Thread: Ebay selling dangers - blade width

Hey all, figured I'd post a warning based on my recent experiences. I had measured a blade with a ruler to be an inch, and listed it as 8/8. After shipping, I got a terse email informing me that the razor was not indeed a full inch, and they were complaining about a very small fraction. I offered a refund, it was accepted, I took the razor back and measured it when I got it (not to mention the chain of emails in between which I would have to describe as 'rude' if choosing a word for it).

With my calipers it was 0.980", which is very nearly 63/64...

I can understand if it was listed as 8/8 and measured 7/8 or even 15/16, but where do you draw the line? I think I was being generous even offering a refund, as 64ths of inches are almost getting into the territory of where you need to use Significant figures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia in the razor world. I want to check my sanity here with what SRP thinks.

So moral of the story: apparently there are nitpickers out there who get rather upset when the razor you thought was an inch is short by very small amounts, and then basically suggest you are a liar. I will no longer state size in any certain terms and will instead provide pictures with rulers so buyers can make their own judgments, and suggest anyone who sells does the same.

I can see you are upset. But if you bought a gallon of gas and didn't get a whole gallon, it might bother you, I know it would bug me. If I got over a gallon, I don't think anyone would hear a whisper.

I am just saying that seeing the prices the razors an inch or over are commanding, I would be irate if I paid a bundle and didn't get the full measure. YMMV.

When it comes to razors I try to be absolutely specific. Especially when we get into the 8/8 territory. People who are fixated on meat choppers want 1" + if they can get it. Anything less is not quite as "cool."

I just had to fight a guy to get a refund on a book. Ebay's qualifications for "very good" are 'no highlighting, underlining, margin notes" or any other writing in the text block. I get the book and it has all of the above, in ink and the highlighting in two colors. I abhor highlighting BTW. The guy has specified no returns but I send a message anyway.

AFAIC I should get shipping refunded both ways. Even at that the hassle of repacking, going to the PO is not refundable. This guy said he would refund but when tracking showed it delivered, and a few days went by, I opened a dispute, escalated to a claim, and got my $ back, less return shipping. So it cost me time, aggravation and $4.00 because this person is either inept, careless, or dishonest. Just posting the other side of the coin as to ebay returns.

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

So moral of the story: apparently there are nitpickers out there who get rather upset when the razor you thought was an inch is short by very small amounts, and then basically suggest you are a liar. I will no longer state size in any certain terms and will instead provide pictures with rulers so buyers can make their own judgments, and suggest anyone who sells does the same.

That is definitely the cure for nitpickers. Once you state something is X it had better be X for the extremely fussy ones. I appreciate seller who include a photo of the blade with a ruler so I can gauge the size of the blade. I don't think I would have quibbled over a hairs breadth difference but some people are unreasonable at best.

Bob

That is such a small amount to be under that we are getting into the area of how well calibrated or accurate is your measuring device. We are talking about 0.020" or 20 thousands of an inch. That is getting particularly nit picky. At know point in my razors collecting have I been that concerned out precision machining. We are talking about what would be the amount of steel taken off in a bevel reset, more or less.

That is why i use words like "about" and "approximately" when talking width. But i would have to agree that 1/64 of an inch is pretty negligible in my opinion.

Is it possible that the buyer measured differently?

I think that I recall reading that while most (?) people measure blade width spanning from spine to edge, others measure from the bottom of the hone line to the edge. Depending on the blade design, that could amount to substantially different measurements.

Then again, the buyer may have simply wanted to back out the sale, and found a convenient excuse to screw you.

Before I had an 8/8 blade, and wanted one badly, I would have been miffed if the razor was a hair under an inch ...... red hair, blond hair ........ wouldn't matter ........ if it wasn't an inch I was right back where I had been ....... without an 8/8 blade.

Look at George Brittain razors ..... the 8/8 blades don't really sell for the big $, it is the 10/8 blades that draw the big $. A "silly millimeter" longer can make all the difference in the world to some people. IMHO.

it's called buyer's remorse. He got it and didn't like it and started looking for something to complain about so he could return it and not eat the shipping blaming you for "not as described".

I would expect a full inch at least at some point of the blades length.
98 cents is not a dollar.
If you had laid the blade on a ruler in a photo you would be OK as long as the written description doesn't claim one inch.
When I see a photo like that I always suspect that the true measurements might be off a bit due to camera lens distorting things at different distances and the value of the item is reduced accordingly.