Seconds Sale 2020

[steelcity16]

Here's my suggestion for an online seconds sale. Just throwing this out there...

List all of the knives at 25% of MSRP (or 30% of MSRP or 15% or whatever the average is) regardless of the defects. You just go to the page of the knife model you want and buy it not knowing what you are getting. Defects are not listed on the page aside from maybe a generic disclaimer on all pages stating examples of what defects may entail. You just buy a knife at the discounted price and you get what you get.

Make the minimum order $100 to avoid having to fulfill 10,000 orders and some sort of max order per household ($1000?) to avoid too many going to flipper scum and maybe limit to one of each model.

All sales are final with no returns, exchanges, etc.

It just may work, right lads??? :)

[Thunderpants]

Thanks vivi and jabba. I did think it was unlikely that Spyderco would knowingly sell a hazardously defective knife - the problem, as araneae says, is the vast range of possible flaws and the the lucky-dip nature of a sale in which imperfect knives were sold without any photo or description.
Prices would have to be seriously low to induce people to buy blind with a no-returns policy!

[koenigsegg]

I hope it can happen but I already cancelled my time off at work for November, instead apparently planned it during the wildfires. Also bought season passes to an amusement park for my kids for Christmas last year, good investment there. I'm so sick of this situation. I might still be able to make it work if they can have it but I need to start saving haha

[Thunderpants]

Also bought season passes to an amusement park for my kids for Christmas last year, good investment there.

Ouch!
Season tickets for anything are going to take decades to recover after this!

[vivi]

Thanks vivi and jabba. I did think it was unlikely that Spyderco would knowingly sell a hazardously defective knife - the problem, as araneae says, is the vast range of possible flaws and the the lucky-dip nature of a sale in which imperfect knives were sold without any photo or description.
Prices would have to be seriously low to induce people to buy blind with a no-returns policy!

The prices I've seen people report here are that low. I haven't ever seen a second that I wasn't confident I could sell on the secondary market for a profit if that were my motivation.

One day I'd love to visit Golden for one of these sales. I keep telling myself one of these years I'll take a greyhound out there, stock up, mail the knives home, then ride my bicycle back home. Maybe 2022.

[nerdlock]

Thanks vivi and jabba. I did think it was unlikely that Spyderco would knowingly sell a hazardously defective knife - the problem, as araneae says, is the vast range of possible flaws and the the lucky-dip nature of a sale in which imperfect knives were sold without any photo or description.
Prices would have to be seriously low to induce people to buy blind with a no-returns policy!

The prices I've seen people report here are that low. I haven't ever seen a second that I wasn't confident I could sell on the secondary market for a profit if that were my motivation.

One day I'd love to visit Golden for one of these sales. I keep telling myself one of these years I'll take a greyhound out there, stock up, mail the knives home, then ride my bicycle back home. Maybe 2022.

Hey vi,

If I may ask, how low is low? Maybe just a ballpark figure for a certain model or two for us to have an idea. :)

[DougC-3]

Not meaning to be a spoilsport, but I think the main idea of the seconds sale is to move umpteen jillion knives quickly and easily with as little expenditure of overhead as possible, thus allowing the prices to be as low as possible. Just thinking that the shipping and handling would be a pretty big operation.

But Sal says it's still on the table... on the table -- maybe the tables could be moved outdoors or into a huge room. The outdoors idea might require changing to a warmer date. Maybe they could borrow a nearby school gym and lunch tables and really space everything out. If it were in the southeast, they could probably borrow an unused revival tent, ha ha. Sadly, I live too far away to think about coming anyway.

As for defects, I have 3 seconds, a Ti Millie, a Shaman SE (both bought for me by a forum member), and a Manix 2 CPM154/S90V from eBay, and I really can't find anything wrong with any of them. It's possible that the Manix is thinner behind the edge, but I like that, and maybe the steel lock plate goes a tiny hair farther across the tang than they like on the Millie, but it would last me a hundred years, I'm sure. Nothing at all suspect on the Shaman, and the tiny seconds nicks on the blades just look like another jimp, if you see them at all.

[Sumdumguy]

I would like an online seconds sale. But, it seems like it would be tricky to implement.

I've been threatening to drive out there for one of the sales, I just never seem to convince myself to do it. I just need to steal my wife's Honda Fit and make the trek. If I ever fix my Insight, I could make it out there on <$100 in gas. Me and my dad drove it on a straight shot to Phoenix. 31 hours, ~$80 and 2000 miles later, we fixed my grandmother's HVAC and then drove back.

Carpool, anyone? :P

[Sildani]

One thing about about the Seconds Sale that was touched in is how much the knives on offer are handled. I honestly dunno how that would be restricted, and if it’s not Sal and company will go broke sanitizing each knife after handling.

An online sale will work given the parameters others have already laid out: you select your knife, and a randomly selected example of that model is sent. No returns, and a minimum/maximum order size makes sense. Spyderco is one of the very few companies I’d trust blindly with my money like this.

And if there are still any FS Scorpii (unlikely) I’ll buy and be happy.

