What to look for in a listing, sellers, and advice for a beginner.

Hey All!

So, this is my second post to SRP, and I'm really satisfied with my experience; everyone has been very helpful so far! I'm also getting to the point where my college buddies I live with are making fun of me for how much I'm reading about straights... :tu

Ok, I guess I should start off by saying that I am dangerously close to pulling the trigger on ebay (I've bid on listings already and lost them all), but I haven't seriously bid on something that I expected to win. That being said, I'm kind of glad I haven't won on anything yet because I probably could have made a big mistake.

Now, here is the listing I'm most intrigued by:
SPECIAL SALE #32- Rare! Straight Razor:72 1/2 J.A.HENCKELS SOLINGEN GERMANY | eBay

Can anyone tell me about this razor in particular, whether it is vintage, NOS, or one of the new regrinds that were recently released. I have no idea how to distinguish between them, so some clarification here would be fantastic. I guess I'm looking for some know-how on what key things I should be looking for in a listing that will indicate whether something is a good value or not.

Also, if you care to do more digging, this seller seems to be much more "professional" than others (despite only having 370 feedbacks), particularly in the picture collage setup they have there. This professionalism, the price tag, the location of the seller (Japan), and the fact that this seller has a lot of items like this one are all red flags. The positives are their feedback, and that recently people seem satisfied with the razors they're getting. Any thoughts here?

Bottom line, I think I need a Str8 razor-ebay 101 lesson. Anyone willing to take me up?

Thanks,
Terp11

Hi Terp! Welcome to SRP from a fellow rookie member.
I'd pass on that razor. It just looks too good to be true. I think you'd be better off buying from a vendor here on SRP. I lack the knowledge to "name names" re: from whom to buy, whom to avoid, etc., but based on other members' comments I've read, most sellers here are reputable.
Except for the experienced restoration artisans, most members here eschew eBay razors, and usually for good reasons: no photo can show the real condition of the blade/scales, lack of shave-readiness, sellers overpricing their wares, outright lying, etc. "Caveat emptor" very much applies to eBay.
If a more experienced buyer of razors posts here, perhaps s/he would be kind enough to PM you re: quality razors currently for sale in the classifieds, i.e. which buyers are noteworthy and their opinion(s) of the razors currently listed. Hope this helps. Sorry for the rambling :soapbox:

I can't see anything wrong with the razor or the price.
There is a thread about what to look for in eBay razors, however, I can't locate it ATM.
I've bought most of my razors on eBay and haven't had any real dramas.
Just ask the seller anything you want to know and (most of them) are pretty easy to get on with - those that aren't you can just ignore, just like the ones that charge over $30 to post an item.
Hang on and enjoy the ride

Welcome to the forum,
Ill echo the above, I have bought a lot on ebay without any serious problems. Just remember ebay is a bit of a gamble, sure if your not satisfied you could send it back but who has the time for that....

Try to save your bids for the last 10 seconds this will keep yourself from getting into bid wars, not sure whos quote this is, but its helped me save a lot of money! "bid low, bid often"

Also you can kiss that razor goodbye now that 10 people have seen it. Posting a link to a live auction is a big "no no", most of us believe that we are the only ones watching the auction so when a link, or advertisment is posted, drama is created.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Terp11

(snap)
Bottom line, I think I need a Str8 razor-ebay 101 lesson. Anyone willing to take me up?

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Search and you will find.
Joed's thread: ebay101

Here is a hint,,,

When a razor has been "Restored" the seller should be honest and up front and tell you the razor has been restored... It should be a matter of pride that they have the skills to restore the razor, not something left un-mentioned...


Sorry a pet peeve of mine with ebay sellers

It is a Genuine Vintage Henckels BTW, the 72 1/2 is a well known and quite common model, ie: not rare at all

If this your very first SR I would strongly suggest not getting it fro eBay. There multiple reason. One being you will have to send it out to be honed which will cost extra. Two eBay has been going nuts lately with prices. Three you can get a great blade already honed from the classifieds here or at whippeddog.com you can get a whole starter kit for around 50 dollars be set to go except for soap which you can get for a couple bucks at most drug stores (vdh or Williams)

In short there are much better options for buying a straight on the cheap for your fist try.

This seller has been mentioned here before for his crazy, haphazard pricing. At one point, if I remember correctly, he had a NOS DD Goldedge for the low price of $1200,BIN. At the same time he had a NOS Tosuke kamisori for under $100. Nothing wrong with the quality of the blades, just odd pricing.

Welcome to SRP. Two things to take into consideration are your lack of experience in knowing what to look for and whatever you get, if it is from ebay, may need honing at a minimum, and possibly restoration of sorts. Many of the people selling razors on ebay are clueless when it comes to straights so even if you know what questions to ask they may not know the correct answer with the razor sitting in front of them. So whatever the final price is add the honing and whatever to that, plus shipping to wherever you get the service done.

The SRP classifieds is a better bet. You'll stand a much better chance of getting a working tool that is ready to go. Personally I'd recommend buying an entry level Dovo razor/strop combo from Straight Razor Designs, Classic Shaving or Vintage Blades. Since you don't know for sure whether straight razor shaving is going to be your cup of tea , making a minimum investment to start is a wise way to go. With a brand new razor, professionally honed, you can get most for your money out of it if you decide it isn't 'for you.'

