We get some crazy questions, as you can imagine.  But, mostly, we get the same questions on a daily basis.  So we will try and answer some of them here so you don’t have to take the time to call / email.

Q: How do Rewards accrue?  How do I use them?

A: You can access your Rewards report on your “My Account” page.  The Rewards are a little bit different.  You earn 1 point for each $1 spent on purchases while logged into your account.  It takes 500 points to be able to redeem the points for credit, but after that you can redeem all your points any time you checkout with at least $20 worth of items in your cart.  It will be offered above the cart during checkout.

We will not be beaten on price and we ship knives Priority mail in a USPS box, not an envelope.  We offer the best value in knives, period.  But the Rewards program is an additional incentive for frequent purchasers.  Thus, it takes 500 points to activate the coupon in the cart and individually earned points expire 6 months after accrual.  The market changes very often, most times affecting margins and processes.  Thus, we reserve the right to eliminate the Rewards system at any time for any reason.  Thus, do not consider accrued rewards as an asset or permanent store of value.

3/16/21 Update:  The rewards program is being discontinued.  Accumulation will end 4/1/21 and all components will be discontinued after 10/1/21.  By waiting until 10/1 we can insure there are no longer any usable points in our customers account – since they expire after 6 months.

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Q: Why do the passwords have to be so complicated?

We are living in a complicated world.  If you could sit and watch the number of bots and humans attacking each website every minute of every day, it would probably blow your mind.  We are paying lots of money to have our website secured by the best in the business.  Admittedly, it probably would not be catastrophic if someone gets into your account; but they could spend your points, cancel your reservations, and do other malicious things.  Finally, most users have their browsers remember their password anyway; so it doesn’t really matter how complicated it is in that situation.  We are not doing it to be difficult; we are doing it because we are partly liable for your account and the security company requires these settings to insure we can protect every customer that uses CollectorKnives.

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Q: Do I have to buy more than $99 worth to get free shipping?

A: Maybe.  We offer free shipping on those orders for more than $99 to keep from having to play the little cat and mouse game of figuring shipping costs into every knife we sell.  For example, if we calculate $7 shipping into a $10 Opinel – we have priced ourself out of the market in most peoples minds.  But we can’t sell the knife shipped for $10.  So, for the brands that we ship free due to some form of MAP pricing – we still will as long as we can.   But you do not have to worry, the system automatically calculates all this to give your the best possible delivered price available.

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Q: Do you have this knife in stock?

A: If you can buy it – we have it in stock.  The only exceptions are items noted as a pre-order.  We don’t drop ship.

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Q: Does the knife come with a box?

A: If there is a box in the picture – yes. If the description says it comes with a box – yes. Otherwise it will come as pictured. We do not grade the box, thus it may have some damage or it may be factory perfect.

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Q: Is the knife in the picture the one I will get?

A: We take stock pictures of every item when it is added to the website. Because of the extensive amount of inventory arriving daily, we do not have the time nor the manpower to take front / back pictures of every knife. Some smaller competitors can, but please remember that if the knife is not something we would be tickled to recieve it goes out the back door to the flea market. Our volume allows us to take a loss here and there on an item that does not meet our criteria. Others that blow about having every knife pictured have A) already sold the best examples to their insiders, and B) are guaranteeing that your knife has been picked over by others. We offer our customers an equal chance to get the best example of a lot that have already been culled thru by us; whether the first day on the site or the last – whether you are our best customer or a brand new one.

Several dealers use this as a sticking point for customers that are looking for a place to buy online. The fact is that issues involving our customer being unhappily surprised by a knife purchased via a stock picture are near non-existent. But if they don’t scare you before you buy from us; they have no chance at ever getting you back.

The new website has afforded us an easier and less costly way to accommodate this request.  Thus on slabs that have significant variance, we will try and picture the options.

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Q: Is the knife “new”?

