Thread: eBay Razors

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If you are willing to take a leap of faith there are bargains all right. Razors that have the brands mislabeled or so badly spelled they go under the radar and as has been said certain times of the year when folks are out of funds and of course the crummy pictures.

Agreed - if you look, sometimes the stars align and you get a great deal. I've lucked out recently with two W&B's razors....one of them, a W&B 17/16 Anchor razor, I got for an incredibly reasonable price for a razor I thought I'd never see, let alone own...for me, there are only two more Holy Grail type blades, the GB Anchor and the DD Grim Reaper, both I know I'm going to find in the local antique store in NOS condition for $20.00 each one day....

Originally Posted by dulcimerdan

I'm fairly new to the straight razor world but it seems to me the prices of the straight razors available through eBay auctions are a bit inflated. Opinions please.

E-bay in its raw form is an auction site so how can anything be "Inflated" the market decides the price..

Originally Posted by gssixgun

E-bay in its raw form is an auction site so how can anything be "Inflated" the market decides the price..

and the market is out of control,The crap people buy on ebay is ludicris.I have sold alot of blades over the past year or so and I have benifited from the craziness,But I have never sold crap,I have a box full of those that will never be sold.

Ebay has two modes of selling, auction and buying. Buying is good to see what sellers think the market can support, and auctions are great for tracking what the buying community is generally willing to pay. With auctions the only way to have inflation is to have a smaller group of people consistently upping the prices.

So overall I think it's just indicative of the hobby expanding - with more people wanting the same things (especially things not made anymore) prices are going to go up; to some degree that's the cost of growing the hobby.

Just everyone stay away from the auctions I'm bidding on

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

and the market is out of control,The crap people buy on ebay is ludicris

Ahhhhh but let's also be real here, Your statement points out exactly where the problem is...

Everywhere on this site the Senior members/Mentors/Mods always say the exact same thing stay away from E-bay (etc: ) until you don't have to ask if this Razor was a "good buy"

Yet everyday on here we see at least one example of another newb buying a worn out POS asking "Was this a good buy" and even more newbs saying "Yeah looks great, just clean a little and hone it up"

The saying "A fool and his money" is easily observable in this hobby, the depressing pert is that all the info is available to make an educated buy yet people would rather spend money then time

Originally Posted by ScienceGuy

Ebay has two modes of selling, auction and buying. Buying is good to see what sellers think the market can support, and auctions are great for tracking what the buying community is generally willing to pay. With auctions the only way to have inflation is to have a smaller group of people consistently upping the prices.

So overall I think it's just indicative of the hobby expanding - with more people wanting the same things (especially things not made anymore) prices are going to go up; to some degree that's the cost of growing the hobby.

Agree to a point,I just wish when newbs come along they would do some reaserch on the site or contact a mentor that can give them some help with an ebay buy.
You cannot save every straight razor,a vast majority are pure junk.

I found been selective with search works a big boon on ebay.

instead of looking for a "straight razor" try a search for "cut throat", Often you get hits that are just plain bad listings. Dovo cut throat ect with no mention of it actually been a razor. It's also good to know how to use google translate.

straight razor =

Polish, prosto brzytwa
German, Rasiermesser
Russian, бритвой
Czech, břitva
French, rasoir

doing a simple search in a non native language can have some pretty good results.

like this

Rasiermesser 4/8 ERN Wald-Solingen 144 Krone+Schwert PERLMUTT ANTIK Razor Rasoir | eBay

And this

art populaire,outil ancien de rasage,rasoir coupe choux silver steel SOLINGEN | eBay

Originally Posted by gssixgun

E-bay in its raw form is an auction site so how can anything be "Inflated" the market decides the price..

Ahhh... Lets put it in a current term the economists like! Its a "Razor bubble."

Charlie Lewis pointed me to local antique malls and he was so right. The prices are much lower $10-$75 and I have found a couple of great shavers. Lots of frogs to kiss and you have to keep checking with the booths that seem to bring them in.