Prices OMG Seriously?

[jegred2]

I was wondering what people were complaining about until I saw the price of the new G10 UKPK salt, $100 more than the G10 SPY27 UKPK. Guess I’m sticking to my Spydiechef.

[Flash]

I was initially amazed by the upcoming models in Reveal 20, and then disappointed followed upon seeing some of the prices. I know Rex 121 is difficult to manufacture into a blade, but that’s high.

If the prices are a bit much for folks, then I suggest 2026 could be the year people where people start being a bit more deliberate with their purchases.
I bought only two Spydercos last year (one new release and one second hand) - Down from double figures the year before. I certainly didn’t feel like I was missing out, in fact I felt like I used and enjoyed both of them more so because of it.

The higher the prices get, the more I’d like to be that “one and done” type of bloke.

[Wartstein]

The way I see it Spyderco is playing a very different game compared to some of these other makers.

To constantly be experimenting with new materials and doing it at scale is a hard game to play and it has a cost that you won't see in a side by side comparison of one knife vs another.

I'm happy to pay the Spyderco tax if it moves the needle forward.

This, plus as I said in my previous post already:

I believe Spyderco does business in a way I want support and I am willing to perhaps pay a bit more for, with aspects like:

- Loyal and fair to their makers and partners as well as their employees
- Trying to produce a lot "at home", create jobs and pay taxes there ("here" if you are from the US)
- Having values and living those (opfocus program; initiative like the "thin line" folders....)

[CDEP]

Interesting thread.

On pricing, one can lower the quality, or one can lower the material cost, or one can make knives in China. You might also suggest other ways to lower prices. What would be your preference for Spyderco to make less expensive knives?

I keep seeing comparisons to Chris Reeve's knives; What do they charge for their REX-121 models?

sal

[CDEP]

Thanx Zbec,

appreciate your understanding.

As far as high costs;

I would suggest to broaden the values you are using to compare prices on knives. You are comparing materials. If you reduce a human down to their chemistry, they aren't much. There is much more to a knife and the company than a piece of titanium riveted to a piece of steel, with a clip.

Very few comments on; design, safety, ergonomics, customer service, variety, Research and development and on and on...

Each company does it's best to survive. We are always trying to create enjoyable, safe, good quality knives for our customers. If a knife stops selling, for whatever reason, we make a change. If it's cost, we analyze the paths available? Sometimes we change something to alter the cost. Sometimes we just discontinue the model.

We don't just "guess" what to charge. "We feel that to charge the customer as much as the market will bear, is to bite the hand that feeds you". We try to pay our staff as much as we can. Good people are hard to find and need to be secure and appreciated to be able to do good work..

We're a privately owned family business. We try our best to take care of our customers, our staff, our vendors & suppliers and our community.

sal

Thanks, Sal, for your patience, and for chiming in again on this perennial topic.

Just because a certain model may be out of my price range doesn't mean it is overpriced. They cost what they cost, and we each have to make our own judgments on how we spend. I seldom see a new model or variant that someone doesn't declare is their "precious" dream knife, and price is no object. I wouldn't pay the price on a Drunken, but I'll buy the 50th Native even if it's more expensive. That's my "precious" - that's my call on "value" in a knife.

I consider every Spydie I've purchased, and the count is nearing 300, as contributing to the *entire* operation - from my beloved Astute to my >$300 knives - a piece of each buy pays for R&D, good salaries and bennies for staff, hopefully some well-earned lobsters and Champagne for Sal & Gail, and for sustaining the best knife company in the world. I see the big picture, and I am happy to support what Sal, Gail, & Eric have built.

Very few of us would fail to survive if all we had was a Buck 110. It was all I had for decades and I'm still here. I still carry one time to time. All the rest is gravy, and we're lucky we have so many options.

I think feedback on how each of us is making our purchase decisions is valuable to Sal, and he has shown time and again that he listens to us. But for me, complaining about prices while unknowingly demonstrating ignorance of the factors that obtain is getting old. I'll almost certainly skip this topic when it pops up again in 12 months.

