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.
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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.
+1 on that. This hobby seems to be taking off.
Ebay is a site for selling things. It is no surprise that people desire to get as much as they can for the things they are selling there. I'd be more inclined to pick on Ebay if my local Ford dealer was selling cars at half price.
Seems like it depends on the seller. If you think Ebay is high you should go look at Etsy, It seems even more inflated, and it seems to carry more trendy or re-trending items. It is all tied to the comeback of the barbershop. Oh and I think its tied to the whole Steampunk thing that is trending. Vintage or antique has always been the choice for me and now more and more people are doing the same reconditioning and are intrigued with the things that are "better" from our history.
There are some deals to be had there if you are choosy and careful. You won't find any currently "hot razors" (ie W&B wedges) there for reasonable prices though.
It depends. Deals can be found on Ebay. You might need to find listings that end at inconvienent times (e.g. holidays), are from international sellers, have poor photography, are not in mint condition, or have a bit of rust. Second, you can find good deals if you don't chase the more "popular" older razors that collectors seek. A non-exhaustive list of these razors might include: Wade & Butcher, any big Sheffield blade, Filarmonica, Thiers Issard, Dovo, Puma Dubl Duck, Dorko, CV Heljestrand. You might considering looking for some of the older American razors. Good value and non-inflated prices can be found there.
Considering all of this, you will rarely find a bargain on a "popular" razor in good condition listed by a highly rated seller that photographs well. These listing are highly visible, and the sellers are often "followed" by a lot of prospective buyers on Ebay.
But then again, I do not think that Ebay is worse than looking for razors at local antique stores. Finding razors "in the wild" can involve a lot of luck. While you read stories of people finding an ivory scaled Heljestrand for $20 bucks at a small antique store, the much more common scenario is that the antique store is selling junky older American with a frowned blade and/or chips + cracks in the scale for a highly inflated price.
I buy restore and resell on eBay. Over the past few months razors that sold for $10 - $15 now bring $25 and higher. Prices are getting ridiculous. So you are not imagining it.
No matter where you shop you need to watch out for deals. There are time on Ebay that I wonder if everyone else is sleeping and other times I wonder why items have gone so high. There are many good shavers out there and I agree that the focus is on certain brands and those are the ones that typically fetch the big bucks. Set a limit and stay inside your goal price if you are looking for a deal. It is rare that when shopping for anything that the first item you look at is a deal. Pay up front or work at it until you find your bargain blade. Most importantly have fun!
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.
Yeah it all depends, it's gone both way for me. Got lucky on a couple good deals and paid through the nose on a couple others. To me if there's a popular brand that's commanding more money (the market is the market after all), I try to find it here in the classifieds - might as well throw some dough over to a fellow member if you're going to pay anyway. JMO
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....;)Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
Quote:
Originally Posted by dulcimerdan
:hmmm: 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.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
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 :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
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 :(
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by ScienceGuy
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
Ahhh... Lets put it in a current term the economists like! Its a "Razor bubble."Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splashone
See post #16... I would not call it a "razor bubble" :p
That's OK...I seldom bid on auctions, I email the seller and persist in offering a price, up to the point I'm willing to go, and can usually get the item. I've learned that while people want to hit the jackpot on an auction, most are willing to take a good price, fair to both, if they know it will sell immediately and they will get paid immediately.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyalCake
I've had the odd person say no, only to email me later asking for that price, I always say too late. On the other hand, I've had sellers say no simply because they want to honor the auction process, fine with me, when that happens, usually the price goes nuts in the last minute due to the bidding bots. Saw one razor jump $400 in 90 seconds, you could tell it was the bots....but usually, a fair negotiation with the seller will get good results. Just my experience...
Yeah I've wondered how people do that - doesn't a seller get in trouble with eBay for taking an item down? I've since now learned (from someone else) to put an initial bid right at the beginning to make it harder for them to take it down. But maybe you're right in that I should just give them an offer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phrank
Perhaps not but when I see W&B wedges priced/going for $500+, I can't help but think that at some point the market will cool and then the price would come back to reality...That would define a bubble.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
"Razor Bubble" ie: that was sarcasm, a joke, a play on post #16...Quote:
Originally Posted by Splashone
What you are still trying to explain financially and economically, I am trying humorously to point out that the "Bubble" exists between the ears of the Un-informed buyer :)
There have been a few articles lately around the collection of wine, and how expensive buying some of these wines, are, even though they are never be consumed. And chances are, most argree, that if you were to open and drink one of these wines, it would be absolutely horrible!Quote:
Originally Posted by Splashone
There's also a new trend of buying empty wine bottles, some of these empty wine bottles are selling in the range of the thousands upon thousands of dollars.
It also goes back to the old adage, one man's trash, is another man's treasure...:shrug:
Speaking of whine:( I bought this double mag in 91,stored it perfectally all these yrs.Opened it last xmas,is fit to cook with, terrible to drink:(
Attachment 151921
I'm a n00b. No doubt. But ANYTHING on ebay is the same way. Don't get anxious. Do t get hooked on a single item and always set a limit. Contact the seller before bidding on any questions. Think of em, you can tell the kind of seller buy their response. Market value is whatever someone is willing to pay.
And the most important thing is to research any item. I've learned more about razors that I don't own this way. But iknew what the item was and usual market value. I've been fortunate. Only two bad buy off eBay. A that's becauseI said screw it its $5 LOL
Basic economics. More demand lessens supply. Less supply increases cost.
So you all stop buying, demand decreases, supply increases, cost go down, I buy them all!!!!
Darren
I think they may if they do it too often, after all it is frustrating to the bidders and frustrated buyers are not in the interest of ebay. I also did that when I bid on ebay - put a low bid at the beginning and set the snipe at my real bid. I think that worked pretty well.Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyalCake
Recently I followed a link from this forum and ended up looking at razors on ebay. Even bid on a couple - the asking prices were unreasonable, but I liked the razors so I offered them something that is good (I'd sell it or buy for a little less in the classifieds). They turned me down, just checked - still for sale, but some sellers don't care about cash flow and want to be at the long tail of the market, have low turnover but at huge profit.
I don't know about the prices of the cheaper razors though, I didn't look at those, since I already have a big pile of projects and it's stayed the same for few years now.
@vgod -- you weren't the one who bought the 79 razor lot yesterday? O-)
Vintage Straight Razors 79 Total Double Duck Dovo Tennis C Mon Spike Ext | eBay
