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Thoughts on authorized dealers raising GEC prices above the minimum sale price.

byjiminy said:
If you raised your advertised prices “too high”, I imagine GEC might have a word in your ear. Your price reflects your judgement of the trade-off between short-term gain and long-term sustainability. Some dealers want the last dollar* before the flipper gets his. In your case, your willing to bet on your customers. That’s all I meant by “marketing”.

FWIW, I’m a happy CK customer, and expect to remain one in the future. I admire your ethics and your contribution to the community. Finally, I am noob and you are more than entitled to ignore me. Thank you.

*(and maybe more!)
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GEC wouldn't have anything to say if I set the price at $1000. They have made their intentions to stay out of the selling price controversy clear. We have already had dealers sell $100 knives for closer to $300 on eBay. I agree with what you say with the clarification of "marketing". Others have tried to declare that GEC is keeping production numbers low as a marketing ploy - which is silly. But that has been beat to death in other threads. I enjoy the conversation and do not ignore anybody purposefully.
 
Also... Response from GPK.

"...Regarding the latest update to pricing from Great Eastern Cutlery: we were requested to comply with a price increase being rolled out from Great Eastern Cutlery in order to curtail the practice of flipping their knives at exorbitant prices on the secondary market. This is an unfortunate practice that negatively impacts everyone in the knife community, and we are working with Great Eastern Cutlery to mitigate this issue while still providing their quality pieces at a reasonable price to users and collectors. We apologize for any inconvenience..."
 
Fixall said:
CAPTCHAs are not nearly as effective against bots as one would think.

You guys probably think I'm crazy, but I'm telling you it's legit, lol. They might not be as rampant in the knife industry as they are in some of my other hobbies, but I've seen firsthand the damage they can cause and I'm concerned the problem is bleeding into our little hobby too.

Check out this article linked in another thread.
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Oh for sure. Anyone who is writing code for bots is writing code that will force it's way around a captcha.
 
Fixall said:
Also... Response from GPK.

"...Regarding the latest update to pricing from Great Eastern Cutlery: we were requested to comply with a price increase being rolled out from Great Eastern Cutlery in order to curtail the practice of flipping their knives at exorbitant prices on the secondary market. This is an unfortunate practice that negatively impacts everyone in the knife community, and we are working with Great Eastern Cutlery to mitigate this issue while still providing their quality pieces at a reasonable price to users and collectors. We apologize for any inconvenience..."
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Interesting. So GEC is involved.
 
Fixall said:
Also... Response from GPK.

"...Regarding the latest update to pricing from Great Eastern Cutlery: we were requested to comply with a price increase being rolled out from Great Eastern Cutlery in order to curtail the practice of flipping their knives at exorbitant prices on the secondary market. "
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Requested by who? The way this is written it sounds like they are saying GEC is requesting this price increase but that doesn't really seem to match up with things that others have said about GEC and pricing.

If GEC wants higher prices I would think they would raise the price they charge dealers, not ask the dealers to increase their profit margin.

Maybe I am misunderstanding what they are saying though.
 
Danke42 said:
I would consider that a positive if their aim is to choke out the flippers.

From everything I've read about the crew at Great Eastern Cutlery has them as enthusiasts who what their knives in users hands. Not crisscrossing eBay as another commodity.
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A lot of folks on the Porch attend the GEC Rendezvous every year and they get to check out the factory, chat with Bill and some of the crew, and hang out with fellow knife enthusiasts. (I'd like to make it out there myself one of these days). I also haven't read anything that would suggest that GEC doesn't care for their customers and/or simply wants to bleed them dry aside from a lot of aspersions that have been cast.

They are a relatively small factory that is comprised of folks who are just as enthusiastic (if not more) about knives as we all are and I would suspect that they are rather concerned that the secondary market is really casting them in a poor light. I have my doubts that dealers raising their prices is going to combat flippers any but I suppose that remains to be seen.
 
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Fixall said:
Also... Response from GPK.

"...Regarding the latest update to pricing from Great Eastern Cutlery: we were requested to comply with a price increase being rolled out from Great Eastern Cutlery in order to curtail the practice of flipping their knives at exorbitant prices on the secondary market. This is an unfortunate practice that negatively impacts everyone in the knife community, and we are working with Great Eastern Cutlery to mitigate this issue while still providing their quality pieces at a reasonable price to users and collectors. We apologize for any inconvenience..."
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I don't know man...

If a flipper is going to sell a $100 for $200 how is raising the price to $120 going to deter that? Those are just general numbers to make a point but still.

Also, and again, I do not get the flipper thing. Yes, they are scummy, but people pay them. And if flippers become the majority of initial buyers, the enthusiasm for the product will quickly wane. The average GEC collector/enthusiast will just start to move on. And if the hype wears off, will there still be a flipper market? Just some rambling thoughts.
 
