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Thoughts on authorized dealers raising GEC prices above the minimum sale price.
- Thread starter Fixall
- Start date
Some of those rough ryder reserve knives are approaching gec prices, albeit, not the current influx pricing.
Thankfully there are a few other options like case. Along with the high quality slipjoints made in italy. Too bad queens quality made a bad turn followed by closing. Maybe the new s&m will step it up quality wise and we will have decent competitors to keep the market honest.
Thankfully there are a few other options like case. Along with the high quality slipjoints made in italy. Too bad queens quality made a bad turn followed by closing. Maybe the new s&m will step it up quality wise and we will have decent competitors to keep the market honest.
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Are you a Shill for the Indonesian government?
I don’t think that’s really “out of the box”- plenty of knives are already made there.
I might even guess that if they moved operations to somewhere else in the USA people might get some ruffled feathers.
best way to go is to just let the higher prices ones sit on the shelf.
And this is why you don't understand the problem, like at all. Increasing production, which would dry up the secondary market scalping by increasing availability, is only possible, for the GEC brand to remain the same, if their production process remains exactly the same, only upped in scale. To do so is a massive expensive undertaking and thus not really possible. The current owner, to a certain extent, is happy with how his end of the GEC collectors process is working. The point many of us are trying to make to you, and one you keep missing, is that GEC production isn't going to change. Arguing extensively for it to change in order to solve the problem we are all discussing is silly. Makes it look like you haven't read the thread.
I dagree. This is exactly what this thread is about.
The only thing you got right was the GEC is not going to change. So we keep paying $300.+ for a knife that retails for $79.
There is a lot of money to be made by people who don't build or make anything.
Nope. Make a gec in Indonesia and it isn't worth anywhere near what gecs retail for now, much less secondary market prices.I dagree. This is exactly what this thread is about.
The only thing you got right was the GEC is not going to change. So we keep paying $300.+ for a knife that retails for $79.
There is a lot of money to be made by people who don't build or make anything.
Edit to add: Not sure what you mean by "dagree". Could be agree or disagree or mean something totally different. Also, you can't attach mp4s as images.
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Let's make this simple. GEC's charm is in what they do.
If they stop doing what they do and do something else they loose their charm.
If they loose their charm for sure demand will go down. Then you can go out and get a Huckleberry Boy's knife. Oh wait; you already get those. My bad.
Anyhoo to sum up if they just run the machines 24 hours a day till everyone in the world has a glitter gold barlow nothing they do will be special any more.
If they stop doing what they do and do something else they loose their charm.
If they loose their charm for sure demand will go down. Then you can go out and get a Huckleberry Boy's knife. Oh wait; you already get those. My bad.
Anyhoo to sum up if they just run the machines 24 hours a day till everyone in the world has a glitter gold barlow nothing they do will be special any more.
This is false.
This is accurate.
There are multiple reasons as to why GECs are insanely popular that you are either missing intentionally, or don't understand because you aren't a GEC collector.
This is also accurate.
What Colubrid is failing to understand is that there already are well made traditional(ish) knives made elsewhere that do not, and won't ever, command the sort of premium, collectability, or cachet that GEC has. As an example, Lionsteel and Viper make excellent Traditional/slipjoints out of modern materials. Viper just delivered for us the 2020 Bladeforums Knife, and I can say with about a 99.99998% rate of certainty that we will never see one of those knives going for $550-$750 on Ebay like the GEC 2019 Bladeforums #86 knife is catching on Ebay right now*....a mere two years later. Also, I'm still waiting for someone, anyone to show me where anything Rough Rider has ever made has ever sold for anywhere close to that on any secondary market source.
If Great Eastern Cutlery moved their production elsewhere, the collectors would go in the same direction....elsewhere.
* SOLD prices, not pie-in-the-sky pricing from hopeful speculator flippers. This is what they sell for now.
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Out of all of this I’d say it’s pretty uplifting that some places still sell GECs at around minimum. It’s always refreshing to see people breaking the expectation to chase the almighty dollar. It’s the minority, but the fact that I can name two is a miracle.
This has been pretty interesting read for me. A couple thoughts came to mind, why wouldn't a dealer mark up product to maximum price knowing full well that some level of their product will end up on the scalper market? Would not that make said scalpers hesitant and allow the folks who really want the product as end buyers get more chance at scoring one?
As a collector and actual user of GEC knives, this Beanie Baby phenomenon has kind of left me out of the loop for current product, I won't pay scalper prices, and am not interested in the lollie scramble aspect of this hobby. However another question comes to mind, if I was to liquidate my collection, would I be a scalper if I ask ridiculously high prices, or would it be wise to do so to prevent someone from snatching them up and re-selling immediately at scalper prices? Maybe I'd rather give them away or let them sit and rot in their tubes for posterity to decide what fate becomes them...I hope that I don't need to make that decision any time soon, but you never know where the road leads you.
As a collector and actual user of GEC knives, this Beanie Baby phenomenon has kind of left me out of the loop for current product, I won't pay scalper prices, and am not interested in the lollie scramble aspect of this hobby. However another question comes to mind, if I was to liquidate my collection, would I be a scalper if I ask ridiculously high prices, or would it be wise to do so to prevent someone from snatching them up and re-selling immediately at scalper prices? Maybe I'd rather give them away or let them sit and rot in their tubes for posterity to decide what fate becomes them...I hope that I don't need to make that decision any time soon, but you never know where the road leads you.
r8shell
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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- 23,994
I wouldn't judge someone who sells their collection for top dollar. It's nice to know when I buy a GEC, it will retain value if I ever need to sell sometime in the future.
IMHO, making a profit doesn't make you a scalper/flipper. It's buying a new knife at retail price, with the intention of immediately selling for profit.
I think you can ask for however much you can get for them. Youre not robbing shopping carts to turn around and flip them. Also, its different if its something that hasnt been available in months, if not years. Its completely different when if its on the market and suddenly disappears and is now being offered at three times the price.
Imported guns have been having issues the last couple years. A distributor will have them in stock for a price and they will suddenly go out of stock with the company listing them on auction sites. People have even reported buying a gun and in the next couple days receiving an email about them being out of stock. They pop up on the auction site at that time and they are even listed as the same company. No shame whatsoever.
At least we havent gone this far yet but i can imagine it happening. But i can imagine a lot.
At least we havent gone this far yet but i can imagine it happening. But i can imagine a lot.
Thanks, I get what you are both saying, the stuff I have is years old so I guess flipping is totally different when talking about old products not having been available for a long time.
In my opinion, the answer to this question is that if dealers mark up the product to the maximum (scalper market) price, the true collector or user will stop buying (because they will decide the product doesn't justify the price). The flipper won't buy either, because the product won't bring a return on investment.
In the above scenario, product will sit on shelves until GEC goes out of business or the non-user/collector moves on to another product to flip. If GEC does stay in business long enough, the market should return back to normal. There will be alot of excess inventory out there, so it should stay stable for awhile at least.