DLT Cruwear purple Para3

[jdw]

It's kind of funny to me that everyone gets so worked up about missing a Para 3. There are more varieties in more versions of steel than any other Spydie that I can think of. There will be other cool knives and there certainly will be more Para 3s. I agree completely that it seems like a lot of false demand is created by flippers. It would be really interesting to see how long these would last if only the people who wanted to carry/use them were the ones who purchased them, although I realize this isn't realistic.

[DLTJordan]

We totally agree that the server failing is completely inexcusable. Its a terrible experience for everyone involved. We are working on a ton of ideas to avoid these issues in future, its clear that Big commerce cannot handle the load here, so we are 100% exploring every possible option. When the server goes down, we let you down, we take that very seriously, we absolutely do care about the experience you guys have and recognize this was not a good one. No one here shrugs off when a release doesn't go smoothly.

Regarding numbers, we don't give out info on the run sizes, but we try to always order enough, the contract on these para 3s was signed almost two years ago, and its extremely difficult to gauge the total needed years in advance. Sometimes we get it right, look at the Para 3 LW, Delica, Manix 2, and Smock releases, those lasted long enough that anyone interested had more than a fair chance to get one. And then on the flip side we see releases like this that sell through extremely quickly. We do try our best, we are involved in these exclusives to NOT just cash in on Para 2 exclusives, we want to offer a wide variety of models, steels, and do our best to really contribute.

[Arkansaw]

There'll be purple para 3's sitting on Ebay for years to come, because it costs basically nothing to let one sit at $300 and see if someone bites. It's annoying, but it is what it is. I missed out on this round and am a little bummed, but I know there'll be more cruwear releases in the future. Part of the problem for me was I missed the notification. Running the announcement a little earlier in advance would definitely help some of us who don't check every day for new releases. Should we? maybe

Jordon,
I'd suggest limiting it to one per customer. I know many will complain, but it'll cut down somewhat on the flippers if they can only make 40 bucks for their trouble. I suspect most flippers are hoping to keep one and flip the other to offset the cost. You aren't the only one to experience hosting issues on days like today. One idea might be to do a two-day release, releasing half on one day, then half the next. That way if there's server issues, maybe the second day will go smoother since over half your customers will have bought and not be F5'ing the next day.

[dan31]

We knew this would go fast. I wanted to try a para 3 so I picked up a P3 Maxamet. I suggest anyone missing on this look for the P3 in Maxamet. We are so lucky Spyderco makes these choices possible in the first place. There will be more.

[TenGrainBread]

Uhm, how can you prove that nobody needs a certain knife in a certain kind of steel? Cruwear has some properties that make it better than other steels, especially on toughness. Certain jobs and certain knife applications need that intrinsic property of that steel. That generalization just doesn't make sense at all. Without Spyderco's willingness to innovate and experiment with different steels we'd probably all be stuck with whatever steel was the industry standard in the last decade.

So you're saying that there's a job you need to do with a small folding knife that you wouldn't be able to do unless the steel was Cruwear? Cruwear is great and I love that Spyderco experiments with different steels, but nobody can pretend that the blade steel is allowing some heretofore un-doable task to be done. The exotic blade steels (especially on a smallish folder like the PM2) exist because aficionados find it cool, not because Spyderco is filling a functional gap.

I think DLT can avoid this server traffic issue if they have a lottery for these. Have a 3 day signup period where anyone can throw their hat in the ring. When the 3 days are up, draw names from a hat and whoever wins can purchase. No need to smash your keyboard at 11am on a Tuesday.

[DLTJordan]

Uhm, how can you prove that nobody needs a certain knife in a certain kind of steel? Cruwear has some properties that make it better than other steels, especially on toughness. Certain jobs and certain knife applications need that intrinsic property of that steel. That generalization just doesn't make sense at all. Without Spyderco's willingness to innovate and experiment with different steels we'd probably all be stuck with whatever steel was the industry standard in the last decade.

So you're saying that there's a job you need to do with a small folding knife that you wouldn't be able to do unless the steel was Cruwear? Cruwear is great and I love that Spyderco experiments with different steels, but nobody can pretend that the blade steel is allowing some heretofore un-doable task to be done. The exotic blade steels (especially on a smallish folder like the PM2) exist because aficionados find it cool, not because Spyderco is filling a functional gap.

I think DLT can avoid this server traffic issue if they have a lottery for these. Have a 3 day signup period where anyone can throw their hat in the ring. When the 3 days are up, draw names from a hat and whoever wins can purchase. No need to smash your keyboard at 11am on a Tuesday.

The lotto idea is being discussed, the big issue with it is the sheer number we'd have to figure out how to contact and arrange to purchase.

[Mushroom]

In my opinion, a lottery system would upset more people than first come first serve. I know I would, personally, be more upset if I couldn't buy a knife I wanted because I didn't win a lottery spot. At least first come first serve allows me to have a chance. If the website can handle the traffic, which it should, first come first serve is the most fair.

