Purchase limits on Sprints/Exlusives

[aesmith]

Repeating popular Sprints would be one option. I expect the practicalities of production scheduling would mean a Sprint couldn't be repeated immediately, but if prospective purchasers knew that a rapidly sold out Sprint was going to come round again then that would take some of the heat out of the feeding frenzy.

[sabb8pro2]

Hahaha. You just asked a manufacturer who's business model is to make items to sell for profit to limit their sales. That deserves another Hahaha.

This was my first thought. My second thought was that spyderco doesn’t sell their sprints/ exclusives for the most part. Dealers do, and spyderco shouldn’t dictate how dealers conduct their sales.

[Sharp Guy]

Repeating popular Sprints would be one option. I expect the practicalities of production scheduling would mean a Sprint couldn't be repeated immediately, but if prospective purchasers knew that a rapidly sold out Sprint was going to come round again then that would take some of the heat out of the feeding frenzy.

Then it wouldn't be a Sprint run

[JRinFL]

The reality is that the very few "bad actors" here will still game the system and get more than the limit allows. What we really do not want is for Spyderco to become "sales police" and lay down the law like some sort of cutlery Judge Dredd.

The only way to stop flippers is to not buy from them, but there is a ready market (you know who you are) who makes their efforts profitable.

[w3tnz]

Most of the good dealers do this already, place a limit 1-2 per household etc, people may find ways around it but I appreciate the dealers that try make it fair for everyone. If they are having trouble with sales of a particular item they can always remove the limit at their discretion.
If you want to stop the flippers stop supporting them, the secondary market is not all bad, people sell knives for a lot of reasons but the gouger's are pretty easy to spot. Sometimes you just can't get what you want, at least at the price you expect to pay for it.

[Evil D]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

[koenigsegg]

I say double the sprint runs on known quick sellers like para 3 and pm2 and leave it how it is for everything else.Dealer Exclusives can do whatever they want since they pony up the cash. But it would be in their best interest to be allowed to order double an exclusive run for the para 3 and pm2. Any other model and i think you are taking too high of a risk (maybe throw the shaman in there too)

I think this is the only solution. Telling dealers they have to buy more would cause far too many issues.

If I recall correctly, Spyderco has already increased their minimum number to 1200 pieces for exclusives.

Sprints are 1200, but I think exclusives are a little more open. There have been recent runs of 600 or so pieces, for a few exclusives. It's possible those are just split into 2 or more batches, from the same 1200 run though.

If I remember correctly St nicks lil native and kj lime para were both 400 pieces

[Gamecock]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

I get that, but retailers putting a one knife limit in these releases that they know will go right away would be a good move. That prevents the casual flipper from just grabbing two in the first minute with the intent to put the second straight on eBay, and preventing other buyers from getting their own. I don’t think Spyderco needs to put on any more restrictions (wish they didn’t have MAP), but it would be a good move by retailers with these knives.

[Albatross]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

I get that, but retailers putting a one knife limit in these releases that they know will go right away would be a good move. That prevents the casual flipper from just grabbing two in the first minute with the intent to put the second straight on eBay, and preventing other buyers from getting their own. I don’t think Spyderco needs to put on any more restrictions (wish they didn’t have MAP), but it would be a good move by retailers with these knives.

Not really. All it takes is a friend or two to get around the limit. There really isn't a way to stop flippers, beyond stopping their sales, by refusing to buy from them. I've had people buy a knife for me before, to circumvent the limit, so I could have a backup. It's not difficult at all, so long as you and some friends are available as the sale goes live. I've seen ebay sellers, with way more(as many as 10) than the limit on certain exclusives, selling for double the original price. Seems like this has been a strategy for a while. If anything, it almost seems like the number of flippers is increasing, not decreasing.

[Evil D]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

I get that, but retailers putting a one knife limit in these releases that they know will go right away would be a good move. That prevents the casual flipper from just grabbing two in the first minute with the intent to put the second straight on eBay, and preventing other buyers from getting their own. I don’t think Spyderco needs to put on any more restrictions (wish they didn’t have MAP), but it would be a good move by retailers with these knives.

I just use my email/home address, plus my buddy's who isn't a knife guy, my mom's, my brother's, etc etc and I still buy as many as I can get my hands on. It's a minor hurdle at best.

[Gamecock]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

I get that, but retailers putting a one knife limit in these releases that they know will go right away would be a good move. That prevents the casual flipper from just grabbing two in the first minute with the intent to put the second straight on eBay, and preventing other buyers from getting their own. I don’t think Spyderco needs to put on any more restrictions (wish they didn’t have MAP), but it would be a good move by retailers with these knives.

I just use my email/home address, plus my buddy's who isn't a knife guy, my mom's, my brother's, etc etc and I still buy as many as I can get my hands on. It's a minor hurdle at best.

I’m sure you do that for your personal collection and for friends, and that’s great. Any knife person who does that for the purpose of flipping them right away, taking away the ability of those who want to buy them that day, really is a lowlife IMO. I realize you can’t police it, but to go to those lengths with intent to resell right away...is a sad way to make a few bucks.

