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Just seems to me that lately, like in the past 6 months, the prices on E-bay have risen out of all proportion.
I watched a razor with a cracked blade and handle go for fifty one dollars. A week later, the same guy sells it for Thirty two...
Some of the bids seem out of the realm of possibility for such a obvious piece of junk.
Am I crazy?
Shill Bidding anyone?
Prices have come up a little bit, but I haven't seen what you are describing overall.
Disclaimer: There is always someone with a clueless opinion of what they are selling, and some other sap willing to buy it.
Those aren't prices. They are transaction results that may or may not reflect any more than perceived value.
This is exactly why I don't discuss the values of razors on the forum. Only the buyer and the second highest bidder can determine what a razor is worth. There is no actual value.
Take what Dylan just posted then add an increase in new people to the hobby in the 1000% plus on just the forums, added to the fact that many people have no clue on how to evaluate a good razor, now take all that and mix in a few too many less then scrupulous people out there taking advantage of all this, and you get = Crazy days..
I agree with the OP that most big names on ebay and others will fetch good money but on the other hand i still see a lot of maybe not so popular brand wonderful shavers for dirt cheap.
+1 on the above. I've been looking for certain razors. The prices fluctuate a lot.
I scored a Genco yesterday that looks to be decent for $13 and I got a W&B Bow for the same with crap scales, so prices are not up on everything.
There is a W&B Bow for sale with the scales completely broken off on there right now.... Buy it Now $250.00
You just have to be patient and pass when the prices go up. There's always other razors on the bay.
For the most part, the prices of razors on ebay right now are fairly close to what they were this time last year. They seem higher due to the dip in prices that occured during the months leading up to Christmas as buyers were saving their money and buying gifts for family.
Maybe my RAD has calmed down enough for the blinders to fall away and I am seeing some of the true values because I am more aware of what I am looking at thanks to you fine gentlemen. (Kinda had a little rant going earlier...)
This site has been in operation since 2005 and in that year this comment was made and probably made again and again several times each year. We could just recycle the original comment.:)
Hones are crazy too. I've been looking for a decent coticule for the right price. I dont think I will ever get one on the bay.
prices for razors and hones each year we cannot believe how insane they are, much like every generation says that the next younger one is worse than they were.... and that we ( thebigspendur :dropjaw: and i) have been saying this for thousands of years, him more than me :rofl2:
I disagree with the premise that razors don't have a value. I do agree that they don't have a retail value like a new Dovo might but the value isn't always determined by the top two bidders.
There is some consistency in vintage razor prices and they change quite a often. Almost similar to stocks, you might consider Filarmonica razors to be like Google and Genco to be like Deutsche Bank. The main factors I've seen are more in terms of condition and time of the month.
And more related to the OP... yes I think there is quite of bit of shill bidding going around lately
One thing to realize, is that there is a resurgence in shaving using a Straight or a DE. When I was purchasing my strop at a high-end department store (one of my only options down under....), the sales associate mentioned that she's seen a surprising number of young guys coming in an buying DE's within the last year. On top of that, she said her straight razor sales were also starting to pick-up with the same crowd.
Should also note that I read an article about DE shaving this week in a magazine...
Yeah one of the local antique stores here has safeties for 18 bucks a piece, and she sells them like crazy. She re-tells the story every time I stop in. She says ten years ago she couldn't give them away, and now all the young men are buying them up. The few SR's I've managed to drum up locally weren't that great but pricing was a little better than Ebay. I've got everything I want though, so prices can do whatever they want. Although it would have been nice if I was around 5 years ago when Eschers were a hundred bucks a piece. OTOH, I just sold a 7 inch bbw/coticule for 56 bucks, so it doesn't look like those prices are holding to me.