SRD offers the initial and the second honing free so that is something to take into consideration. It is usually a twenty dollar job from most of those who do it. IIRC the other vendors charge the fore mentioned fee to hone a new razor. You'll need a strop so that is why I suggest the combo. A 5/8 or a 6/8 size is recommended for the average person. Once you know you're going to stick with it you can add to your rotation with more razors and you'll know more about what to look for. :gl:

I agree with the ones that are mentioning to pass on it. Unless it really speaks to you, you can get something for the same price or better from members on this forum that will provide a shave ready blade. The price isn't the concern to me, more the shave ready part, that I believe someone else mentioned on this thread already. Check out Glenn's site gemstarcustoms.com as well.

I also want to echo the comment that posting live auctions isn't a good idea if you want the razor. You'll have a couple of situations. First, someone else might be watching it and waiting until the end to avoid a bidding war. Second, you will be bringing the razor to the attention of a large number of razor collectors that have AD's. ;)

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Originally Posted by Cove5440

I agree with the ones that are mentioning to pass on it. Unless it really speaks to you, you can get something for the same price or better from members on this forum that will provide a shave ready blade. The price isn't the concern to me, more the shave ready part, that I believe someone else mentioned on this thread already. Check out Glenn's site gemstarcustoms.com as well.

I also want to echo the comment that posting live auctions isn't a good idea if you want the razor. You'll have a couple of situations. First, someone else might be watching it and waiting until the end to avoid a bidding war. Second, you will be bringing the razor to the attention of a large number of razor collectors that have AD's. ;)

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I have to say that while I agree in part I have been buying and selling on ebay for quite some time and have friends that make their living solely on ebay these days. We have found that if it is something you really want bidding early is the way to go as long as you know what your max price is and you are disciplined enough to not go over that even if the bids reach that mark. I know from personal experience that waiting till the end you have a 50/50 shot at getting sniped by someone with software in the last two seconds and it has happened to me many times in the past. Again this is if it is something you want for your personal use or your personal collection and know "how much it is worth to you". If it is something you are looking to grab cheap and resell the approach is usually quite different and that is where software and sniping come in handy. These days though even with software you often get sniped and the price goes through the roof in the last minute. I had a friend a few month back use his software to try and get a Murano Chandelier for my wife for her birthday. The price was sitting at $325 and IIRC 12 bids up until ten seconds to go and he set his software to take it to $480 for me. In the last few seconds there were 9 more bids and it went for guess what.......$485.00 Grrrrrr............! Sure that is an extreme case but it happens quite often. Sad part is I'd have spent $600 and we based the $480 number on what it was at knowing there would be other snipers trying to hit it. Most often snipers are in it for resale and cheap to make profit and waiting till the end when you want it for yourself is where that will bite you. If one is willing to pay 80.00 for something and a reseller is only willing to go $50 so there is margin they will beat you almost every time when an item is sitting at $10 or 15 bucks right to the end. Setting the price early knocks them right out of the game. Now getting lucky and being willing to wait indefinitely to get what you want can pay off but it is rare. I know I have and know many others that said to themselves "I should have gone more!" many times.

Just my experience from what I've seen from both sides of that fence.

Bidding early is the way to go if you want to please the seller. Put in your max early and watch the price go up if anyone else is willing to pay the same or more. Waiting until the last few seconds to put in your max does two things..... one it doesn't drive the price up, two, it prevents you from going over your max if you don't end up high bidder. You won't have time to throw in a higher bid. I've been ebaying since '99 with over 1500 individual feedbacks as a buyer and a seller. I LOVE guys who bid early .... and often. Don't be a sucker. Always remember, no matter how rare it seems to be, there will be another one coming up for bid in a day, a week, or a month.

Another thing new buyers should pay attention to is the feedback number of a seller and look at recent feedback of that seller for dates and frequency of sales. A seller such as above with 1500 feedback or one with thousands will almost always have a bunch of people sitting in wait which hammer the item in the last couple seconds. Prices can double or more in that time. Someone with feedback of 5 has almost no one watching unless they somehow wrote a great listing and has a great item to go with it.

Me personally if it's something I have to have for my shelf I to this day hit from the beginning and run off those who are looking for cheap and if in the end I get it I stayed within my limit. I will however put my max bid lower than I am willing to go and bump it with a few seconds to go when someone has capped my bid or came close to it so I have a cushion to work with. If I didn't...............good for the seller in that they found someone who it was worth more to. That said if I'm looking for "cheap" I will often wait till the very end which I will venture to say that 75% of the time end up being outbid and 50% if I have my friend use his software for me.

At the end of the day everyone has a different way of going about it and none of them are the wrong way really. Just a personal preference of how to manage their money depending on the end goal.

feedback meens everything IMO,as a buyer use a sniping service,you can get a free trial run from bidnapper.

