Thread: eBay Razors

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