Should it matter?

Hate to be disagreeable, but anything more than a $2 puck if Williams is a luxury since it would achieve the basic function.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Do you think Williams gives the same shave as a premium soap? I mean you can get the job done but is it a shave if your face is irritated and nicked? I don't disagree with you that there's a point where the shave isn't any better but I'm not sure Williams is it. I think you can get as good a shave from any number of soaps in the $15-$25 range as you can in the $25 + range. Its like cars. I think I can be as happy (maybe happier because I'm a cheapskate) in a Ford as in a BMW but I don't think you can say that about a KIA which is the Williams of cars.

Hate to be disagreeable, but anything more than a $2 puck if Williams is a luxury since it would achieve the basic function.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Let me think about it

Price gouging isn't just of needed stuff like food or water. If say a company continues to make product A, but during panic buying people buy lots of it, but they keep trucking along making it, so it's not going run out and the panic will pass. Meanwhile store A jacks the price to 5 times normal for product A to take advantage of the panic. Say tomorrow some politician wants to ban the import of foreign shave stuff, but it never happens cause others won't back it. But people being people rush out and buy any foreign shave soap they can. If a store started charging $100 for a tub of prorasso, that'd be price gouging. To me price gouging is simple to see, if the manufacturer prices the item at $20 and a store sells it for a lot higher then it's probably price gouging l exceptions for stuff brought in from overseas with shipping and import fees. As a gun guy I still remember the days of $20 mags going for $120 despite the manufacturer saying not to. I hope such days never come to shaving.

If you choose to pay higher than reasonable prices, you have made a choice, you have not been gouged. If you choose to participate in the Black Friday chaos of ultra-premium prices and unobtainium "toys", you have CHOSEN to be a part of that...you have not been gouged.

If you are in the desert, dying of dehydration, and a man walks by with a case of bottled water and sells you a bottle for $50, you have been gouged.

If you are in the desert dying of dehydration, and a man walks by with a tank of tepid, yet potable, water and a hose for $1, or a bottle of ice cold water for $50, and you CHOOSE to spend $50 on the bottled water...you have not been gouged.

At the end of the day, if you CHOOSE to spend premium prices on a premium product, there is no gouging. Make no mistake about it, everything that we discuss here is a choice, from the soaps and blades, to the methods and techniques.

Also I disagree shave stuff is a luxury item. It's in the same category of toilet paper and deodorant. Lots of people have to shave it's not an option.  So I guess if it's a luxury item would depend on the person. To someone like me or you with 30+ soaps I suppose buying another soap is a luxury. To that guy or lady who uses one soap it's not a luxury item. It might be the soap that works for them. I for example could never use canned stuff.

The products and methods we use are ALL optional. They are ALL luxury items, because they are not necessary to accomplish the task of shaving. You might PREFER these products and techniques, but preference does not equal necessity. You CAN get a clean, close, and comfortable shave from foam in a can, and a disposable. $3 out the door. If you CHOOSE to spend $50 on a soap, $200 on a brush, and $400 for a Wolfman...you have not been gouged, you have have made a choice.

Just because I enjoy an artisan soap, a vintage straight, and a badger brush does not mean that I cannot shave my head without those items. I can. I may not ENJOY it as much, but I CAN accomplish the task.

Exactly. At the end of the day it's just a shave. Enjoying it is all that matters.

Marko, I wasn't espousing Williams as something special. It was simply an example of the very basic to achieve the task. I'm a soap maker! I promote Black Tie No. 13 soap and our accompanying oils. Even ours is a "luxury".

You asked about how you could get your product reviewed as a startup and my answer is "You need to present a good enough case to convince the reviewer to buy your product based on the sales pitch.  If the product lives up to the sales pitch then that is the review you will get.  If the product does not live up to the sales pitch then that is the review you will get."

Sorry, that's not realistic. You're just another nobody to these guys.

However, we are ok with putting our product out there for an honest review and letting the chips fall where they may. We're pleased thus far.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

But guess what. There are many of us who don't bother reading or viewing reviews from "those guys".

You mean guys that get product free?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

You mean guys that get product free?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

No, I mean any video review and many written reviews. For example I would seldom waste time on a review posted on a makers website or in a blog or in a YouTube video. I may read a review from a verified purchaser on a site like Amazon but when it shows they just got the product I stop reading.

If a manufacturer wants to give away product I have no issue, it's there stuff they are giving away, but any such review is simply not anything I would waste time exploring.

Now reviews on an open forum where peer review takes place, where other members respond with their opinions does get read. 99% of what is said, good and bad simply does not make it past the BS filter but often the remaining 1% actually is informative.

Unfortunately, for us, that would limit our exposure to only folks that participate in forums. We need to branch out more than that.