The Myth of the Overpriced Knife

Otto Carpenter

Otto Carpenter

Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
416
"You paid how much for that knife?!"

Those who lack appreciation for knives certainly don't get it. Many people who do appreciate knives (as tools) might think you're nuts for spending anything north of two-hundred bucks for one. But consider; if the knife maker priced their product "too high," the knife maker wouldn't still be making knives. That's the beauty of a free market system. And correct me if I'm wrong, but outside of a few big names, knife makers aren't getting rich plying their trade.

My personal take is, it has nothing to do with price and everything to do with subjective value. Many people will spend enormous sums of money on jewelry, entertainment, cars and weddings and nobody even blinks - or if they do, they mostly keep it to themselves.

Nobody should get in over their head, which is another side-topic of knife collecting, but expensive knives aren't overpriced. They are, in fact, priced just right.
 
It is all relative. Ever seen the prices on those unbelievably sharp, super rare steel, one off knives that guy wants to sell, that were custom built/ordered by his late father? When you figure out a formula for sentimental values, then your going places!
:applouse:
 
I completely agree! Knife value is extremely subjective! Especially in customs. I see some knives that I think are overpriced, and I do not buy them, however, someone is buying them at that price and they must think they are worth it. It all depends on the person. So, they are properly priced, or priced that way for a purpose, like materials, labor involved, rarity, etc. It is nice when you find a good up and coming knifemaker that has not gotten popular or soghtafter yet, when the prices are still low. The problem with that is there is not much feedback about the knives, so you could end up buying a knife with a lot of problems. I will admit, sometimes it does feel weird that the most expensive thing I have on me is a cutting tool, but I love em!
 
It is not a myth. You can over pay for knives or anything else. Consider air fares? The other side of the argument is that you agreed to pay a certain amount and it doesn't matter what anyone else paid for the same product.
 
Otto Carpenter said:
My personal take is, it has nothing to do with price and everything to do with subjective value.
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Therein lies the rub. Those who pay a gazillion dollars for a knife are neither necessarily correct nor incorrect. Same with those those who think it ridiculous to spend a gazillion dollars on any knife.
 
22-rimfire said:
It is not a myth. You can over pay for knives or anything else. Consider air fares? The other side of the argument is that you agreed to pay a certain amount and it doesn't matter what anyone else paid for the same product.
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Now, I didn't say you couldn't overpay for a knife.:D
 
Yes, there are some variations of meaning. You can think of it a lot of ways. A knife shop overcharges so the knife is overpriced, and person on a forums sells a knife for way more than it is worth, or ebay where I see a $200 knife sell for almost a grand sometimes. If you think about it that way, sure. A lot of things are overcharged or overpriced. It is all relative. When you boil it down, if you want a knife, and you buy it, to you it is worth the money, if you can't justify the expense, it is probably too expensive.
 
As you said, it is VERY subjective. If I go into a knife shop and XYZ knife is priced at $100. I whip out my smart phone and check pricing online and discover you can buy it for $80 somewhere else. If I buy from the knife shop, did I over pay? Personally I go into it the purchase knowing that I am paying more than I have to, but I can handle it and walk out the door with the product rather than wait for delivery without inspection. There is value in that.

A note on small businesses.... they come and go all the time and go out of business for many reasons including not being able to sell their product at a price point that makes it profitable for them to do so. With all the knife makers around, you'd thing it would be easy to compare pricing, but it is not so simple.
 
Yeah, I could imagine a small knife selling buisness being exetremely difficult to make successful! Especially with the internet, where people can do a quick search to check prices. though, it is nice to know you will get that properly built knife you have in hand.
 
22-rimfire said:
With all the knife makers around, you'd thing it would be easy to compare pricing, but it is not so simple.
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You are so right, and I guess that's where design and personal taste come into play. There's art in knife design and artistic value sure can fluctuate.
 
That there are people who are willing to buy a knife and do buy it does not necessarily mean it is not overpriced. Say a knife is priced at $200 and only 10 people among the possible 10,000 are willing to buy it. Now when it is priced at $150, 1,000 people are willing to buy it. Is $200 an overpriced price in this case?
 
I would say "Yes". If the knife manufacturing cost and profit to not allow for the $200 price, I would look at a lower price point or find a way to make it cheaper. I have this problem as people only think in terms of actual cost, not the value of product they are getting. It doesn't matter than my product is much better than a competitor's product if the only comparison made is price. For me, I accept that I won't get those customers and move on. Same in the knife business, you either accept things as they are with fewer units sold, discontinue the less profitable knife, or modify it to reduce cost. This is where the imports come into play.
 
For me the difference between production knives (under $200) and custom knives has a direct correlation to the art world. Most people can afford and buy production knives because they're tools, just like most people buy their art as prints that theme with their decor for their walls. But when you have to pay the artist or craftsman for their time and effort, it's a different level of investment. People always want a bargain, but as an artist you have to make a living and at some point it's not even worth doing if you're competing with items that are mass produced. Custom art and knives, even mid-techs, will always be a niche market and it's more about the artists ability to get their work in front of those who will appreciate it enough to pay for it and the onus is on them to create something that's special, striking and meaningful enough to someone to make it worth it. To me, there is no "overpriced" knife when it comes to customs - simply knives I can't afford. There will always be some artists that succeed in making a name for themselves and can get away with overcharging for sub-standard designs and quality because of demand, but they generally don't last long.
 
To me it all comes down to value not price. The guys I work with think a $200.00 knife is crazy when you can get one for $30.00. But they go out to a bar for a lousy meal and drop a $100 in a poker machine every week and don't give that a second thought. If your two or three hundred dollar knife lasts 10 years or longer the cost per day is minuscule not to mention the joy of having a quality tool to use. Same principal with guns I buy S&W revolvers older ones because their quality items and generally appreciate with time. Its the old adage only cry once.
 
Otto Carpenter said:
Now, I didn't say you couldn't overpay for a knife.:D
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No one overpays for anything. They paid for it. Hence the item was priced at an amount someone was willing to pay.

Something can be overpriced, but only if no one is willing to pay the price for it.

Overpriced is a myth.Someone may think you knife is not worth what you paid for it, but since you paid for it, it was not overpriced.
 
marcinek said:
No one overpays for anything. They paid for it. Hence the item was priced at an amount someone was willing to pay.

Something can be overpriced, but only if no one is willing to pay the price for it.

Overpriced is a myth.Someone may think you knife is not worth what you paid for it, but since you paid for it, it was not overpriced.
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This is only a half-truth. Unless you have access to all prices, and many don't, and select the least expensive it is very easy to overpay for things. You need to do your homework before you go shopping. Many people are too lazy to do this homework and frequently overpay under the assumption that all sellers charge the same amount. There is always a variance in seller markups.
 
Yes, but they still willingly paid the price. Taking the time and effort to find a better deal was not worth it.

If the knife wasnt at a price point they were willing to pay, they wouldnt have paid it.

Anything that sells is not overpriced.

That may be"semantics," but that seems like the whole point.
 
Yes, sometimes you get to lazy and sometimes it is timing. There have been times where I look for months for a specific knife, and bam, there it is, a little on the pricey side, but of course that does not matter cause that is the only one left in existance. I GOT IT! Then you see them pop up all over the place for much...much cheaper. Overpriced? semantics, I don't know.
 
I feel sorry for everyone who bought a production Hindered for $800+ ... Now people have trouble selling them at $350 :D
 
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