Wolfman Auction

Good for James. It’s a free market and maybe he got tired of people buying his razors for retail and flipping them for a huge premium. Why shouldn’t he get some of that premium? Did the flipper add any value? Nope. They’re just exploiting a combination of the actual market being willing to pay more and impatience with long wait times. Maybe James should do a regular auction, maybe every 5th or 10th razor off the line and keep it up until auction prices fall to retail levels. If they ever do.

It's one thing to auction extras and prototypes piling up in his shop, but doing it on the regular would be a shitty way to treat customers until the waitlist has been cleared. Past threads have chastised producers for doing so in the past. Not sure why Wolfman gets a pass?

maybe from the general user base but certainly not from DFS ownership.

Well, for starters the wait list will never clear and I don’t believe that anyone on the wait list has to wait longer than they expect because of an auction and why not offer the opportunity to skip the wait list entirely by winning an auction. Nobody is forcing anyone into either the wait list or the auction. It sounds like a win win to me. I don’t understand how this can be interpreted as treating customers badly. Everyone’s expectations are being met.

if I had been waiting months, I would not be happy if people could suddenly skip to the front of the line or time was suddenly being allocated to make product for a new auction. And you can clear the list by no longer taking names.

Of course, I could be really wrong... He could only be making 1/5 of his capacity intentionally to keep supply down and demand (profit) up.  That's absolutely his prerogative... It's a free market. But I highly doubt that's the case.

that's exactly what he does via pricing and he's been pretty transparent about it. There is a target revenue # and he works as much as is required to realize it.

Wow, I'm floored by this statement. I mean, certainly that type of practice makes good, shrewd, business sense. But if you have that kind of mindset, it seems unintuitive... counterproductive... To flaunt it.

Your customer base, and potential customer base, is going to be much more agreeable to doing business with you if you say (truth or not), " we are a small operation, and perfectionist at heart. Production is slow, as we never want to put out anything that isn't the very best in the industry. "

However... However! I can't fathom anyone being happy to hear, "oh yeah, we keep production down so we can really stick it to your wallet."

What does he get out of that? It just isn't making sense to me.

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Well, for starters the wait list will never clear and I don’t believe that anyone on the wait list has to wait longer than they expect because of an auction and why not offer the opportunity to skip the wait list entirely by winning an auction. Nobody is forcing anyone into either the wait list or the auction. It sounds like a win win to me. I don’t understand how this can be interpreted as treating customers badly. Everyone’s expectations are being met.

if I had been waiting months, I would not be happy if people could suddenly skip to the front of the line or time was suddenly being allocated to make product for a new auction. And you can clear the list by no longer taking names.

Of course, I could be really wrong... He could only be making 1/5 of his capacity intentionally to keep supply down and demand (profit) up.  That's absolutely his prerogative... It's a free market. But I highly doubt that's the case.

that's exactly what he does via pricing and he's been pretty transparent about it. There is a target revenue # and he works as much as is required to realize it.

Wow, I'm floored by this statement. I mean, certainly that type of practice makes good, shrewd, business sense. But if you have that kind of mindset, it seems unintuitive... counterproductive... To flaunt it.

Your customer base, and potential customer base, is going to be much more agreeable to doing business with you if you say (truth or not), " we are a small operation, and perfectionist at heart. Production is slow, as we never want to put out anything that isn't the very best in the industry. "

However... However! I can't fathom anyone being happy to hear, "oh yeah, we keep production down so we can really stick it to your wallet."

What does he get out of that? It just isn't making sense to me.

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I've been in this hobby several years now, and I never did understand the Cult of Wolfman. Sure, James makes beautiful razors...but they're just that - razors. They clamp a blade so you can slice stubble off your face. Like BPman,my thinking is more along the lines of "a razor is a razor". Sure, I have my favorites, even though every razor I own is capable of producing the same results if I do my job properly. 

From what I've seen in this thread, it's all speculation as to the direction of his business model. No matter what, he's accountable to himself whether his business flourishes or fails. As hobbyists/consumers, we spend whatever amount we choose, and with whom. There seems to be no shortage of people standing in line to throw him some money, so more power to him. Like any hobby, some folks are frugal, and some happily spend the king's ransom. 

