outing a razor on ebay

[midniterambler]

ever notice how you've gone thru the ebay auctions and discovered a mislabeled razor- say an adjustable gold executive disguised as a fatboy or a president in a superspeed case and you've identified it as a mismatch and start watching it or bid on it in hopes that most others won't catch on, and then somebody posts a message to the seller telling him he has a much more expensive/desirable item, announcing to the auction world that this might be a bargain, and then the bidding shoots up. doesn't that piss you off- and you wonder why would the person, who outed the razor, do that? now, i can understand downgrading something that is said to be more valuable when it isn't- like an advertised aristocrat that's really a superspeed, but i can't understand the purpose of upgrading an item, especially if you intend to bid on it. if you were in a thrift store and found something of higher value than the owner realized, and wanted to buy it- would you tell the owner- "oh, you know this is really a picasso you have here, not a vanderschlagen." doubt it, you'd probably buy it for his bargain price and think what a steal you got. and if you don't intend to bid on the item- why possibly destroy the "bargain" value of it.
just my thoughts on it.

[americanarmsdealer]

I think it all really boils down to the fact that some people just ain't real bright!

[Newfie]

I think it all really boils down to the fact that some people just ain't real bright!

That, plus some people get their jollies out of telling someone else they're wrong, whether or not they intend to purchase that item.

[Slivovitz]

On the other hand, if the sweet little old lady next door were selling her late husband's mint condition Toggle at her garage sale for $5, you'd let her know what it was really worth, wouldn't you?

I've benefited from a couple of poorly described, blurrily photographed, razors on eBay myself. Usually, though, it's the other way round. I swear I saw a Travel Tech being sold as a Fat Boy, although I didn't save the link.

[midniterambler]

On the other hand, if the sweet little old lady next door were selling her late husband's mint condition Toggle at her garage sale for $5, you'd let her know what it was really worth, wouldn't you?

if for some reason, say, i hadn't filled my flomax presciption, and i wasn't going to buy it because i had to rush home, i would let her know. but if i was going to buy it, i might not. some of us would, and some wouldn't. let the seller beware. caveat vendor or some such saying. the thrill of hunting for vintage items is for many, to find that hidden gem that others don't appreciate. how many posts on this forum have been about - "look what i just scored!" i remember one, not too long ago, about someone scoring a rhodium executive in an otherwise lot of fairly common items. maybe the person selling it was the slol next door?

[bradyarz]

the mislabeling makes it more like a treasure hunt!

i was looking for strops the other day and the title read something like:
"russian leather strop with linen back"




and the rest of the listing was for a horse head meerschaum....

[ouch]

This thread may interest you.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...ght=ebay+links

[pz93c]

I would, if it is described incorrectly.

Because I don't care one way or the other.

Honesty. Sometimes it stinks.

[Stubblefield]

Honestly, I don't know that it matters to me--I stopped worrying about things that I can't control a long time ago. People are always going to be doing stuff like this. Especially on eBay.

Out of curiosity, did this happen recently?

[Hoos]

if you were in a thrift store and found something of higher value than the owner realized, and wanted to buy it- would you tell the owner- "oh, you know this is really a picasso you have here, not a vanderschlagen."

Yes, I would and I have.

A woman was going to sell me a mint silver Bostonian in its original mailer for $4.75. Because that was the price written on the mailer. Which probably was a "mark down" price when the Bostonian set came out.

After initially offering her $70, she finally agreed to take $35. And I bought a few more things just to even it out.

And I did that because that was the right thing to do.

[Blondie]

I'm with you on this. If you are going to go to the trouble of listing an item, at least do the research and find out what you have, so you can get a fair market value, and have an idea what to expect. As a collector, I find it insulting when someone puts no effort in to what they are doing.

I would buy the $5 dollar toggle. What I wouldn't do is buy and then run away yelling "sucker". She wanted $5, and got what she wanted. Why spoil that for her.