[Wowbagger]

But that is a (nearly) no-name Chinese knife, right?

Yes . In "That Other Forum" if one mentions a country , I still can't yet say the one you did above , it would have started a moderator panic and penal action resulting in the thread being shut down and the poor offender / member scolded .
That is the last thing I wanted to risk with this thread .

PS : A month or so ago I put that same knife up just to ask if it was a rip off of some more legit maker and to ask if I was contributing to the rip off by buyiing the knife .
The consensus was that it was no one else's design . . .
AND THEN THE THREAD WAS SHUT DOWN

[Wowbagger]

G10 SPY27 UKPK

Just wanted to say how much I love that knife and how happy I am to have it !

[Wowbagger]

I believe Spyderco does business in a way I want support and I am willing to perhaps pay a bit more

For sure . I think we are all demonstrating that vigorously with our wallets here .
There is no other company like Spyderco .

[aicolainen]

I think what I'm hearing people say is true to a large degree, mainly if you are in Chris Reeve territory, most people would rather have the CRK.

I see quite a few comments similar to this, and I really don't get it.
I do understand that CRK is held in high regard when it comes to production tolerances, quality control, fit and finish. It's the benchmark everyone's compared to. It's a value reference point.
That doesn't mean it's the product you want, or need.
If you choose to buy a CRK instead of a Spyderco when they're both selling for $500, one must assume it's the CRK you really wanted all along, and that's the one you should buy even if the Spyderco was $300 or $250 or even $150.

I don't quite see how price point can affect what we need (or want).
If all 4WD prices surged to Ferrari levels, that Ferrari would be a lot more tempting, but it still wouldn't take me where I need to go.

I do really feel for our European friends, however, who not only see these high prices, but have to pay even more still when it is all said and done. Maybe time for a Euro-SFO?

I appreciate your compassion. Euro-SFO has been discussed and doesn't seem to be on the table. At some point maybe it needs to be considered again, but it's not something we should expect to happen very soon.

We're also quite used to paying more, so we're not easily scared. Let's see how European dealers approach these new price levels. In the past they seem to mostly set prices around MSRP +/- some currency conversion tolerance. If they, at least for the higher priced models, would stay closer to MAP, this increase would be more palatable.

[Wartstein]

I believe Spyderco does business in a way I want support and I am willing to perhaps pay a bit more

For sure . I think we are all demonstrating that vigorously with our wallets here .
There is no other company like Spyderco .

No other knife company at least, and at least not to me
[Sidenote, just out of technical interest: How did you quote me without actually quoting me?]

[Evil D]

Interesting thread.

On pricing, one can lower the quality, or one can lower the material cost, or one can make knives in China. You might also suggest other ways to lower prices. What would be your preference for Spyderco to make less expensive knives?

I keep seeing comparisons to Chris Reeve's knives; What do they charge for their REX-121 models?

sal

This was why I said Spyderco already wins the fight in ergonomics and blade steel, but also even if it's a fair price I still think it's reasonable to expect people to get more picky about details as prices of anything increase. In this particular comparison I don't think there's much to complain about because my Sage 5 is flawless, but in general expectations increase along with cost for everything.

I think the topic is just polarizing because of the big price difference between the Sage 5 and 6 both in the same steel, the MSRP increased $170. Spyderco do an awesome job at being transparent, maybe this is where you come out and say "listen, the price went up because ______", because people will always fill in the silence with answers of their own until they're given one, even if the answer is "Rex 121 is going extinct and this is the cost of rarity".

[WilliamMunny]

I also look at this topic in two ways:

-OMG the $570 price on the Sage 6 REX-122 is pretty high.

But also:

OMG the $221 price on the Manix 2 Salt DLC Magnact seems so low for what you’re getting.

My point being, as I mentioned before, Spyderco does a great job at making a great knife at most price points. Each person will personally find more or less value in different knives. It’s why some people buy a Corvette and others think it’s an over priced stupid purchase.

[jegred2]

I also look at this topic in two ways:

-OMG the $570 price on the Sage 6 REX-122 is pretty high.

