Thread: Selling On Ebay

Is it worth it? I've been selling on Ebay for the past month and am beginning to wonder if it's worth it.

My purpose was to give shavers, shave ready razors but as I browse other listings there is very little interest in restored or honed razors. I don't know if it's because of the lack of understanding the time and work ivolved in getting a razor shave ready or if it's more of a collectors market.

Your thoughts!!!!

Vince,
I think it more a case of buyers not knowing a sellers reputation. Shave ready razors from Bob Keyes, etc... do well because we have come to know what he sells and that they are indeed shave ready. Many of us will search specifically for his and Manywares stuff for this reason. My sets do well on eBay because many newbies come here first, or follow the link in my auctions to SRP so know of what I sell and its quality. Without that backgound very few would be willing to invest $140-$150 in my eBay set when there are $30 Paki sets listed. They simply would not know the difference in quality. A used razor auction is the same. I see "ready to use" quite often. Unless I recognize the sellers name I simply think.."yeah, sure it is".

Your items could be the best in the world but until guys realize what you are indeed offering it will be harder to coax them to your listings. Until today I had no idea you were selling there...now of course I will be watching closely as I would feel very comfortable dealing with you. Maybe a mention of your listings every once in a while in the Buy Sell Trade forum will lead guys to your nice stuff.

This is not anything negative about you or your skills, it's simply taking a chance on something unknown to many. I would not hesitate to buy from anyone here if I know who they were on ebay.

May we have your eBay seller name so we can cash in on your auctions before you are 'discovered' <g>.

Tony

Another example of what Tony is speaking to relates to hones. Recently what would be a great buy if it were a genuine Escher hone went for what in today's market is very little money for such a stone. On the other hand, Tony sold one recently that he indicated was "Escher-Like" since it was marketed under a different name and it went for the same money as any Escher would. That's because he is known to both the shaving community and the legendary "Rabbis". If I tried to sell a hone as an Escher it better have the label glued onto it and intact, and it better look as if it has been there for 50 or 100 years!

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

Vince,
very few would be willing to invest $140-$150 in my eBay set when there are $30 Paki sets listed.

I almost had a heart attack when I read Tony's set AND Paki sets in the same sentence. How thankful I am for sentence context

Vince, I think Tony's right on the money. There is an list of SRP member names corresponding to their Ebay names. Are you on that list?

Post a link to one of your auctions or, as Tony said, give us your Ebay name. I think many newbies look at the B/S/T section so posting your auctions there might be a good way to generate traffic as well.

I understand it takes time to build a reputation and my name is in the Ebay LIst. That's not all I was concerned with though. I see, like you said Tony, these guys buying Paki's (which I went through) and I just shake my head.

But like you said, they don't know. They just don't know how long it takes to clean a razor or to hone it. When you really look at EBAY, There are only a few good sellers who sell shave ready razors and I have bought from all of them.

Let me know if I miss anyone, You, German Razors, Mr. Barence, Bob Altima, Manny Ware, and every once in awhile one of the guys from the site will throw something up

vbellissim I Think this is he.
If it is vbellissim posted his details here a couple of weeks ago.

That's me. Thank's Heliguy.

Vince

Vince:

I just looked at your current offerings on Ebay. Every piece looks incredible to my eye. I'm not familiar with the brands of some of the razors but I can certainly tell these razors were well taken care of by you. Being no expert in older, restored razors, I can say that for my taste these razors are very well priced too. I can't say why people aren't jumping on these except maybe the names aren't as familiar to some people but that's pure speculation on my part.

Sorry I can't offer anything better.

I understand that Paki may just be an easy abbreviation and hence it's use here. However, in britain at least it has racist associations, and i would prefer if we did not use it.

Originally Posted by ernestrome

I understand that Paki may just be an easy abbreviation and hence it's use here. However, in britain at least it has racist associations, and i would prefer if we did not use it.

Its use here is racist weather people know it or not.
racism is a hotbed and hence its definition is complex.

"It involves hasty generalizations about members of a group based on the perceived characteristics of one or more members of the group."

The assertion that a quality razor cannot be made in Pakistan is racist.

My intention is not to offend! although Truth often does.