Also, limiting orders to one knife per customer is a good way to get knives into the hands or more customers.

[blades&wrenches]

[jacala]

JMHO
I think "first come first served" is the fairest.That's a lottery itself.
Limit of one per customer.
Get a better server or vastly improve the current one.

[blades&wrenches]

I’d say just don’t announce their existence until the day they arrive. Avoid the frenzy of people all waiting to buy at the same time. Be easier on your shipping department also. Just my 2 cents.

[steelcity16]

In my opinion, a lottery system would upset more people than first come first serve. I know I would, personally, be more upset if I couldn't buy a knife I wanted because I didn't win a lottery spot. At least first come first serve allows me to have a chance. If the website can handle the traffic, which it should, first come first serve is the most fair.

Also, limiting orders to one knife per customer is a good way to get knives into the hands or more customers.

Agreed with both points. Lotto would be awful. Work on fixing the server to handle the traffic and limit to 1 per customer/address for the day of release, then lift the limit the next day if there are any remaining.

[nerdlock]

We totally agree that the server failing is completely inexcusable. Its a terrible experience for everyone involved. We are working on a ton of ideas to avoid these issues in future, its clear that Big commerce cannot handle the load here, so we are 100% exploring every possible option. When the server goes down, we let you down, we take that very seriously, we absolutely do care about the experience you guys have and recognize this was not a good one. No one here shrugs off when a release doesn't go smoothly.

Regarding numbers, we don't give out info on the run sizes, but we try to always order enough, the contract on these para 3s was signed almost two years ago, and its extremely difficult to gauge the total needed years in advance. Sometimes we get it right, look at the Para 3 LW, Delica, Manix 2, and Smock releases, those lasted long enough that anyone interested had more than a fair chance to get one. And then on the flip side we see releases like this that sell through extremely quickly. We do try our best, we are involved in these exclusives to NOT just cash in on Para 2 exclusives, we want to offer a wide variety of models, steels, and do our best to really contribute.

Told you so.

[nerdlock]

I think Jason of DLT discussed it on his livestream that based on their statistical data, actually limiting it to 1 per customer would create more traffic; since with that limit, more and more people would see an opportunity to get one because they would think that their odds of getting one would increase because of the 1 knife limit.

[tbdoc4kids]

In my opinion, a lottery system would upset more people than first come first serve. I know I would, personally, be more upset if I couldn't buy a knife I wanted because I didn't win a lottery spot. At least first come first serve allows me to have a chance. If the website can handle the traffic, which it should, first come first serve is the most fair.

Also, limiting orders to one knife per customer is a good way to get knives into the hands or more customers.

I will almost always buy 2, but have yet to ever sell any. (Yeah, I am stupid, I suppose.) I would love to see more re-runs of popular exclusives!

[cycleguy]

Counted 23 listings for these on the bay. WOW ... that's a lot of flipper activity!

CG

Counted 33 listings today.

CG

[nerdlock]

Counted 23 listings for these on the bay. WOW ... that's a lot of flipper activity!

CG

Counted 33 listings today.

CG

Ugh. Flippers. 33 knives that could have gone to knife afis that would have used it or collected it not for profit but for personal use.

[GarageBoy]

The only PM2/Para 3 exclusives that didn't fly off the shelf were the 52100, the smooth g10 cruwear (which go for stupid money now), the two tone Cutlery Shoppe REX Para 3s, and the BBS K390 (still available!)

[Accutron]

Glad I skipped this one.

[mikey177]

I prefer my non-stainless steels on easy to clean fixed blades, so I passed on both the Cru-wear Delica and Para 3 drops and got a nice non-Spyderco Cru-wear fixie from DLT.

One can always choose the less stressful path, especially if all one is after is a decent cutting tool.

[Superflex]

And to be fair to them, this DID NOT happen during the last recent drops like the Delica and the Smock.

But it did happen with the Pm2 and para 3, cuz no one saw that happening

Some are insinuating that the dealer made $100K and doesn't care about the customer...

No, they didn’t make it after taxes and fees but that’s gotta be in the ballpark of what the sales numbers were and people are going to miss out. That’s the bottom line with an exclusive. However, the only part to care about here is the server issue, otherwise they’d just order a huge amount of knives so everyone could have one... but then they wouldn’t have this kind of sale volume if it wasn’t limited. It’s catch 22.

Even worse, I had one in my cart with a DLT account and couldn’t load PayPal fast enough or enter my CC # fast enough... so it was not just me, but the fact that someone who has an account with you and spends money there can have a knife sold out from under them in less than 30 seconds because apparently they don’t have a one click ordering option... well... That’s not right either.

DLT did have some recommendations on their FB page on how to ensure you didnt miss out. Using a cc and not using Paypal was one of their tips.
The Paypal connection costs valuable time and when seconds matter, Paypal isnt the answer