[midniterambler]

Out of curiosity, did this happen recently?

here are two examples: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-A1-1955-...item3a5a3b7d27
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gillette-Super-S...item414f0f60d0

(so may be it does matter a little?)

really didn't mean for this to become a morality play, just thought to vent about an annoying practice that i've observed, and wondered a) if other people felt the same or not, and b) speculate on the motivation behind it.

[tom myers]

Yes, I would and I have.

A woman was going to sell me a mint silver Bostonian in its original mailer for $4.75. Because that was the price written on the mailer. Which probably was a "mark down" price when the Bostonian set came out.

After initially offering her $70, she finally agreed to take $35. And I bought a few more things just to even it out.

And I did that because that was the right thing to do.

Brent, It's good to know that someone here has some integrity and some class.

Regards,
Tom

[Stubblefield]

here are two examples: http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-A1-1955-...item3a5a3b7d27
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gillette-Super-S...item414f0f60d0

(so may be it does matter a little?)

really didn't mean for this to become a morality play, just thought to vent about an annoying practice that i've observed, and wondered a) if other people felt the same or not, and b) speculate on the motivation behind it.

I was watching the second auction till the bitter end--it was at 9.99 with no bids till a day before closing. So I guess I don't see what you are talking about in this case. I could be wrong about that, of course.

Seriously, eBay makes no sense sometimes. I'd not give it any thought.

Take care.

[the beav]

I think it all really boils down to the fact that some people just ain't real bright!

I've seen it quite often here on the forum where some people will talk about their clever strategy of looking for mislabeled razors on ebay and even boast about some great razor they got for a little of nothing by searching under the phrase "_____________". Guess they'd rather boast about how smart they are than keep their winning strategy to themselves, or do they not realize that they just gave away their winning secret????

[tallow_first]

It wouldn't have mattered on that President because it has the words "Vintage", "Gillette", "Safety", and "Razor" in the title, so the seller had all his bases covered.

[Jaymo]

Because some people are just douchebags who aren't happy unless they're showing the rest of the world that they're smarter than everyone else.
That and because they need a swift kick in the nuts.

Hell, no, I wouldn't tell the seller that what they want 5 bucks for is worth 75 bucks. My responsibility is to get the best product for the lowest price. The buyer's responsibility is to sell the product for the amount of money they want to receive. It is not the buyer's responsibility to do the seller's research for them, and vice versa. There's no matter of right and wrong about it. If a seller tries to sell me a base model for a premium price, it's my responsibility to know what I'm buying.

I've gotten lots of great deals on things because the seller doesn't know what they have. I don't gloat about it, but I'm not going to screw myself out of a good deal by running my mouth, either. I don't walk away saying "SUCKER!", either. That's just tasteless and tacky, another good reason for a swift kick in the nuts.

[midniterambler]

I was watching the second auction till the bitter end--it was at 9.99 with no bids till a day before closing. So I guess I don't see what you are talking about in this case.

what i was referring to was the comments in the q & a section at the bottom of the listing. my guess is that an hd rocket is valued more highly than a ringed 40s styled rocket.

[SliceOfLife]

I've warned sellers of hones that they've got an Escher/Coti before. And I do it for a simple reason.

It's guaranteed I am not the only one that sees what the stone is, so it very likely won't impact price. Most times they don't even add the information to the listing. I do it to prevent some wise-ass from sending them a message generously offering them a BIN of $25 for their $200 hone and preventing my $200 bid from mattering. Which I have seen happen many, many times. I actually recall recently a seller of a sealed Yardley bowl posting an exchange with a bidder who had offered a BIN of $30, to which they responded that they'd consider it and let them know their decision tomorrow. I believe that auction ended in the area of $120.

[sam o'reilly]

You win some you lose some. All the razor fans on here are likely to pick up some great razor deals, but they may lose out selling other stuff on ebay. All is fair in love and war.