I believe no profit was made on the pack knives, and any way you slice it, people are dumb. I believe 99% of the problems though were people who don't post here often, and were attracted to the less than cost price of the knife. They obviously don't order custom items often, as they expected them to be shipped out nearly immediately after order.
Only way I see it being done again is if someone gathers cash themselves, does a custom order to ESEE, and handles it themselves. There's a few strategic issues with that, But I can't see asking the company or Mods to have to do that again.
Would have to be a fast design process, order and payment, long wait with no email contact for anything other than address changes, then shipping. Sounds simple, but someone would screw it up.
My #1 suggestion though, is to throw in a patch, and charge more than retail. It'll keep away idiots.