"Shadiness"

Big enough to support multiple online and brick &a mortar vendors, suppliers and warehouses

Same for resellers of Beanie Babies. Didnt work out to well including for the hoarders or collectors.

Physical stores popped up and survived for years, then went under.

Really? Because I don;t remember a slew of Beanie Baby specific brick and mortar shops popping up all over. I remember them being sold in existing stores in huge numbers, but not a whole lot of specialization.

Of course, Beanie Babies could be argued as one of the original driving forces behind the great auction site, as well. You can still find them in stores all over, and they still produce limited number runs, and seasonal releases fairly regularly, so they are far from being out of business.

The end of the trend, but cultivated by a niche, is hardly the end of the hobby...

Yeah, in big business I was referring to your last paragraph, not the small wet shaving community. Maggards does 99%, as they admit, online. Bullgoose is just an online retailer even though there's a space with a sign out front. Italian Barber seems to be thriving but most of the rest appear pretty minuscule. I can count most of them on two hands.

The merchants out there are proportionally big to their market. Apple's market segment is 100 times the size of Maggard's. Of course their profits are going to be reflect that. Within the comparatively small traditional wet shaving market, the fact that there are a dozen very successful merchants that are able to thrive within the specialty is a pretty strong indicator of a healthy market...

What is the incentive to use the BST here? I like the fact that people hook each other up on the other BSTs and flipping is discouraged. If I have a choice between selling here to a flipper vs ebay, might as well sell on ebay.

I think for the most part, people do sell items for a loss or a small amount of profit.

Maybe I am missing something, but if you bought a Wolfman directly from James and then sold it for $550 and are claiming you broke even, that means PP and Ebay fees and shipping added up to $300. I call BS.

I think that people buy these razors specifically to flip for profit. The OP included. Now he's mad because someone did a better job of it? Boo F'ing hoo.

Really? Because I don;t remember a slew of Beanie Baby specific brick and mortar shops popping up all over. I remember them being sold in existing stores in huge numbers, but not a whole lot of specialization.

Of course, Beanie Babies could be argued as one of the original driving forces behind the great auction site, as well. You can still find them in stores all over, and they still produce limited number runs, and seasonal releases fairly regularly, so they are far from being out of business.

The end of the trend, but cultivated by a niche, is hardly the end of the hobby...

There are a handful of stores that sell products, Maggards, Pasteur, etc. During the peak of the Beanie Baby thing, stores absolutely popped up selling "used" beanie babies. Everyone wants to make a dollar. Its just inventory. They were also sold at flea markets but along other collectibles. When the bubble burst, the stores closed. They were individual stores in rural locations and in strip malls or small shopping centers.

Sure, Ty still sells them. And when the wet shaving bubble bursts, the Three Ts along with MdC, and the Italian mainstays (e.g. Proraso, ADP, ABC, etc.) will continue to sell their products as they have for 200 years as the little "artisans" go under.

So sure, the end of the trend will not be the end of the hobby as the little guys always go under while the mainstays, and TY, continue on. I never said Ty went under and the mainstay commercial places won't either. There is a reason they have existed for hundreds of years.

Yeah, in big business I was referring to your last paragraph, not the small wet shaving community. Maggards does 99%, as they admit, online. Bullgoose is just an online retailer even though there's a space with a sign out front. Italian Barber seems to be thriving but most of the rest appear pretty minuscule. I can count most of them on two hands.

In addition to the retailers Bad Dad listed:

Baxter of California
Best Grooming & Shaving Tools
Classic Shaving
D.R. Harris
Executive Shaving Company
Fendrihan
Geo. F. Trumper
Lee's Safety Razors
Q Brothers
QED USA
Royal Shave
Shave Nation
Shaving.ie
Taylor of Old Bond Street
The English Shaving Company
The Gentleman's Shop
The Old Town Shaving Company
Truefitt & Hill
Van Der Hagen soaps, razors and shaving kits from many retail outlets nationwide in the USA
A great number of online stores on Amazon and eBay
Art of Shaving stores, of which there must be hundreds now. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting one.

There are many, many more, but you get the point. Together they now form a significant if still growing market. Using a safety razor or straight might not be the most prevalent form of shaving, but it remains a substantial slice of the pie. Many of the online wetshaving stores are small, but some are quite large. It might have been a niche hobby a decade ago, but not anymore That is not to mention the vastly larger offline traditional shaving market that never went away. People are now rediscovering older products because they newer products are so darned overpriced. It looks like most people are turning to subscription services, such as Harry's and Dollar Shave instead. The rapid increase in wetshaving product vendors and product availability indicates the old school products are also becoming popular again. Perhaps it will be a bubble, but it might also be a long term trend.

Oh God, I was specifically referencing the US online vendors not the Harris', Trumpers, Taylor's, Truefitt's and AOS of the world. All great shops, been to them all and love them.

I primarily purchase from Connaught, TVB & Gifts & Care in Europe. Often a third or half off delivered to my door in NA.

A place like Bullgoose is extremely overpriced on items compared to its European counterparts and is constantly putting on sales.

Over saturation is a distinct possibility.

What is the incentive to use the BST here? I like the fact that people hook each other up on the other BSTs and flipping is discouraged. If I have a choice between selling here to a flipper vs ebay, might as well sell on ebay.

I think for the most part, people do sell items for a loss or a small amount of profit.

I have never sold anything shave related in which I didn't lose money. I am not complaining, just stating the facts.

Oh God, I was specifically referencing the US online vendors not the Harris', Trumpers, Taylor's, Truefitt's and AOS of the world. All great shops, been to them all and love them.

I primarily purchase from Connaught, TVB & Gifts & Care in Europe. Often a third or half off delivered to my door in NA.

A place like Bullgoose is extremely overpriced on items compared to its European counterparts and is constantly putting on sales.

Over saturation is a distinct possibility.

Ok, even referencing only US online retailers, there are still many more than 10 years ago, including quite a few that have been in business for more than 5 years. The market still appears to be growing by leaps and bounds. It won't do so forever, and will eventually level off, so it could get oversaturated at some point. I don't see the current state of things as a bubble, but that is just my humble opinion.

Bullgoose Shaving's antics on their forum did a lot to harm their image, and likely their sales as a consequence. If their pricing is uncompetitive, it could just be that the business is badly run. Such firms tend not to last terribly long. Their well run competitors will take away market share, so some fallout is to be expected.

Recently sold a Wolfman with accessories for $550 shipped (shipping and PayPal fees to be deducted). Same day buyer from this site gets it lists it for almost triple on that "auction" site for $1300. Sellers, beware if he buys from you. He's just gonna relist it on another site for triple. So why not just make that yourself, albeit unfair price in my opinion. But to each his own.

Referencing the original post, that is simply eBay doing what it does best. People frequently ask for - and get - outrageous prices there whether a bubble exists or not.

This thread and others like it are quite negative. IMHO, the "Look at this ridiculously high price on eBay", "Waah, I got my widdle feelings hurt on another forum and they were mean to me", and "Vendor X, Y or Z is awful because ____________ (insert a rant here)" threads are really starting to kill the vibe here. Perhaps it is time to give them all a permanent vacation. I will.

This thread and others like it are quite negative. IMHO, the "Look at this ridiculously high price on eBay", "Waah, I got my widdle feelings hurt on another forum and they were mean to me", and "Vendor X, Y or Z is awful because ____________ (insert a rant here)" threads are really starting to kill the vibe here. Perhaps it is time to give them all a permanent vacation. I will.

I agree. I'm closing it.

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