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As a new SR enthusiast and victim of RAD I am interested in hearing from the veterans on this forum in regards to the acquisition of straight razors today vs a few years ago. have prices and availability changed much as of late or is what I am seeing on Ebay and private sites the same as it has been for a while?
The prices on highly collectable razors is fairly high, the others have stayed fairly consistent
DO NOT become a victim of Rad,DO NOT buy blades helter skelter.DO NOT buy junk that has to be extensivly refurbed.
DO make a plan to buy 10 of the best razors money can buy over time,is all you will ever need for the rest of your life,JMO
I'm not shuffling through eBay every day but I'm seeing fewer of the Double Ducks and Wade and Butchers. There's some. But it seems like the availability has dropped. Or maybe I'm just not looking around on eBay as often. :shrug:
Vintage Pearlduck Dubl Duck Goldedge 5 8" Hollow Ground Straight Razor | eBayQuote:
Originally Posted by OCDshaver
some good deals around
There are fewer good quality blades on ebay in their "wild" state. The great majority you see now are from dealers and fellow enthusiasts. All too often, they set a fixed price, or a starting bid at what many see as an already fully retailed price.
As cheap replacements for the top brands become harder to come by, those who don't have an issue dropping the same money for a used blade as a custom would have cost drive the prices ever higher.
And they DO fluctuate. A DD wonderedge a few years ago would fetch 125 bucks. Last year they were fetching 220. Recently I have seen some back at the old price. Follow Pixel;s advice. Buy just a few nice ones, don't get crazy, and enjoy some sanity. Now if I could only follow that advice myself....
I watch eBay a lot . I'm retired and enjoy just skimming thought and I've noticed that If you live in the USA and buy from most places in Europe the shipping is a little high. That's why I will not buy from those country's. I know that the further away the more it cost but for one I'm not ready or willing to pay it. I don't know if the shipping in Europe from one country to another is as hi as it is from there to here. I looked up the DD mentioned on the Ebay site and it would be a good price but don't remember what the shipping was. Keep looking you'll get what you need sooner or later. Looking and bidding and anticipating is half the fun. or at least it is for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedGladiator
I really don't know about all the eBay sellers but if someone buys a razor cleans and reconditions it then hones it and has it shave ready then it should bring more than one that has not had all that done to it. the ones that need all this should bring less. A DD shave ready free from rust depending on the size and not damaged in any way well I've seen them on the bay for a lot of money. also saw a wade and Butcher (or at least I think it was a wade and butcher) sell for almost 1200.00 who knew. I think all this is part of this accent art we have chosen. As far as the not so common name brands of razors you see on eBay well I've got good shaves off some I've never heard of before and they were fairly cheap. everyone has there own opinion and that also makes this addiction fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magpie
Was from UK which I live too. I'm gutted I missed it. I hate ordering outside EU, shipping is terrible and I almost always pay 35-40% extra custom charges as well as getting lousy exchage rates. US sells all the best stuff too, wish we had SRD here :(Quote:
Originally Posted by rhensley
Who knows they may expand one day. They have a good reputation and good people.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedGladiator
It seems that most items of a collectable nature are antique/vintage and subject to the laws of supply and demand. Most of the razors I see have not been made for many years and as demand for razors grows due to new enthusiasts like myself, I would suspect the quantities dwindle and the prices go up. So are there enough new SR collectors to cause this? Or has the demand stayed steady?
I think a fair gauge of the rise in popularity of straight shaving can be found right here. Ask a site moderator if they have access to the membership numbers. 100 members in 2007? 1,000,000 in 2014? I'd be interested to know myself!
Fully 60% of the registerd members are not active,are tons of fly by nights that come in,make one post trying to ID Ebay crap they want to list and garner info.Than they are gone forever,maybe a cull is in order,no posts in say a year,no longer a member.Quote:
Originally Posted by Magpie
Excellent idea thin the heard of non active members... I'd say a year without a post is long enough to qualify
Never going to happen. In general the more members the better any site looks and the hierarchy on the search engines is affected which affects ads and who ever owns sites. I don't think there is a way to actually remove a member from the list. Even banned members still show up as members of sorts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razorrookie01
And some of us only post every two years or so, but its solid gold when we do. :)
How is it pixelfixed comes up with this idea Annnnn somehow I seem to be getting the credit lol
This is my plan! Except I have bought some crap to play at refurbishing, not expecting any great results.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
Prices have increased across the board in the 2+ years I have been here, the $10 gems are not there any more. Locally prices have doubled, and some. Pixels advice is good, but it does take a while to know what to look for and what you are looking at.
