"We charge full retail because that is what ESEE wants us to."

I can only imagine how hard it would be to run a brick and mortar store, but don't lie to customers.

There's a gun shop near my office that I've bought a few guns from although I can always buy it cheaper on the net. Never have a problem paying a little more to support small/local businesses. That is until the day I was looking at a gun and without even commenting on price at all, the owner starts ranting at me about how he gets a flat 15% over his cost, not a penny more. I did the math in my head and said "Well you should find a new distributor, you could pay retail online, mark it up 15% and your price would still be lower." I know where he gets his guns, have seen their price and he was flat lying. Haven't spent a penny there since.
 
adaman04 said:
I can only imagine how hard it would be to run a brick and mortar store, but don't lie to customers.

There's a gun shop near my office that I've bought a few guns from although I can always buy it cheaper on the net. Never have a problem paying a little more to support small/local businesses. That is until the day I was looking at a gun and without even commenting on price at all, the owner starts ranting at me about how he gets a flat 15% over his cost, not a penny more. I did the math in my head and said "Well you should find a new distributor, you could pay retail online, mark it up 15% and your price would still be lower." I know where he gets his guns, have seen their price and he was flat lying. Haven't spent a penny there since.
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I totally agree, I will drive many a mile (and even put off a purchase) to buy from another store whom I know is honest and polite to their customers. It only takes one strike with me..I am not going to stick around and let them swing and miss two more times for me to call them out. Sure, a lot of people will not know any different and buy anyway. Seen it far too often where it is not the price. The fact remains, a lot of small business people have the tendency to habitually patronize people without actually realizing that a great many people that do come into their stores know more than they do about what is being sold.
 
In one way, this is worse than just some dumb employee talking out of his ass. I believe you are not allowed to ask a reseller of your product to sell at a certain price. This pretty much means he was accusing ESEE of breaking the law. Defamation, now go take him for all he is worth ;)
 
EK20 said:
I'm kind of curious as to the store you speak of. I don't know many knife stores in the area. There's the one at the Alderwood Mall and the one in Bellevue that sells little more then S&W folders.
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I'm not sure what store in the Alderwood Mall you're speaking of but the one I'm talking about is a Platinum dealer for Benchmade, which I don't understand because that would mean that they actually sold some knives. They also carry SOG, Spyderco, Ka-Bar, Cold Steel and a myriad of other brands.

If you want a good knife dealer in our area, go see David at Tactical Edge Knives in Mukilteo. He sells stuff at near internet prices and he has Benchmade, Spyderco, SOG and some ESEE as well. I think he's one of the dealers waiting for some product.

http://www.edgeoftheknife.com/Default.aspx
 
Sounds to me like some retail guy flapping his gums.
I don't know if i'd be too harsh on the store.
By the way, I bought all my ESEE's on line!
 
In my local sporting goods store (Not a chain) I know much more about the cutlery than they do, however, they give you their real world experiences & some background info about any piece of cutlery you ask about. Their prices may be slightly higher, but all in all, its worth it.
 
No one pays retail, unless they are fools.

Sounds like you need to find a new knife vendor.
 
Undertow82 said:
I'm not sure what store in the Alderwood Mall you're speaking of but the one I'm talking about is a Platinum dealer for Benchmade, which I don't understand because that would mean that they actually sold some knives. They also carry SOG, Spyderco, Ka-Bar, Cold Steel and a myriad of other brands.
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I was thinking of House Of Cutlery by Nordstroms. I bought a few knives there, but they certainly weren't steals. For example I bought a Buck 102 Woodsman there for double what I paid for a Buck 119 Special online.

Undertow82 said:
If you want a good knife dealer in our area, go see David at Tactical Edge Knives in Mukilteo. He sells stuff at near internet prices and he has Benchmade, Spyderco, SOG and some ESEE as well. I think he's one of the dealers waiting for some product.

http://www.edgeoftheknife.com/Default.aspx
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Definitely going to check that place out for sure. Thanks for the tip. :thumbup:
 
That guy is really not fit to sell anything. I've never heard of selling something at a set price because the manufacturer said so. Every retailer has the choice to make their own profit margin. I picked up a new knife last week and when I called my order in, I spoke to the owner. He cut his listed price and gave me free shipping just for being a new customer. I'll be buying from him again.
 
Rule #1 of salesmanship--Know thy product. Rule #2--Don't BS anything. Someone who knows you're lying WILL call you out on it, and it it's going to hurt business and badly.

If you can't sell a product without lying about it, you either need to learn more, talk less, or sell something else. :eek:
 
I would add this, ESEE, or any company, can set the price of their product. For example, I am a huge Oakley fan, but the retailer may only adjust the price by $5. They do this so that the customer can be sure that, wherever they find the model they are after, the price will be the same. When you see a discount on Oakley, they have either authorized that discount or it is a 3rd party seller (not authorized). Nike does this on some of their shoes as well. It is a fairly common business model for high end products.

I mentioned this quite a while ago when ESEE was debating publishing "average retail pricing". Jeff responded to my post directly saying that they had no interest in that practice. That is how I knew the guy was lying. The other issue was that their prices are obviously way above "full retail" anyway. A RC-4 was $190, a RC-3 clip point was $200!
 
suchmuchfun said:
I would add this, ESEE, or any company, can set the price of their product. For example, I am a huge Oakley fan, but the retailer may only adjust the price by $5. They do this so that the customer can be sure that, wherever they find the model they are after, the price will be the same. When you see a discount on Oakley, they have either authorized that discount or it is a 3rd party seller (not authorized). Nike does this on some of their shoes as well. It is a fairly common business model for high end products.

I mentioned this quite a while ago when ESEE was debating publishing "average retail pricing". Jeff responded to my post directly saying that they had no interest in that practice. That is how I knew the guy was lying. The other issue was that their prices are obviously way above "full retail" anyway. A RC-4 was $190, a RC-3 clip point was $200!
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We don't care about his prices or whether or not he thinks I'm Satan. We care about the lying. Nothing more. I probably wouldn't like this guy and would probably say he's an asshole but that's just an opinion, but if he or his employees are trying to cover their high prices by lying about our policies, then it goes against our policy of trying to make sure the customer is always told the truth. BTW: he is right about me, I am an asshole - especially to dishonest, untruthful bastards. And it doesn't matter if they are a dealer of ours or not. Even in they spend 10k a month, if they lie about our policies then we would rather them buy and sell someone else's knives.
 
In those situation I always say I would love to support local business but I can get the same thing on line for ____. Now with the state of phones, I add would you like to see three online dealers all that sell the same thing for a fraction of the price? Of course that usually results in them saying they can't match online prices. So much for local business, a few bucks more I understand but when it is 40 or 50 percent more, the hell with them. On top of that this guy is just not honest.

I use to encourter that pricing crap with camping stuff where the local store charge full retail price. But at least they don't lie about it.
 
Almost all the brick and mortar stores where I live know nothing outside of their product and most of them are ill informed of even that
 
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