[joeldworkin307]

One thing about about the Seconds Sale that was touched in is how much the knives on offer are handled. I honestly dunno how that would be restricted, and if it’s not Sal and company will go broke sanitizing each knife after handling.

This was my exact thought. It would be easy enough to do the sale outside to allow for more space, but every knife gets touched so many times by so many people. That is how we all get to suss out any functional defects. Additionally, the amazing staff at Spyderco will have to be there all day, exposing themselves to us riff raff and possibly getting exposed. With all that we may as well buy online at random.

At the same time I know that doing it online is an expensive and labor intensive proposition. The sale was cancelled in either 2013 or 2014 due to the team having done too good a job at quality control and not having enough seconds. If I get a vote on the Shadowy Council of Spyderco Fanatics, it would be to postpone this year and wait until 2021.

[Mushroom]

I live 2000 miles away and have made it to the sale for the past 4 years in a row now.

The biggest problem I see with selling them at random online is that people will be buying a second and expecting a simple scratch on the blade but they'll be pissed off when they receive a knife that requires two hands to open because there is too much blade play otherwise.Also, theres the fact that Spyderco needs more knives for the next sale and opening sales to the countless online customers and FLIPPERS would probably run them dry of everything but Byrd Multitools.

It's probably the least popular opinion in this thread but like I said earlier, I believe an online seconds sale would lead to a lot of unhappy customers.

[yablanowitz]

Thanks vivi and jabba. I did think it was unlikely that Spyderco would knowingly sell a hazardously defective knife - the problem, as araneae says, is the vast range of possible flaws and the the lucky-dip nature of a sale in which imperfect knives were sold without any photo or description.
Prices would have to be seriously low to induce people to buy blind with a no-returns policy!

The prices I've seen people report here are that low. I haven't ever seen a second that I wasn't confident I could sell on the secondary market for a profit if that were my motivation.

One day I'd love to visit Golden for one of these sales. I keep telling myself one of these years I'll take a greyhound out there, stock up, mail the knives home, then ride my bicycle back home. Maybe 2022.

Hey vi,

If I may ask, how low is low? Maybe just a ballpark figure for a certain model or two for us to have an idea. :)

Here is an example. The first sale after the Wolfspyder came out, I noticed someone snagging one off the table and dropping it in his basket. I had considered one, but with international shipping to get it from Ray Mears, it would have been almost $300. When my eyes followed the motion of that green G-10, I saw half a dozen more in his basket. I asked if he was going to buy all of them. His reply was"No, you gotta try a bunch of them to make sure you get a good one." Getting a $300 knife for $85 wasn't enough, people still pick and choose.

Last sale I picked up a lefty Military for someone. The ladies at the checkout were surprised to see it and commented that there weren't many of those out there. The person I bought it for ended up selling it on when he was unable to correct some issue I hadn't even noticed when I was examining the knife in person.

The prices for an online sale couldn't be as low as the prices at the store. Packing and shipping all the orders would be a nightmare, and take weeks if not months on top of their regular workload. And you might think low prices would be enough to make people accept whatever they got, but you would be wrong. Mushroom is right, it would create a lot of bad feelings, the exact opposite of what Sal wants.

[samdasnake]

Yeah as nice as an online seconds sale sounds, I agree that it seems impractical. While we diehard Spydie fans may be willing to roll the dice on the chance of getting a nice knife for cheap, I think a lot of people would still be upset spending what is still a relatively large amount of money to get something that is flawed sight unseen, especially if the flaw is somehow bigger than they expect. I feel like the seconds sale is kinda like going to the thrift store or the swap meet - you gotta go in person so you can see what you’re getting. And I say this as someone who’d love to have an online sale! I just don’t know how they could make it work.

[MichaelScott]

I am all in for an online seconds sale. I am quite positive that Spyderco will not offer non-functioning knives, knives with hazardous Issues, etc. I would welcome the opportunity to get a few models I’ve always wanted at seconds prices.

[steelcity16]

At the same time I know that doing it online is an expensive and labor intensive proposition. The sale was cancelled in either 2013 or 2014 due to the team having done too good a job at quality control and not having enough seconds. If I get a vote on the Shadowy Council of Spyderco Fanatics, it would be to postpone this year and wait until 2021.

Yeah, I guess it depends on how many they have. If it is a small amount then perhaps holding them over until next year is best. If they have a ton they want to move quickly, maybe an online fire sale could work and could be fun for people who don't get to attend in person. Increase the minimum order to $200 then to reduce the # of orders they have to ship, blow them out at 10% of MSRP, make the notch bigger and/or stamp a big old "S" to reduce flippers, max order of $500 and limit of one of each mode to further reduce flippers, because aside from flippers who needs $500 worth of knives at 90% off every year?

[Pokey]

I've been to a couple of the Seconds Sales. After looking at the stock on hand I'd say if Spyderco had an online sale where people were told the ground rules beforehand, the customers with eyes wide open, would still be unhappy. In this day and age were people return knives because it's a bit too hard to open because of the ergonomics, they don't like the clip, or they want to flip them, (resell them,) and they're scratched, or they found the knife was a "used" one, (yep, those are at the Seconds Sale, it says so right there on the sticker,) they'd still be real unhappy.

