Gillette Slims -- Plentiful and Cheap

I took a gander at recent eBay sales for North America, and it seems that user-grade slims are going for just around $10. That's a surprise. What's going on? Anyone know?

Thanks

 

I was on there looking around, and I didn't see any that cheap. I won't include bidding, but the lowest price for buying now is around $29.00 plus shipping. And some of those include user grade.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...ustable+razor&_sacat=0&_sop=15&rt=nc&LH_All=1

 

i recently bought a functioning undamaged user grade for $5.00,no case or extras.minor plate wear on doors.local antique fair.

 

slims are plentiful,durable,many are uncased,they were made for twice as long as fatboys...the last all brass razor gillette ever made.

 

Same link, but click on "sold items". Sort by "lowest price". 2 sold for $10, a couple more for $12 that included other razors. Then it trends a bit more towards $15 -- but still.

I don't pay attention to listings with no bids when I'm in the market for something and I want to see what a decent price is.
I almost BIN'ed a Slim today, even though I have one, because I thought it was a good price ($25 shipped, or Best Offer, and it wasn't listed as a Slim, just a Superspeed), then I saw what they've been selling for. I was ready to buy and flip, lol.

 

i bought a pristine/nos m-4 set for $80 with everything.birthyear.quarter.then resold it to my buddy for $100.

 

Trying to flip often backfires -- I haven't tried it with razors, but have for my other hobbies.
I've been trying to re-sell some stuff I bought a few months ago that I thought was sure-fire, but it isn't, lol. Truth be told, though, most of the stuff I try to flip came in lots with things I actually wanted -- though I paid more thinking I could flip the others.

 

I thought the earlier-model Black Beauties without the black plastic on the base, and the black-handled SuperSpeeds, were all-brass.

 

Bidding prices have been much lower recently. Seems like buyers are more aware of prices and will look for auctions, as do I. Some razors, doesn't matter if Gillette or Schick, have been sold for less than their values, at least to me. Still, there are ones that don't know how to price. Some go by the higher amounts they look at to price theirs. Some don't know what they have, and those are the ones I like to look for. The description usually just says vintage razor, or something like that. It's how I got my latest acquisition, an E-R brush and Gillette Parat razor, cheap.

 

black beauty/super 84 /109 are resin/aluminum based handles,black handle superspeeds are resin handled also and started production in 1966,so almost 2 years before the last slim was made,n-3 1968 i believe. gold plated slims were available in japan in 1970 as aristocrat sets also.

 

i bought it for my birthyear.quarter set,but he Had to have it and offered me $100.I will find another if I have to..

 

Flipping can backfire, I've only had a few, luckily. I look for razor lots, using various searches. Most of the time, it's the cheapest way to get razors in lots per item, but there is always caution. Look at every item carefully, mentally figure out the selling price for each one. And if the total is higher than what you'll pay, whether it's worth it or not, depends on you by how much profit you'd want.

 

I haven't shaved in 4 days and haven't used a Slim in years...

 

I just started searching regularly again for vintage Gillettes, and I'm just looking at new things as they are listed, hoping to jump on great deals for ones I don't have. The British Gillette Rocket I just nabbed was listed as a Superspeed. $10 shipped!

I thought the resin was just used for the coating.

The only lots of razors I've bought were cheap enough to be what I would pay for the razor in the lot I wanted. The extra razors in those lots were run-of-the-mill Techs, Old Types, and Ever-readys.

With eBay taking a cut of everything including the price you charge for shipping, it's really hard to make money on flipping unless a seller grossly underprices something. Then you have to think about whether it's worth the time and effort to list, pack it up, and ship to make perhaps $10 profit. I guess with volume those $10s will add up, but I'm a hobbyist not a pro eBay seller.

 

the Rocket's a great deal. Worth checking out unidentified razors also, ex: vintage razor. Sometimes all it takes is one or two razors that'll make a difference in a lot.

 

In the gif, he’s drumming his fingers

 

Oh, yea, there are bargains out there if you're willing to spend the time looking. One thing I noticed is that when people don't know what brand the razor is, they say Gillette anyway. There are so many razor listings out there that I sometimes wonder why anything sells for more than a few bucks.

 

Inflation likely means less spending money for many folks. That would exert downward pressure on vintage razor prices. Also, there are still a vast number of old razors floating around. They were built to last a very long time.

Over the years, I have seen forum members talking up the prices of their vintage razors like crazy. Wishful thinking did not increase the value of their razors, though. Eventually the bidding frenzy, seemingly driven more by ego than reason, was bound to collapse. I got my Slim 10 or so years ago for a whopping $20, and it was in pristine condition.

 

I paid $15 before shipping for my slim 2 and 1/2 years ago. It actually has a lot of plating loss, but functionally it is perfect.

Granted, though, I only saw a handful that sold for $10 in the last 90 days or so. I remember when I bought mine, I tried to get a good deal. I didn't wait months, but I think I did keep an eye out for a few weeks.

I notice that every day there are more than a handful of new listings for FatBoys as well. I haven't tracked selling prices, though.

 

i have seen many easy to find razors come down a bit in price lately,but lots more mismatched and damaged crap.what hasn't really dropped are the "rarer " ones and nice condition sets.prices are still strong.