Whether this process is to deter flippers, or take advantage of the market, it doesn't change the fact that GEC knives would be more expensive. Which in turn will turn some current fans away from the brand. As stated by others, everyone has a limit where they decide the price isn't worth it anymore.

Sadly there have already been fans of GEC that stopped purchasing them due to the chase. GEC could help rectify this issue by doing larger runs of a pattern, rather than offering more patterns. For example rather than doing a run of #19s, they could have produced more of the #74, and the upcoming #47s. Both patterns are popular and a number of GEC fans missed out on the #74s, and more will miss out on the #47s. Increasing production for a particular pattern will help to deter flipping.
 
Also makes ya wander if GEC really is actually struggling. I can understand low production numbers of a model, but on the other hand it doesn’t make sense. This whole pandemic has really hurt a lot of people and thrown a wrench into everything.
 
Murphjd25 said:
Also makes ya wander if GEC really is actually struggling. I can understand low production numbers of a model, but on the other hand it doesn’t make sense. This whole pandemic has really hurt a lot of people and thrown a wrench into everything.
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Product has to keep going out the door. It's like rolling a log; you can't just stop in the middle and walk away.
 
Eli Chaps said:
I don't know man...

If a flipper is going to sell a $100 for $200 how is raising the price to $120 going to deter that? Those are just general numbers to make a point but still.

Also, and again, I do not get the flipper thing. Yes, they are scummy, but people pay them. And if flippers become the majority of initial buyers, the enthusiasm for the product will quickly wane. The average GEC collector/enthusiast will just start to move on. And if the hype wears off, will there still be a flipper market? Just some rambling thoughts.
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This is my thought as well. By coming out and saying "all dealers should charge 35% more for every knife to try and stop the 5% of knives that get flipped" is a silly solution. Dealers need to implement simple throttles such that flippers can't get large amounts of knives and let the rest enjoy the hobby. Why break the whole system over a problem that exists over a short period of time. If the factory wants to get involved in slowing down the sale of their knives, just make undesirable patterns. The Little Rattlers seem to be fairly available. A great knife, but on the fringes of what people are currently focused on regarding size and blade.
 
knifeswapper said:
This is my thought as well. By coming out and saying "all dealers should charge 35% more for every knife to try and stop the 5% of knives that get flipped" is a silly solution. Dealers need to implement simple throttles such that flippers can't get large amounts of knives and let the rest enjoy the hobby. Why break the whole system over a problem that exists over a short period of time. If the factory wants to get involved in slowing down the sale of their knives, just make undesirable patterns. The Little Rattlers seem to be fairly available. A great knife, but on the fringes of what people are currently focused on regarding size and blade.
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I sure see a lot of non-flipper folks with GEC knives, old and new, in the Traditional Forum. Flippers can't be getting that many. ;)
 
Reading those articles on bots, very worrying. The only true fixes I can think of are legislation based and that will only happen if it spreads far enough that there is a major public outcry. Human nature hasn't changed much has it?
 
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Pomsbz said:
Reading those articles on bots, very worrying. The only true fixes I can think of are legislation based and that will only happen if it spreads far enough that there is a major public outcry. Human nature hasn't changed much has it?
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The answer to the problem is almost assuredly not "More government". o_O
 
Quiet said:
The answer to the problem is almost assuredly not "More government". o_O
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Agree. Left to its on devices the market will sort itself out. See the aforementioned Hinderer etc. What nobody needs is the government telling what or how many knives you can buy.
 
Triton said:
What nobody needs is the government telling what or how many knives you can buy.
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I don't think the 'legislation based' solution he meant was the government trying to tell you how many knives you can buy but rather something directed towards bots. I'm not sure how that would work either.
 
Flippers in the secondary market are a fact of life. It happens with all high demand products like watches, cars, sneakers etc.
Once a product enters the realm of private ownership all bets are off and the owner can ask whatever he/she likes.
You cannot control it and that is that. So accept it and move on.

However........If you are an authorised dealer of a product you represent that manufacturer and you should be held to sell within the guidelines laid down by the manufacturer. In the knife industry this is normal. Most high end manufacturers will pull your dealership if you begin to price gouge, or if you drop the price to low just to whore out the product or drive your competition out of business.

Maintaining authorised dealer pricing is absolutely normal for manufacturers. Companies who don't do this suffer for reasons demonstrated only to clearly in this thread.

Being an authorised dealer makes you the representative of the brand and gives you preference to the product that others do not have. For that you are expected to adhere to the price boundaries, both high and low, set by the manufacturer.
If GEC are seeing some of their authorised dealers arbitrarily setting prices based on demand and this leads to price gouging, they should take steps to rectify it.
 
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