There has been a certain growth in the straight razor market over the course of the last few years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Straightandproud
As to prices, yes, they seem to have gone up somewhat too.
As a whole.
There are still bargains out there, but the number of vendors, restorers and active hobbyist has made them less apparent.
A lot of people see an opportunity to make a few bucks, so they keep their eyes open, just like the rest of us.
As an example, I have collected a a certain brand for years now.
There were numerous comments made here about a fool and his money when I posted my purchases.
Now, a few years later I am pondering just who the fool was;)
The prices have more than doubled since then, but there are still some available out there at the price I paid years ago.
Not only that, but it becomes a horrid mess.Quote:
Originally Posted by thebigspendur
All posts are in a database, linked to the member record for example.
It is really, REALLY bad database practice to delete records without deleting the linked records.
In other words, either we'd have to delete their posts as well, or end up with tons of orphaned posts.
So no.
6 to 7 years ago, the market was still waking up, few buyers and sellers were knowledgeable, and near mint pieces could still be had for cheap. As both buyers and sellers become more educated, the chances of finding good stuff below market value decreases significantly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Birnando
So I find this very interesting. As a complete beginner, what are the best razors? Is their a guide to what the best vintage blades were?Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
The best razors are ones in good serviceable condition that are truly shave ready be they vintage or new that you can afford. Plug in "best razor" in the forum search box and be prepared to do a ton of reading.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kpfeifle
Bob
Thanks, this will be my 2nd SR, looking forward to trying a near wedge big blade. I just deleted that post as it's not relevent to the topic hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by Phrank
And there is a "bad list" floating around somehwere with all the junk poor quality "steel" that cannot hold an edge.Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
The list is in the SRP Wiki, the list of what we refer to as, "RSO - Razor Shaped Objects". Here it is:Quote:
Originally Posted by RedGladiator
Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid - Straight Razor Place Library
could not agree more with the above !! i wish i had all the $ i spent on numbers as opposed to quality when i started ... after 2-3 yrs i have been thinning down the herd to my favorite blades and a few other select pieces i want ..Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
the gem's or good blades are still out there but you almost have to find them marked wrong , crappy pics , or a seller who just found it in a box of junk they bought and dont want to do the research or go after the big profit ... i think with the internet and all the info sellers now research and think a 1800's razor is worth its weight in gold and list high to start looking for someone to bite !!
i surf ebay everyday and always laugh at every listing "RARE*** W&B***" when there seems to be 10 of them on there every day .. i think the prob with the restored razors is that now guys are taking olders razors with patina and soul and trying to buff them out like the restored razors but are using low grit sand paper and no knowledge of what they are doing to get that shine and extra buck !!
hones seem to be going higher ive noticed though .. i used to pick up my coticules in the $40-$60 range and just have to lap the dirt off them , just saw one listed at $1500 the other day , and now every unknown rock is listed as a possible ESCHER , or a friend of mine who "sharpens" razors thinks its a ESCHER but im not a pro so i cant be sure !! its all about the $$Bengerman's$$
You kinda hate to think about ‘Culling’ if you get my drift, but there’s nothing wrong with or preventing the site from putting forward some ‘guidelines’..?Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
In other words possibly set some minimum participation ‘Rules’/ Bi-laws’ that are sort of ‘self-culling’.. ??
Jist a thought ala ‘..ounce of prevention ..?
I'm a long time ebayer - I was buying razors there before most auctions had pictures.
As far as trends go, it's mostly cyclical. There's something in the air or the water that drives prices up on certain things for a while, and then they drop again. I can only recall two major changes in the razor marketplace that have been sustained over any length of time.
The first was a simple correction having to do with how hard certain razors were to come by pre-ebay and post-ebay. Around 1997, you couldn't buy a razor with a celluloid handle sporting a nude woman for less than $150 on ebay. The same was true for a number of similarly uncommon razors. But once people started to figure out that such pieces weren't as rare as they'd first thought, prices started dropping.
The other big change had to do with the housing bubble and the subsequent recession that got underway in 2009. Prior to that, razors were selling much higher across the board than they are today. Prices have recovered somewhat, but they still don't approach the heady days of 2008. I went through a stretch where I couldn't seem to win an auction no matter how high I bid. And I watched one buyer (this was before ebay hid bidder identities) drop more than $40,000 on razors in two months. It was a bit boggling.
I've bought a few cheap, crappy razors for just a few pounds. They are no good for shaving, but they are great for practicing my limited restoration skills. I've practised taking scales off without damaging them, what works best for me polishing the razor etc, then re pinning the scales. I'd rather make my mistakes on cheap rubbish than a decent razor that I plan to keep and use.