All About Pocket Knives

I am very happy to support AAPK through an account subscription. This is a great web site with a lot of information. I know it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time to maintain it. The subscriptions may be a good start but why not look at a minimal insertion fee for each listing in AAPK stores? Many knives in the stores are way overpriced and will never sell at the asking price. All of the listings require space and time to maintain. There are several knives that have been listed for over a year that I have noticed. A 25 cent insertion fee that would be good for 90 days would encourage the store owners to price their knives at a reasonable price and also discourage sellers from listing many knives with no reasonable expectation of a sale. The proceeds would help with the costs of maintaining the site.
Also a question. Do more people come to AAPK to view the forums or buy knives? My guess is the forums are the primary drawing card. It's sad so many of these store owners have many listings and a lot of knowledge on knives but never participate in the forums. It's almost like the only reason they are here is to make money and not to promote the hobby. We should all be grateful for Steve and a few of the others that pitch in when they can. The 3% that is charged when a knife is sold is a small price to pay for the exposure the web site offers.

I have had my store here on AAPK for over 11 1/2 years, opened 1-2-2006....after many
conversations with Bryan in the latter part of 2005, I joined AAPK same day Bryan got my store up..
One of the big draws was listing a knife and letting it set till sold or deleted, no other fees but commision, it was nothing, I mean
nothing like selling on Ebay, which I pretty much quit using selling knives on in the last 12 years...
Bryan set the rules back then and continues to do so presently
I have paid all my commisions to Bryan 2-3 weeks before they were due,
followed all the rules he set forth, and thanked him repeatedly over the yrs
He was upgrading something back in 2007, was short on $$$, and Johhnie (Fain) ran some auctions where the few store owners
there was at the time, (including myself)and some members as well all donated knives to get him over the hump..
AAPK is a extremely welcome quiet escape for me while listing knives for sale, maintaining my store, reading all the
posts and learning from other members while my wife of 48 yrs is taking a nap, down in bed with a flare,
as she has Lupus, Sjogrens, & fibromyalgia...she is very ill a lot, life threatning several times over the last 8-9 yrs, making me responsible for most cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning up,
keeping the house in order etc.....it leaves little time to set on the puter posting and such especially when I am not nearly as smart
on pocket knives as a lot of our members...I also like to "only" posts on subjects I think I can be of help on, or to encourage other
members on their posts I am interested in.
Every store owner has a story I suppose, but before you lump us all together with policy changes, one should know each owners personal situation

Will
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/clearcreekknives

I don't own a store here so I'm not going to comment on the suggestions for that part. I would, however, like to comment on one part of the OP if I may.

One part of the OP states that "many knives in the stores are way overpriced and will never sell at the asking price". That might be true, however, many of the knives here are also priced fairly in my opinion, so how do you differentiate between the two? You can't hold some sellers hostage for the actions of others, it has to be fair all the way around, and that's not an easy task.

Even though I agree that some knives are overpriced at what I determine to be "fair market value", sellers maintain the right to ask whatever they want for their knives whether we like it or not. If we like it, we buy it. If we don't, we move on.

Please understand, I'm not choosing sides here. I'm merely offering my input on one part of the OP. Others will have their own opinions as well.

Bryan has a very difficult job trying to keep everyone happy here. I'd hate to be in his shoes...

________
Mike

I always viewed the price of a knife on AAPK as the asking price that was almost always negotiable, especially if multiple knife purchases were being made. I've have found the AAPK store owners to be supportive of our hobby with nobody increasing their personal wealth from the sale of knives here but simply making their finds or personal collection available to a knife community, sometimes even at a loss. I believe that after 13-years of doing this that Bryan knows the formula that works best for this community and I trust his judgement without any reservation. Just my $0.02

I don't sell knives here but having a insertion fee sounds reasonable.

Is a lot of the space mB taken up by the AAPK Store?

Is a lot of time taken up maintaining that part of the web site?

Bob

I didn't mean to offend anyone in the op. I have bought at least a dozen knives from AAPK stores and have never had a bad experience. So far as I know all of the store owners are outstanding people. Instead of saying "overpriced knives" in the op perhaps it would have been better to say - knives that have been made available for extended periods of time and still remain available. This would include knives in poor condition and knives by inferior makers, as well as overpriced knives. I agree it is up to the seller to determine asking price. Yet knives that don't sell continue to eat space and require some looking after - I assume. I also agree it is up to the people that run the site to determine where the fees should be imposed. I meant to only offer a suggestion as a possible source of additional revenue to continue to operate the site in the excellent manner we have all became accustomed to. I assume there is a need as premium account subscriptions have been offered? Others should give their suggestions as well.