There was a rather long winded and somewhat negative (due to extensive hijacking by a couple of disgruntled new people) thread on BF last week regarding lack of availability of scrapyard knives. Of course the OP in that thread wanted a Dogfather LE, we wanted it now, and he wanted to pay factory direct price. Yeah - I'll take all of those options too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
The thread was not fair to scrapyard and many of the Busse folks responded with supporting comments, but it is a real shock to most people that they can't buy the product they want right now. That a company doesn't just keep cranking out a model by the millions of units until lack of sales forces them to change their thinking. It was almost impossible to explain to such folks that this is in fact a part of the planned marketing strategy and that it works for smaller companies like Scrapyard exceedingly well.
In fact, what a unique business model this is. The pre-order + limited runs ensure that production rates are optimized to sales. This limits overhead on material costs and allows high quality assurance/quality control during production. Another advantage is that it enables the company to be innovative in designing new products. Rather than running a design to its death by market saturation, scrapyard is free to run with its imagination. This comes at a risk, but one that can be gaged on the pre-order sale rate. The company can also periodically bring back its winning designs and meet a perceived strong demand for a past product.
Regarding the 2nd market. All told, the mark-up, at least on the SODs posted on BF hasen't been outrageous. Yes, it is higher than the direct purchase price, but alternatively there is no other way to get that knife. When you factor in shipping costs (both as part of the original SOD purchase from scrapyard and additional shipping costs to get the knives to the buyer) these mark-ups are relatively minor. I think most people think that the advertised scrapyard price must be the final price and forget about shipping which is added on in the commercial venture but more typically included as part of the price quote on the secondary market.
Another advantage not indicated earlier about the 2nd market purchasing is that you get the knife right away. For some folks, paying $30-40 more but not having to wait 2 months is well worth it the market. For other folks, the wait in itself is worth it just to be the first to have the knives.
All that said, my one scrapyard knife is decidedly a keeper for me. Already modded mine by convexing it. Like DotD, I'm glad the 2nd market exists otherwise I really wouldn't have access to other previously offered products.