In my time with this hobby, we have more choices than ever before, and there have been tons of high end products hit the market over the last several years - and there seems to be no signs of slowing down. I enjoy looking at all the offerings, including the high end stuff that I'd be unlikely to buy, and I do appreciate the variety that's out there. 

While I agree with your thoughts, it really comes down to is supply and demand - whether artificially produced or not. If he can work as much or as little as he wants, to make however much money he wants, good on him. Hey - the dude just sold a razor for $1K. And whoever the high bidder was is probably tickled pink.

Um. I think we should understand that there are not only ordinary users who only need to solve basic problems in this market,There are also enthusiasts.
Everyone's needs are completely different. 
I don't think it should be confused. In fact, there are such differences in any product market.
We just need to respect each other.

Um. I think we should understand that there are not only ordinary users who only need to solve basic problems in this market,There are also enthusiasts.
Everyone's needs are completely different. 
I don't think it should be confused. In fact, there are such differences in any product market.
We just need to respect each other.

It has absolutely nothing to do with "needs". It has everything to do with "wants".

Of course, I could be really wrong... He could only be making 1/5 of his capacity intentionally to keep supply down and demand (profit) up.  That's absolutely his prerogative... It's a free market. But I highly doubt that's the case.

that's exactly what he does via pricing and he's been pretty transparent about it. There is a target revenue # and he works as much as is required to realize it.


Wow, I'm floored by this statement. I mean, certainly that type of practice makes good, shrewd, business sense. But if you have that kind of mindset, it seems unintuitive... counterproductive... To flaunt it.

Your customer base, and potential customer base, is going to be much more agreeable to doing business with you if you say (truth or not), " we are a small operation, and perfectionist at heart. Production is slow, as we never want to put out anything that isn't the very best in the industry. "

However... However! I can't fathom anyone being happy to hear, "oh yeah, we keep production down so we can really stick it to your wallet."

What does he get out of that? It just isn't making sense to me.

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I should have worded that differently. Price, in part, is being used to drive demand down while maximizing revenue. Different lever, same result.  IIRC, at the beginning of his solo venture James mentioned price increases were a means to ensure the business was sustainable and to remedy complaints about the sales/production. Think work/life balance also came up.

Um. I think we should understand that there are not only ordinary users who only need to solve basic problems in this market,There are also enthusiasts.
Everyone's needs are completely different. 
I don't think it should be confused. In fact, there are such differences in any product market.
We just need to respect each other.

It has absolutely nothing to do with "needs". It has everything to do with "wants".

Actually, I think it's the same thing.

But for different people, their ideas are different.

Ordinary users who only want to solve problems must have different ideas from enthusiasts.

If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got

Um. I think we should understand that there are not only ordinary users who only need to solve basic problems in this market,There are also enthusiasts.
Everyone's needs are completely different. 
I don't think it should be confused. In fact, there are such differences in any product market.
We just need to respect each other.

It has absolutely nothing to do with "needs". It has everything to do with "wants".

Actually, I think it's the same thing.

But for different people, their ideas are different.

Ordinary users who only want to solve problems must have different ideas from enthusiasts.

It depends on how you want to justify something, I suppose. Take automobiles, for example. I want a Mercedes Maybach (not really). I certainly don't NEED a Mercedes Maybach. Nobody NEEDS a vehicle that costs nearly $200,000. Someone spent $18 million for a Bugatti a little while back. I kinda doubt that person needed a car that costs that much. A vehicle is designed to get you from point A to point B. Some vehicles do it in style, and garner envy of others. Which is exactly the point of most luxury goods...envy and attention. 

A Louis Vuitton purse performs the same function as one you can get at T.J Maxx. Which one do you think others are more likely to notice?

The luxury market is alive and well. There are plenty of folks who will stop at nothing, and spend whatever amount of money necessary to obtain luxury goods. I'm not knocking it. Everyone can choose how they want to spend their money. 

Like someone else posted, our hobby is peanuts compared to other hobbies.

Im not following the last dozen or so posts.
Comparing James to OPEC, are we?

I think he actually raised his output by creating lower cost versions, so more could have access.
In fact he's raised it even more by taking on more help in the tooling department and that seems
to coincide with some negative comments about workmanship quality.

My impression is that his auctions are not a constant feature that will replace sales via waitlist.
Hopefully we'll have clarity soon...my wish is for a clear price list that includes Ti options.