Buck Knives pricing in the UK.

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firedfromthecircus

Tenderfoot
Oct 9, 2014
83
34
there
I have a hankering for a Buck 110 Hunter. It is a hankering I have had for probably 30 years. Apart from buying a cheap copy around 30 years ago I am finally looking to do something about it. But the prices are mad!
Quite a few of my interests involve products from US companies. Generally I find that UK prices seem to be roughly around the same in £s as it is in $s in the US. Given exchange rates and shipping and import duties I can accept that level of pricing. But you can get a Buck Hunter for $39 in the US while they are £75 over here! Anyone know why?
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,355
2,368
Bedfordshire
I think you have largely answered your own question. Shipping, duty (which is fairly high on knives), and VAT on both the goods, and the import duty, tax on tax. There is also the matter of distributors. Edgar Bros are sole distributor for a wide range of imported products, notably knives. They set the price that UK retailers have to pay, and since those retailers can't go anywhere else to get that product, this can limit how much they can discount. When we look at buying from the US, there are far more sources spread around. We don't tend to look just at every supplier in a single state. I think that recently the law was changed to require all businesses to charge sales tax on mail order sales. Up to a few years back, if the business did not have a physical outlet in your state, you didn't pay any sales tax on the purchase.

Having prices be the same in £ as the number was in $ is an old issue. I find it quite interesting that I see things that are still priced like this now, despite the fall in the £ against the $. All that can mean is that the UK business is either selling old stock, or someone is making less profit.
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,520
3,460
65
Exmoor
They are so expensive nowadays. I bought mine in the seventies and it was moderately priced or i would not have bought it as I was fairly strapped for cash at the time. Can't remember what I paid for it. I looked at one a while back and I could not believe the price! I was looking for one as a Christmas present. Needless to say he got something cheaper!
No idea why but it could be why levi jeans are so much cheaper in the US compared to here.... and harleys and hershy bars (tho why anyone might buy a hershy bar I don't know)
Is it to do with trumps trade policy's perhaps? Must plead ignorance on this one.
 

Clanchief

Member
Oct 14, 2017
43
21
Lomondside to Glasgow
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Thought I had one lying boxed unused, it’s the 50th anniversary edition.
 

Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
44
Britannia!
Don't waste your money on a 110. I had 3 including one hand inspected by the Buck quality control guy and they are rubbish.

Loads of blade play, failure on one to stay locked, gaps all over, poor fit and weak blades made of pee poor steel that chip and tips that snap off under standard use.

The handles are nice though.. as are the belt pouches.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
Quality control must have gone downhill since the 70s then. Mine has never had a problem and still going strong!
I was thinking the same thing; and I used mine pretty heavily (both as a pry bar and even once as a bucking bar —- that really hurt my hand but no amage to the knife)
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,938
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
I've lost count of the number of snapped off Buck knives that I've seen.
They 'stay sharp', but I think they do it at the cost of being brittle with sommat weird with their hardening.

Maybe they have changed since the 70's :dunno:
 
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