Spyderco Seconds Sale Scores

[northmanscall]

People need to not let their enthusiasm for the brand cloud their critical judgment. This was a terrible customer experience and there is no counter argument.

To put this into perspective: The other option would be to drove/fly to Golden Colorado.
I do not understand the Karen Entitlement for customer experience from some of you US guys.

I thought it was challenging and exciting in a positive way to find out if you could score something or not. And if not it is not the end of the world.
I now scored in 2 of 3 online seconds sales from Germany. And the 1 I did not score anything was fun anyhow.
So please chill or fly to Golden Colorado next time.

[JRinFL]

People need to not let their enthusiasm for the brand cloud their critical judgment. This was a terrible customer experience and there is no counter argument.

To put this into perspective: The other option would be to drove/fly to Golden Colorado.
I do not understand the Karen Entitlement for customer experience from some of you US guys.

I thought it was challenging and exciting in a positive way to find out if you could score something or not. And if not it is not the end of the world.
I now scored in 2 of 3 online seconds sales from Germany. And the 1 I did not score anything was fun anyhow.
So please chill or fly to Golden Colorado next time.

Third option, just don't buy seconds. Let's be clear, the customers did not plan the sale, they did not advertise the sale on social media, they did not run the server for the sale. That was all Spyderco and the faults lie with them, not with the customer. This is a business relationship, our money and time for their products. It's generally considered bad business to create a situation that leaves so many unhappy customers even if that was not their intention. Too bad you feel my opinion on this is not sufficiently submissive.

Spyderco doesn't need some lame attempt to white knight for them, they ask for and expect honest feedback.

[yablanowitz]

They used to say "If a customer is happy, he tells 2 people. If he's unhappy, he tells a hundred people." Now if he's happy he feels it is his right and if he's unhappy he gets on the internet and tells the entire world. Frankly, I think online seconds sales are a mistake, but maybe that's because I'm one of those people who take our vacation time and spend our money for travel and expenses and brave the elements at the in-person sale to get my deals instead of sitting in front of a keyboard at home or at work and expecting to get the same deals.

[JRinFL]

Keeping it in-person only may be the wisest course.

[Mushroom]

I think the easiest way to avoid this type of negative feedback would be to avoid having this sale online all together. From my observations, it has set a precedent for entitlement. I can already imagine the inflammatory discourse if they stop hosting the sale online in the future.

They do not have to host the sale online. If you can’t or won’t travel to Golden Colorado for the traditional sale, this online sale is literally Spyderco doing you a favor.

I know it counts for nothing but I would vote for traditional, in person, seconds sales only.

[vanka]

The online seconds sales are targeting the people who can't make it in person. Either because they live too far away or they're outside of the US. This is a chance for all the people around the world to buy a seconds knife.

[WilliamMunny]

Third option, just don't buy seconds. Let's be clear, the customers did not plan the sale, they did not advertise the sale on social media, they did not run the server for the sale. That was all Spyderco and the faults lie with them, not with the customer. This is a business relationship, our money and time for their products. It's generally considered bad business to create a situation that leaves so many unhappy customers even if that was not their intention. Too bad you feel my opinion on this is not sufficiently submissive.

Spyderco doesn't need some lame attempt to white knight for them, they ask for and expect honest feedback.

Spyderco accomplished their goal, sold seconds online to their customers. Was it smooth… no, was it perfectly executed… no, did it cause a lot of frustration and disappointment… I can tell you first hand it did.

Overall they met their goal but let’s hope next time they improve the customer experience. Some ideas:

-Only announce the sale on the forum 24-48 hours before the sale.
-Post to social media if sales are slow a day or two later.
-Sell seconds all year long adding them to the page at random times.
-Upgrade servers if cost permits/makes sense.
-Make it invite only (special link) for a few hours before opening it up to everyone.
-Etc

IMO this is one of the things Spyderco has trouble with, big online sales. Let’s try to help them improve the experience as I don’t want to see them go away but I will be as so bold to say we as customers do deserve a better experience, so let’s help them improve it. After all Spyderco does 99% of everything else great.

This is coming form someone who spent 6 hours hitting refresh on two devices yesterday, watching items I wanted sell out, and never able to make it to check out. But regardless I will be the first one in line at the next online sales event.

[Mrj]

I feel all of you and it messed up my day too. But why? Because we love Spyderco soo much we are willing to mall each other over a secondary QC failed product. Spyderco is so amazing that are willing to sell a second that in some other companies make the regular sales shelf. Very disappointing that it went off the rails but I still appreciate the effort and work the company puts into their products. Just having this opportunity is a small blessing. Spyderco please keep the sale but fix the servers so it can handle the whole world fighting over your seconds grade products. I’m sure something can be learned by all from this. Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone. And remember never give up, never back up, never back down.

