MAP policy change? 35%

[jmh58]

Well after last yrs MAP pricing.. I only bought 2 Spydercos (sold one of them) ....So after another price increase it is looking like I am REALLY going to have to want that knife!! :D John

[NickShabazz]

Yikes. This is gonna be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people, a 5% across-the-board price increase on top of whatever product specific hikes. Particularly given that it'll hit the lower priced items too.

8.3%

Yeesh. Well, hopefully this gives Spyderco the capital to walk the 'supporting small dealers' talk that always comes with MAP, and crack down on Amazon and Massdrop and other discounters who are still selling below MAP. Because all this is going to do otherwise is further hurt their honest dealers.

[curlyhairedboy]

****, I'd just settle for finding more spydercos in store. I used to live relatively close to a small shop that charged prices well above MAP, but I still bought there because I wanted to support his effort to present knives to the public. Handle before you buy is pretty dang valuable.

If 35% MAP allows more retailers near me to start carrying spydercos, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

[Hopweaver]

:)

[Hopweaver]

some weird personal choice

hahaha, that made me laugh. :D

:)

[gaj999]

I'd rather see Spyderco adjust their wholesale pricing scheme so that big buyers saw no volume discounts. That may already be the case, I don't know, but if it is, it's kinda contrary to common practice. As to protecting small dealers, that makes sense if most of their sales are through those small dealers. Sound business practice. If it's altruism or loyalty, well, there's a cost for that, and you're paying it. The way the whole world is moving onto the internet and the way simple-to-produce products are moving to the Far East, that can only last so long. I've held to my vow of not paying MAP for anything, so now I mostly shop the annual disco sales. I have bought a couple Spydies, but that's it. I've got more knives than I can use already. As an aside, I'd be fine with paying MAP at a local dealer so that I could fondle the goods before committing, sadly, in our city of a half million people, the only small dealer to stock more than a couple of Spydies charges full MSRP and throws in some attitude for free. I don't even like going in there. I like protecting his profits even less.

[Bile Bob]

If the difference between paying $120 for a $200 knife and paying $130 for it is enough to drive you away, then yes, C'est la Vie. Hope for your sake gas prices don't jump 10% or more any time soon, or you may have to travel via shanks' mare.

Are you seriously comparing a pocket knife to gasoline :rolleyes:lolol

[RamZar]

I have about 140 Spyderco knives. However, only 13 were purchased after the MAP enforcement of January 1, 2016 (last two years). Most of these new acquisitions are sprints, exclusives and anniversary editions of Native5, ParaMilitary2 and Military. I will probably continue along the same path but perhaps even fewer acquisitions.

[ZMW]

If the difference between paying $120 for a $200 knife and paying $130 for it is enough to drive you away, then yes, C'est la Vie. Hope for your sake gas prices don't jump 10% or more any time soon, or you may have to travel via shanks' mare.

Nailed it. These knives are luxury items. NO ONE needs a $200 knife to go sit behind a computer all day and open mail. Even folks like Lance who are really putting their blades through a workout would most likely get along just fine with a $30 Kershaw Fillet knife. This is a hobby and we can't deny that.

Winning comments so far! But yes a price increase always sucks, but perspective is good. It is a hobby...

[nicked.onaut]

[ejcr98]

I usually don’t participate in threads about pricing policy but some comments here caught my attention more than usual.

I agree the we don’t have enough information to know if the 35% MAP puts more money only in the dealers’ hands or if it also puts more money in Spyderco’s hands. It could be that the new MAP only benefits dealers or it could be that the agreement between them and Spyderco to reduce the MAP discount also entails a higher price to be charged by Spyderco to the dealers. Either way, I can’t blame Spyderco or the dealers for wanting to make more money.

However, if a price increase was necessary, I would much have preferred for Spyderco to simply raise the price it charges its dealers (whether across the board or varying by item, as the costs of those items may have necessitated the price increase) and provide a proportional increase in the MSRP tied to the MAP (or preferably eliminate the MAP altogether), instead of lowering the allowed MAP discount, as to me an increase in the MSRP is more transparent and understandable than a reduction in the MAP discount and, presumably, also puts additional money in the dealers’ hands, since the MSRP is probably directly correlated with the price Spyderco charges its dealers.

Finally, knives are a hobby for me. So, the higher the price, the more I’ll have to consider before making the purchase. All my knife purchases in the past few years have been Spydercos because I felt they offered more value for my money. However, as the price of Spydercos increase to the same level as other brands, I may start also considering these other brands, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

[wrdwrght]

Spyderco is a business. And it happens also to depend on other businesses. Do people here really think Spyderco should not be business-y, but instead a discount club for the acquisitive. C'mon!

[Eli Chaps]

Ohp, there we go, now we have the official interest of YouTube... :rolleyes:

******************************************************
Anyways...

Spyderco is a business. And it happens also to depend on other businesses. Do people here really think Spyderco should not be business-y, but instead a discount club for the acquisitive. C'mon!

