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The prices I am seeing nice razors sell for on eBay is 50% higher than they were several months back.
What's the deal with that?
It reminds me of when I collected Silver Age comic books and they drove the prices up and ruined the market for us true collectors.
I hope it's just a trend or I am going to just buy rusty ones and restore them as I can't afford $50-60 per razor. Insane! :shrug:
They vary from time to time. There are always deals and always rip offs. I hit an antique mall over the summer and I'd OK. Few wades for 25 ish, cleaned up very well. But there's lots of junk high priced.
I glad I bought all I need last year....yuk yuk yuk. Yeah they go up and down with the wind it seems. Although like gas they don't seem to go down as much as they went up.
I also only have one year of "watching like a hawk" experience.
I remember 6 or 7 years ago the number of pages for straights on Eboy and compared to then they have tripled. As prices go up more people sell them and it feeds on itself. I guess there is more interest in straights. users, collectors, investors? Who knows but the market is headed one way.
Thanks guys. Hopefully it passes soon as some of us love this hobby but can't afford $50-60 a pop for non big name razors. :(
I know the Swedish ones are consistently high since last year. Any chance the last Bond movie might affect the interest in straight razor?
The price increase is caused by one thing, and one thing only - hipsters!
Check out the price of single-speed bikes - through the roof!
Plastic rim glasses, skinny jeans - prices are skyrocketing!
Do the hipsters care, no, they only have two emotions, disdain and utter disdain!
;)
Prices in the Rogue Valley are getting crayzy as well.I went to an antique mall the other day and found some unrestored JenCo razors between $50.-$80.!These were the plain blades no frills,the shop owner looked shocked that I walked out.:shrug:
I've picked up a few straights from the SRP Classifieds for a very fair price, but apart from that I'm restricted to ebay.
Over the last two months some bargains have come my way and I've paid over the odds (not too many) for a couple
I just had to have. The big razors are out of my price range, too many people after them. I don't really care about that.
I have my list of favourite sellers and a watch list and I'm always ready to haggle if that option is available.
Since I started this journey I have gradually paid more for what I want and just accept it.
IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH THERE WILL ALWAYS BE BARGAINS :tu
Try German and French ebay, or Tradera (Swedish). Tradera even offers help in English.
Much better prices there.
Now really...Just how many razors do you need?!...:p
Mick
I agree that the prices are getting pretty high. A lot more expensive than when I started with a straight.
It's not limited to razors either. Just look at the prices of Escher stones on eBay. Or even just the prices of coticules. Everything is going up.
I havent bought any razors on Ebay, but I find the prices to be barely affected at the flea markets and auction houses that I frequent. I manage to find 5-10 razors per week for $5-10 each just by hopping from flea markets and antique stores. I am sorry to hear that fellow collectors do not have such success.
I have 9 straight razors, 5 of them I traded some pocket knives for but the others I found at antique stores. I did not pay more then $10 for any of them. But just this weekend I was at an antique mall in Midlothian and found one that was so badly rusted that I could not read the name. It had a rust hole in the blade and the scales were craked and pitted, $15 firm. Needless to say I walked.
Rich
Yeah, if the scales weren't cracked it would have been worth $15. :rofl2:Quote:
Originally Posted by RDM2
Bingo!!!! I cant replace scales (again)
Rich
On ebay prices are getting insane... and also in my local antique store one guy charges 60-250 for high end straights that need restoration still so he sells at a highend restored price for unrestored. And one also has them at average ebay price for good shape high ends around 25-50. The other has crappy ones for around same. And my go to antique store has great razors for 6-20 almost all the time. I bought one in my childhood hometown looks like it was never used and had original box needed no restore for 20. The other stores in that town unrestored gencos for 175... the other one rusty chipped unresorable crap for 40-60 and wouldnt budge on price.... prices are pretty crappy here most of the time....
Prices have gone thru the roof for those new to the sport and want to amass more razors,they want the great razors.
Yet they bitch about the prices.
So be it,for those of us that bought the great razors cheap over the yrs,I think we are all sitting back with a smile on our faces:)
Really no point in trying to figure out the market price for razors or stones. They are worth what people are willing to pay for them.
Condolences Jumbo, I never pay more than $2.50 for a razor and log in an easy 20 to 30 per week. Mostly I look for the razors that say something like harmonica on them and I like the Japanese razors with the funny writing.....I catch a lot of those, plus the gigantic Sheffields. Stick with it, you'll find the right spots. I found a 15 inch yellow green Escher last week but the fool was asking $30.00 for it and wouldn't come down....naturally I walked.Quote:
Originally Posted by jumbojohnny
My impression is that we are caught up in a vicious circle, particularly on eBay. Our hobby has gathered more attention in the last year or so and people who have razors laying around their house of that find them on estate sales etc go on Ebay and check the sale prices on completed listings.
