"Shadiness"

He looks like a jackass as he wrote but he has ever right to flip an item on eBay.

I bought a house last year here in Vermont, cleaned it up, remodeled it and just flipped it to a Manhattan couple last week. Nothing wrong with a profit but I did improve the property. This gent just flipped an item without improving it.

Other forums have rules and so be it.  He was doing this on an extremely uptight forum where 'humility and passion without ego' is bandied about ad nauseam. Gent had no chance from the get go.

This notion that forum members must abide by some ridiculous "code of honor" is nuts. Sellers sell for the price they wish to receive. The buyer now owns the object and they are free to do whatever the hell they want to do with it; even sell it for a profit (God forbid!) If the seller then has sellers' remorse, too bad. I usually don't get so animated about "shaving" threads, but this whining has got to come to an end. Sorry for my rant...

Who's whining and what's behind the bold italics?

Who's whining and what's behind the bold italics?

That's my chosen font. I like it and will continue to use it. I never accused you of whining. The whiners are those that complain about selling something and having it resold at higher prices.

Good thread as it gave me lots of chuckles -- hypothetically speaking (typing), pretty much everything that we buy is from a "flipper". Those Nike shoes don't really cost hundreds of dollars to manufacture

Personally, the only issue (which I find quite hilarious) is that the OP complained of his wares being flipped when he himself partakes in flipping.

This topic will always come up though. Like someone mentioned, it seems acceptable to buy an item, wait a few months, then sell it. You just can't flip right away. I bought Roam (white label) recently from this forum. I paid $36. I'm pretty sure it was $18 to $20 when Will sold it. Did the seller improve it? No. But I, the market, decided it was worth that price. I'm still happy to have it.

Expecting someone to sell at retail price or below is silly, especially when demand is so incredibly high that the market naturally increases the aftermarket value. Kanye West released shoes for $200 which sold out immediately. That same day these shoes were selling on eBay for $1000. People were willing to pay that and that's how the market works.

But I get how sellers may feel burned if they sell something for a certain price then see it on eBay the next day at twice the price. But I agree with what some others said here. Research your buyer, or just talk to them. First off, sell for whatever top dollar you can get. I assume most people want to get as much as they can for a product. But if you are going to list an item for sale at a gentlemanly price, then talk to your buyer. Ask if they are going to use it or if they are just planning on flipping it. If they say they want to use it and you see it on eBay the next day, then you have a grade A jackass and simply a liar.

I've passed on some great deals on this forum recently because of past drama. Reselling is a big no no. I realized that this hobby is unique...

Just keep your eyes open. Research your buyers and vendors too. Some items at places like Bullgoose or WCS are 25-50 percent higher than online shops in Europe. Crazy.

Yo, someone mentioned me in the first thread. When I started on forums I had no idea buying for full asking price was taboo. Watch forums, bike forums, and coin forums all try to get top dollar. The shaving world was different. Once I got called out (I never lied or tried to hide I was reselling because I didn't know it was against the hobby) I completely stopped buying from forums to resell. I have not done that since the thread on Shavenook when I got banned. I even settled scores with some people I bought from.
This was not my doing. I know who it was but it's not my place to call them out, I'll let the seller do that.

In the past I sold one Paladin on eBay that I bought on Facebook. I told the buyer I could pay them back and they declined and said what's done is done. I even spoke with Ken and explained I was unaware of resell taboo. The forums made that clear. I have also since spoken with Ken through email and added 3 Paladins to my personal collection. I also promised Ken I wouldn't sell for more than retail if I choose to get rid of one.

I think it depends on the forum. on DFS, I think we take a realistic approach.

Yo, someone mentioned me in the first thread. When I started on forums I had no idea buying for full asking price was taboo.  

It's not.  If you buy for full price and others don't like it, then they don't have to participate on the forums.  If they say you could have gotten a better deal elsewhere, or that the asking price was high, that is something different altogether.  If they have the nerve to criticize you, personally for buying an item,  then Santa might well leave them a lump of coal and some reindeer poop in their stocking.

I even spoke with Ken and explained I was unaware of resell taboo. The forums made that clear. The forums made that clear.

There isn't any such taboo.  Once you buy something, it's yours, and the seller doesn't have boo to say about what you do with your possessions.  If they get out of place and try to pull such nonsense, then they need to seriously mind their own business.  It would be like the previous owner of your car trying to tell you how much you could sell it for and where you could drive it.

The forums made that clear.

Sometimes the forums don't make much of anything clear, and can get quite silly.  OK, most of the time,. . Besides, forums of any sort are hardly the arbiters of proper conduct or societal norms.

It's all good, though, and nothing to worry about.

