Karve Shaving Co. A new DE Brass razor to market.

Slow news day.

Guys if you want to get a Karve Razor from West Coast Shaving they are in stock there now.  I believe you can get the C, D, or the E plates for the SB in brass.  Worth a look, I decided to get the C and figure if its too aggressive for some reason, I can get the A/B elsewhere but at least I will have the guts and the C plate in hand.

I also used a coupon code to get another 10 percent off the razor: 10OFF75

Looks like West Coast Shaving now also have the SS Karve (and separate SS parts, including SB and OC baseplates) in stock.

This would be an indication that individual sales aren't going very well directly from Karve along with not seeing very many new razors showing up in threads over the last 6 months!!

It could also indicate that he’s finally managed to catch up and build enough inventory to allow him to keep up with direct orders, as well as sending some stock to WCS.
Is it because, as you say, less people are ordering directly on his website...? Quite possibly...
I’ve actually seen quite a few comments on forums in the last couple of months from people who had ordered full razors or parts (both brass and SS) directly from Karve, and they had shipped in 3-4 days, up to a week.
These are obviously just a small number, so certainly not enough to allow me to comment on his sales figures, etc
But I think that ultimately it’s slightly unfair to make a statement either way, since none of us has enough information...

If I were Karve, i'd just let WCS do this for me. Send them a huge shipment and thats the only shipping you have to worry about. They do this better than he does so let them have at it. You want a Karve, you buy it from WCS. Or join Maggard as well, then maybe you ship two big shipments at a time. Either way, it'd be alot less work for him and people could just start talking about the razor functionality rather than his business model.

If I were Karve, i'd just let WCS do this for me.  Send them a huge shipment and thats the only shipping you have to worry about.  They do this better than he does so let them have at it. You want a Karve, you buy it from WCS. Or join Maggard as well, then maybe you ship two big shipments at a time.  Either way, it'd be alot less work for him and people could just start talking about the razor functionality rather than his business model.

I agree - WCS also has way more exposure to the market than Karve has and with the vendor you know if they list it as in stock its in stock and it will ship quickly.  

Theres a reason folks list stuff on Amazon - its not that they finally succumbed (resistance is futile) to the Amazon Borg collective, or at least not just that, but its the global exposure and state of the art fulfillment that can grow your business quickly and allows you to focus on your strengths like making razors or soap or what not.

If I were Karve, i'd just let WCS do this for me.  Send them a huge shipment and thats the only shipping you have to worry about.  They do this better than he does so let them have at it. You want a Karve, you buy it from WCS. Or join Maggard as well, then maybe you ship two big shipments at a time.  Either way, it'd be alot less work for him and people could just start talking about the razor functionality rather than his business model.

So, how much do you suppose Karve charges WCS for a $160 usd (retail direct from Karve) SS razor?

It could also indicate that he’s finally managed to catch up and build enough inventory to allow him to keep up with direct orders, as well as sending some stock to WCS.
Is it because, as you say, less people are ordering directly on his website...? Quite possibly...
I’ve actually seen quite a few comments on forums in the last couple of months from people who had ordered full razors or parts (both brass and SS) directly from Karve, and they had shipped in 3-4 days, up to a week.
These are obviously just a small number, so certainly not enough to allow me to comment on his sales figures, etc
But I think that ultimately it’s slightly unfair to make a statement either way, since none of us has enough information...

I agree, but realize as well that many who complained have trouble waiting for a three minute egg.    

If I were Karve, i'd just let WCS do this for me.  Send them a huge shipment and thats the only shipping you have to worry about.  They do this better than he does so let them have at it. You want a Karve, you buy it from WCS. Or join Maggard as well, then maybe you ship two big shipments at a time.  Either way, it'd be alot less work for him and people could just start talking about the razor functionality rather than his business model.

So, how much do you suppose Karve charges WCS for a $160 usd (retail direct from Karve) SS razor?

Isn't it the other way around for use of the WCS platform and exposure?

If I were Karve, i'd just let WCS do this for me.  Send them a huge shipment and thats the only shipping you have to worry about.  They do this better than he does so let them have at it. You want a Karve, you buy it from WCS. Or join Maggard as well, then maybe you ship two big shipments at a time.  Either way, it'd be alot less work for him and people could just start talking about the razor functionality rather than his business model.

So, how much do you suppose Karve charges WCS for a $160 usd (retail direct from Karve) SS razor?

Isn't it the other way around for use of the WCS platform and exposure?

No, I think Karve is selling its razors and razor parts wholesale to WCS, which then retails them to consumers through its website. If you order a Karve razor from WCS, do you think it’s fulfilled by Karve or by WCS? What nobody is talking about is the amount of profit that Karve gives up my selling its products wholesale to retailers like WCS, versus selling direct through its own website....which it historically sucks at doing. There is definitely a trade-off. It’s an entirely different business model.

So, how much do you suppose Karve charges WCS for a $160 usd (retail direct from Karve) SS razor?

Isn't it the other way around for use of the WCS platform and exposure?

No, I think Karve is selling its razors and razor parts wholesale to WCS, which then retails them to consumers through its website. If you order a Karve razor from WCS, do you think it’s fulfilled by Karve or by WCS? What nobody is talking about is the amount of profit that Karve gives up my selling its products wholesale to retailers like WCS, versus selling direct through its own website....which it historically sucks at doing. There is definitely a trade-off. It’s an entirely different business model.

True, but employing someone in-house also costs money. If he needs help, there‘s no way around it. In this case though, he has no personnel costs to pay and therefore less risk if sales are slow.

So, how much do you suppose Karve charges WCS for a $160 usd (retail direct from Karve) SS razor?

Isn't it the other way around for use of the WCS platform and exposure?

No, I think Karve is selling its razors and razor parts wholesale to WCS, which then retails them to consumers through its website. If you order a Karve razor from WCS, do you think it’s fulfilled by Karve or by WCS? What nobody is talking about is the amount of profit that Karve gives up my selling its products wholesale to retailers like WCS, versus selling direct through its own website....which it historically sucks at doing. There is definitely a trade-off. It’s an entirely different business model.

You would probably have more insight on this than I. If Karve is shipping razors through WCS, it must still be making a profit I'd suspect but who knows how much they are losing. Perhaps my suggestion they go whole hog and sell all razors through WCS/Maggard might have been lack of knowledge of what Karve makes off of having a reseller process their razors.

Let me bring up a point in how having a reseller take care of Karve shipping could help. If Karve only sold through WCS and people started receiving their Karve razors regularly without delays and hassles, you would have more people talking about the Karve product than the Karve service. So if all of the folks like me and others that purchased their Karve through WCS received them and were talking only about the razor and its performance (excellent), perhaps that could be good overall for Karve and increase interest in his razors until he gets to where his shipping and processing through his own website were more reliable.