Thread: Shave ready?

The buy/sell/trade section seems closed to new posts.

Do any of you artisans have an eBay store or such? Based on some of your posts, it seems more reliable to go direct.

Some razors may be nice quality but not necessarily collectible. Do folks trade? Luke “core charge” at the auto parts store?

Thanks

I sell on eBay under vockie20619.
Here is an item number of one of my items: 305452400449
It will get you to all my others.

Originally Posted by Scatterjoy

The buy/sell/trade section seems closed to new posts.

Do any of you artisans have an eBay store or such? Based on some of your posts, it seems more reliable to go direct.

Some razors may be nice quality but not necessarily collectible. Do folks trade? Luke “core charge” at the auto parts store?

Thanks

Here's a few tips for razor shopping on fleabay.

There are a few good sellers. The ONLY good sellers of shave ready razors are members of the straight shaving community, for obvious reasons. Any time you are curious about a particular seller, see if he is known on this forum or any other straight razor fora. If nobody knows him, there is a very VERY good chance that his "shave ready" razors are merely internet shave ready, or even that his razors are merely RSO's, or "Razor Shaped Objects".

Most of the sellers are not straight shavers, and therefore can not possibly say with any authority that a razor is shave ready. Oh, yeah, it's got a blade. It looks sharp. It has a nice handle and has a nice box. Obviously shave ready. Everybody calls their razors that, and when I don't put the magic words in my item description, nobody wants to buy, so from now on I must not forget to add "shave ready" to my listings. There, See how that works?

To KNOW that a razor is shave ready, the seller must either shave comfortably and successfully with it, or hone it knowledgeably and skillfully, and carefully inspect it in ways that only an accomplished honer can inspect and evaluate the edge. My favorite rule of thumb is never trust someone to hone your razor, who does not shave with a straight razor daily. Now you realize, of course, that most of those sellers certainly do not shave in the manly fashion, don't know how, are afraid to try, tried once and failed, or do not have any hair on their faces to shave, being of the gentler sex. Lots of strikes against the random seller already. So be certain that the seller is known in the community. This goes for Amazon, Etsy, etc, too. Oh, as a general rule, I avoid Etsy. Some good stuff that is overpriced, and lots of not so good stuff that is also overpriced. YMMV, there may be exceptions, but I personally don't go there.

You can get some pretty good clues about a seller by visiting his ebay store, and seeing if or if not nearly all of his sales are straight razors or straight razor related, and if so, look at his listing claims, and his feedback score. Don't worry if his score is not 100%. One disgruntled buyer who doesn't have a clue, can thump you with a bad feedback and it will haunt you for months. At one time I was buying several models of Gold Dollars by the hundred, honing, and selling them, and had a perfect 100% until some clown ordered a P-81 which came in white or red scales, and he didn't specify other than the one listed and pictured, He waaa waaa waaa-ed about not getting the one he wanted. I sent him another, free, no charge, in the other color. He still gave me a thump on the feedback. Boy, I was some kind of irritated! So he got two razors for the price of one, and no complaint with either one except "wrong color". It was a friggin Gold Dollar, for pete sake! I tried to get him to change it, but no way Jose. And stuff like that, it just happens sometimes, no matter how hard you try. But the feedback rating should definitely be in the mid or high 90's before you consider a bid or a BIN. If the seller claims his razors to be shave ready, and he has good feedback, he is probably selling actual shave ready razors. Look at the pics and descriptions. If the seller says the razor has a nice "handle" or it is "well balanced" or the blade is nice and shiny, or it is rare when it actually is not, blah blah blah you know they don't know anything about razors. If the pics don't show what any buyer would want to see, or they are blurry, or whatever, then maybe the seller is either hiding something, or doesn't know what he should be showing. You should see at least one Very good closeup of any stamping on the tang or any etching on blade or on the spine, and a good edge shot or two is a nice extra credit shot.

I did used to keep a list of the few good sellers I had bought from, but I haven't even bought a razor in years, and only sold a few, and not on ebay.

Now if you are looking for cheap vintage razors to hone or restore, concentrate more on the razor, and don't worry too much about the seller. You know what to look for. If the pics don't give a pretty good indication that the razor is worth trying to save, give it a miss. Lots of "pickers" list basket cases and near basket cases and salvageable gems on fleabay, usually not knowing what they got, maybe recognizing the brand if they have been picking for long, and they might think or hope that the viewer thinks that their razor is a precious antique worthy of a velvet lined case in the Smithsonian. Or they might be glad to get a double handful of those nasty old cabbage cutters out of the inventory before tossing them in the dumpster. I have got some surprisingly nice razors for under ten bucks on fleabay. I have seen junk go for a Benjamin or better, too.

If you bid on an item, don't fall in love with it before it is yours. If you win more than 10% of your auctions, you may be bidding too high, outbidding others who are also bidding too high, because they love the action or they think the razor is worth more than it is, or looks "rilly kewl". Don't watch the auction. It's not Texas Hold 'em. The bidding action won't tell you anything. Use a bid sniper. Set your max bid and forget about it. Decide from the start what the most you would pay for it is, and set it and forget it. Never go back and raise your bid because some butthead topped your bid. It's not a contest between you and him. Don't let the competition suck you into the vortex. Next thing you know, you will have paid $120 for a razor worth not even a fifth of that. When you get the email saying you won, pay the man. Don't bid on too many at once. You might win all of them and suddenly you spent 3x what you meant to spend. Some snipers let you group auctions together and cancel your bids on other items if you win one out of the group. For instance, let's say you want to buy a Bismarck and a Union Spike, and maybe a nice Reynolds or a Wostie, and you see listings for several of each, and a bunch of worthy substitutes, so you throw out a bid for all of them so you have a good chance of getting your one or two that will satisfy you. Then the market takes a dump and you are left holding the bag, with all the winning bids. By grouping bids, you can automatically get out of the game after winning your one in each group.

I see you only have 22 posts. Not sure, but there may be a minimum post count to enable you to post on BST. Honestly I haven't been over there in a while, but forum BST's are usually good places to pick up a good shaver, because reputations are at stake in the community. You just have to snag the good deals quick, because there are guys who watch for good catches like a hawk. But if a member of a forum presents a razor as being shave ready and for sale, it's a pretty safe bet that it is ready to rock, especially if he has been a member for a few years and has a whole bunch of posts. Limiting BST posting privileges to those who have participated in discussion elsewhere on the board helps to keep scammers and spammers out. It is not an elitism thing.

I nominate that reply for addition to beginners guide… thorough.

This post led to some PM and trusted resources. Yes, I’m really new here.

Thanks!
R