That being said, there are knives I've got that I'm less than thrilled with the ergos on. I really like the feel of the Native 5 in the hand, I've got three seconds and one first quality, but they're a slight bit more of a challenge for me to open. It's the length of my thumb; I deal with it. I've picked up seconds at the sale where the only thing I could find wrong was tarnish spots or streaks on the blade, scratches on the ricasso near the lettering, a loose pivot screw, lock stick, or a creative, "freestyle" grind on the edge, up to and including ones with no obvious defects at all. (Only one is a real bowser, shoulda looked it over better, but hey, I've got spare parts for my other knives now.) I'd never think of returning any of these, but I think people today would be highly offended by what they'd receive in the mail from an online sale. I've bought seconds, sharpened them up and given them to friends out of state. They're as happy as a bi-valve mollusk with them. The factory seconds are a good deal.

I'd like to see Spyderco have in person Seconds Sales again. I've had the opportunity to talk to some of the Spyderco peeps and it would be a real balancing act. Their dilemma is, how do you comply with state and city ordinances for social distancing in public gatherings, what do you do about everyone handling knives, if it's outdoors, then there's the Colorado weather.

If Spyderco does pull off an in person Seconds Sale it will probably look a whole lot different than the old days.

[Surfingringo]

Thanks vivi and jabba. I did think it was unlikely that Spyderco would knowingly sell a hazardously defective knife - the problem, as araneae says, is the vast range of possible flaws and the the lucky-dip nature of a sale in which imperfect knives were sold without any photo or description.
Prices would have to be seriously low to induce people to buy blind with a no-returns policy!

The prices I've seen people report here are that low. I haven't ever seen a second that I wasn't confident I could sell on the secondary market for a profit if that were my motivation.

One day I'd love to visit Golden for one of these sales. I keep telling myself one of these years I'll take a greyhound out there, stock up, mail the knives home, then ride my bicycle back home. Maybe 2022.

Hey vi,

If I may ask, how low is low? Maybe just a ballpark figure for a certain model or two for us to have an idea. :)

Here is an example. The first sale after the Wolfspyder came out, I noticed someone snagging one off the table and dropping it in his basket. I had considered one, but with international shipping to get it from Ray Mears, it would have been almost $300. When my eyes followed the motion of that green G-10, I saw half a dozen more in his basket. I asked if he was going to buy all of them. His reply was"No, you gotta try a bunch of them to make sure you get a good one." Getting a $300 knife for $85 wasn't enough, people still pick and choose.

Last sale I picked up a lefty Military for someone. The ladies at the checkout were surprised to see it and commented that there weren't many of those out there. The person I bought it for ended up selling it on when he was unable to correct some issue I hadn't even noticed when I was examining the knife in person.

The prices for an online sale couldn't be as low as the prices at the store. Packing and shipping all the orders would be a nightmare, and take weeks if not months on top of their regular workload. And you might think low prices would be enough to make people accept whatever they got, but you would be wrong. Mushroom is right, it would create a lot of bad feelings, the exact opposite of what Sal wants.

I suspect Yablanowitz is dead on with his analysis here. I would love to go but given my location it is completely impossible for me to make it to the sale so I get the desire to be able to participate online but I imagine it would turn into a s*** show for many of the reasons yablanowitz highlighted. It would be content just to see people act half normal again and have the thing the same way it has always been done. That would actually make me happier than getting a good deal on a knife.

[MichaelScott]

In light of the above. I have reconsidered. Knowing how the internet can foster social craziness, an online seconds sale would likely engender a kind of forum response no one really wants to endure. I have changed my vote even though I can’t come.

[Mushroom]

At the same time I know that doing it online is an expensive and labor intensive proposition. The sale was cancelled in either 2013 or 2014 due to the team having done too good a job at quality control and not having enough seconds. If I get a vote on the Shadowy Council of Spyderco Fanatics, it would be to postpone this year and wait until 2021.

Yeah, I guess it depends on how many they have. If it is a small amount then perhaps holding them over until next year is best. If they have a ton they want to move quickly, maybe an online fire sale could work and could be fun for people who don't get to attend in person. Increase the minimum order to $200 then to reduce the # of orders they have to ship, blow them out at 10% of MSRP, make the notch bigger and/or stamp a big old "S" to reduce flippers, max order of $500 and limit of one of each mode to further reduce flippers, because aside from flippers who needs $500 worth of knives at 90% off every year?

Collectors and enthusiasts.

Also, pricing isn't a general across the board discount. The discount varies by knife and sometimes the same model will even be priced differently.

In my experience, the inventory never completely sells out. There are always knives from previous years that don't sell and then there are more added each year. I'm not exaggerating when I say its hard to imagine how many knives there actually are to look through. The 'flaws' are not always purely cosmetic. Like Pokey said, sometimes the knives are used and damaged. People will be getting those knives if it is an at random online sale and seconds do not come with a warranty and can not be returned.

[xceptnl]

I don't think their server would handle the influx.