Bingo. I reckon the "Uncle Sal" fervor is only ever 5% (or 8.3) away from disdain for some people.

How many other companies raise the prices on their products, often by substantial margins, and never say a word about it? We're here, on the company's own website, "discussing" the increase and even got a response from a company rep. That is pretty rare I would say. Companies with numerous part numbers typically do not raise just the price on certain models. They spread it around in the ways they determine make the most sense for their business. My company may significantly reduce the price on one item as an incentive to buy other items with higher margins. Or they may lower the price on an item because they have such high volume or because all the tooling is long since paid for or any number of things goes into pricing.

If you don't like it, don't pay it. It is really pretty simple. I don't like MAP, but it is what it is and I'm discerning about the models I decide to buy. This doesn't change that. Maybe I'll decide some models are now just too far out there and maybe I won't. But that's how it always has been.

[bearfacedkiller]

Map was implemented just two years ago. A Para2 could be purchased for $112 and sometimes for as low as $108 just before MAP was implemented. These were Knifeworks' prices. In a month a Para2 will be $136 which is a significant increase in just two years. $136/$112= 21% increase.

Before MAP I converted a few of my coworkers to Spyderco by recommending to them that they try a Delica4. At that point in time they were available for $56 to $58. In a month that same Delica will be $75. I am a huge Delica fan but $75 is a tough sell and that is a large price increase in just two years. $75/$58= 29% increase.

Comments that folks in Golden deserve a raise are misunderstanding MAP. We have NOT been told that Spyderco is increasing their wholesale price. Maybe they are or maybe they aren't but we are not being told that. What we are being told is that dealers will be required to sell for a higher price. I interpret this as Spyderco guaranteeing a larger margin, not as Spyderco making a larger profit.

Saying that MAP is just limiting the advertised price is a disingenuous. With the exception of Amazon I have not found one vendor willing to sell below MAP during the past two years (since MAP was implemented) unless on clearance. We are not looking at MAP, we are looking at price fixing.

MAP is intended to provide a level playing field. Unfortunately what I have seen over the past two years is Amazon continually ignoring MAP. They appear to be above the law. Amazon does not seem to care about counterfeits and we continually recommend that people avoid them and seek out reputable dealers but yet Spyderco implements pricing that only points more people towards Amazon. I'm baffled? Amazon does not care about counterfeits, they do not give to Kniferights, they do not commission exclusives and in general do not support the industry. This MAP pricing just gives them more room to slit the throats of the vendors we try to support.

I am a hardcore Spyderco fanboy and own well over 100 of them but I have not drank the Kool-Aid. I do not see how this benefits the dealers we value. I apologize for being so candid. I genuinely want Spyderco to succeed and I will remain a loyal fan but the whole MAP thing has me dumbfounded.

[Ferris Wheels]

If there is a knife I want and it is at a price point I am willing to pay, I am going to buy it. Don't care what policies are in place, price increases, MAP, etc.... The only other thing that comes into my decision making process is the company behind the product and Spyderco still meets my expectations as a company I wish to support with my dollars. The great thing about our capitalist society is that if you don't like it you don't have to buy it.

I will admit that my knife habit which was up to 2 knives a month minimum has dropped to a trickle since the roll out of MAP pricing on Spyderco's. I now only average a single knife every two or three months. I have started purchasing a much larger amount of my Spyderco's from the secondary used market in the last two years.

In the end, we all vote with our dollars in one way or another.

[ross8425]

Looks like blade hq is already upping the price of the maxamet PM2 when it is actually in stock. Cool. $189.97

[ChrisinHove]

Did MAP work so well at 40% that it had to be extended ... ?

Or,

Did MAP not work at 40% so they have to try something more to achieve its aims?

40 to 35% just comes across as a bit desperate. This is a lot of grief, but entirely predictable after the first MAP episode. It must be thought to be worth it.

[RamZar]

Looks like blade hq is already upping the price of the maxamet PM2 when it is actually in stock. Cool. $189.97

ParaMilitary2 Maxamet Dark Gray G-10 has MSRP of $299.95 and current MAP of $179.97 (40% off MSRP) and new MAP of 194.97 (35% off MSRP).

BladeHQ is already charging somewhere in between at 36.67% off MSRP!

[MacLaren]

Dude, there's soooooo much competition out there.
But, I'm sure Spoyderco knows what they're doing....

[GoldenSpydie]

It's all cool as long as factory seconds stay cheap, and rare models are more fun to chase than current ones anyway. :D

I can't pronounce a real judgement without more facts. I always thought that "MSRP" was rather dumb anyway, because no one actually buys any regular Spyderco at MSRP, so why not just make MSRP realistic, then dealers would be able to compete to sell for prices very close to MSRP. If the reply is that Spyderco wants to source sales to dealers, then why not just refuse to sell directly online? I just don't understand the whole principle of MSRP and the "discount system."

The point you are missing is that the MAP increase does not put one cent in Spyderco's pocket.

How do you know this with such certainty? Has someone from Spyderco or from a dealer confirmed that the dealer prices will stay the same?