Spyderco Forums

I have a suggestion.

All chip in on the cost for a flight from Manchester UK to a knife friendly state as well as the cost of my train fare to the airport etc.

Organise a group buy of knives from a US retailer and have them sent to my hotel room.

I will collect and them post when I get back. Heck, I am sure I could hugely undercut the European prices AND get a free holiday into the bargain.

That is the level of discrepancy... ;-)

I

To illustrate the problem, I just saw on my Facebook timeline an advertising from a Portuguese shop: Tenacious at 74.99€ (the price some weeks ago was 50 something).
I don't know if you really understand the problem here, the Tenacious is supposed to be an affordable knife, on the same level as an ESEE Zancudo (can be bought in Europe for ~35€) or a Kershaw CQC (30-40€) or a nice SAK (for 75€ you buy a great, great SAK) or a Leatherman folder (~30€ in a brick and mortar shop). So, it's not all american brands that are overcharged like this. It's not taxes: as pointed out already taxes didn't increase overnight (nor in the past months or years).

The General wrote:I have a suggestion.

All chip in on the cost for a flight from Manchester UK to a knife friendly state as well as the cost of my train fare to the airport etc.

Organise a group buy of knives from a US retailer and have them sent to my hotel room.

I will collect and them post when I get back. Heck, I am sure I could hugely undercut the European prices AND get a free holiday into the bargain.

That is the level of discrepancy... ;-)

I

I thought the same already, it seems low-cost flights are going to be introduced during this year to the USA, might worth to go on holidays over there on holidays and bring some knives.

Curious what information you have that suggests low cost flights are going to be introduced to the USA?

The General wrote:Curious what information you have that suggests low cost flights are going to be introduced to the USA?

I think it's bound to happen soon as tourism in the US took a nose dive after Trump became president.

Back on topic, I agree that there is a difference between constantly high prices (Germany) and the sudden jump in prices.
I don't mind paying a markup, of course you have to account shipping and customs.

Just recently bought a urban k390 and a 20cv Mule including scales from the states, cost me about 270€+ including taxes.
Asides from not even being able to buy mules over here (okay) it was just cheaper that way. And seriously that is just weird.

And another disappointed Spydie-nut from Spain. I have bough only one (my first one) Spyderco at a local shop, it was the Resilience and it cost me $70 (64 Euros) at the time.
Screws from the clip were loose and rusted, and the blade was not centered. But I fell in love, and here I am 12 Spydercos later, all gotten from US sellers.



Even when I had to pay Taxes + Import fees + VAT it was cheaper than buying from B&M stores here.
It's really sad and maddening, and te reason why I haven't acquired yet half of the Spyderco models I'd really love to try out.
I wish things changed soon and an European distribution center was made.

I am gonna sell my house, buy a foot locker full of Spydies and move to Europe and retire. Anybody got a couch I can crash on for a while while I unload them.

Just kidding. :D

bearfacedkiller wrote:I am gonna sell my house, buy a foot locker full of Spydies and move to Europe and retire. Anybody got a couch I can crash on for a while while I unload them.

Just kidding. :D

Yeah sure, we've got a nice couch, just gimme a call :D
And while you're at it, make sure to bring a few german cars back to germany, they are usually quite a bit more expensive over here than in the US. No joke. Anyway, back to Spyderco - as others already mentioned, the Prices went up quite a bit. My first plain S30V PM2 from a german retailer was 120€ total. Now Boker, which i think is the biggest retailer for Spyderco in germany charges 231€ for the same knife. I think the retailers/distributors are to blame for the price increase. Boker wants to stay competitive here to the high quality products from Spyderco and so they push prices. You can get much better deals from smaller retailers. Best Price for a PM2 i've seen lately has been 165€. Another Problem is availability. Prices for new models usually go through the roof and settle a bit lower after a year or so. What's really annoying for me personally is that you can't get any nice deals for discontinued models. I usually try to grab some disco'd Spydercos from knifecenter once a year, but here the prices for those just seem to go even higher. And as someone else mentioned before, it's not only Spyderco. It seems prices for ZTs or CRKs for example are a little closer to retail prices in the US though.

bearfacedkiller wrote:I am gonna sell my house, buy a foot locker full of Spydies and move to Europe and retire. Anybody got a couch I can crash on for a while while I unload them.

