What happend to BM prices?

S

smasak

Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
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Benchmades seem to have jumped in price lately. Around March I bought a 760 LFTI for $164. Now the same knife from the same dealer is $229. It seems every dealer gives a even 15% off only now. Did something change?
 
That's what they MAP (Minimum Advertised Price). email or call the dealer for actual price.
 
I know at Knifeworks they have a coupon code that you have to apply after the BM knife is in the cart. The 710 D2 is "listed" @ $144 but applyibng the code it drops to $108 (25% off). The 760 is "listed" @$229 but after the code, $172 (25% off).

Not sure the logic behind it either. I would think they would lose some sales with this pricing method. A casual buyer may compare knives with a particular feature-set and be turned off by the "higher" prices of the Benchmades without applying the code.
 
As someone else said, it's called MAP (Minimum Advertised Price). I believe Benchmade's is 15% off MSRP. Dealers can still sell the products for cheaper, but basically the lowest price the general public can see is the MAP, or else Benchmade won't keep selling to that dealer.

There are ways around it. Knifeworks uses a coupon code, Blade HQ requires you to have an account with them and log in before you see the discounted price, and I'm sure there are other ways.

The logic/purpose behind MAP? I have no idea whatsoever. Positioning themselves as "boutique" brand, I suppose.
 
Scott Neelan said:
There are ways around it. Knifeworks uses a coupon code, Blade HQ requires you to have an account with them and log in before you see the discounted price, and I'm sure there are other ways.
Click to expand...

GPKnives asks you to "request a quote" and they email the price to you. Not my favorite method but at least they have a quick turn-around.
 
It appears to an effort to stop casual price comparisons via Google or Yahoo shopping searches. Probably in response to the larger retailers getting beat by mom & pop operations on strictly $'s, without regard to the value of quality service. I've seen some drop-ship storefronts sell for only a couple of bucks over wholesale in the last year and that's got to drive the good retailers like New Graham, Knifeworks, KSF, AGR, et al, absolutely crazy.
 
Thanks for the replies. I suppose I'll just ping my favorite dealer about his real price next time I want a new BM.
 
I don't think Benchmade will even sell to New Graham anymore. At any rate, New Graham doesn't seem to be adding any new inventory, all the BM stuff they have is old stock.

My understanding is that Benchmade adopted this new pricing policy as a way to protect brick & mortar stores from internet stores, who can operate with lower profit margins. That's a good thing in theory- who doesn't like being able to go into an actual store and handle new knives in person? Time will tell if this strategy works or not. Benchmade has been in business for a while now, and they're pretty successful. I'm sure this decision wasn't taken lightly on their part.
 
I didn't realize that you could still get the knives for cheaper, but I knew Benchmade had changed their policies. Maybe I'll have to look into this.
 
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