Tips for Purchasing a Mule Team!

[TazKristi]

Hey, everyone:
With the upcoming release of the MT29P Z-Max PM Mule, I thought to share some tips to hopefully improve your shopping experience.

If you have an account on Spyderco.com - Log into it ahead of time and ensure that your billing and shipping addresses and contact information are correct and current.

If you do not have an account on Spyderco.com - Register NOW and ensure your information is correct and current.

If your Spyderco.com billing address does not match the billing address associated with your card, your purchase may be declined – that is something outside of our control. Even a simple typo of one character can cause a declined transaction.

On the day of the release, log into your account a few minutes earlier than the release time (09:00 am MDT).

Have your payment information ready to enter. We do not store credit card information on our site, but if you are comfortable storing it in your browser, I highly recommend doing so ahead of time. You might also take a minute to call your card company (the day before the release) and let them know you will be making a purchase on Spyderco.com. This can prevent any confusion about potential fraud during the transaction.

If there are other items you want to purchase at the same time, add those to your cart a few minutes before the release. This will allow you to go straight to checkout once you have added the Mule to your cart.

Do you use a VPN? You might want to disable it during the release. VPNs definitely have their place and can be a valuable tool. Unfortunately, a shocking number of VPN IPs are associated with spammers and fraudsters. Those IPs can be blocked from our site if we have encountered fraud or issues in the past. If you’d like to check the status of your IP before the release, check https://www.ipqualityscore.com/free-ip- ... y-vpn-test.

And finally, if possible, ensure you are connected with a stable internet connection with the fastest connection speed possible. We know this is not a possibility for everyone, but the truth is, the faster and more stable your connection, the easier it is to shop during popular releases.

We have done everything that we can do on our end to improve stability and speed, but there are a lot of variables outside of our control. My hope is that these tips will help improve your experience.

Thanks much!

Kristi

[AlexRus]

Thank you Kristi :)

[standy99]

Thanks Kristi

Have found cutting and pasting Credit Card numbers doesn’t always work.
Had that issue with seconds sale and once I put my card number in it worked ok.

[curlyhairedboy]

We appreciate the tips and transparency!

[hijinxtx]

Thanks for the tips Kristi!
I'll do them and hope to get a mule!

[yablanowitz]

Dang! Gave away all my secrets. How am I supposed to get one now?

[JRinFL]

Good tips, now they will sell out even faster.

[WilliamMunny]

Looking forward to getting in on this one but I will be traveling in Guatemala City for work that day. We will see how it goes if I can get one.

[mrdavidkolds]

This is one of the old days are were better than the new days. I didn’t have to compete with a thousand other people to buy a knife. Grumpy old man.

[wisby]

Hang on - is the knife a mule and the users of the mule are the mule team? Or is it that the knives form a team of mules? I always thought the people are the mule team (as in “go team”) but is Kristi calling the knives the mule team?

[archangel]

Hang on - is the knife a mule and the users of the mule are the mule team? Or is it that the knives form a team of mules? I always thought the people are the mule team (as in “go team”) but is Kristi calling the knives the mule team?

A group of THINGS can never be a TEAM. You'd rather call that a SET. TEAMS consist of PEOPLE. But: does it really matter? I don't think so. :)

Edit: I think it's like this: the knife itself is a Mule. The whole let's call it Spyderco project is called Mule Team. And so are the people involved in it, on both sides of the fence. :)

[AlexRus]

Thanks

[Gtscotty]

Dang! Gave away all my secrets. How am I supposed to get one now?

Yeah really, all my tricks laid bare, at least the one-per rule on this one should keep it stock for an extra minute or two.

