CRKT UPP

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Knife Outlet

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The minimum advertised price policies have certainly been negative for consumers but they are legal. CRKT has gone a step further now attempting to regulate selling prices which, as far as I know, violates federal anti trust laws. My wild guess is that the lawyer that wrote the document below is trying to hide behind the idea that they say they aren't controlling selling prices. They also do not require the dealer to agree to the policy. But, of course, they are controlliing selling prices because, if a dealer, sells at a lower price than MAP, it is so long dealer.

If a consumer calls his dealer on the phone and asks for a discount from the published MAP price, the dealer should be able to sell to that customer at any price he wishes. It is a private transaction with no pricing revealed to the public. If a CRKT dealer does that, he or she risks losing authorization according to the unilateral document.

Both consumers and dealers should be up in arms about this. I know I am. I cancelled my authorization and walked away from CRKT today. I've sold their products for 21 years but I can't live with this. You can read the document below:

COLUMBIA RIVER KNIFE & TOOL - UNILATERAL PRICING POLICY
Columbia River Knife & Tool ("CRKT") has determined that, in order to preserve CRKT's brand image, to properly position certain premium products in the market, and to better compete with other premium manufacturers, CRKT must exercise greater control over the distribution of the products listed in Attachment A ("Products"). CRKT recognizes that its authorized resellers invest time and resources to deliver extraordinary customer service and wishes to encourage resellers' investment in promotion of the Products and to discourage free riding by discount dealers. Therefore, all sales of the Products will be subject to this Unilateral Pricing Policy (UPP). This Policy has been unilaterally adopted and is not an agreement with any reseller. This policy will be strictly and uniformly enforced.
Resellers remain free to establish their own resale prices. CRKT will, however, without assuming any liability, cancel all orders and refuse to accept any new orders from any reseller immediately following CRKT's verification to its satisfaction that the reseller has advertised, offered, or sold any of the Products at a net sales price less than the minimum resale price established and announced by CRKT from time to time, known as the Unilateral Price (UP).
Authorized resellers are required to check “CRKT UPP Communication” on our box link, CRKT UPP Communication Box.com Link to be aware of any changes to the UP of the Products.
Combining any Product or Products with any other product(s) for a sales price lower than the combined price at which the products could be purchased independently from each other, offering or issuing rebates, or any other action by which the reseller's customer pays less than the UP for any of the Products shall be considered a violation of this policy.
This policy applies to first-quality goods only. It does not apply to distressed merchandise or close-outs, as clearly labeled by CRKT. This policy may be modified from time to time by CRKT, for individual promotions or promotion periods designated by CRKT.
CRKT will not discuss any conditions of acceptance related to this policy, as it is non-negotiable and will not be altered for any reseller. CRKT neither solicits, nor will it accept, any assurance of compliance with this policy. Nothing in this policy shall constitute an agreement between CRKT and any reseller that the reseller will comply with this policy. This is a unilateral policy of CRKT.
This Unilateral Pricing Policy is effective November 26, 2018.
CRKT's sales personnel have no authority to modify or grant exceptions to this policy. CRKT will discontinue dealing with any reseller that attempts to negotiate any modification or exception with any sales personnel. All questions regarding the interpretation or application of this policy must be directed to CRKT at UPP@crkt.com.
 
CRKT is treading dangerously. When Microtech tried the same thing threatening to cut off a dealer/distributor who was selling what they felt was too low (and who happened to own this website at one time)... well Microtech lost big in court
 
I pretty much only buy CRKT products for the weird/oddball collaborations they do with custom makers as a way to experience the designs for a fraction of the price. There's no way in hell I would have paid MSRP for them though...and this doesn't seem legal to me.

~Chip
 
If this is so, I am saddened. :( Unlike many (seemingly) on BF I have had zero problems with my CRKT knives (at least 7) and enjoy them. I despise Benchmade for their stance and the way they took it and will NEVER buy another; I have 7 or 8 Spydercos but will buy no more because of MAP. :thumbsdown: I do NOT like dealers being told they cannot give me a deal, I understand the reasoning, but do NOT accept it. :poop: Sigh!
 
Well, its not hard to control pricing, just give everybody the same deal instead of slobber over those big buyers thus giving them a huge advantage in the market. Controlling your wholesale prices and you defacto cobtrol your resell prices unless someone is using it as a loss leader.
 
They lost me at "in order to preserve CRKT's brand image"... how could any policy change be necessary to preserve "overpriced with low quality materials and questionable quality control"?

Let them crash and burn. Then maybe their designer collaborations will go to someone who will make a knife worth a damn.
 
