2019 seconds sale

[yablanowitz]

My thought is, they are right to remind people. I've seen dealers grab whole baskets of knives then sit in a corner waiting until the purchase limit is lifted. I've seen people grab a dozen of one model when they only intend to buy one (if that) so they can horse-trade, which means that unless you are shopping in other people's baskets you'll likely miss out on what you were looking for. I've seen people drive in at 8:00 a.m. and get in line ahead of people who have been there all night, just slide in while the campers are getting out of their cold-weather gear.

[araneae]

I haven't been active lately, but I'm still a big Spyderco fan and wish I could make it to the sale this year (I'll still be in the Northeast at college during the sale).

I noticed this in the email sent today:

No pre-purchase trading – Why would someone “hoard” a product? So they can leverage their temporary possession of it to “horse trade” with other hoarders before they buy. That’s not fair to anyone. If you’d like to trade with other shoppers, do it after you’ve paid for all your purchases.

This is news to me, as pre-purchase trading was a major activity at the seconds sales I went to. It was a lot of fun, and usually both parties ended happier than before. It also contributed (positively, IMHO) to the overall excitement and atmosphere of the first hour of the sale.

Thoughts?

I agree more or less. I don't think this will stop hoarding, people in the first group and the next couple groups, are gonna pile the basket full of maybes then sort. The dudes that had 12 of a model in their basket and spent 30 or 60 minutes repeatedly opening each in every possible manner to find the "best" one create more of a hoarding problem. I made trades both previous sales and was happy. I even traded to get another forumite at the sale a model they missed out on.

I'm much more bothered by line cutting which has also happened both years. I'm there at around 3 or 4 am freezing my rear off in a camp chair while 2 dudes show up at 7 and get in line with a buddy standing just ahead of me, not cool. Especially as I'm coming from out of state and didn't pack a tent/propane heater/etc. Even worse, last time it became obvious from conversation they didn't know much, but we're coming to flip knives and their buddy was telling them what to look for to make the most. I loved watching them go in a group before me...

[sal]

There are more horses asses than there are horses.

sal

[yablanowitz]

Having someone join his buddies already in line is annoying enough, but having a local show up at 8:00 and walk in with the campers, ending up ahead of me after I'd driven seven hours and been in line for thirty hours (yes, I drove up Thursday after work and stayed all day Friday) made it really hard to control my temper. Out of respect for Sal and the SpyderCrew I didn't make a scene, but man I wanted to. If I had been able to get permission to use their name and logo, I'd have had "Seconds Sale Overnight Camper" challenge coins made up and handed them out to the first hundred people to show up the next year.

[araneae]

It might be nice if there were signs outside along the sidewalk stating "No holding spaces for or joining parties already in the line. People abusing this policy will be barred from the sale."

Too bad there are so many asses in the world. You'd basically need an employee outside to police this, but signs could go a long way.

[jabba359]

Well, just got my flight out there. As long as nothing pressing comes up work-wise, I should be attending as well after missing the last couple years.

I will say, in past years line cutters were my biggest issue. The last time I went a guy showed up Saturday morning and tried to cut in front of a bunch of us that had been there since Thursday afternoon. We weren't having any of that and sent him on his way, but he managed to cut in somewhere further back in line. The employee manning the door (sorry, his name escapes me now) told us that if people tried to cut in front of us to just let him know and he'd deny them entry.

As for item hoarding, I didn't really observe many issues with that. Some people would grab a couple to sort through later, but most of us weren't grabbing basket fulls of knives. As for trading, I found that to be part of the fun, finding a knife I knew someone else I had camped out with wanted or getting a knife I wanted, but trading for something else I wanted more. Of course, this was done within reason and not just by grabbing up as much stock as possible.

[koenigsegg]

Had a place booked and money saved, work denied my days off though.

I saw some hoarding guy had all the good knives luckily I was at the right place at the right time and got his tray after he was done looking so I was able to snag the ones he thought weren't good enough even though they were almost perfect.

[steelcity16]

Had a place booked and money saved, work denied my days off though.

I saw some hoarding guy had all the good knives luckily I was at the right place at the right time and got his tray after he was done looking so I was able to snag the ones he thought weren't good enough even though they were almost perfect.

Couple of questions for those who have participated in the past.

1. What is the ratio of current production models to discontinued production models to sprints/exclusives?

2. What is the typical discount compared to MAP pricing?

3. How many knives in total would you guess are available?

[jabba359]

Had a place booked and money saved, work denied my days off though.

I saw some hoarding guy had all the good knives luckily I was at the right place at the right time and got his tray after he was done looking so I was able to snag the ones he thought weren't good enough even though they were almost perfect.

Couple of questions for those who have participated in the past.

1. What is the ratio of current production models to discontinued production models to sprints/exclusives?

2. What is the typical discount compared to MAP pricing?

3. How many knives in total would you guess are available?

1. They're mostly going to be models that have been produced in the last couple years, with the majority being regular production models with a mix of recent sprint runs and some scattered long out of production knives. I've even stumbled upon a sprint/exclusive or two before they had been released.

2. I seem to recall the regular, brand new factory seconds were around 50% off MAP, while the best bargains were the used factory seconds (with "used" being anywhere from beater to bought by a customer, opened and sent back without ever cutting a thing), which were more like 75-90% off MSRP (sorry, I'm too lazy to figure out what MAP at the time was and do the math, so this number is off MSRP). In 2017 (the last time I went), they also had discontinued factory firsts in boxes for 75-80% off MSRP.

