In watching folks complain about the fluctuating prices surrounding new releases of GEC knives, I thought it might be a helpful thing to begin a thread that helps folks easily identify which dealers are hitting which price ranges with respect to new knife drops. The thread accomplishes at least two things: first, it allows people to see what sort of price they can expect to pay from dealers who may not disclose the prices prior to a drop or invoice; and second, it can serve as a reference for folks to use should the current market fever for GEC ever return to equilibrium and they want to patronize the dealers who decided to save them money in a time when they could have jumped on the easy money bandwagon.
My preference would be for the thread to remain factual and avoid defamation and inflammatory comments. I'm not interested in bashing dealers who decide to make an extra profit. If you want to do that, start a new thread, by all means. I really want this thread to be informational for individual buyers and sellers--especially individuals who are new to the market and don't know how to judge the prices at a time when they are really all over the place. Feel free to offer feedback on the design for reporting. I haven't really given that aspect of it much thought.
The idea for the mechanism of disclosure:
It seems best to try and make one of these threads with each new knife release, because otherwise it will quickly become hard to follow and find. So, for instance, someone would start a new thread for the later release: "GEC Dealer Disclosure Thread: #852221." The initial thread would list all of the GEC Distributors and post the prices for the run for each knife in the run (e.g. Natural Canvas, Dead Skunk Acrylic, Cherry Natural Smooth Bone). Any price that is unknown could be left blank and those who have knowledge could reply to the thread and the original poster could update the initial post to reflect that information. Thus, the opening post would eventually reflect all of the prices that dealers sold that knife for at retail. Here's an small example:
GEC Dealer Disclosure Thread: #852221
CollectorKnives
Natural Canvas - $102
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
DLT Trading
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
Knives Ship Free
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
The Knife Connection
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
And so on for each dealer. Some dealers might be more difficult because they also sell some of their knives on Ebay, but if possible those usernames and prices (if they are "Buy it Now") could be added under the Dealer's name as a version of that same dealer, for e.g. (a hypothetical):
Bob's Bargain Knives
Natural Canvas - $145
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
Bob's Bargain Knives - Ebay Alias "BigboyKnives"
Natural Canvas - $200
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
I don't really know what sort of interest this kind of informational thread would have, but I think it would be a useful tool, especially if it could be kept free of anything other than the information.
What do ya'll think?
My preference would be for the thread to remain factual and avoid defamation and inflammatory comments. I'm not interested in bashing dealers who decide to make an extra profit. If you want to do that, start a new thread, by all means. I really want this thread to be informational for individual buyers and sellers--especially individuals who are new to the market and don't know how to judge the prices at a time when they are really all over the place. Feel free to offer feedback on the design for reporting. I haven't really given that aspect of it much thought.
The idea for the mechanism of disclosure:
It seems best to try and make one of these threads with each new knife release, because otherwise it will quickly become hard to follow and find. So, for instance, someone would start a new thread for the later release: "GEC Dealer Disclosure Thread: #852221." The initial thread would list all of the GEC Distributors and post the prices for the run for each knife in the run (e.g. Natural Canvas, Dead Skunk Acrylic, Cherry Natural Smooth Bone). Any price that is unknown could be left blank and those who have knowledge could reply to the thread and the original poster could update the initial post to reflect that information. Thus, the opening post would eventually reflect all of the prices that dealers sold that knife for at retail. Here's an small example:
GEC Dealer Disclosure Thread: #852221
CollectorKnives
Natural Canvas - $102
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
DLT Trading
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
Knives Ship Free
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
The Knife Connection
Natural Canvas -
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
And so on for each dealer. Some dealers might be more difficult because they also sell some of their knives on Ebay, but if possible those usernames and prices (if they are "Buy it Now") could be added under the Dealer's name as a version of that same dealer, for e.g. (a hypothetical):
Bob's Bargain Knives
Natural Canvas - $145
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
Bob's Bargain Knives - Ebay Alias "BigboyKnives"
Natural Canvas - $200
Dead Skunk Acrylic -
Cherry Natural Smooth Bone -
I don't really know what sort of interest this kind of informational thread would have, but I think it would be a useful tool, especially if it could be kept free of anything other than the information.
What do ya'll think?