four years to find something I'd pay whatever it took to get it.

Put it this way, if you don't like the price, you just don't want it bad enough.
Click to expand...


I agree, I bet you can find at least one like-new example of each of those knives you listed with a quick search around a few sites and forums. But certainly not at msrp or any "deals" to be had.

Another thing worth noting, many companies leave up the pictures and specs to their old knives as a resource for those looking for said knives. TAD leaves knives up for usually 2-3 months after they've sold their run of customs, just so people have an idea of what specs a certain knife had. Same goes for old BM gold class or ZT limited editions.

Deals do pop up from time to time though, keep your eyes open! Good luck :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top