Thread: OVERPRICED !!

The real slippery sloap is SSAD and SCAD, especially if you live on a hill...

No doubt there's seriously overpriced crap out there.

In fact I remember one of my first posts was about this issue. I was at a local flea market when I found an old grumpy German guy who sold "straight razors". He dumped out his collection from a plastic grocery store bag, and it was full of useless old pitted, rusted 1/8" razors. Yes folks, that's correct: 1/8"!!!

He wanted $30 a piece. I wasn't impressed, so he told me he could go down to Calgary (Alberta's other major city, about 3 hours south) and sell them for $90! He actually thought he was doing me a favor.

Hmmmm..... that makes me wonder.... maybe I should buy one for $30 and send it to Lynn for a challenge. If it turns out I could start a trend

Look in the classifieds, because it looks like the sales are down and prices are not too high either. I saw a L.R. Harner sell for $260? I mean this is cheap to me. I know what you mean about antique dealers though.

I know what you mean, I see it in every antique shop. You are not always stuck with the price that is on the tag. I always ask for a discount. No matter what the price reads, always ask if the seller will sell for a lower price. I have walked away with some great deals. As far as chipped blades, broken scales, and burley rust, I don't even bother with them buckled ass razor's!
One other thing, I never photo before shot's of the razor's I restore.

heh, ya, 350 for wasted razors? People are morons...

Originally Posted by khaos

While it seems it is a rip off the reverse is true. While ignorant people price things way too high, they also price them way too low. Mint FWE Leader=$40, Two NOS Solingens=$20 each, 8/8 Tally Ho= $60, minty Hess 42=$30, the deals are out there you just have to be patient lol.

Pretty much this. I have some experience with antique books, and I see the same thing you do.

People trying to push off beat-to-hell pulps for 3 times what they're actually worth.

But I also see people practically giving away mint 1st editions of Hitchhiker's Guide.

People who don't understand what they're selling will wildly mis-price their wares, in either direction. If you keep your eyes peeled, you will eventually run across a gem of a razor that they're selling for a fraction of what it's worth.

Another thing to consider is that from what I can tell, a lot of the people who collect straights don't actually intend to use them. This is evident from the fact that there are apparently people who collect Zeepks. What other reason could they be doing it for?

So if all you want is some cool old blades that look pretty on a shelf, you're not really going to mind if they'd be virtually impossible to restore to usable condition. As long as you can get them looking ok, it doesn't really matter. And that's probably got something to do with it too. The guy selling them doesn't see that there's a huge crack in the blade. He just sees that it wouldn't be too hard to polish up and stick a new pin in there, and at that point it would look ok in a showcase.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

No doubt there's seriously overpriced crap out there.

In fact I remember one of my first posts was about this issue. I was at a local flea market when I found an old grumpy German guy who sold "straight razors". He dumped out his collection from a plastic grocery store bag, and it was full of useless old pitted, rusted 1/8" razors. Yes folks, that's correct: 1/8"!!!

He wanted $30 a piece. I wasn't impressed, so he told me he could go down to Calgary (Alberta's other major city, about 3 hours south) and sell them for $90! He actually thought he was doing me a favor.

Hmmmm..... that makes me wonder.... maybe I should buy one for $30 and send it to Lynn for a challenge. If it turns out I could start a trend

Maybe he could try the ultra advanced reverse honing technique - where you actually add to edge...

Originally Posted by Toplin

man, now that I'm becoming interested in str8t's...

You didn't say whether you were interested in them for collecting purposes, or for shaving. Responses about value for shaving vs value for collecting will often be totally different.

Speaking to the value for shaving...

If it is vintage...
If it is not compromised greatly with rust...

It will probably take an edge and shave in my opinion.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

A big part of it is that many sellers don't know anything about razors, so they don't know what is good/bad, what can be salvaged or not, etc. Also, a lot of people will say things like "I saw such and such sell on ebay for $XXX so this thing I have must be worth at least $YYY."

+1

I hear ya.

Was at a big antique flea last weekend and one vendor - a knife and watch guy at that - felt that tortoise scales automatically made a straight worth $350 even though the razor was only in average shape and from a ho-hum manufacturer (so much so that just 7 days later I can't even remember who the maker was...).

There are two types of antique dealers in my area:
Ones that check the price of everything to see what it goes for on Ebay and price to match.
Ones that just put prices on stuff based on what similar items have sold for in their booth.

The first type tend to have overpriced wares. They seem to find a razors of the same brand and match their price to the highest selling prices on Ebay. They don't understand that there can be some big differences between two razors of the same brand. Sometimes they can be talked down on the price, sometimes not.

The second type tend to have some great deals on their razors. I have gotten to know which dealers are of this type and I visit their booths often.