Competitors Should Compete

It's important to note that appearing to not compete can also be a competitive strategy in such a small, tight-knit community.

Interesting. It would appear that you have taken the opposite approach with your business practices, openly attacking another artisan’s pricing structure and then calling him a liar. 

Did that lead to an increase in sales for you?

It’s an interesting perspective to tolerate blatant price gouging while getting up in arms when it’s pointed out. The company promptly lowered their prices, confirming my point. And you’ll have to let me know when I called anyone a “liar” because that’s something I’m not aware of.

By the way, if I were being selfish it would have been far better for them to remain overpriced, giving me the advantage. But I’d rather stand up for the community that’s done so much for me. It’s hard to say if this is causal, but my inventory sold out months earlier than anticipated and preorders are soaring. So my sales are excellent and I appreciate you checking on me!

Not directed at OP... what's the deal with all of this negativity on DFS over the last few days?

I assume this is in part directed to my comment above. There is nothing negative about asking a tough question.

It's important to note that appearing to not compete can also be a competitive strategy in such a small, tight-knit community.

Interesting. It would appear that you have taken the opposite approach with your business practices, openly attacking another artisan’s pricing structure and then calling him a liar. 

Did that lead to an increase in sales for you?

It’s an interesting perspective to tolerate blatant price gouging while getting up in arms when it’s pointed out. The company promptly lowered their prices, confirming my point. And you’ll have to let me know when I called anyone a “liar” because that’s something I’m aware of.

By the way, if I were being selfish it would have been far better for them to remain overpriced, giving me the advantage. But I’d rather stand up for the community that’s done so much for me. It’s hard to say if this is causal, but my inventory sold out months earlier than anticipated and preorders are soaring. So my sales are excellent and I appreciate you checking on me!

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Not directed at OP... what's the deal with all of this negativity on DFS over the last few days?

I assume this is in part directed to my comment above. There is nothing negative about asking a tough question.

Yes, that is true here in this thread. However, just generally speaking and not fully directed at you, it's not the isolated tough question or negative comment but the collection of them in quick turn I've seen posted. Anywho, just wanted to point that out to myself I guess.

Interesting. It would appear that you have taken the opposite approach with your business practices, openly attacking another artisan’s pricing structure and then calling him a liar. 

Did that lead to an increase in sales for you?

It’s an interesting perspective to tolerate blatant price gouging while getting up in arms when it’s pointed out. The company promptly lowered their prices, confirming my point. And you’ll have to let me know when I called anyone a “liar” because that’s something I’m aware of.

By the way, if I were being selfish it would have been far better for them to remain overpriced, giving me the advantage. But I’d rather stand up for the community that’s done so much for me. It’s hard to say if this is causal, but my inventory sold out months earlier than anticipated and preorders are soaring. So my sales are excellent and I appreciate you checking on me!

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Lol. Of course that has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been in business for four years, have sold thousands of razors, and produce over a thousand razors per production run. This is my full time job and it’s enabled me to build a great life and I’m incredibly grateful to the community for making that happen. Your misinformed opinion about the health of my business is far off the mark and has no impact on me.

Look, you’re turning this into something it’s not. I have nothing against Carbon. I actually think the razor looks cool and I genuinely hope they succeed. I believe that when the pie grows we all win. As far I’m concerned they made a pricing mistake, but they immediately fixed it and apologized. That’s great and I applaud that kind of honesty! Problem solved. So now we move on with our lives and I recommend you do the same.

Not directed at OP... what's the deal with all of this negativity on DFS over the last few days?

I assume this is in part directed to my comment above. There is nothing negative about asking a tough question.

Yes, that is true here in this thread. However, just generally speaking and not fully directed at you, it's not the isolated tough question or negative comment but the collection of them in quick turn I've seen posted. Anywho, just wanted to point that out to myself I guess.

Well as I stated above, the questions and comments directed at blackland are not done with animus. I believe his attack on another razor maker was done solely in the spirit competition (keeping with this purpose of this thread) with that specific maker, and it was dirty and underhanded. Why didn’t he attack the other razor makers I referenced above? Likely because they are established and attacking them would hurt his business, so he went ahead and picked on the new guy. Bingo. He looks like a hero to the community for spreading disinformation and some unwitting individuals may have taken comfort in this and bought one of his products. 

Carbon is an excellent razor, by the way. I sold my blackbird years ago because I felt the shave was rough and the 303 steel used produced an odd smell that interfered with my enjoyment of the scent of the soap.

It’s an interesting perspective to tolerate blatant price gouging while getting up in arms when it’s pointed out. The company promptly lowered their prices, confirming my point. And you’ll have to let me know when I called anyone a “liar” because that’s something I’m aware of.

By the way, if I were being selfish it would have been far better for them to remain overpriced, giving me the advantage. But I’d rather stand up for the community that’s done so much for me. It’s hard to say if this is causal, but my inventory sold out months earlier than anticipated and preorders are soaring. So my sales are excellent and I appreciate you checking on me!

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Lol. Of course that has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been in business for four years, have sold thousands of razors, and produce over a thousand razors per production run. This is my full time job and it’s enabled me to build a great life and I’m incredibly grateful to the community for making that happen. Your misinformed opinion about the health of my business is far off the mark and has no impact on me.

Look, you’re turning this into something it’s not. I have nothing against Carbon. I actually think the razor looks cool and I genuinely hope they succeed. I believe that when the pie grows we all win. As far I’m concerned they made a pricing mistake, but they immediately fixed it and apologized. That’s great and I applaud that kind of honesty! Problem solved. So now we move on with our lives and I recommend you do the same.