[Evil D]

There's no way of preventing knives from being flipped. Even if we HAD to be collector's club members, and we could ONLY get the knives directly from Spyderco and ONLY that one knife with our number on it, there's no law that says you can't turn around and sell your knife. It would take Spyderco having a hard stance on it to the point that they ban the sale of future knives to anyone caught selling theirs, and that's a bit ridiculous and unlikely.

The reality is, someone is out there buying knives at crazy inflated prices and until those people stop buying the flippers won't stop flipping.

I get that, but retailers putting a one knife limit in these releases that they know will go right away would be a good move. That prevents the casual flipper from just grabbing two in the first minute with the intent to put the second straight on eBay, and preventing other buyers from getting their own. I don’t think Spyderco needs to put on any more restrictions (wish they didn’t have MAP), but it would be a good move by retailers with these knives.

I just use my email/home address, plus my buddy's who isn't a knife guy, my mom's, my brother's, etc etc and I still buy as many as I can get my hands on. It's a minor hurdle at best.

I’m sure you do that for your personal collection and for friends, and that’s great. Any knife person who does that for the purpose of flipping them right away, taking away the ability of those who want to buy them that day, really is a lowlife IMO. I realize you can’t police it, but to go to those lengths with intent to resell right away...is a sad way to make a few bucks.

I didn't mean I do that myself, just saying that's exactly how people get around the limit right now. Most have a 2 per house limit but I've seen guys posting pictures of more than that.

[FeistyKat]

I think this is the only solution. Telling dealers they have to buy more would cause far too many issues.

I think we need to go on the offensive against flippers. We should taking turns "buying" their knives but not paying for them.

It would require dummy eBay accounts, though...

[StuntZombie]

I think this is the only solution. Telling dealers they have to buy more would cause far too many issues.

I think we need to go on the offensive against flippers. We should taking turns "buying" their knives but not paying for them.

It would require dummy eBay accounts, though...

Seems more like that would just be a minor inconvenience for them. It might hold them up for a couple days at the most, before they could just resist the knife. Best would be for people to just not buy them from flippers at all.

As the Stones said, you can't always get what you want.

[Albatross]

I think this is the only solution. Telling dealers they have to buy more would cause far too many issues.

I think we need to go on the offensive against flippers. We should taking turns "buying" their knives but not paying for them.

It would require dummy eBay accounts, though...

Both Ebay and PayPal have protections for buyers and sellers.

[araneae]

I started a thread on this a couple months ago. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=86240&start=60

Per Sal, Spyderco is looking at doing larger runs, hopefully they double the number on popular models. This is the only real way to reduce flipping. It's basic supply and demand. More product will help meet the demand of knife users who want to get these knives. More supply will mean less people have to buy on the secondary market. More supply means flippers have less incentive to hoard knives for profit. More supply means dealers sell more knives and that makes them happy too. I fully support dealers limiting to 1 knife per person, flippers can still get around it, but at least it slows them down.

[aesmith]

Repeating popular Sprints would be one option. I expect the practicalities of production scheduling would mean a Sprint couldn't be repeated immediately, but if prospective purchasers knew that a rapidly sold out Sprint was going to come round again then that would take some of the heat out of the feeding frenzy.

Then it wouldn't be a Sprint run

I understand that Spyderco don't at the moment repeat Sprints. But does it absolutely have to be that way?

[Larry_Mott]

Repeating popular Sprints would be one option. I expect the practicalities of production scheduling would mean a Sprint couldn't be repeated immediately, but if prospective purchasers knew that a rapidly sold out Sprint was going to come round again then that would take some of the heat out of the feeding frenzy.

Then it wouldn't be a Sprint run

I understand that Spyderco don't at the moment repeat Sprints. But does it absolutely have to be that way?

Yes. Or don't do them at all. Look at Triumph motorcycles TFC (Triumph factory custom) models. Theyre 750 pcs/model. What would the appeal be if they did another run, then another again etc.

[kennethsime]

I like the increased minimum order, especially for models like the Z-Wear Shaman. That goes a long way to meeting demand, I'm sure. I would also prefer if popular sprints were repeated.

Personally, the exclusivity doesn't do anything for me - I don't care how many other people have K390 Ranger Green Para Military 2s, if you keep it in production I'll probably buy them for life. I know that's an exclusive, not a Sprint, but hope you get my drift. Similarly, the Cruwear Shaman would probably still be selling if Spyderco was still making it, and I would probably have one.

I understand that Spyderco serves collectors, and that to some collectors the exclusivity adds value, which adds prestige - but this serves no purpose for me, as a user. Also, I get that capacity is a thing, but the Z-Wear Shaman seems to indicate that there is room to repeat production of sprints if they prove popular enough.

So I say if there's enough demand, go ahead and make more.

[Sharp Guy]

Repeating popular Sprints would be one option. I expect the practicalities of production scheduling would mean a Sprint couldn't be repeated immediately, but if prospective purchasers knew that a rapidly sold out Sprint was going to come round again then that would take some of the heat out of the feeding frenzy.

Then it wouldn't be a Sprint run

I understand that Spyderco don't at the moment repeat Sprints. But does it absolutely have to be that way?

A Sprint run by definition is one run of that particular configuration and done. Sure they could do additional runs but then it would be a limited production run and not a sprint