Knife Prices..

[jmh58]

Am I the only one who feels that their new knife prices seem to be climbing steeply?? I know all prices go up but to me it seems CASE in going into GEC pricing.. And with their hit/miss QC they better get it right..
John

[Gunsil]

Case is struggling to hang on, it is not easy keeping an American cutlery company alive in today's economy. Also, Case is still owned by Zippo and must make enough money for Zippo to be happy owning them. Without collectors I think Case would sink since more people who buy a user will go for cheaper imported goods and care little about bone or stag scales or traditional pattern designs. KA-BAR has most if not all their folding knives made overseas as well as a lot of their fixed blades, they cannot make any money making knives in the USA as they once did. If one likes an American made traditional folder and likes the Case brand one can't complain about a price increase. We need to keep American companies and jobs alive.

[Lansky1]

My only frame of reference is eBay ... and yes, the abundance of dealers seems to be growing and prices are gradually increasing over time. I never pay full retail, so it doesn't matter to me ... but I totally agree with the OP - Case new prices are clearly gradually increasing. The secondary effect is prices of clean used / NOS Case knives seems to be going up to keep pace with the increased cost of new. I think the more obvious effect of Case new prices going up is that guys are shifting from new to minty or old stock knives, which used to be maybe 1/2 to 2/3 the price of new, but are now almost always more than 2/3 of new. Bottom line, there just aren't the "deals" ... I'm talking the deals that keep you smiling for days like we used to see on eBay... there is more competition than there used to be. The amount of time I spend hunting eBay for deals is obscene & they are few and far between nowdays ...