Thread: Faux honesty from eBay seller

So, the description for this auction reads: "this razor came from an estate auction w/ nice polished finish on the blade, now the blade does need to be cleaned and polished for it shows signs of surface dirt but, looks good, measuring 6 1/4" closed, 9 1/2" opened, this razor is a nice collector edition to any collection . . . ."

RARE VINTAGE CLAUBERG TONSORIAL GEM COLLECTOR RAZOR - eBay (item 160406731235 end time Feb-27-10 14:36:13 PST)

Anyway, you can see how utterly honest the seller is, because he even TELLS you that the blade needs to be cleaned and polished. I mean, otherwise, you might think that this razor is ready to be used without a good cleaning and polishing, for heaven's sake! That's a seller you can trust, am I right?

Anway, if there's any justice, this guy get gets ripped off by someone like Bernie Madoff for 1,000 times the amount that he has been stealing from others on eBay. Not that we'll ever see that happen, but I can still rant about it, right?

Yup. I'd say she needs a good cleaning and polishing. She might make a good 1/6 razor, boxcutter or (what I like to use them for) scale parts. Not for $11 though

At least he put up pictures of it. It would be a lot worse if he was one of those sellers that only showed a picture of the razor with the blade closed.

Nice scales.

I just sent the guy a message through ebay telling him the blade looked like it might be broken compared to the others that he has up for auction. I asked him what he thinks and I'll report back when I get a reply.

What a great ebayer. What he neglects to draw attention to is the super-rare extra large thumb notch. Not see one like that before. Quick, buy before someone else does.


Or not.

Some silly razor grinder who probably uses a Gilette Venus himself ground the thumb notch in the wrong place. That makes this razor an extremely rare collectors' item!



BTW I could do with a sarcasm smiley.

Jeff - You did not go nearly deep enough into what this guy is offering. Go here to see all of the other RARE AND VINTAGE razor he has for sale including a PAKISTAN COLLECTABLE! Either this guy is a total scam artist or he is completely deluded.

Regards - Walt

Walt is absolutely correct. The other auctions this guy is running are equally shameful. And Jimmy, thanks for the effort, but I've tried this in the past too (politely asking the seller if they may have misunderstood the condition of the razor they were selling) and I've gotten cursed at in response.

So, other than the entertainment value, I'm not sure why continuing to post these auctions here makes sense. I mean, we all say constantly that newbies should stay away from eBay auctions, and anyone who knows even a little about straight razors wouldn't buy this P.O.S., so I guess the seller is only wasting his own money by continuing to list this crap for sale.

As for the philosophical question about whether this guy actually knows that he's misrepresenting the condition of his razor, I would guess he probably does not. Instead, he just keeps himself intentionally ignorant of any flaws in what he is selling so that he can say to buyers, "Well, caveat emptor, pal, that's not my problem." I guess that's how he justifies the whole thing to himself, but it doesn't make him any more honest, in my view.

And aren't there already so many crazy old antiques out there to make money on without preying on straight razor people? Well, enough ranting for now.

Originally Posted by JeffE

I mean, we all say constantly that newbies should stay away from eBay auctions, and anyone who knows even a little about straight razors wouldn't buy this P.O.S.,

There's one born every minute ..... and it ain't only newbies. Now I'll tell on myself in regard to buying a pig in a poke on ebay. See Item number:370326811403 if this link here doesn't work.

I had the minimum bid on that pair and going into the last minute upped my bid to $50 but thank God no one else was dumb enough to go for them. I didn't notice that one blade was short or that neither razor has the correct scales. That the pins were poorly done and I could go on.

When I got them I took a close look at the photos and realized I could have seen all of the shortcomings before I ever placed a bid. Now OTOH I've gotten some great razors on ebay. The moral of the story is look before you leap, figuratively speaking.