Thread: Are there ANY legit eBay straights for sale?

As a newb, I want to build up my rotation, but don't have all the money to get the terrific razors from vintageblades (which I eventually will!)

Any opinions? Who to buy from, who not to buy from? Brands?

Thanks a lot.

altima55, manyware, and mr_barence are well spoken of around here.
With tommyrazors you have to be discerning, but he is also well spoken of.

Really anyone who has good pictures. If they take the time to do good photos, they are, in my experience good.

The BST forum here is also good. We all have a common interest, so while strangers, we aren't the strangest of strangers. If we want to be a part of this 'community' we are subject to some sort of internal policing where decency and common courtesy fail, although I haven't heard of anything like that happening.

Thanks for the info Mark, I was looking at some straights on ebay and was unsure if anyone was liked around here.

Originally Posted by Gags1892

As a newb, I want to build up my rotation, but don't have all the money to get the terrific razors from vintageblades (which I eventually will!)

Any opinions? Who to buy from, who not to buy from? Brands?

Thanks a lot.

It is pretty much like buying anywhere else...if the supplied pictures/info aren't enough for you to make a decision, ask the seller for more. If this does not help you just have to decide on how badly you want the razor...if there is moderate to significant damage, how much are you willing to spend to restore it? Do you plan on using the razor for practice? IMO it is pretty hard to get ripped off these days on ebay unless you really are naive...as long as the seller has a decent amount of positive feed back you should be fine. I find people I deal with from ebay are generally quite nice and professional. About 3 weeks ago I won an auction for a nice boker razor that was in need of restoration. Turns out USPS lost the package and I never received it...notified the seller and he sent me a money order for the refund.

As always avoid razors from places like pakistan and anything that looks to good to be true probably is. Be prepared to spend alot of time browsing through listings

A couple other ebay sellers that i have had good experience with are taylor1000 (portal5 here on srp) and ww4repair... ww4repair while an OK seller... often beats me in auctions...

as for other ideas read this thread and in fact try all the stickies in the newbie forum.

Besides Jim at Vintage blades you can try classic shaving and Bill Ellis if you get nothing else from Bill get his CD on straight razor restoration.

Bill Ellis also wrote a guide to buying straight razors on ebay... urleebird is his ebay name

Esquirpia sells nice Filarmonicas. He's kind of unknown (which makes his prices relatively low ) and is very courteous. Check him out!

Altima55 lives about 8 blocks from me. I've visited him and had a tour of his shop. In addition I've purchased razors from him (I can pick them up at his house and pay cash, an advantage worth its weight in gold for avoiding conflict). I would recommend him to anyone.
Manyware has changed his ebay name to Manyrazors. I've also purchased razors from him with great success.
Our own moderator Don, the razor addict formerly known as Taz, sells under the name of Don and Mojo. If you have seen any of Don's razors here you already know they are all first class.

One obvious option is to buy from the members of this forum. Unlike eBite where some will foist of just about any kind of crap because they know they can get away with it, anyone selling on this forum would not dare to sell anything dishonestly.
I sell a lot of cheap razors (not on this forum) to people who just want basic quality razors. If I screwed someone over, then they not only won't recommend me to other people, they will tell others to avoid me. On this forum that would be even more extreme. Anyone selling razors in this forum will want to do well by you. You may not luck into the possible bargains that you MIGHT get on eBite, but you also are virtually guaranteed to NOT get screwed over.

Originally Posted by 0o.Mark.o0

altima55, manyware, and mr_barence are well spoken of around here.
With tommyrazors you have to be discerning, but he is also well spoken of.

I have these sellers saved in "My eBay"! Love their razors...