Some of the price increases are bigger than others. I haven't been through the complete list but the Regent & Munich have the biggest percentage increase I looked at , whereas some other swords have much smaller increases such as the Prince, or in the case of the Oakeshott none. Unfortunately for me as it was on my short list the Mercenary has one of the higher percentage increases I looked at. At a cursory glance the increases seem to fit in exactly with what Howy said about billet sizes. The larger price increases seem to be on long thick blades such as XVIIIb's or wide blades such as the Mercenary and Sovereign. If you draw a direct comparism with the Baron (which I guess could be made from a thinner billet) to the thicker blades of similar length, the Barons percentage price increase is nowhere near as much.


edit: my apologies I think the Oakeshott may have risen but certainly much less than $100

Yeah I noticed some off price increases too. Wasn't the agincourt the cheapest of the trio with that blade style? Lucky I ordered the Crecy as that one got one of the bigger price increases (it now costs the same as the talhoffer and ringeck).

I am also glad I got in :-)

Quote:

or in the case of the Oakeshott none

The Oakeshott did go up, it was 999.00 it is now $1100.00

The Dane went up considerably. I think the Dane is going to end up being an amazing piece...

I'm currently in for:
The Dane, Maximillian, Oakeshott (vs Chevallier), Markgraff with half-wire grip, and the Decurio.

Looks like I got in too as I ordered a Munich and a Squire. Glad I did seeing how much the Munich went up.

I:33
Lichtenauer
Epee de Guerre
Knecht
Dane
Maximillian
Vassal

:lol:

I'm in debt for years... :p

Did Kult of Athena also raise the prices of their Albion offerings? I was thinking of purchasing a sword for a contest prize (oh, the guilt gets to me, so...) and getting it at the pre-raised prices is probably the only way to do it.

[quote="Jean Thibodeau"]

Nathan Robinson wrote:

Did Kult of Athena also raise the prices of their Albion offerings? I was thinking of purchasing a sword for a contest prize (oh, the guilt gets to me, so...) and getting it at the pre-raised prices is probably the only way to do it.[/quote Oh, and don't let the guilt get to you: We are the ones who should feel guilty if we knew how much time money and sweat you have already put in keeping the site going. ;) :cool: You could have another prize for this fundraising effort or you could keep the cash for something special later in the year if something particularly good become available ???

I agree. Maybe you could ( or us too if you like) come up with something interesting later in the year. Or, you could add another prize...a cool dagger, maybe? Whatever you decide to do with any surplus is fine with me. I don't see any reason for you to feel guilty, though. Unless you used the funds to make a payment on your new house :lol: Heck, surprise us, Nathan!

Sorry, wrong thread. Too much scotch I'm afraid!

Dont get me wrong, I love Albion as much as the next guy, but these "Price increases" have to be one of the best marketing strageties ever.

"Buy it now cause its going up tomorrow!"

"We're only making 150... so get yours now!"

I'm fine with it, but I have observe that every time there is a thread about a price jump (even a $50 one), or that they are running out (Why would you stop selling something that is flying out the door like hotcakes?): they get flooded with orders.

Its genius, and next year they get to do it all over again.

I'm not complaining, I'm just observing. I even broke down and pre ordered my Discerner. (though admittedly through KOA. Sorry Albion)

Personally, I don't care if it is a marketing strategy...I LIKE that they tell us these thing. Not only that, but they gave us ample time prepare for it. And hell, they are even willing to accept the old prices even if you need to do so on a payment plan. I hardly consider this to be something that is done for their benefit. In fact it probably hurts their bottom line being so nice to us. But even if not, I rather know then not :) .

Every business has the right to turn a profit.

If that means strategically increasing prices to drive both orders and keep up with ever increasing operating costs, why not?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it as long as it's done ethically and above the board like Albion does.

Let's not forget that Albion is a business. Yes, their business is built around doing what they love doing, but their goal first and foremost is to make money. Of course telling us about the price increase ahead of time generates orders, but that's just savvy marketing on their behalf.

As a consumer, yes seeing the price increase hurts, but if Albion doesn't generate revenue somehow, they will disappear.

If there is a " rush " to order before new prices kick in it just helps Albion by giving it more business shorterm that probably helps postpone later price increases by a bit I think.

But I also don't think they use this strategically otherwise there would be more frequent use of price increases staggered over the same periods that we see increases in price now: Although it might have some beneficial effects on Albion sales pre-increase, the increased price probably slow down sales at the new price for a while right after the new higher prices are in effect. It must be a delicate balance between getting more for each unit sold and maintaining a volume of sales.

I think the folks at Albion love what they do but they have to make money to stay in business and even more to support research and development of new swords ! And we do want this. ;) :lol:

Indirectly I also think that if Albion had never existed the incentives for the lower end makers to improve their swords wouldn't have been there, so Albion has had a possitive influence on the quality of what we can find out there. :D :cool: