Please remove MAP pricing forever!

[benben]

There’s this knife vendor that’s always at the Hickory, NC gun show, probably early to mid sixties, well dressed and well spoken, super friendly guy!

He‘s a pretty big BM and ZT dealer. He always has just 3 or 4 Spyderco’s on hand, that’s it, no more. And they’re always Golden models, base stuff like a PM2, a Para 3, and a LW Manix.

So one show I asked him why he didn’t carry or sell more Spyderco’s? When I asked him he was pretty busy, his booth was surrounded with customers.

Now don’t shoot the messenger here….he said with MAP pricing he just couldn’t make any money on them, and he absolutely couldn’t discount them at shows like everyone expects, he said the margins just weren’t there, and….they were just harder to deal with then the other two I mentioned earlier. His words, not mine!

I wanted to get him to expound on it a little more, and I could tell he wanted to, he was just too busy right then.

Those guys know who the knife guys are from show to show, I’ve spoke to him for years at that particular gun show and he fully knows I’m a Spyderco guy cause he told me he’d love to sell me one!

I guess it depends on the dealer because at the big gun show in Tulsa there's at least 3 or 4 dealers with a lot of Spyderco models. Even the dealers at the shows here in the Dallas area have a whole bunch of Spyderco models. I assume they feel it's worth it for them to sell Spyderco

Could be? As I said, just repeating one vendor’s opinion and experiences.

[standy99]

I hope this doesn't sound ignorant but can you all please give me a basic summary again of what MAP is? Is my understanding correct, that it sets a rule that any official retailer or knife seller whom works with and purchases their knives from Spyderco for resale to the public must agree to a minimum retail price for that knife, set by Spyderco headquarters, and if that knife retailer does not abide by this agreed-to rule, they are no longer allowed to purchase knives for resale from Spyderco?

For example: If a company, let's call them "Knife Seller USA" is an official Spyderco dealer and decides to offer an Endura for 50 US dollars, instead of the standard price, to undercut their competition, and make up for the possible loss by selling other goods like flashlights and tents instead, Spyderco will see this and will say that unless they agree to the set minimum price, they will no longer be allowed to purchase knives from Spyderco for resale to the public?

If my understanding of MAP is correct, what is the main reason or reasons why Spyderco doesn't just say "As long as the persons purchase our knives at the cost we give them, they can go ahead and resell them for whatever price they want", as long as Spyderco themselves are receiving the set amount they desire to receive from the knife retailer?

How would that policy have negative effects as long as Spyderco gets paid?

Basically it can undervalue a brand and decrease dealers by wiping out smaller dealers that can’t discount.

If you read the first few pages of this thread you will understand better.

It essentially lets Spyderco dictate the price of a item that in turn lets them keep and pay employees