Spyderco Selling Direct on Ebay

G

GreenTeaKiller

Joined
Jan 19, 2018
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I ordered a knife a few months ago from user Spyderbugs on Ebay. Upon reading my old e-mails, I noticed that payment was made to Bethany Glesser in Golden, CO. I had since added user Spyderbugs to my favorite seller list. I thought, well maybe these knives are from her personal collection... But the Spyderco knives keep getting listed, en masse. I normally wouldn't have a problem with this, but being employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer, I feel as though I must speak out. The knives that Mrs. Glesser puts up are way below Ebay re-sale value and the quantity at which she lists them I believe creates an unfair market for retailers selling authentic Spyderco knives on Ebay. We simply can not compete with her pricing. I've also examined the Spyderco vs Ebay lawsuit in depth and it clearly states that Spyderco only sells directly through its website and Amazon.com. I believe that this falls under some sort of unfair business practice, and would like to have it looked into. If Spyderco is selling through Ebay covertly, and stating to the courts that they do not have a sales presence there, that could have some legal ramifications. Since Spyderbugs has been active on Ebay, we've noticed a sharp decline in our Ebay Spyderco sales. I believe that this is extremely unfair to the dealers who must pay dealer prices on knives, discount them sharply just to compete, and then have Ebay and Paypal take a 14% chunk out of the sale. We're making dollars per knife, sometimes losing money. Sal, if you were not aware of this, please look into it, and Bethany, if you're reading this, please give us little guys a chance and stop bombing Ebay with heavily discounted sprint runs, new releases, and other Spyderco knives. We have tens of thousands of dollars tied up in Spyderco inventory. This just doesn't seem fair or right.

Thank you for your time
 
So you OP, a person "employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer" have to go to Ebay to buy Spyderco knives? And you believe an Ebay seller is not able to mask their true identity if they want to promote their own agenda, like selling a bunch of counterfeit Spyderco knives, by appearing to be a legitimate seller selling at very low prices? And there is no protocol in place for you to contact Spyderco directly to ask about your concerns?

So let me be the first one here to say I'm sorry, but I am calling major BS here. Your story doesn't begin to pass the "smell test". You are not by chance a counterfeit seller who sells Spyderco counterfeits on Ebay and might be seeing a little competition from other counterfeit-selling knuckleheads, are you?
 
I only see 8 for sale, mostly discontinued knives for pretty standard prices, I've seen lower and higher- a sprint 20CV PM2 for $175- higher than what it orginally sold for. I got a Szabohawk for less than the price they have up as well.
 
on_the_edge said:
So you OP, a person "employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer" have to go to Ebay to buy Spyderco knives? And you believe an Ebay seller is not able to mask their true identity if they want to promote their own agenda, like selling a bunch of counterfeit Spyderco knives, by appearing to be a legitimate seller selling at very low prices? And there is no protocol in place for you to contact Spyderco directly to ask about your concerns?

So let me be the first one here to say I'm sorry, but I am calling major BS here. Your story doesn't begin to pass the "smell test". You are not by chance a counterfeit seller who sells Spyderco counterfeits on Ebay and might be seeing a little competition from other counterfeit-selling knuckleheads, are you?
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With you. First and only post. Something's not right.
 
GreenTeaKiller said:
I ordered a knife a few months ago from user Spyderbugs on Ebay. Upon reading my old e-mails, I noticed that payment was made to Bethany Glesser in Golden, CO. I had since added user Spyderbugs to my favorite seller list. I thought, well maybe these knives are from her personal collection... But the Spyderco knives keep getting listed, en masse. I normally wouldn't have a problem with this, but being employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer, I feel as though I must speak out. The knives that Mrs. Glesser puts up are way below Ebay re-sale value and the quantity at which she lists them I believe creates an unfair market for retailers selling authentic Spyderco knives on Ebay. We simply can not compete with her pricing.
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Can you clarify something...is the real issue that Spyderbugs is selling below normal flipper prices (see section that I highlighted) on sprint runs? If that is the case, then I'm not sure I see the problem here as Spyderco has no obligation to price consistently with the flippers. If there is additional information, or if I am incorrect, then please clarify. Thanks.
 
I've been following spyderbugs for awhile and I've never seen them list knives en masse... Usually 10 or less at a time, other than the warrior hawk nothing listed is current production knives... That seller lists discontinued, exclusives, and sprints which are not MAP bound. Not really understanding your complaint here and would love to know what dealer you work for.
 