You still haven’t answered my question. If he was gouging the community, why didn’t you go after higher (and in some cases, much higher) priced 316L offerings from other makers? Wouldn’t that have been a service to the community to point out gouging there as well? No. It would have been a bad business decision on your part.

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Lol. Of course that has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been in business for four years, have sold thousands of razors, and produce over a thousand razors per production run. This is my full time job and it’s enabled me to build a great life and I’m incredibly grateful to the community for making that happen. Your misinformed opinion about the health of my business is far off the mark and has no impact on me.

Look, you’re turning this into something it’s not. I have nothing against Carbon. I actually think the razor looks cool and I genuinely hope they succeed. I believe that when the pie grows we all win. As far I’m concerned they made a pricing mistake, but they immediately fixed it and apologized. That’s great and I applaud that kind of honesty! Problem solved. So now we move on with our lives and I recommend you do the same.

You still haven’t answered my question. If he was gouging the community, why didn’t you go after higher (and in some cases, much higher) priced 316L offerings from other makers? Wouldn’t that have been a service to the community to point out gouging there as well? No. It would have been a bad business decision on your part.

Wait. So you think I specifically targeted this small razor maker who was probably making 100 razors because I thought that would help me make more money? And you think the best way to do that would be to help them fix their pricing which makes them MORE competitive? Think about that for a minute. That’s so silly.

The other guys are established and have a reputation that allows them sell their goods for higher prices. And their designs are far more complex which permits the higher value.

Lol. Of course that has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been in business for four years, have sold thousands of razors, and produce over a thousand razors per production run. This is my full time job and it’s enabled me to build a great life and I’m incredibly grateful to the community for making that happen. Your misinformed opinion about the health of my business is far off the mark and has no impact on me.

Look, you’re turning this into something it’s not. I have nothing against Carbon. I actually think the razor looks cool and I genuinely hope they succeed. I believe that when the pie grows we all win. As far I’m concerned they made a pricing mistake, but they immediately fixed it and apologized. That’s great and I applaud that kind of honesty! Problem solved. So now we move on with our lives and I recommend you do the same.

You still haven’t answered my question. If he was gouging the community, why didn’t you go after higher (and in some cases, much higher) priced 316L offerings from other makers? Wouldn’t that have been a service to the community to point out gouging there as well? No. It would have been a bad business decision on your part.

Wait. So you think I specifically targeted this small razor maker who was probably making 100 razors because I thought that would help me make more money? And you think the best way to do that would be to help them fix their pricing which makes them MORE competitive? Think about that for a minute. That’s so silly.

The other guys are established and have a reputation that allows them sell their goods for higher prices. And their designs are far more complex which permits the higher value.

Balderdash. Being “established” is not the key to the door for charging extra for a premium product. Some of the best products in the shaving community started out expensive and stayed that way because they are worth he asking price. You didn’t attack them because you’d face blowback, full stop.

The comment about the designs being “more complex” is a matter of opinion, an opinion I’m sure which many would not agree with.

Finally, upon reflection, touching on what I’ve said above, some might say you are “gouging” the community with your pricing, given the enormous hit your products take on the second hand market. Wolfman, Paradigm, and Rocnel do not experience this phenomenon.

Interesting. It would appear that you have taken the opposite approach with your business practices, openly attacking another artisan’s pricing structure and then calling him a liar. 

Did that lead to an increase in sales for you?

It’s an interesting perspective to tolerate blatant price gouging while getting up in arms when it’s pointed out. The company promptly lowered their prices, confirming my point. And you’ll have to let me know when I called anyone a “liar” because that’s something I’m aware of.

By the way, if I were being selfish it would have been far better for them to remain overpriced, giving me the advantage. But I’d rather stand up for the community that’s done so much for me. It’s hard to say if this is causal, but my inventory sold out months earlier than anticipated and preorders are soaring. So my sales are excellent and I appreciate you checking on me!

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Why aren’t you calling out Wolfman, Paradigm, Rocnell, all priced in the same bracket? Your comment on blatant price gouging is unfortunate, and certainly not within the spirit of the community, is it? 

I just checked both websites. All of his razors are sold out and yours are not. Your razors routinely sell for 30-50% off retail on the BST. No one, and I mean no one, is selling his razors. Must be a good reason for this.

Lol. Of course that has nothing to do with the fact I’ve been in business for four years, have sold thousands of razors, and produce over a thousand razors per production run. This is my full time job and it’s enabled me to build a great life and I’m incredibly grateful to the community for making that happen. Your misinformed opinion about the health of my business is far off the mark and has no impact on me.

Look, you’re turning this into something it’s not. I have nothing against Carbon. I actually think the razor looks cool and I genuinely hope they succeed. I believe that when the pie grows we all win. As far I’m concerned they made a pricing mistake, but they immediately fixed it and apologized. That’s great and I applaud that kind of honesty! Problem solved. So now we move on with our lives and I recommend you do the same.

You still haven’t answered my question. If he was gouging the community, why didn’t you go after higher (and in some cases, much higher) priced 316L offerings from other makers? Wouldn’t that have been a service to the community to point out gouging there as well? No. It would have been a bad business decision on your part.

I don't follow razors prices too well (no need to, really), but wolfman razors, sold directly from the wolfman website, are way under priced, as witnessed by the secondary market prices. demand far surpasses his supply.