Thread: eBay 101

Originally Posted by Chevhead

Make a barbers notch and your DONE!

I have to win the auction first! That was my plan though

Originally Posted by 10Pups

This is a winner here. No reserve on it. Several generations old. I think he changed his mind about selling it though.

Superb Antique Straight Razor with A Damascus Syria Blade by Butcher England | eBay

Looks like he's gradually lowering his expectations over the years. This was six months after you posted.


And this is current.

Time to resurrect this thread, and steer it back to its original purpose. I think its way more useful to to educate the new guys as to things to look out for rather than make fun of the obvious junk chunks. Some great knowledge to be found in the first few pages of this thread.
Right now on ebay, a nice big W&B FBU
If somebody can put a close up photo to better illustrate, that would be great.
But take a look at the photo. Observe closely near the heal, what appears to be a crack! maybe it is, maybe it ISNT. This auction the seller offers a 14 day return policy, so if the blade IS cracked, your not out of luck. But the SMART ebay hound would have observed this before the auction was down to the last few days, and would have written to the seller, asking to verify. This way the concern is made clear before hand and the seller wont be wondering if YOU damaged the blade and want to get your money back.

Good spotting Magpie, those go for a small fortune. Looks like the top pin has been replaced at some stage as well. Scale replacement maybe, look narrow for that size razor.

Hard to be certain if the pins have been replaced. I had a W&B that had brass bottom and steel top. Never was sure if it was original or not. It was a very old change if it was. Other photos show the blade in the scales, but again, impossible to tell if it is fully seated. I will post a few more "Look Closely" razors over the next week as I spot them, just to highlight some common problems that are easy to over look. I'm not here to pick on any particular auctions.

People should not be shy about asking questions but I feel like sometimes buyers try to thread needles and not ask because they fear the answer will be publicly shared in the listing, divulge something positive and they will have to pay more or get binned. I beg ppl to ask before bidding in listings yet they still bid first and ask questions later.. I tend to block them. Even if nice at least if they want to bid on something else they see they need to get cleared first and in that process you can see if they actually read a listing. It seems to work for me to weed out occasionally careless people from absolute idiots

Originally Posted by Magpie

Time to resurrect this thread, and steer it back to its original purpose. I think its way more useful to to educate the new guys as to things to look out for rather than make fun of the obvious junk chunks. Some great knowledge to be found in the first few pages of this thread.
Right now on ebay, a nice big W&B FBU
If somebody can put a close up photo to better illustrate, that would be great.
But take a look at the photo. Observe closely near the heal, what appears to be a crack! maybe it is, maybe it ISNT. This auction the seller offers a 14 day return policy, so if the blade IS cracked, your not out of luck. But the SMART ebay hound would have observed this before the auction was down to the last few days, and would have written to the seller, asking to verify. This way the concern is made clear before hand and the seller wont be wondering if YOU damaged the blade and want to get your money back.

This is a very useful post and some great insight into cruising eBay, especially when you only have pictures of an item to evaluate it.

Long story short, this is exactly what happened with one of the big FBUs I purchased, was clearly in the picture, but I just didn't look closely enough. Was totally my fault for not looking closer, it was a hairline crack, was visible though and would have leapt out at me today.

Heed Magpie's post - look closely, ask questions to the seller, and you'll have a much more successful eBay experience.

It's funny you posted this today. Earlier, I messaged the seller asking about the rust streaks.

Here is MY message to the seller:

"Does the blade have ANY cracks in it? Specifically, at the heel end. In pic 2, there appears to be 2 vertical rust lines, near the heel. Are these cracks in the blade?"


Below is his reply:


"Thanks for the email. You are correct, there is a little crack next to the shank. It is approx 1/8 of an inch long. I will have to add this to the listing. Thanks again, as I did not see this and I would hate to nail it out and have to take it back.
larryz"


Now we know!

As a side note: It is a shame, as it appeared to be a nice prospect!

As already mentioned earlier in this thread, it is always best to ask questions to the seller. It leaves a (virtual) paper trail that can be used, if need be, to recoup $ for false ads. Ebay is very good about wanting the sellers to be 100% truthful. If the (prospective) buyer asks a specific question BEFORE winning and the seller lies, ebay will take this in account and take appropriate action to ensure the buyer is not burned.

While I, personally, am 'new' to buying SR's, I have been Ebay'ing for 18+yrs and learned a LONG time ago. ...paer trail...paper trail...paper trail!

DON'T be afraid to ask the seller. After all, it's YOUR money!

Originally Posted by AcesandEights

It's funny you posted this today. Earlier, I messaged the seller asking about the rust streaks.

Here is MY message to the seller:

"Does the blade have ANY cracks in it? Specifically, at the heel end. In pic 2, there appears to be 2 vertical rust lines, near the heel. Are these cracks in the blade?"


Below is his reply:


"Thanks for the email. You are correct, there is a little crack next to the shank. It is approx 1/8 of an inch long. I will have to add this to the listing. Thanks again, as I did not see this and I would hate to nail it out and have to take it back.
larryz"


Now we know!

As a side note: It is a shame, as it appeared to be a nice prospect!

As already mentioned earlier in this thread, it is always best to ask questions to the seller. It leaves a (virtual) paper trail that can be used, if need be, to recoup $ for false ads. Ebay is very good about wanting the sellers to be 100% truthful. If the (prospective) buyer asks a specific question BEFORE winning and the seller lies, ebay will take this in account and take appropriate action to ensure the buyer is not burned.

While I, personally, am 'new' to buying SR's, I have been Ebay'ing for 18+yrs and learned a LONG time ago. ...paer trail...paper trail...paper trail!

DON'T be afraid to ask the seller. After all, it's YOUR money!

I'd say this is great advice. I personally try and ask as many questions as I can when buying on eBay.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

So it has been determined that it IS in fact cracked. Now ask yourself this question.... At the time of this writing, the bidding was up well into the $200 dollar range, and by I think it was 12 bidders. Why did Nobody look close, and ask this question BEFORE it got to that point? You can be sure that the other bidders who have not yet retracted their bids have not revisited the auction and have not yet read about the crack. I hope this is a valuable teaching aid for you all. Dont be paranoid, but dont assume all is perfect either. Good luck with your bidding.

Magpie