GreenTeaKiller said:
I ordered a knife a few months ago from user Spyderbugs on Ebay. Upon reading my old e-mails, I noticed that payment was made to Bethany Glesser in Golden, CO. I had since added user Spyderbugs to my favorite seller list. I thought, well maybe these knives are from her personal collection... But the Spyderco knives keep getting listed, en masse. I normally wouldn't have a problem with this, but being employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer, I feel as though I must speak out. The knives that Mrs. Glesser puts up are way below Ebay re-sale value and the quantity at which she lists them I believe creates an unfair market for retailers selling authentic Spyderco knives on Ebay. We simply can not compete with her pricing. I've also examined the Spyderco vs Ebay lawsuit in depth and it clearly states that Spyderco only sells directly through its website and Amazon.com. I believe that this falls under some sort of unfair business practice, and would like to have it looked into. If Spyderco is selling through Ebay covertly, and stating to the courts that they do not have a sales presence there, that could have some legal ramifications. Since Spyderbugs has been active on Ebay, we've noticed a sharp decline in our Ebay Spyderco sales. I believe that this is extremely unfair to the dealers who must pay dealer prices on knives, discount them sharply just to compete, and then have Ebay and Paypal take a 14% chunk out of the sale. We're making dollars per knife, sometimes losing money. Sal, if you were not aware of this, please look into it, and Bethany, if you're reading this, please give us little guys a chance and stop bombing Ebay with heavily discounted sprint runs, new releases, and other Spyderco knives. We have tens of thousands of dollars tied up in Spyderco inventory. This just doesn't seem fair or right.

Thank you for your time
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What is the name of the store that you work at? It's fine to mention here in this section. There is no restriction on naming a non-sponsoring retailer.
 
You make dollars per sale even though map is so high these days, specifically to give the small guys and big guys the same playing field. Somethings weird about that statement.

Also I don't see any items for sale from the user after just looking now.
 
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on_the_edge said:
So you OP, a person "employed at a high level position by an official Spyderco dealer" have to go to Ebay to buy Spyderco knives? And you believe an Ebay seller is not able to mask their true identity if they want to promote their own agenda, like selling a bunch of counterfeit Spyderco knives, by appearing to be a legitimate seller selling at very low prices? And there is no protocol in place for you to contact Spyderco directly to ask about your concerns?

So let me be the first one here to say I'm sorry, but I am calling major BS here. Your story doesn't begin to pass the "smell test". You are not by chance a counterfeit seller who sells Spyderco counterfeits on Ebay and might be seeing a little competition from other counterfeit-selling knuckleheads, are you?
Click to expand...

Yes, I bought a sprint run knife that wasn't even available to dealers and it was below dealer pricing. I had to investigate. I already posted on the Spyderco Forums, but it told me that the message must be moderated before being approved, which made me feel like it would be censored. We've been selling Spyderco knives since 1999 and regularly report counterfeit sellers to Ebay.

RipD said:
With you. First and only post. Something's not right.
Click to expand...

I understand your skepticism. Sorry, since I'd made the account, I've just been a lurker. Anyway, the knives have since been removed from Ebay, so I think that my post made an impact.

I knew that my accusations would draw suspicion, but I have only presented factual information to the best of my knowledge.

I am a real person with no other agenda other than to call out the possibly unfair business practices that I've witnessed. It's almost impossible to make a profit on Spyderco knives these days
with all of the competition and counterfeiters. The average mom-and-pop shop can't compete with the likes of BladeHQ and Knifecenter, so It just feels like another low blow to the small business owner when the manufacturer decides to compete directly in the same venues as their dealers at price points that the dealers can't always meet.

Just sayin...
 
...and I don't intend to jeopardize our business relationship with Spyderco by declaring where I work. I trust Sal, have known him for years, and expect him to handle things in a professional manner.

I didn't mean to cause any trouble. My intentions were to try to dissuade what I feel are unfair business practices from being practiced, in the interest Spyderco's authorized dealers.
 
I don't understand the ad hominem hostilities toward the OP. What his is presenting here has validity, IMHO. I looked up the seller's ID: spyderbugs whose listings have now been incidentally withdrawn in the interim since this thread was posted. The ID has been active on eBay since mid 2002 and having sampled about 10 pages out of the 50 pages of feedback going all the way back to the registration of this ID, it appears to me that the merchandise offered on eBay were by and large Spyderco products. As already stated, I find validity in OP's concerns and I am not surprised about the expressed grievance.
 
I have purchased from that seller with good results. Communication was lacking, tracking info wasn’t sent and I received no feedback but the knives have come as described. I have gotten some discontinued knives for decent prices.

I have mostly seen this seller listing discontinued knives so I do not see what the problem is? They do not appear to competing with any vendors.
 
Look at all of the private feedback. The new unreleased exclusives and sprint runs are the cheapest priced and are usually gone within minutes. I'm not going to stir the pot anymore. I've said what's needed to be said. Obviously, something was amiss or the listings wouldn't have been taken down. Thank you to the people who treated me fairly and neutrally. I will post again if there are any further developments.
 
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Some “expert” sleuthing going on here... Bethany Glesser is Eric Glesser’s wife. The knives sold by her are brought to her directly from the SFO by Eric himself to sell at her discretion on the pricing. Usually it’s below MAP, and allows the buyer usually a single shot to grab a limited piece (sprint, exclusive, discontinued, etc.). Never realized this was undercutting legitimate vendors that typically already sold off their allotment of those models and made whatever profits were available. Her listings come and go quickly on eBay for good reason - they sell fast! If they don’t sell within a week or whatever, the listing expires. No mystery there, this thread didn’t cause her to pull her last listings!! That’s laughable. Yes, please make a stink about this more so folks getting those rare deals from a fairly legit source in my book (Eric Glesser for goodness sake) can’t anymore or she stops selling period from a few solitary complainers.
 
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