Edited to add: got a cooks knife and Maxamet native 5.

[jwbnyc]

Okay, people were lobbying for online seconds sales. People got ‘em.

From what I’ve heard the in-person seconds sales are a bit of a food fight too.

Spyderco is a company that prefers to sell its wares through a dealer network.

That’s where a lot of their support efforts go.

They are not primarily an online retailer, even though a lot of their product is now sold through their dealers online.

Transitions.

I expect they will get better at it.

The online sales have been a chance for a lot more people to get to participate in the seconds sales.

That’s a good thing.

It’s also gives Spyderco a constructive way to off-load stock that, for whatever reason, is not going to be sold any other way.

That’s a good thing too.

Let’s not be throwing the baby out with the bath water.

[Ramonade]

I asked very nicely for some padding in my box this time. I hope one of the prepper will see this and feel like he can lose a couple of minutes for a customer !

Last time it was a pretty big box with just 4 knives in it and the poor knives took more damage from the shipping than from being seconds
And if not, I'll find a way to fix/mod them

[ramblinwreck]

This time I was able to get all three knives in one order and just one shipping box. In 2020, I had four separate boxes ship. I got the eye roll from my wife. How knives did you buy?

[jlw]

In case it hasn't been mentioned already, some ceramic files have been added to the Seconds Sale page (I didn't notice them yesterday). The prices are good ($0.50 each).

Maybe more items will be added—who knows!

—James

[aicolainen]

I asked very nicely for some padding in my box this time. I hope one of the prepper will see this and feel like he can lose a couple of minutes for a customer !

Last time it was a pretty big box with just 4 knives in it and the poor knives took more damage from the shipping than from being seconds
And if not, I'll find a way to fix/mod them

Ohh, I didn’t think of that. It’s my first seconds rodeo so a couple of rookie mistakes are in order.

I was so noob I even missed the date, and by the time I realized the sale was ongoing I reckoned it was futile to bother at all. That was until I saw a post about Ayoobs still being available many hours after the sale started.

It’s strange, it was so easy to pick up an Ayoob in the aftermath of the initial mayhem, that I get the feeling of being screwed. If no one else wanted it, there has to be a reason for that - right? Well, I’m still happy I scored one, and I hope I still feel that way after I receive my package.

[Ramonade]

I asked very nicely for some padding in my box this time. I hope one of the prepper will see this and feel like he can lose a couple of minutes for a customer !

Last time it was a pretty big box with just 4 knives in it and the poor knives took more damage from the shipping than from being seconds
And if not, I'll find a way to fix/mod them

Ohh, I didn’t think of that. It’s my first seconds rodeo so a couple of rookie mistakes are in order.

I was so noob I even missed the date, and by the time I realized the sale was ongoing I reckoned it was futile to bother at all. That was until I saw a post about Ayoobs still being available many hours after the sale started.

It’s strange, it was so easy to pick up an Ayoob in the aftermath of the initial mayhem, that I get the feeling of being screwed. If no one else wanted it, there has to be a reason for that - right? Well, I’m still happy I scored one, and I hope I still feel that way after I receive my package.

The Ayoob stayed a good time on shelves at europeans dealers, it's even still available at more than one. My belief is that everyone ran toward the mystery boxes, 15V and Para/Military variants

[aicolainen]

The Ayoob stayed a good time on shelves at europeans dealers, it's even still available at more than one. My belief is that everyone ran toward the mystery boxes, 15V and Para/Military variants

I know. I’ve been contemplating getting one at full Euro-pricing for quite a while. It’s only been less than a week now where I’ve leaned in the direction of going through with it, and I guess if I hadn’t been so busy lately I just might be having a €280 Ayoob incoming rather than a $100 Ayoob. It didn’t even occur to me that some of these might show up on the seconds. It’s one of the rare occurrences where putting off a task seems to have paid off.

[benja-man]

Spyderco is a company that prefers to sell its wares through a dealer network.

That might be the problem here: the idea of a factory sale is too keep the price on B-stock as low as possible, so go direct instead of relying on a middle man. From a scale perspective on the other hand it would make sense to let an exclusive dealer handle the heavy lifting logistically. Judging by website performance I'd probably still let a third party handle the sale, it all comes down to how good a deal Spyderco might make with such an exclusive partner.

[sal]

Hi Benja-man,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Dholley13]

I was able to snag a couple of Para 3' s and a Native.

[ABX2011]

I'm curious about the logistical and technical hurdles and costs to make the website work better one day out of the year. Maybe it's simply not feasible?
It was a frustrating experience but I wasn't too surprised given the similar experience the first two years of the online sale.

[sal]

Hi Dholley,

Welcome to our forum.

sal