Just kidding. :D

Got a nice spare room with a double bed- you know, in case :D

The General wrote:Curious what information you have that suggests low cost flights are going to be introduced to the USA?

I first saw it on Portuguese news, I google just now in English and found this:
http://www.independent.ie/life/travel/t ... 61081.html

About the topic I think most has been said. If it's the distributors that are to blame I don't know how a big knife shop doesn't grab the opportunity to sell at normal prices (I'm not even talking about discounts...). Or maybe it's not the distributors fault, don't know.

I think a lot of it has to do with currency, a couple of years ago 1 euro = $1,40 and today it's 1 euro = $1,08. Obviously the distributors are having to pay more to change currencies and to buy knives, therefore they've jacked up the prices to maintain profits at the same levels as before.

Maybe it might help if Spyderco could accept payments in euro's and release a price list in euro's.

There's also the E-Business program in Estonia, Spyderco can set up an EU business online without leaving the US but still benefit from full market access.

Now that Canada and the EU have made the CETA free trade deal, I'm wondering if it would be best to order from Canada in the future since when the Canadians ratify it, import duties will disappear overnight. Maybe Spyderco can supply their dealers in the EU from Canada :p

Johnnie1801 wrote:I think a lot of it has to do with currency, a couple of years ago 1 euro = $1,40 and today it's 1 euro = $1,08. Obviously the distributors are having to pay more to change currencies and to buy knives, therefore they've jacked up the prices to maintain profits at the same levels as before.

Maybe it might help if Spyderco could accept payments in euro's and release a price list in euro's.

There's also the E-Business program in Estonia, Spyderco can set up an EU business online without leaving the US but still benefit from full market access.

Now that Canada and the EU have made the CETA free trade deal, I'm wondering if it would be best to order from Canada in the future since when the Canadians ratify it, import duties will disappear overnight. Maybe Spyderco can supply their dealers in the EU from Canada :p

If CETA is anything like NAFTA, it will only apply to Canada made goods. So all the Spydercos will still be the subject of import taxes. Unless, unless, they open a factory in Canada.

Johnnie1801 wrote:I think a lot of it has to do with currency, a couple of years ago 1 euro = $1,40 and today it's 1 euro = $1,08.

As has been mentioned many time on this thread, the change is not to do with exchange rates. The prices have jumped up sharply in UK and Germany even when converting back to USD. For example standard model Urban LW, UK price = $98.

tonijedi wrote:About the topic I think most has been said. If it's the distributors that are to blame I don't know how a big knife shop doesn't grab the opportunity to sell at normal prices (I'm not even talking about discounts...). Or maybe it's not the distributors fault, don't know.

If I understand correctly Spyderco won't deal direct with dealers in the UK at least, only the importer/distributor. I can sort of see why as it keeps a single point of management for service and warranty, however as a monopoly it removed competition.

aesmith wrote:If I understand correctly Spyderco won't deal direct with dealers in the UK at least, only the importer/distributor. I can sort of see why as it keeps a single point of management for service and warranty, however as a monopoly it removed competition.

If that's the case that would explain why the prices rose sharply and in many countries at the same time (smaller shops in countries countries like Portugal probably have to buy from a distributor from the UK or Germany).
Still hoping this will be reversed, I'm expecting to be a father soon and knife budget is at a historical minimum :rolleyes: :D :D

Just possibly pouring some salt in an already open wound.

But how about a group buying NGO, exclusive to spyderco, for the european free trady area.

Think about it in a Massdrop kind of fashion.
The group deals with spyderco directly, less middlemen, us-eu shipping will be in bulk (so cheaper) and all administrative add on costs are minimalized.

+ since I guess a lot of the members would be real spydernuts, sprint runs will be more easy to get a hand on.

Bonus to spyderco themselves: they get to keep their consumerbase (and may even extend) in Europe, and their net profit stays the same.

Win - win