A: We do not grade knives as “new”. We grade them as “Mint” (factory fresh or as fresh as they were available in their time), “Near Mint” (very close to mint but may have a small spot or pin crack or scratch, but never used), or “Excellent” (may be sharpened or have several spots, etc. but still functional). We have knives made 50 years ago that are “mint”, but not “new”. We have a blog entry about this very topic and have started listing new stock as “New/Mint” to accommodate everyone.

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Q: How much is shipping?

A: Shipping will be shown in the cart.  We have a complex algorithm in most cases to insure the customer pays the minimal amount of shipping.

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Q: Do you ship internationally? Why not?

A: No. But to see the long answer, please read our blog entry on this subject.

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Q: What does “LG” or “LG+” stand for?

A: GEC has introduced a new material that needs a couple of comments. This Looking Glass Abalone is genuine abalone veneer sheets sliced very thin and encased in acrylic. It gives the beauty of abalone without the cost. They will typically be about the same price as any other acrylic in the same pattern. This material is a mosaic veneer and there will be visible seams in the abalone sheets; this is why the price is right on them. They also have pearl, black pearl, awabi, etc.

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Q: What does “EDC” stand for as a condition?

A: Every Day Carry (“EDC”) are knives which have minor cosmetic issues which allow us to discount them at a tremendous savings to the customer that simply wants a great carrying knife. Maybe the bone is a couple of shades lighter on the front, or a pin was flattened during the finishing process. Either way they are functionally perfect and your satisfaction is guaranteed ! They are not seconds. The GEC “S”tore knives will also be noted as “EDC”.  Due to manufacturer guidelines for handling this line, we cannot show actual pictures of the knives with flaws; thus we will recycle our pictures from the general production models we have on file.

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Q: Why are some GEC’s serialized and some not?

A: It is mostly to do with demand for serialized models, but Great Eastern actually has a general rule on serialization. A) If there will be less than 50 produced, none will be serialized. B) If there will be more than 50, but less than 75 produced, the first 25 will be serialized. C) If there will be 75 or more produced, the first 35 will be serialized. D) Genuine Stag, Natural Stag, Primitive Bone, Snakewood, and some other prime handles will always be serialized. There are periodically other exceptions (SFO’s, etc.); but these are the general rules.

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Q: Can I use a credit card with a foreign “Billing” address?

A: No. Due to extensive fraud using stolen international credit cards and just simply international crooks, we will no long accept international credit cards. We didn’t ship outside the U.S. anyway, so many folks were using re-shippers. But these services are so easy to utilize when committing credit card fraud, that we are tired of chasing them down. If you want to use a re-shipper, you can use Paypal where we are protected from this foolishness.  AMForward seems to be a highly recommended company for this purpose.

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Q: Please explain “Pull” and “Factory Effort” on your newer listings.

A: In our attempt to provide as much information as possible for each knife listed, we have added a couple of “opinions” to the list of specifications. First is “Pull”. The pull is the amount of effort to open the blade from a closed position. This is very relative as some folks have stronger hands / fingers / fingernails than others. But my somewhat flexible definition of the ranking follows. Five (5) would be your typical pocket knife with good backspring pressure, but not a big snap when closing. Seven (7) would be a bit tight but really nice snap when opening / closing. Nine (9) would be too tight to reasonable open for regular use and Ten (10) would be one that is welded shut. I like to see them in the 5-7 range; but many older knives were more like a 4 and had a great flow about them.

Second is “Factory Effort”. Every knife makes some patterns better than others. Also, factories sometimes put out a lackluster effort on a knife they have made better previously. This is just my way to give you an expectation on what to expect compared to all the knives in this makers catalog. I am not comparing them to other makers; only their own previous work. A rating of 7/8 is what I would call the standard expectation for this company. An effort of 9 means they really did a nice job on this knife and it stands apart from the standard expectation. If you ever see a 10, that means that in my opinion this could be one of the best production deliveries this company has made. Going the other way, a 5 probably means this company paid little attention to quality control.