Thread: How to avoid members stepping on each others auctions ?

Hi to every one,

Last night, I have been out-bid on another eBay auction.

At a glance, this wouldn't be any thing to annoy any one. But when it has happened several times with a couple eBay users and if you look the users' feedback you see he/she almost only bids on str8s and always at the last second.
It makes you think some kind of business is going on. Nothing wrong with it!.

So far so good, but later on, I've see on this forum selling, as save-ready, some str8s I would say I have seen them before at eBay, but of course at a much higher price.

The bids, obviously, are placed automatically (eBid or similar applications) and at a reasonable prices, therefore the only way to get a reasonable str8 if one of those users is looking at the same str8 you are, is paying a not so reasonable price for a reasonable str8, otherwise you will always get out-bid in the last second.

Is there any way to avoid members stepping on each others auctions ?

is precisionsupply a member of SRP ?.

You can have a look here for that member

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=5108

Not sure if they are on the list or not.

Edit: I know of one such person on a different auction site, that won 7 straights for approx $45USD and is now selling them off individually starting form 35USD$ That kind of sh!t bugs me because this is clearly someone that knows there is a market for straights so wants to make a profit for nothing. If say he restored then sold them, it wouldn't bother me as much.

there are generally two kinds of bidders - those who shave with the razors and those who collect them (mostly for the scales, i gather)

ebay is indeed a good source for relatively cheap razors, but normally the lots are better value. if you're looking at single razors it's just somebody wanted it more than you
as far as razors being sold here at much higher prices - remember that these are usually cleaned and honed. honing itself is worth something like $20 (if you send your razor to classicshaving for example) and then cleaning up a razor can take some time.

recently i've got two old razors on ebay and paid about 20-25 each (incl shipping). not sure if you'd consider this a good price, but obviously i thought they are worth that much to me (even though i'd have rather paid 5 or 10 a piece). I plan to learn to hone and I want to try many razors, but I don't think I want to have a collection the size of Lynn's. So I'd probably end up offering the ones I don't want to keep here on B/S/T, or if there isn't any interest on ebay. It certainly isn't a money making enterprise. Consider that to get a razor to clean shave-ready state can take you few hours, I don't think most of us would be interested in doing it as a major source of income (esp considering the volume one can sell). It's just a hobby.

For example I would rather get 100 pass through me and keep 10, than have 50 permanently.

Originally Posted by gugi

For example I would rather get 100 pass through me and keep 10, than have 50 permanently.

I don't think you'd care much after the 1st one passed right through your body

Everytime I bid on a str8, I check to see if the current bidder is a SRP member.. I was fortunate enough to get 2 new Dovos at an excellent price. I have yet to see a good deal since then... It seems everyone and their grandmother is bidding on str8's...

As for the BST on SRP.. I would hope that members are selling razors that provide good and accurate descriptions.. Not like the ones found on ebay.. Save the selling fluff for the ebayers.. Let's not take advantage of each other here...

There are issues, for sure.

The thing, which was brought to my attention by a friend is this: you have no guarantees on ebay, and just the fact that you buy the same razor here on SRP, even if not restored, may justify a higher price - because the SRP seller took a risk in buying that razor and it's "vetted" already. If cleaned and honed - certainly you'd see even higher price here.

Another thing - so if I buy a razor that I know / think is worth 10 x what I pay for it(for example purposes only) - what is a price to sell on SRP? Should I ask for my cost, or maybe double, or full market value? There are no easy answers. There is nothing wrong with people selling razors at whatever prices they want here - if the price is too high - nobody will buy! And here I think that experts will warn clueless newbies about exhorbitant prices - either in public or private messages. So things cannot be too bad, really.

I have beaten precisionsupply, iirc. Did I pay too much? Did he decide to cheap out so I won at a good price? - who's to say...

Cheers
Ivo

As someone who has occasionally resold an eBay razor here, I'm in full agreement with the last couple of comments. You definitely take a risk when you buy on eBay. I've bought lots of 10 razors only to find that seven of them are junk. If I paid $100 for the lot, that's $33 for each decent razor. A little extreme, but you have to figure losses like these into the equation. (At least I KNOW they're junk; a newbie might not figure that out for a while.)

Cleaning, honing, and shave-testing an eBay razor is at least a couple of hours' worth of work. Factor in the hundreds of hours the seller has invested developing his honing and restoration skills, and I think a $20 markup isn't unreasonable.

Our resellers here have always to my knowledge dealt fairly with other members, particularly newbies. There's nothing wrong with making a little money, provided you are treating people right and providing a valuable service. There is a lot of demand for properly honed straights--more than enough to keep a few people busy.

And as for eBay--all's fair in ... well, war.

Josh

I have been outbid a few times by these snipers, and just today one bloke must have spent hundreds buying several mint razors from a collection that was from a house clearance. I really, really wanted one of them but this bloke must have nothing else to spend his money on and I couldn't stay with him.
Unfortunately, that's just the way it goes. I was going to look up his name here but the bloody server crashed and I can't find the list. (Also I've had to re-register.) But in any case, eBay is no place for gentlemanly behaviour; I'll be sniping myself on an item or two that's caught my eye.

On ebay , it's snipe and be sniped , every man for himself .

personally I'm sitting it out for a while til prices come down. The new prices being paid on some of these razors makes no sence, especially with the crappy photos that most of them post.