[defenestrate]

A group of THINGS can never be a TEAM. You'd rather call that a SET. TEAMS consist of PEOPLE. But: does it really matter? I don't think so. :)

Edit: I think it's like this: the knife itself is a Mule. The whole let's call it Spyderco project is called Mule Team. And so are the people involved in it, on both sides of the fence. :)

Historic usage would disagree. Mule team was a common term back when mules were a common mode of transport. The most well-known brand of Borax in the US also is based on this term.a 20-mule team (usually 18 mules and two horses, apparently) was capable of carrying large amounts of cargo over land before effective motor vehicle transportation became a thing.

A little info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-mule_team

The borax company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-mule_team

(it's good for laundry and pest control)

[archangel]

Thanks, I did not know that (obviously). So Teams consist of people or mules. :)

[Jefke]

Have your payment information ready to enter. We do not store credit card information on our site, but if you are comfortable storing it in your browser, I highly recommend doing so ahead of time. You might also take a minute to call your card company (the day before the release) and let them know you will be making a purchase on Spyderco.com. This can prevent any confusion about potential fraud during the transaction.

Kristi, this is not going to work for me. I tried ordering from the Spyderco website earlier this week and my transaction was declined. When I called the card company they said that it was not declined because of potential fraud. The error code they see for the transaction means that the transaction is not secure enough. The way I understand it is that the chip on my card MUST be read for the transaction to succeed. And it seems that this is a hard requirement for every credit card issued in my country (I might be wrong though, it's hard to find someone who can answer that question with confidence). So bottom line, I (or any of my friends or family) cannot order anything from the Spyderco website.

Do you see any other way I could make a payment? I really hope so because otherwise this will be the third mule I will miss :mad:
This whole experience is getting really frustrating for me. This has been going on for several months now (at least since the seconds sale) and nobody I talk to can fix it.

I hope I don't have to resort to ebay for a chance on getting MT29.

[Evil D]

You guys think buying limited knives are hard? Try buying a video card these days. I tried with a release yesterday, I literally didn't even SEE them in stock anywhere, they were "announced" as out of stock the instant they hit websites. Then minutes later they're all on eBay for 3x MSRP.

[JRinFL]

Thanks, I did not know that (obviously). So Teams consist of people or mules. :)

And networking cards in servers. Teamed network interface cards have been around for a very long time.

[JRinFL]

You guys think buying limited knives are hard? Try buying a video card these days. I tried with a release yesterday, I literally didn't even SEE them in stock anywhere, they were "announced" as out of stock the instant they hit websites. Then minutes later they're all on eBay for 3x MSRP.

Only if you want the latest and greatest. The flippers have EVERY market covered now, from shoes to video cards to knives. It does not matter what the item is, as they scour social media and enthusiast boards to find out the latest hotness.

[TazKristi]

Kristi, this is not going to work for me. I tried ordering from the Spyderco website earlier this week and my transaction was declined. When I called the card company they said that it was not declined because of potential fraud. The error code they see for the transaction means that the transaction is not secure enough. The way I understand it is that the chip on my card MUST be read for the transaction to succeed. And it seems that this is a hard requirement for every credit card issued in my country (I might be wrong though, it's hard to find someone who can answer that question with confidence). So bottom line, I (or any of my friends or family) cannot order anything from the Spyderco website.

Do you see any other way I could make a payment? I really hope so because otherwise this will be the third mule I will miss :mad:
This whole experience is getting really frustrating for me. This has been going on for several months now (at least since the seconds sale) and nobody I talk to can fix it.

I hope I don't have to resort to ebay for a chance on getting MT29.

Hi, Jefke:
I'm sorry, I don't have a great answer for you. I know we have other customers from your country who successfully purchase through our website. I'm honestly not aware of a website that has the ability to read the chip on your card - that typically requires the card and an appropriate terminal to read it.

The only alternative that I can think of would be for you to get a Visa or Mastercard gift card that you can use for online purchases. Unfortunately, there is no higher security that we can implement, and unfortunately, to my knowledge, you are the only person experiencing this issue. I'm sorry, but I do believe it is an issue with your card company. Hopefully, they or your bank can give you an option that will work online.

Kristi