But also:

OMG the $221 price on the Manix 2 Salt DLC Magnact seems so low for what you’re getting.

My point being, as I mentioned before, Spyderco does a great job at making a great knife at most price points. Each person will personally find more or less value in different knives. It’s why some people buy a Corvette and others think it’s an over priced stupid purchase.

My question is why the disparity in prices for like knives, Ex: G10 SPY27 UKPK = $130, G10 Salt UKPK = $230

Is Magnacut and a little G10 milling + some DLC $100 more? I would think SPY27 would be the more expensive steel with it being a Spyderco exclusive and most likely produced at lower quantities.

[brj]

Can't really fault Spyderco for trying to keep up with the mad world we live in. I'd gladly divert some of my disposable income their way were it not for that omnipresent mega-choil of doom. Sadly, apart from the Dyad Jr. I've just bought, I see very few models in the current line-up that I'd really be interested in.

[silver & black]

Interesting thread.

On pricing, one can lower the quality, or one can lower the material cost, or one can make knives in China. You might also suggest other ways to lower prices. What would be your preference for Spyderco to make less expensive knives?

I keep seeing comparisons to Chris Reeve's knives; What do they charge for their REX-121 models?

sal

[Aladinsane]

The way I see it, Spyderco is a top of the line knife maker, I get a much better investment in them than a $7 Ozark Trail knife from Mall-Wart.

That said, I have a budget that I am comfortable in spending on a knife and simply look for knives within that range.

If a knife falls outside of that, and I REALLY REALLY want it, I will save up for it and put off any lesser purchases.

I guess it’s the “KISS” principle, I simply buy what I like and can afford.

[Fine Swine]

I keep seeing comparisons to Chris Reeve's knives; What do they charge for their REX-121 models?

sal

Nice. Point taken. And I get it. I've bought many, mostly higher-end, Spydercos over the years, and will continue to do so. My tastes and needs just lie elsewhere from high-performance. I'm more about the aesthetics. That said, the Damasteel Chaparral looks awfully nice. It has that wow factor that, to my possibly hypocritical little mind, justifies the price.

[WilliamMunny]

I also look at this topic in two ways:

-OMG the $570 price on the Sage 6 REX-122 is pretty high.

But also:

OMG the $221 price on the Manix 2 Salt DLC Magnact seems so low for what you’re getting.

My point being, as I mentioned before, Spyderco does a great job at making a great knife at most price points. Each person will personally find more or less value in different knives. It’s why some people buy a Corvette and others think it’s an over priced stupid purchase.

My question is why the disparity in prices for like knives, Ex: G10 SPY27 UKPK = $130, G10 Salt UKPK = $230

Is Magnacut and a little G10 milling + some DLC $100 more? I would think SPY27 would be the more expensive steel with it being a Spyderco exclusive and most likely produced at lower quantities.

I agree with that point.

Sage 5 G10 REX-121 - $400
vs
Sage 6 G10 REX-121 - $570

Maybe its 2025 vs 2026 MSRP price difference but that is a big price difference for a very similar knife. I am not saying it is not justified but it is harder for the end consumer to understand.

[jdw]

Even if I complain and cringe on this forum, and when I push the ‘buy’ button, it is pretty unlikely that I will miss out on the REX121 Chap. Ultimately, I personally don’t know of another company that has the kind of access to the owner like this forum. Sal takes some pretty good shots and stays engaged and polite. Such integrity can overcome a lot of other issues for me.

[WilliamMunny]

Even if I complain and cringe on this forum, and when I push the ‘buy’ button, it is pretty unlikely that I will miss out on the REX121 Chap. Ultimately, I personally don’t know of another company that has the kind of access to the owner like this forum. Sal takes some pretty good shots and stays engaged and polite. Such integrity can overcome a lot of other issues for me.

Couldn't say it better myself. Spyderco makes a great knife... but there are a lot of great knives out there. I buy Spyderco because of Sal and the amazing community/employees he has created for his company for the past 50 years.