3. Thousands and thousands and thousands.

[koenigsegg]

Couple of questions for those who have participated in the past.

1. What is the ratio of current production models to discontinued production models to sprints/exclusives?

2. What is the typical discount compared to MAP pricing?

3. How many knives in total would you guess are available?

I went in 2017, I was pretty late in line so I think a lot had been picked through so try to be in the first hundred or so.
At first I was having a hard time finding much besides really standard and lower cost stuff. Then one of the staff brought back a tray someone had filled with 50 or 75 knives to pick through. So we picked through it before it went back out and that's where I found most of my good finds.

1. I think I was too late to the party maybe for a lot of the better exclusives. I did see Brown S35VN PM2, those came out that summer. There were some saber ground manix with the clear plastic ball bearing cage and then a mix of mostly Golden made folders. They had a giant stack of kitchen knives for sale. My favorite part was the discontinued sales.

2. Some discounts were better than others.
Advocate 47% off map
Maxamet 60% off map
M4 50% off map
NIB Lil Lionspy 60% off map
NIB Pygmy 70% off map

3. Guessing the number of knives available would be hard... They had trays of knives very tightly packed in the tray, lined all the way around the inside of the store on the display cases and two rings of tables in the middle with trays on them then stacks of kitchen knives and another table or two with discontinued knives. Here's a video from their FB page hope that works lol https://www.facebook.com/SpydercoFactor ... 627339141/

[steelcity16]

Holy cow that video! :eek: So many knives!!!

I hope they have someone with a metal detector checking people as they exit. Seems like it would be too easy to pocket those blades with all of the chaos going on.

[koenigsegg]

Holy cow that video! :eek: So many knives!!!

I hope they have someone with a metal detector checking people as they exit. Seems like it would be too easy to pocket those blades with all of the chaos going on.

If you go get me a K390 Pm2! haha

[TkoK83Spy]

Holy cow that video! :eek: So many knives!!!

I hope they have someone with a metal detector checking people as they exit. Seems like it would be too easy to pocket those blades with all of the chaos going on.

I was thinking the same thing, and geeeeeeez...all it takes is a few rowdy, angry people and that could be a VERY dangerous environment.

[steelcity16]

Holy cow that video! :eek: So many knives!!!

I hope they have someone with a metal detector checking people as they exit. Seems like it would be too easy to pocket those blades with all of the chaos going on.

If you go get me a K390 Pm2! haha

Man, I wish. I have about 17 years until the kids are (hopefully) out of the house before I could even propose such a trip without getting looked at like i'm insane!!

And good call on the K390 PM2 and Para 3. It would be nice to grab all of the BBS exclusives for fair prices! :rolleyes:

[yablanowitz]

Holy cow that video! :eek: So many knives!!!

I hope they have someone with a metal detector checking people as they exit. Seems like it would be too easy to pocket those blades with all of the chaos going on.

Never have had in the past, it's all on the honor system. Yes, there are a LOT of knives. They keep bringing out trays throughout the day, so even in late afternoon you can find good stuff. Two sales ago I was looking for a CF Para2 Sprint for someone. The guy with me found exactly one in the morning, and I talked him into giving it up. We went back in the afternoon and asked if anyone had seen another one, and in two minutes people turned up seven of them for us.

[ihped1]

If anyone comes across any G10 UKPKs or other variants I would be forever grateful.

[JRinFL]

There are more horses asses than there are horses.

sal

So very true and this is why I avoid sales like this. It is too depressing to see people drop to the lowest level just to get a deal.

[jabba359]

There are more horses asses than there are horses.

sal

So very true and this is why I avoid sales like this. It is too depressing to see people drop to the lowest level just to get a deal.

To tell you the truth, the majority of the people at the sale are super cool and I've enjoyed my trip there both times. There is the occasional idiot or two, but I'd run into people like that even if I stayed at home and I'm certainly not going to let them determine what I do with my day.

[yablanowitz]

Yeah, the percentage of A**holes is pretty low. I run into a lot more of them at work, but there I get paid to put up with them. You go there, have fun, share your passion with hundreds of like-minded people, get great deals on knives (often on things I would otherwise never buy) and in the end it's that one stinker that sticks in your mind. Maybe this year that person will stay home (I say that every year).

[TazKristi]

Hey, everyone:
I want to clarify the "hoarding" note. We aren't saying that folks can't take some time to sort through products to decide what they ultimately want to purchase. We encourage that (and that's one of the reasons we can't offer the Seconds Sale online).

It came to our attention that some people were taking all of one model with the sole intention of forcing others to trade with them. Essentially, holding inventory hostage to get others to find what they really wanted and using the items they were "hoarding" as leverage over others. The scenario was one of, "I'll let you have one of these IF you find me this." It was not with good intentions, or the thought to check out what they were holding to find the best one. It was solely for leverage over other customers, and that's not fair, nor is it in the spirit of the Seconds Sale.

We'll be closely monitoring things to ensure fairness to everyone who takes the time to visit us during the Seconds Sale. It's intended to be a positive experience for everyone. We can't guarantee that you'll get what you hope for, but we are doing our measured best to make sure your experience is fair, honest, and enjoyable.

We know a majority of people did not nefariously hoard products, but it doesn't take many to ruin what should be a good event for everyone involved (including the Spyderco Crew).

We truly appreciate everyone who comes to see us - those who travel from near and far. Thanks much for understanding and for helping us ensure a great Seconds Sale this year.

Kristi