This is why i order my knives from USA

Wow! However, having spent lots of years in Mexico I'm also used to pay overprice.

Even if you buy your knives anywhere close to the American border, you gotta be willing to pay the MSRP plus 50% almost all the time, that is just how it is. And also there is the fact that, at least in Mexico, there are just two or three retailers who will get you the good stuff (ESEE, Spyderco, Kershaw, etc.)

The only way for me to get cheap knives, was to ask my friends coming down to visit me to bring one along.

I couldn't even get them shipped from U.S. because Mexican Customs would confiscate them everytime and I had to go through a lot of paperwork and payments to get them back.

Just to give you an example, I just got a Spyderco Tenacious as a gift for a friend, I bought it from the cheapest of the retailers, even so, I had to pay the equivalent to $75 USD plus shipment.
 
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Am I the only person who first thought those prices were in the thousands because of the comma? :o
 
Man, that sucks for you guys. I can get a tenacious for 30$ here. Unfortunatly, im broke as can be at the moment.
 
Jkjklkl said:
Am I the only person who first thought those prices were in the thousands because of the comma? :o
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You might be. ;) Europeans are wierd with the commas, among other things.

$20 minimum wage? And I just got a raise to 11.28/hr :( At least the other part time job pays better.

The price differences are surprising, I gotta say after hearing how bad that is it definitely changes my mind about shipping internationally, might give you guys a bit of a break.


Here in CT min. wage is $8.10/hr last I checked, but its not a very inexpensive place to live compared to other areas.
 
Last time I worked for minimum wage (back during my undergrad 2 years ago) I made $7.83 an hour.

To be honest, now that I'm in grad school I feel lucky that I have a job that pays $14.29 an hour.
 
its most likely because there isn't a demand for American knives.
look at guns, they have much less % over msrp than knives.

lets face it, the average Norwegian outdoor knife user, uses it to opening packs of hot dogs and a little bit of whittling.
 
ItLives.jpg


It lives!!!​
 
Minimum wage in the U.S. varies per state. Federal is $7.50, while in California is $8.05 IIRC. I'm making $8.50/hr while going to college full time. My coworkers with 5-10 yrs experience and a 4 year college degree make less than $20/hr.
 
They've got some weird rules for internet dealerships which means the scandinavian dealers often buy them from middle man at a mark up. Add VAT and a slow market for these kind of knives and they get very expensive, very soon.


I used to work in Lillestrom (Norway) doing construction work for $27 an hour. Did it less than 6 months so I payed 0% in taxes as a Swede. A good gig considering we mostly got drunk/high and watched the Estonians and Russians do the work we were supposed to do. Our foreman was a dane who got fired after our norwegian boss found out he worked in two companies at the same time, doing one job, and spending most of his time in the bathroom snorting amphetamine and talking to himself in insane jibberish (danish). :D

I love Norway...
 
I got a sweet summer job that paid $10/hr, $15 overtime assembling hydraulic power units. I worked about 45 hours a week on average. I paid basically just payroll taxes. That hydraulic fluid never leaves your hands until after a few washings, though. :) It was good work.
 
turbo-henrik said:
Hi!

Last year i bought a total of 23 knives, only two of them was bought here in Norway, the rest was ordered from the United States.

Wanna know why?
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We also have our local distributers placing huge margins on knives. So like you I also import all my own factory knives from the US.

Local distributers get a sole agency for a country and then hike the prices to whatever they want. They prevent local internet dealers from carrying product by refusing to sell to them and eventually the brand dies. It is a great shame and I wish that more care was taken when choosing an international representative for a knife brand.
 
Are the Norwegian price quotes from internet dealers or from bricks & mortar dealers? In the USA the differences can be substantial.

turbo-henrik said:
Hi!

Last year i bought a total of 23 knives, only two of them was bought here in Norway, the rest was ordered from the United States.

Wanna know why?

This is the prices we have here on some common blades:

SpyderCo Tenacious 83,69 USD

SpyderCo Military S30V 350,09 USD

SpyderCo Delica 4 Foliage Green 274,49 USD

Cold Steel Lawman 148,61 USD

KaBar Army Fighting Knife 149,82 USD

Becker BK9 200,79 USD

Gerber LMF II 189,25 USD

Cold Steel Recon Scout SMIII 516,61 USD

Leatherman Charge ALX 247,11 USD

Ontario RAT-7 252,28 USD

Sog Flash 1 86,1 USD

Buck 110 94,54 USD

Good livin in the worlds most expensive country :P
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Same story here in the Netherlands. For example, a Buck 110 costs around $120 us over here. And it doesn't matter if you buy at a brick and mortar store or an internet dealer. It's all because of the distributor that marks prices as follows:

Price € = Msrp$ x 1.5

Or so, a buck 110 = $ 50 x 1.5 = $ 75 = €75 = $110-$120
 
LX_Emergency said:
Same story here in the Netherlands. For example, a Buck 110 costs around $120 us over here. And it doesn't matter if you buy at a brick and mortar store or an internet dealer. It's all because of the distributor that marks prices as follows:

Price € = Msrp$ x 1.5

Or so, a buck 110 = $ 50 x 1.5 = $ 75 = €75 = $110-$120
Click to expand...

Don't forget that distributers buy the product at a massive discount. . Which means the Buck 110 probably costs them around $25-00. So they are scoring on both sides of the equation. Then they complain when they don't get supported by local collectors.........Pathetic!
 
I order my knives as well from the US. Last time I bought a knife in Norway was because it was made in Norway, and I still feel its overpriced.

Knives are expensive probably because its a niche marked. I have never ever met someone who carries a knife daily, the only people who carry knives are hunters and outdoorsmen. Me being one of them. Usualy they carry your normal Helle or Brusletto knife, seldom I have seen a Buck 110 or a Cold Steel SRK. I have never seen someone carry a Spyderco, ESEE or one of the other high end knife brands.
 
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LX_Emergency said:
Same story here in the Netherlands. For example, a Buck 110 costs around $120 us over here. And it doesn't matter if you buy at a brick and mortar store or an internet dealer. It's all because of the distributor that marks prices as follows:

Price € = Msrp$ x 1.5

Or so, a buck 110 = $ 50 x 1.5 = $ 75 = €75 = $110-$120
Click to expand...


That is ridiculous. Would you happen to know why they price knives in such a way? Is it just knives that get this treatment or all imports?
 
henrik -i'm confused . are you saying you make twenty thousand & sixty six usdollars per hour??($20,66) or is it $20.66?
i'm thinking the latter-certainly closer to aussie wages unless you happen to be the CEO of QANTAS in which case the first figure is closer.
 
meako said:
henrik -i'm confused . are you saying you make twenty thousand & sixty six usdollars per hour??($20,66) or is it $20.66?
i'm thinking the latter-certainly closer to aussie wages unless you happen to be the CEO of QANTAS in which case the first figure is closer.
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Some countries use a comma to mark the radix point. See this link.
 
Many items imported from the US get a similar price treatment when sold in Europe.
My guess is that knives are so expensive here because the market is pretty small, almost niche, and retailers take big advantage of that.
As most European knife enthusiasts, we can choose between buying in the US (and risking customs/shipping troubles), or buying here (and paying those prices...which I find unacceptable).

:cool:
 
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