Don't worry I stopped buying crkt junk along time ago. Junk knives. Junk heat treatment, junk materials. S35vn that's soft doesn't help anyone but to say they have a better steel but mask the fact it's soft and won't perform as other brands. Sales are important but daymn.

They buy the knives from the lowest bid they can get. And at like basement prices and mark them up alot. No thanks. I'll buy other Chinese made knives for cheaper and better quality and qc and tolerances and heat treatment.

They trick people with the designs.

Also they got pissed at liong mah for making his own brand with other manufacturers. Via knife nuts podcast.

I suspect they are tight with bladehq, being that Ben worked for them before. And I generally don't see them advertising most knives below map online.

but crkts are sold alot on Amazon. I'm wondering if they will catch alot of the sales they do on Amazon below map.
 
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They are free to do this, as they are the seller.
We are free to not buy them, ...

perhaps they just think they can do away with all resellers?
Should be a fun drama to watch, it's too bad because the provoke is somewhat of an interesting design. As is the field strip tech. Otherwise I'm with you all, generally unimpressed with poor HT and soft blades.

The stores & resellers need to all just drop them from storefronts if they really are upset. That would be very interesting, but I don't really see this as much different than MAP. How exactly is it different?
 
I wonder if anyone has tested it. It’d be hard for them to prove that a sale was made below their price floor without secret shopping or something along those lines. Even then, they would have to actually take the step to cut ties with the vendor.

I question whether this will actually have any effect on prices. If anything, it’ll encourage retailers to dump CRKT. If it were me, I’d continue with business as usual. If they decide to cut me off, I’m liquidating the rest of my CRKT stock at cost.
 
jill jackson said:
I am not the least bit interested in CRKT's knives anyway, so good for them!
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jill jackson said:
I am not the least bit interested in CRKT's knives anyway, so good for them!
Click to expand...
dirc said:
They are free to do this, as they are the seller.
We are free to not buy them, ...

perhaps they just think they can do away with all resellers?
Should be a fun drama to watch, it's too bad because the provoke is somewhat of an interesting design. As is the field strip tech. Otherwise I'm with you all, generally unimpressed with poor HT and soft blades.

The stores & resellers need to all just drop them from storefronts if they really are upset. That would be very interesting, but I don't really see this as much different than MAP. How exactly is it different?
Click to expand...

MAP controls public prices. This document controls private prices. Difficult to enforce, of course, and probably illegal but I think they will try.
 
OrangeBlueOrangeBlue said:
I wonder if anyone has tested it. It’d be hard for them to prove that a sale was made below their price floor without secret shopping or something along those lines. Even then, they would have to actually take the step to cut ties with the vendor.

I question whether this will actually have any effect on prices. If anything, it’ll encourage retailers to dump CRKT. If it were me, I’d continue with business as usual. If they decide to cut me off, I’m liquidating the rest of my CRKT stock at cost.
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They stopped my supply because of under MAP prices. No warning. No request to change prices. In order to undo it I had to sign a dealer agreement that made no mention of MAP. I signed it and raised my prices to MAP. 4 days later I got the UPP I posted. I replied by saying goodbye and removed CRKT from the web site. It won't go back on.

SOG stopped me from buying as well even though I had MAP prices. The reason they gave the distributor was that I had one of their products listed on Ebay. No communication from them. No opportunity for defense. My assumption is that they simply want to reduce the number of dealers and better control the marketplace. They won't be returning to my site either. i've sold their products for 21 years as well. It isn't a pretty trend.
 
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I'm in the minority around here, insomuch as I like some CRKT products. Sure, materials were low-end and QC was questionable, but they had some good designs (and often were the only place to get some of the more novel mechanisms).

That said, this "you thought MAP was bad? hold my beer" policy they've officially turned me into a hater.

You're dead to me, CRKT.
 
so the real difference here is they really seem to be removing any retail channels, and hope that all knife buyers will buy direct from their website?

it seems a rather large gamble, I'm a bit shocked they are so confident this will work out... but I'm guessing the bean counters have weighed in
 
CRKT is a bad joke anyway. Now they want to dictate to their dealers and treat them like children?! :confused:
I'd say "good riddance" too!:poop:
 
evilgreg said:
I'm in the minority around here, insomuch as I like some CRKT products. Sure, materials were low-end and QC was questionable, but they had some good designs (and often were the only place to get some of the more novel mechanisms).

That said, this "you thought MAP was bad? hold my beer" policy they've officially turned me into a hater.

You're dead to me, CRKT.
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Yeah it sucks. I have a fair few of their knives, and have been eyeing some more, for those reasons. Now.. Well I'm getting the Pilarge D2, but that's already paid for.
 
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