eBay Pricing for Ranger Techs- Am I Missing Something?

[MooingLizard]

Quick background: My family has nothing to get me for Xmas, so the wetshaving stuff (and HD) are under the tree until Christmas. This wait has helped to give me RAD (yes, without ever having touched a DE razor- stupid I know!) and has caused me to spent inordinate amounts of time trolling eBay and this forum for the past week or so (hey, it beats studying!).

I know that buyers often get carried away on eBay (auctions are fun!), but I still can't help but post some questions about recent auctions...

I understand that '41 Ranger Techs aren't exactly abundant, but this auction really struck me. It's at $64+ shipped. This one recently went for a quarter of that shipped, and there's a regular (non-Ranger?) one on eBay (please, buy before I get tempted to bid on it) in the box for $15 shipped.

Is there something that I'm not seeing in the first auction, or did someone just bid way too high? Were the Rangers only made in '41? What makes a Tech a Ranger Tech, and how do you differentiate a Ranger Tech from a regular Tech?

Thanks gents. I don't really plan on bidding on any more razors (at least not serious bids, but it never hurts to put a lowball bid $6 bid on something that I assume will sell for a lot more... ), but that may not go as planned... Exam season is not good for my self control and I want to try all the wet-shaving stuff!

 

[papasmurf]

Live auctions are not allowed on the forums

 

[JimmyHAD]

Quick background: My family has nothing to get me for Xmas, so the wetshaving stuff (and HD) are under the tree until Christmas. This wait has helped to give me RAD (yes, without ever having touched a DE razor- stupid I know!) and has caused me to spent inordinate amounts of time trolling eBay and this forum for the past week or so (hey, it beats studying!).

I know that buyers often get carried away on eBay (auctions are fun!), but I still can't help but post some questions about recent auctions...

I understand that '41 Ranger Techs aren't exactly abundant, but this auction really struck me. It's at $64+ shipped. This one recently went for a quarter of that shipped, and there's a regular (non-Ranger?) one on eBay (please, buy before I get tempted to bid on it) in the box for $15 shipped.

Is there something that I'm not seeing in the first auction, or did someone just bid way too high? Were the Rangers only made in '41? What makes a Tech a Ranger Tech, and how do you differentiate a Ranger Tech from a regular Tech?

Thanks gents. I don't really plan on bidding on any more razors (at least not serious bids, but it never hurts to put a lowball bid $6 bid on something that I assume will sell for a lot more... ), but that may not go as planned... Exam season is not good for my self control and I want to try all the wet-shaving stuff!

Welcome to B&B. You never know about ebay and razor auctions. I wish I would have seen that Ranger Tech with box and all. I would have jumped on it like a kangaroo.

 

[MooingLizard]

Live auctions are not allowed on the forums

Sorry about that- ignorant. For the record, I was just curious about the pricing issues- no connection to the auctions.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[myuu]

That's odd, my exams finished up on the 12th! Anyways, pricing varies due to stupidity and rashness. I bought a razor for 35 that I could have gotten for 12 shipped. If you want to find a price baseline then go to the advanced search options and enter your words, check off search description and title, and finally check off completed listings only.

 

[Roman414]

The old competetive spirit. I paid $170 for an old Sheaffer fountain pen I could have bought somewhere for about $100. Why? Because I wasn't about to let that other bidder beat me out! I really showed him...

 

[MooingLizard]

If I actually wanted to get more than just an undergraduate degree in Economics and Commerce, which I'm currently in the process of obtaining, I'd figure out a way to do a nice economics study on eBay and see how "efficient" it really is. I'm hoping to learn more about this topic in the Behavioral Economics class I'm taking next semester, but for the mean time, here's what Steven Landsburg, economist and author of the book "The Armchair Economist" (great book, btw) has to say. Note how he ends that article.

I'd also be interested in know how much of a "price premium" there is, if any, for bidding in the first couple weeks of December- I wonder if winning auction prices are higher this month than normal for the same items.

As a final note, it's kind of sad to realize that you just paid $150-$200+/lb for a 2 ounce lump of carved/punched steel and soap scum. It puts some perspective on things and helps to fight the RAD!