I would skip Ebay for now and buy from the classifieds here or Whipped dog for used and Straight Razor Designs for new, you'll know what you get is sharp.
Another thing to try is going to antique stores to learn about razors, there you can look them over in person, see edge dings, hone wear etc, then when you go to Ebay you'll have a better idea (if the pictures are good) of what you are looking at

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FDR

I have to say that while I agree in part I have been buying and selling on ebay for quite some time and have friends that make their living solely on ebay these days. We have found that if it is something you really want bidding early is the way to go as long as you know what your max price is and you are disciplined enough to not go over that even if the bids reach that mark. I know from personal experience that waiting till the end you have a 50/50 shot at getting sniped by someone with software in the last two seconds and it has happened to me many times in the past. Again this is if it is something you want for your personal use or your personal collection and know "how much it is worth to you". If it is something you are looking to grab cheap and resell the approach is usually quite different and that is where software and sniping come in handy. These days though even with software you often get sniped and the price goes through the roof in the last minute. I had a friend a few month back use his software to try and get a Murano Chandelier for my wife for her birthday. The price was sitting at $325 and IIRC 12 bids up until ten seconds to go and he set his software to take it to $480 for me. In the last few seconds there were 9 more bids and it went for guess what.......$485.00 Grrrrrr............! Sure that is an extreme case but it happens quite often. Sad part is I'd have spent $600 and we based the $480 number on what it was at knowing there would be other snipers trying to hit it. Most often snipers are in it for resale and cheap to make profit and waiting till the end when you want it for yourself is where that will bite you. If one is willing to pay 80.00 for something and a reseller is only willing to go $50 so there is margin they will beat you almost every time when an item is sitting at $10 or 15 bucks right to the end. Setting the price early knocks them right out of the game. Now getting lucky and being willing to wait indefinitely to get what you want can pay off but it is rare. I know I have and know many others that said to themselves "I should have gone more!" many times.

Just my experience from what I've seen from both sides of that fence.

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Personally, I do bid early and walk away. I bid on a large number of items, put my max bid in and try not to look at them or let the emails that I'm not the highest bidder any longer sway me. At times, if I really want something, I may go back once, but I try to limit that as much as possible. I was just joking around about what can happen, because I see that a number of times, when I bid on items, I'm the highest bidder until about 30 seconds left of that item.

Thanks for the replies so far, everyone! A lot of helpful advice. Actually, I think there is a lot of overlap in lessons that one can take from both straight razor buying, and a previous (and still ongoing, just not at the rate it used to be) hobby of mine: coin collecting. Speaking from the numismatic side of the equation, the name of the game is really knowing what you should be looking for, and knowing what flaws typically arise in the thing you're looking at. That knowledge comes with time, and I can see where rodb is coming from with his antique advice. Seeing razors in person makes all the difference in the world.

That being said, I am looking specifically for a Henckels razor. I already own a Boker wedge, and a Revisor full hollow that I found at an antique store and still need to send off to get honed. I don't mind doing this and paying for it, considering the dough I have in them right now. However, are Henckels so highly sought after that people can't find them in an antique store, or have any members had success finding quality "diamonds in the rough"? I'm more interested in the vintage blades, but I think eventually I'll cave and pick up a newer Dovo from SRD.

I know this is more an auction talk thread, so I apologize for moving off topic, but new points raise new questions! Oh, I'm really starting to love this!

Here's a link to pics of my current blades: http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...zor-place.html

Thanks for the help guys! I'll probably have more questions to ask when I have time to... I'm at work right now, but I'll be following the thread for most of the day. *Shhhhh* :)

I hear ya there. I do the same thing and especially when selling. I list it and look when it closes. The only time I check on an item is when I get messages or questions on it. My wife keeps an eye on things and she'll come to me with "I can't believe it's only at $5.00......you paid $20 for it.". I just ignore it and when it closes at $60 3 days later I make sure and point it out to her. When the really good ones come along I love rubbing it in a little. Only a couple weeks ago I had an old lamp up which was nothing special but it was nice to say the least. I saved it from a dumpster actually so I had nothing in it and was getting paid to clear the property on top of it. It was at .99 cents with a day to go and she said she was going to have a friend buy it so we don't let it go for nothing. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!" It ended up just shy of $70.00 all in the last 4-5 hours. She is finally starting to realize that I don't put things up that are junk and I don't waste my time if it isn't going to sell. One thing I've found for sure is if I'm looking for something specific and it's on ebay I never plan on getting a bargain. I've gotten many bargains but they have all been by chance when I'm looking for something else and someone has it listed in a bad place or odd category where the right people who would buy that item aren't looking for it.

For those who are looking on ebay for razors as well as other items I'd suggest keeping an eye on local auction companies and even calling them to ask if they have any upcoming auctions with items you are looking for. Check auctionzip and look at pictures of the upcoming auctions. The last lot of razors I picked up weren't even advertised on their listing or catalogue but I found them in their pictures along with a good many antique padlocks which were also not listed but shown in pictures. There are many that slip through the cracks and if you're bargain hunting for personal use or for resale that is a fantastic way to get what you are looking for. Television in the last couple years has made it a little harder with all these auction shows but they are still out there if you look around.