WARNING: Rant - eBay razor sellers please take note of this definition

[rant]

Dear eBay razor sellers,

Please take note of the following definition:

rare
adjective, rar·er, rar·est. 1. coming or occurring far apart in time; unusual; uncommon: a rare disease; His visits are rare occasions.
2. thinly distributed over an area; few and widely separated: Lighthouses are rare on that part of the coast.

While you may not have seen the razor you have listed before (although you have got [insert multiple number] in this lot alone) a quick search of eBay will indicate that they are, in fact, quite plentiful, common and usually found. In fact they tend to be thickly spread over a wide area being made in the millions by Gillette across the world.

You may want to revise you listing accordingly.

[/rant]

Ah, feel better now. If only I had a dollar for each 'rare' vintage Gillette on the 'Bay. I'd be a rich man

Typical seller ideology: "I have not seen this in person elsewhere, therefore it is extremely rare"

Typical buyer of said rarity: "I am not clever enough to search ebay or the internets"

Typical seller thinking: "Call it Rare or Vintage and I might get more money for it."

Rare is not a rare word on Ebay

You mean my tech isn't as rare as I've been led to believe ?

Blasphemy!

Although I am new to wet shaving and to B&B in particular, I learn pretty fast and I take the time to do the research and learn...if I cant find something out, I ask.

I have noticed a lot of auctions for what are being called "Fat Boys" as actually Slim adjustables...even the date have been out of spec for when Gillette stopped producing the FB. A little bit of research would go a loooooong way.

i echo the sentiment of the OP............ i love seeing "rare vintage etc" then there are 4 or 5 just like it for auction at the same time..... lol....

makes ya wanna scream....

One other thing to add to the ebay shennanigan auctions...

I do WWII re-enacting and the group I am with portrays paratroopers...so most of the vintage stuff we look for is in that category. You would not believe the number of "Authentic, Rigger Made, used by Band of Brothers" crappola that gets put out there with the prices jacked up to as far as Mars.

So this sort of thing isn't just in the razor world...

...so I guess it isnt that rare either.

You have made my night guys!

Maybe these are the definitions which apply.


Nearly raw; partially cooked; not thoroughly cooked; underdone; as, rare beef or mutton--most razors I've seen are nearly raw

Characterized by wide separation of parts; of loose texture; not thick or dense--this speaks for itself i.e. this razor is rare because the parts are loose and separated

I have the same problem when I see descriptions that say "unique" when they either have multiples of the item or it is common as muck. Ebay sellers understand rare almost as badly as they understand unique.

'For sale: Brooklyn Bridge. Truly one of a kind item. Very Rare. No Reserve!! L@@k!'

paco664 said:

i echo the sentiment of the OP............ i love seeing "rare vintage etc" then there are 4 or 5 just like it for auction at the same time..... lol....

makes ya wanna scream....

Click to expand...

Doesn't it just make it easier to search for razors on ebay?

...i would rather much buy from fellow B&B'ers than from eBay........... it is just the good stuff goes SO QUICKLY on the B&B......

...but i must say the honesty of the folks here is great............. it makes you want to buy........

.... and for the short time i've been in this forum, i've seen how a couple of folks have tried to pull a fast one and they have been quickly called to task for it....

...glad to be a member of the B&B...

Fine!
Ultra RARE line of Gillette razors!
The Bigfoot, Yeti, and Sasquatch!
$1500 and there yours.
And no you can't look at these razors first. That's why they are rare. Buy them "sight" unseen. Geesh ...

The word "rare" is a good search word in an eBay title. To be able to determine if it is rare or not is a good reason to be an informed B&B member. As P.T Barnum said, " there's a sucker born every.............

leonidas said:

...i would rather much buy from fellow B&B'ers than from eBay........... it is just the good stuff goes SO QUICKLY on the B&B......

...but i must say the honesty of the folks here is great............. it makes you want to buy........

.... and for the short time i've been in this forum, i've seen how a couple of folks have tried to pull a fast one and they have been quickly called to task for it....

...glad to be a member of the B&B...

Click to expand...

Glad you are a member, too !

Why is it that many, many sellers who sell world wide exclude Italy ? Is it the Customs Red Tape? I have seen a lot of sellers claim that the items have been delivered by Delivery Confirmation, yet the buyer claims they didn't receive the item ?

Actually, I think it's my benefit that sellers label these razors 'vintage' and 'rare'. How could I possibly find the old used razors if there is no 'rare' or 'vintage' adjective attached to them. I don't want to scroll through over 2000 items to filter out all new cartridges and current models Gillette.

I agree that people over-use the word 'rare' on eBay.

But if I may, I would like to play devil's advocate for a bit.

Imagine the collector world before eBay. Imagine an item of which, say, only 100,000 were made.

In your pre-eBay lifetime you may only run across a couple of them in antique stores. They are considered rare.

Fast forward to eBay. There are no more, though possibly fewer of these items around. But because eBay exists, those that are sold often end up being sold there, for all the world to see instead of spread out among thousands of antique stores.

The item has become incredibly easy to find. But is it any less rare than it was before?

amishmotorboat said:

...There are no more, though possibly fewer of these items around. But because eBay exists, those that are sold often end up being sold there, for all the world to see instead of spread out among thousands of antique stores.
The item has become incredibly easy to find. But is it any less rare than it was before?

Click to expand...

Examine the dictionary definition in the first post:
"...and widely separated: Lighthouses are rare on that part of the coast"
Ebay made the world smaller. So razors are not that rare in respect to what is widely separated.
We have to change the statement: "...and widely separated: razors are rare on that part of the galaxy"