Another "Get pictures" advice

So yesterday I saw this Fritz Bracht DOVO on "marktplaats"(it's Dutch, kinda like ebay, but less auctiony):
Attachment 56239

So I immediately offered 35 euros for it and mailed the seller for more picture before I would actually buy it(cause you know... you don't want to get raped for 35 euros).

An email came back and one of them showed this:
Attachment 56240

Needless to say I didn't buy it(I like to give the razors a little TLC, but making a French point from this is outta my league). Lesson for ebay newbies: always check or ask for pictures before buying.

Marktplaats.nl is notorious for bad sellers, because there's nothing you can do when an item is damaged or it's not what you were expecting.

I once bought an Ern which was described as having a small burr. It turned out to be a little chip instead and the envelop it came in wasn't even stamped. Seller wouldn't take it back or refund it but did pay me back the cost of the postage she forgot.

Another seller showed a box and a close-up of a vintage Coticule/BBW. The price was more than fair but I didn't expect a crack and a vein in the surface.

I bought 2 of 3 razors a seller had for sale but one of them was the razor I didn't want. He let me change it but it did cost me extra postage.

Fortunately most of the time I've been able to purchase items from marktplaats.nl at bargain prices :)

A lesson learned and thankfully for you not the hard way. :tu

Whenever I look on ebay and see a razor without the blade pictured I ask for the seller to post more pictures of the blade. Most of the sellers on Ebay think that because straight razor collecting is becoming popular that a blade is still worth 150.00USD when the edge is damaged beyond repair.

It's annoying but when you point out these problems it helps.