[Brian M]

I think that the major problem for me (and perhaps others) is that the 10-15% increase is going to make it that much harder to do the "buy 6, get 1 free" deal within the year time frame. I did it last year and got the Tritonia for my 7th sword, but it stretched my available finances to the limit.
With a 10-15% increase times 6 swords, that's a long way to the cost of another sword. If one bought 6 swords at an average of $700 each last year, an average increase of 12% will cause the price of the same 6 swords to increase by a net total of $504 this year.
That is a problem for me. It will almost certainly mean that I buy fewer swords in the long run, because hitting the 6 within a year will now be more difficult. So I may only buy one or two swords a year that I really want and watch the used market for any others.

Brian M

[Bill Grandy]

I think the concerns are certainly fair as consumers, but let's face it: Everything gets more expensive. Cars, groceries, gas, whatever. While I understand the desire to voice concerns, I don't think it's at all out of the question that Albion's prices are going up. Will this affect my ability to buy their items? Absolutely. Such is life.

Look at it from a craftsman's point of view as well. How often do we hear of sword makers who charge very reasonable prices get overwhelmed by people who want to buy from them. The craftsman has to make a living, so he takes the orders and the money. After a certain point it is hard to keep up with fulfilling the orders, which means customers are getting upset that they have to wait past deadlines, but in the meantime the craftsman has to take more orders in order to survive, which only means a bigger backlog and more people are unhappy. That's part of why custom sword makers almost have to put a high price tag on their wares. Those who appreciate the quality will put the extra money down, those who can't afford it will just have to either save longer or spend elsewhere. The craftsman will have less orders to fulfill because of this, but in theory can still make ends meet due to the increased price, and the customers that they do have will in theory be happier due to the fact that their sword was completed on time and no short cuts were taken.

[Craig Peters]

I didn't even realize that one had to purchase 6 swords within one year to receive the 7th one free. I would hope that Albion would be willing to modify this deal, especially after the price increase, to allow people to take advantage of it whenever they're able to purchase six swords, rather than limit the time frame to a single year.

Craig

[Jason Elrod]

[Bob Burns]

Let me say this, because this is very important and is quite relative to all things in business. Myself, for example, I install vinyl flooring as well as sheet vinyl, also ceramic, I am very good at what I do and I do have a certain rate that I charge, of which a lot of flooring stores are not willing to pay. Now think about this when you buy flooring. I've been in this industry for 12 years, I have walked into stores with my price list and had owners or managers tell me they will not pay my prices, wherein the conversation came to an abrupt end and I left. Customer satisfaction is the most important thing to me and I have a right to make a fair wage for what I do and proper reward of my skills. I have seen countless installations that were done wrong, I do a job and I do it right, no corners are ever cut! Most stores go with who will install the cheapest and deal with the irrate customer later.

When you are in the business of 1st class swords your going to want the best bladesmiths working for you, as a customer your going to want to know that the best smiths are making these swords you are willing to pay a premium price for and it's only common sense that the bladesmith is going to want a fair wage for his highly developed skills.

I would not want an unhappy bladesmith or a bladesmith who is not all that skilled or does not care about what he is doing, I want to know that smith is happy in his job in a rewarding career doing what he loves, because that is why I am willing to pay $600 to say $1,000.00 for in a sword, otherwise I can just go to MRL or somewhere else and buy an imported sword.

I think I also asked questions in a way that was advantagious to the manufacturers, giving them an opportunity in seeing the reaction of the market on a small scale as well as getting the answers met to which would bring resolve to the customers that the increase was valid and therefore continue to buy knowing the price is indeed a fair one.


Also, swords at this level are pretty much custom swords made on a production scale, I include Arms & Armor as well as Albion in this statement. Otherwise these swords would be well over a thousand dollars a piece.

Sincerely,

Bob

[Joachim Nilsson]

I don't think people fully realize exactly how valuable the co-operation between Peter Johnsson and Albion actually is. The Next Generation venture is a tremendous asset for the sword community; collectors and practitioners alike. Even if Albion instituted a 50% price increase I'd still buy their swords -not because I collect, but because I want the best available tools that I can afford for my training.

Besides, I've never come upon a company with such nice people aboard as Albion, and therefor I will do whatever I can to support them.

[Joachim Nilsson]

[William C Champlin]

After having bought two Albion swords used (thanks Christopher and Jason) I was moved to purchase another sword from them direct (admittedly on sale). I can honestly say that I would rather have a quality sword and support the craftsmen who produced it than shore up a company that relies on excessively cheap labor and produces medium quality products. That is to say, I would rather have one Albion Prince than six or seven MRL Shrewsburys.W.

[Roger Hooper]

Peter Johnsson makes great custom swords. He also makes great sword designs for Albion. Albion makes production swords from those designs. They may be very fine swords, but they are not custom or near custom.

It's very tricky increasing prices after the cost of your materials, etc. goes up. Too little, and you go out of business - too much and your customers may go elsewhere. Time will prove out whether Albion calculated well.

[Joachim Nilsson]

[Bob Burns]

Perhaps I should correct myself here stating that these are "pretty much custom swords at a production rate".

I should have said, "These are swords at the utmost top end of production quality before going to the next level, that being a custom sword.

Hope that sounds better, as I did not mean to compare a highly prized custom sword to a production sword wherein the swordsmith has spent a special amount of time and effort to minute detail that a production sword of course would not get. If that was done to a production sword, might as well close the doors cause your gonna go broke in a hurry!

Bob

[Alexi Goranov]

[Jason Elrod]

[Jason Elrod]

[Roger Hooper]

[Jonathan Blair]

Odd, I figured someone from Albion would have chimed in by now.

Personally, I don't mind the price increase. I buy a sword every couple of years. That's due to not having a lot of disposable income because I have a family and being very picky in what I decide to get. Plus, I won't ever buy another sword on credit again. I bought my first Albion (the Crecy) during the last sale after having saved up a dollar here and five there for the last six months (imagine the surprise/frustration of the Post Office worker when I handed him $155 in five dollar bills, $176 in ones, $33 in quarters, and $10 in dimes). By the time I can afford another Albion, they will likely have raised the price twice more. Just means I'll have to save for eight months to buy.

[Nathan Robinson]

[Gabriel Lebec]

[Joe Fults]

[DaK A. Wade]