Buying knives online vs. local cutlery retailers

J

JulianHayes

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Hello Bladeforums,
This is my first post, if I am breaking any etiquette or otherwise in bad form, please let me know!!
I wanted to see how the rest of the knife community feels about retail shops compared with internet buying. Case in point, I was looking at a benchmade 940 osborne at my local knife shop to add to my 710 and 741 onslaught but the price at the store is 200 dollars! knifecenter has it for 143.50. But... I like to handle a knife before I buy it. How much is it worth to support your local retailer and know exactly what is in your hand before you hand over the cash. And of course if you are anything like me, sometimes it is just hard to put down a blade and you gotta "have it". Bad prices, though the manager competes well on benchmade knives, he can't come close on spydercos (he usually takes 20 percent off msrp on benchmades, a paramilitary2 DLC blade is full msrp 189), smaller selection, but a local shop to feed my habit. I can't just go in there every month, hold 20 different knives and everytime go home and buy what I like online, right? How does the rest of the knife community feel about this... Thanks for looking, and thanks for letting me check out the forums... never knew there were knife people as sick as me... ---Hayes
 
I started collecting by buying from store retailers. I was okay with it for a a few knives. After comparing prices..... I just can't do it anymore. The prices are just not worth it. For the most Part I trust Internet reviews, also I trust the manufacturers I buy from. It's much more reasonable at least for me to buy online and wait by the mailbox for a few days straight.
 
Hey, welcome to bladeforums, hope you learn a lot here. I went through the exact same thing when I first started buying knives.

I think it is a good idea to support your local knife shop, especially since you can go and handle some knives you might possibly want to buy. I did the same thing especially if I really liked a particular knife and wanted it right then and there. Plus you might get to meet some knife people in your local area too.

On the other hand, I personally feel like it isn't worth paying the mark up, especially if it is that steep. I like buying knives online if I cannot get them from a local retailer, but if the local stores price themselves out of the market I don't mind buying for much cheaper online. Also, most reputable shops are okay with checking out your personal knife before shipping, so a lot of the time you can be confident in the service.

Finally, just my opinion but I usually end up feeling pretty bad if I visit one shop several times just to handle knives. It feels like I'm just using their selection to fiddle around, so I eventually buy a knife I like at the local shop, it combines me getting a knife I like and is kind of a thank you to the shop for letting me browse and handle their selection.

I know this is my personal opinion, but hope this helps you out.
 
I do both. I like to help local businesses so they actually stay in business for me to fondle the knives and if I absolutely can't/won't pay what their asking I go online.
 
Knife stores are like Best Buy. You go there to test stuff out, see what you like and then go home and buy it off the internet.

I don't have a local cutlery retailer near me so I have no relationship to care about supporting. Mostly they are gun shops that have a half a dozen knives in a corner and various outdoor retailers that have overpriced everything. If I found a knife at a local gun shop that wasn't terribly overpriced, I'd buy it for the instant gratification instead of having to go online, order and wait for it.
 
It's nice to be able to handle a knife BEFORE you buy it. I have a few that I wouldn't have purchased, had I handled them first. And your local retailer has a business to run and overhead and all that. OTOH, if he's trying to rip you off, there's a lot of online places that are extremely reputable and you'll save maybe 35% a lot of the time.
Sonny btw...welcome
 
I agree with Sonny. I have a few also that i'm not too fond of and would not have bought if they were in hand before. I do the same with guns. I go to the bigger shops and try one out for feel but if their price is unreasonably high I have a friend with a FFL to buy through.
 
I love it when people come in and flick open knives as hard as they can repeatedly then say they are going home to buy off amazon. Really. It's awesome.
 
Wow.. Thanks for the responses! I definitely agree with sonnydaze that there are some knives in my collection I would not have bought If I had held them first. But to what Spark said, that is exactly what I don't want to do; I want to handle knives at my local shop AND buy from him. But when the difference is 30, 40 percent or more.. well I am just a student and it's a question of a line in the sand. How much more am I willing to pay to buy at my local retailer, with the local retailer benefits included i.e. holding new products, QC issues on blades (I have noticed with some case knives centering on the blades is sometimes good but sometimes a problem).. Well like crowmagnon said, I have a local knife shop, but it is not much, the spyderco collection consists of a few delicas a ladybug and a para2. While I am lucky to have a local knife shop, the prices and the sheer selection of knives simply can't compare to some of the better internet dealers... Thanks for all the responses, I have never been on a message board, and it is very exciting to think that i am not the only one editing my wishlist at midnight on a saturday!! thanks guys, - Hayes
 
I live in a big city but I don't know that we have any dedicated cutlery stores here. There are probably several gun stores that sell knives but I don't visit those, and there are lots of sportings goods stores (t-shirts and tennis shoes) that sell lower end brands. If I was buying a lot of knives and there was a good cutlery store here, I would probably visit there often and buy from them whenever I could. To me there is some value in having a local store where you can look at products and so forth, so if there is value in having the store then I need to support the store. That doesn't mean I can't occasionally buy online but I would have to give the store some priority. Mostly I find though that an item that I want is not in stock so I have to order it or buy online anyway. My first rule of retail is that you can't sell anything that you don't have.

But since we don't have a good local retailer I buy from wherever I can find the product, get good enough service, and get a good price.
 
I have had the same struggle. I just got to know the guys at my local cutlery shop a little and communicated my concerns. They work with me. I end up paying just over what it would cost me with shipping, and they keep my business. In my experience, it never hurts to ask.

Alex
 
The way i look at it is i am a poor high school student who cant afford to support my local knife shop, example, para 2 is 150 dollars at the store and 100 online to me i cant afford that extra 50 dollars i mean hell thats a tank of gas! ( or almost a tank ha) but seriously if i had the money then maybe buy from the store when i just cant wait that 7 days. just my two cents on the matter
 
Keep in mind that most online knife shops aren't Amazon or other huge faceless warehouses; they are small individual- or family-owned businesses that happen to have an online presence. Given that, I am happy to give my business to quality online knife stores.

Besides, there aren't any local knife shops here.

Overall (not just knife shopping) I find better service, better selection, and better prices when shopping online.
 
I buy 90-95% of my knives here on blade forums. my local shops are too expensive, I could afford the knives at the shop I worked at even with an employee discount. If there is a "gotta-have-it" knife that I don't want to wait for, I'll drop the cash locally. But if the design and materials have been out for a while, I'll wait for some one to post it. I will say that my next purchases will be for a s35vn PM2 from a friend who received two in his order and the BK4 MACHAX from Tomar's.

If money is no object, spend it local. if your on a budget, buy it bladeforums.
 
Don't forget that some knife stores are now internet dealers as well. Sometimes they will keep the physical store apart from the online store. Best way is to talk to them and find out how much they're willing to work with you.

For me, I have a local gun shop that has one small section of about a dozen or two of various knives that I felt the owner just haphazardly thought was mall-ninja looking looking so lets stock them like that! :confused:
After going there and dealing with the knives and the owner, I realized the owner was much of an ass after I bought one little knife that was a defect after a day and he refused to replace it.

Since that day, I had no problem going on the internet and buying my knives that way.
 
Most of my purchases are online, either froma dealer or from BF's boards. I don't have a local shop. When I'm in an area where there are some B&M sellers, I'll buy from them if they have what I'm looking for, even if it costs more. There are a couple of shops in Athens that I buy from when something catches my eye, and I usually look for knife shops when I'm in a town that has some listed on a manufacturer's website.
 
Only one dedicated "knife store" here in town. They carry a variety of brands like Buck, Kershaw, Cold Steel, Benchmade, etc., as well as cheap, mostly Chinese and Pakistani blades. I've bought several knives from them over the years but most of their stuff is priced at full retail though you can usually get 10% pretty easy. A year or two ago when BM stopped making the BM42 I stopped in and they had one NIB for $190.00 but took $180.00. In that instance I was happy to pay retail.

If they would come down a little on their prices I would absolutely give them more of my business but when I can get a particular knife online for $65 delivered versus $89.99 + tax, I gotta go with the online dealer. Now, if we are talking a $1000 knife with a difference of $30-$40 I might pay that premium to be able to handle it first.
 
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