Then they take those prices as reference and price their own razors probably just based on the brand name. They may find that a Wade & Butcher FBU sold for $350 and they may have a half hollow W & B with a big frown and pitting all over the place but still they price it at $299 based on their flawed research. The problem is that they may actually sell at those outrageous prices, someone new to the hobby could have read on a shaving forum that the W & B are good shavers and not knowing any better goes and buys it, perpetuating this pricing distortion.
Well I'm neither hipster nor a collector. I was always interested in straight razor shaving but never followed through beyond an interest. But then I switched to shaving with a DE razor. I think many men are switching to DE shaving and in their search for information rediscover straight razor shaving.
Remember Lynn Abrams talk On November 10, 2011, hosted by Merz Apothecary and Smallflower.com "The Great Shave at the Palmer House in Chicago" in this talk Lynn mentioned he was thankful that the word was out and wet shaving was here to stay. Lynn continued that 10 years ago there was virtually no information on the internet.
During this talk Lynn mentioned that his mission was to spread the word of straight razor shaving. Well its working! So isn't it a good thing?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fort
Well, most certainly, for Lynn. He is in the business of traditional wet shaving after all! Not intending insult at all, but I'm just pointing out that it has to be good for business.
Mick
My thoughts exactly.Quote:
Originally Posted by WW243
About 40 or 50 at least. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by MickR
I think the prices are up because of the interest in the razors themselves. It is not only straights, but DE. razors as well. when I started buying them it was because I could no longer afford to by the modern monstrosities that are offered in the store. With me, and both my sons using the same blades, I could spend 75 bucks a month. When I found my old Gillette I started using it, but here the blades were hard to come by so I started Ebay for blades and razors for my boys. It was dirt cheep and I could pick up DE's for 5 bucks. I stumbled crossed straights and went from there. About two years ago, a local junk dealer had more straights and they two were dirt cheep, however when I returned last month the prices he had were incredibly high, when I asked about it he informed me that since I had started loads of people have come looking for them. It was the same in our local wal store. while in the shaving section an older gent had just informed me he had found a DE razor and was looking for blades, and without missing a beat, a younger man said that he to had found a DE and straight at a local shop. Both said that they got the De's as that they two could no longer afford the amount that was being charged by the Razor companies. I personally could never understand why a new straight razor is so expensive. hand made or not it is just something to shave your face but then again...maybe thats why
No no, stay away!!! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
Quote:
Originally Posted by scotishcavalir
A new cut-throat doesn't have to be too expensive. They have a range of prices based on how pretty they look and the materials used to make them look that pretty. Whatever they're priced at, with care, your great grandsons will be using them long after you're gone, so I would say the outlay is justified.
Mick
I think some guys here could easily supply everyones grandsonsQuote:
Originally Posted by MickR
Tried tradera, its all in Swedish. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Everybody knows Swedish, it's easy!Quote:
Originally Posted by edhewitt
Try Google translate and if (when) that fails ask me or the other Swedes around here for help!
What is Swedish for wedge and razor in that case :) and what is the Swedish currency (krona?) Worth? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Cheers ed
Right now 1.00 SEK = 0.166540 AUD... just use any currency converter on the net, there's lots of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by edhewitt
"Swedish for wedge and razor"
Hmm, we don't use any Swedish word for a wedge, we just call it a wedge.
Straight razor is Rakkniv.
Thanks, now I am equipped to start removing rakknivs out of circulation from Sweden.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemur
Hey lemur,
There are a lot of reasonably priced razors on there, shame I cant read the rest of the ads, though a lot of them look pretty.
As a newb, it is difficult to buy off Ebay. I have stuck to people who are able to provide decent blades at a reasonable price. All the same there was a lot of research and luck involved.
I sold four razors on ebay last week and one of them reached what I thought was a decent price. The other three, the buyers got a bargain I reckon.
The prices are steadily increasing.
That's the nature of the beast in a growing hobby with a limited supply of merchandise.
Get in while you can, the prices are heading one way, and one way only.
There are so many different factors contributing to the price of anything just like the stock market. Just like the stock market I am sure there will be ups and downs in the price of straight razors too if you are in it long enough.
Bob