I don't know man, there's some forums out there that absolutely do make selling an item for a profit very taboo and even a bannable offense. heck, on some of these same forums out there, they go so far as to list the MSRP for certain items and what you should expect to get for an item...that's just ridiculous.

I guess if you are selling for less than market value and will be pissed if it's resold, then say this in your listing "selling at a discounted price for another hobbyist to enjoy. Do not but from me if you intend to resell for profit". Then if the buyer resells, they look like a jackass. If nothing like this is mentioned then they are just a regular capitalist. My two cents.

Shavenook has the exact policy on their rule book. And you violated that, which made you look like exactly what you mentioned. There is no need for every BST add to say that explicitly.

DFS has no rule like that, if you, the OP, or the buyer who bought from OP to flip it at ebay, it is perfectly fine.

I, and assume a few others can see the benefit of both approaches ( keeping a friendly place and discourage flipping, or the DFS route - keep it simple). Who prefers which more should be proved by their participation - don't like it? Don't join, discuss, buy/sell at that place.



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just to note, I don't have any problem with someone 'flipping' an item on here. truth be told, that's just how the markets work.

This notion that forum members must abide by some ridiculous "code of honor" is nuts. Sellers sell for the price they wish to receive. The buyer now owns the object and they are free to do whatever the hell they want to do with it; even sell it for a profit (God forbid!) If the seller then has sellers' remorse, too bad. I usually don't get so animated about "shaving" threads, but this whining has got to come to an end. Sorry for my rant...

I'm with you. I don't get it. I wish the shaving community would drop the stigma of making some money off of resold items. obviously the individuals within the shaving market have set the prices so if someone is able to successfully flip an item for a profit - whether it's $1 or $100 - then it seems very hypocritical to ridicule that one individual when the entirety of the shaving community has set the going rate for items out there.

This notion that forum members must abide by some ridiculous "code of honor" is nuts.  

“The Master said, “The gentleman understands what is right, whereas the petty man understands profit.”
Confucious (Analects 4.16)

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”
Bob Marley

Money must be so far beneath a gentleman that it is hardly worth troubling about.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywo...leman.html

They are trying to do more than talk the talk but walk the walk. Gentlemen make no profits on the shoulders of others. They give, rather than take.

A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.
George Bernard Shaw
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywo...leman.html

Can't fault them for walking the walk (although I still abhor the word)

Other forums have rules and so be it.  He was doing this on an extremely uptight forum where 'humility and passion without ego' is bandied about ad nauseam. Gent had no chance from the get go.

But did that forum have gentlemanly humility and passion without ego? I mean, if they are going to go on ad nauseum, they might as well do a megabarf.

I don't know man, there's some forums out there that absolutely do make selling an item for a profit very taboo and even a bannable offense. heck, on some of these same forums out there, they go so far as to list the MSRP for certain items and what you should expect to get for an item...that's just ridiculous.

I agree completely, that is ridiculous. The rules for those forums apply only to their own sites, however. When a forum tries to extend its rules to sites they do not own, those rules then become null and void. No matter how arrogant, totalitarian, neurotic and control freakish a place might be, it has zero authority and control outside the bounds of its own website. Sure, a forum can ban members for violating their rules on another site. The banned members will simply go to more open and less restrictive places, and the oppressive rules are thereby neutralized. Totalitarian, unreasonable, and mismanaged forums typically find themselves in an unending state of churn and conflict. Such places are hardly worth bothering with in my opinion, and will only result in new, reasonable, rational alternatives being created. That is why I said in the end, it's all good. Damn Fine Shave is proof of that.

I'm with you. I don't get it. I wish the shaving community would drop the stigma of making some money off of resold items. obviously the individuals within the shaving market have set the prices so if someone is able to successfully flip an item for a profit - whether it's $1 or $100 - then it seems very hypocritical to ridicule that one individual when the entirety of the shaving community has set the going rate for items out there.

I think that many people are upset that they can no longer get a $10 Gillette 195 whenever they please. Big deal. They also can no longer get a $25 Merkur 34C. The price for all things traditional wetshaving was bound to rise as more people discovered its benefits and appeal. On the other hand, we now have a vastly expanded variety and availability of shaving products. There are still top quality razors that can had for a dirt cheap price, even if they aren't the same razors that were dirt cheap a decade ago. It seems like a pretty good tradeoff to me.

I think ripping people off is wrong. Offering an item at a hyper-inflated price is not ripping people off unless the description or photos are deliberately misleading. If the price of shaving gear or anything else is unappealing, nobody is forced to buy it. Astronomical prices on eBay do not prevent wetshavers from getting quality products and bargain prices. There are tons of alternatives. It is 2016, almost 2017, not 2005. A lot has changed and traditional wetshaving has grown up. It is high time some of the sellers and certain forums did so, as well.