 

[Roman414]

On the other hand, MooingLizard, you paid for it with scraps of rag paper with ink on them.

 

[moses]

Actually, those prices make sense to me, and are pretty much in line with what I would expect.

First, at $64, shipped, not expensive, but as you said, the Ranger Tech is a bit less common. Thus, it commands a higher price that say a Super Speed. That one looks to be a basically perfect shape, although without a box. So, I was say $60ish is about right. Probably a hundred if it had a box in decent shape.

Second, the other Ranger is a quarter of the price for good reason. It is in perfect usable shape, but is heavily worn. That takes a huge chunk off the value, and for anything not super rare, knocks in down in the "everyday beater" category, for which you would expect under $20.

Finally, the Tech is in nice shape, and in a box. But this is a TOTALLY different razor. It is not a TTO, and rather than being relatively rare, is is probably the single most common of all Gillettes. Great shaver, but so common it is very unlikely to fetch a huge price.

That said, I think ebay is fairly efficient, but with razors, you do get a fair amount of variability. Two people who just really want a particular razor will drive a price way up. (One old forum member used to find a razor he really wanted, and just put in a $1,000 snipe, to make sure he got it. Now, imagine if just one other person had happened to do the same thing.) Sometimes, the timing just is not right, and there is not more than one really serious person bidding on a particular auction. So you never know.

But I think the ones above are pretty in line with reason.

-Mo

 

[castlecraver]

Actually, those prices make sense to me, and are pretty much in line with what I would expect.

+1. Be careful in that the difference in condition between collectible-quality razors and your everyday shave-quality razors can be huge, and the difference in price almost always reflects that.

 

[FaPat5]

I hate threads like this. I really want one of these Ranger Techs now. What sort of setting do they compare to on a Fatboy/Super Adjustable?

 

[JimmyHAD]

I hate threads like this. I really want one of these Ranger Techs now. What sort of setting do they compare to on a Fatboy/Super Adjustable?

I would say that they shave very like a '40s or early '50s SS.

 

[FaPat5]

I am afraid I have never had one of those. My experience with DEs only encompasses the following:

Merkur 38C
Merkur 34G
Merkur Vision
Gillette Tech
Gillette Fat Boy
Gillette Super Adjustable

 

[jiphone]

I recently paid $88 for this one;

( I like the whole story behind the razor and the fact that it was made for only 1 year)It looked pretty good on ebay, but, it was just delivered today and while the box is in excellent condition, the razor could use a little help(very dirty and some brassing) . I'm going to try cleaning and polishing it today and see how it turns out.
I never thought the auction would go that high so I put in a snipe for $100 so I could be sure I would get it. To my surprise the next morning I saw how high it went oh well, I'll blame it on the SRAD ( I've been wetshaving for 2 months and have amassed a small forturne in razors)

 

[Roman414]

It has dawned on me that I make my boldest EBay bids when I am browsing in the wee hours on nights when I stay up late. Maybe my blood sugar is low at that time, or something. If a seller could time his sales to always close at two a.m. he might could retire in a year. But I would have a helluva collection to admire in the poorhouse..

 

[rodneyk915]

You just never know about prices. I got this one $29 shipped and it cleaned up real well. The case is filthy but otherwise in good shape. This is the before picture. The handle looked all brassy but it was just that dirty.

Now it is all shiney and really purty It does shave a lot like the 40's SS which is excellent for me. Not the best pic just a quick one. Didn't notice the shadows when I was taking it so it is still looks darker than it really is.

 

[jiphone]

You just never know about prices. I got this one $29 shipped and it cleaned up real well. The case is filthy but otherwise in good shape. This is the before picture. The handle looked all brassy but it was just that dirty.

Now it is all shiney and really purty It does shave a lot like the 40's SS which is excellent for me. Not the best pic just a quick one. Didn't notice the shadows when I was taking it so it is still looks darker than it really is.

Excellent price!, and it cleaned up real nice! I spent some time cleaning mine yesterday and it also came out very nice. I'll post up some pics maybe later today