7 Days of Utopia (Chrome Razor Back in Stock)

Yes, I believe Gary mentioned in his initial post that Amazon is currently out of stock.

 

Sounds more like a way to keep the ad open until he gets new stock in.

 

Thanks to everyone for reading this review. The turn of events has made it even more interesting. I now wonder if the distributor really thinks he has gold on his hands and will price according to that concept (MASSIVE FAILURE ALERT) or will he set a correct price point for this razor. This individual distributor has never dealt with razors before from the earlier email I received stating that it was a new product line. Utopia Cares, Utopia Deals, Utopia Towels, pick a name they are all the same, has sold scissors, some beauty products and towels, but not a specialized product to a specialized market like this one. Already some people on some other forums have stated that the e-Bay issue has sworn them off from dealing with this seller and I cannot blame them for that point of view. I am interested to see what comes out of this in the future if anything at all.

 

[Checks to see if the sky is falling...]

 

I just went to look out of curiosity, it says 6 have been sold in the last 24 hours. Whether that's before or after the hike, I dunno.

 

I saw that too, and think something strange is going on. They weren't selling that fast at ten bucks. Who in their right mind would be buying those for $100. I noticed it early this morning and it did show ten available. That means he sold 21 in the last month, then five just today. That has to be hogwash.

I still have not received a reply to my question. Will keep you all in the loop if the seller answers.

 

I watched as a couple of people told me they were placing their orders before the slight up tick in price ( sorry I had to laugh at the slight up tick concept) and the count included these people because I was watching real time as they stated that they completed their sales and the count increased. I expect all of these increases were last nights "sorry we are out of stock" refunds. Sales and then refunds must still count as sales on e-Bay's counter, which if that is the case is a pretty sorry policy by e-Bay to count refunded sales without sales count retraction.

 

The old "Let's jack the price sky high, then cut it in half - then someone will think it's deal" angle.

 

The universe is back in sync.

The seller is out of stock and the price will go back down to $9.99 when he has more.

 

Wise move on his part not to upset the apple cart any more than it already is. Now we wait!

 

I must admit it kinda bothers me a bit when people immediately jump to the conclusion that a seller is doing something shady.
Quite a few of those conclusions in this thread.
eBay's price/post/count/available tracker is pretty poor.

The seller sells it for a price people like - everyone loves him.
He runs out of stock and, presumably, raises the price above what anyone would order it for to potentially keep the same ad open - and everyone starts to speculate about what sinister strategy this is and even advocate against buying from him.

Pretty bad taste guys.

 

All because I brought it to the attention of those who would use it. Not my fault we bought out his entire stock

 

Well keeping the same ad open without having stock and raising the price "sky high" is against e-Bay policy which I knew already (hence the laughing line above).

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-no-item.html

Now e-Bay does not seem to enforce this policy much, because there are a lot of sellers that do this, but a lot of people have been burned in the past with the same type of situation. Some individuals have had this sale and withdrawal issue happen more than once for them, so it leaves a bad taste in their mouths. My view on e-Bay has been and is caveat emptor.

As to speculation on my part, it was a continuing thought on this line.

If they can keep the razor at 9.99 U.S.D. that will surprise me (not in a negative sense I hope they can) because the margins seem excessively low including free shipping as I stated in my review. Loss leaders tend to be fleeting items. If the company is in for the quick buck, or cannot obtain more razors either way, then we will never hear from them again.

 

Now back to the product or the part I plan on using ...

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How does the Utopia Handle compare to the Cadet handle with regards to size and weight?

I seem to be gravitating towards larger and heavier handles, and am hoping this one is as substantial as advertised....

 

As do I—and although I've tried the Cadet, I will add that the Utopia handle would be sufficiently hefty to appease the most discriminating of large-handle razor aficionados. The Utopia's handle is comparable to the Ikon II Bulldog handle ($40+) in both feel and weight, and as I mentioned before, the R41 with the Utopia handle feels very much like the heavy Barbasol Floating head.
Another thing I do like on the Utopia is the larger base—which is similar in design to the custom handle made by fellow TSDer AKASL that I use on other razors. The larger base adds to the balanced feel in the hand & I use the it to brace the razor on my ring finger when shaving.

Custom AKASL handle….

 

An almost 10x increase for an item that reliable sources say would not possibly bear the increased asking price because better razors are already available for less? I have no wish to quarrel but what sound business strategy is that? A moderate increase on the second go-round would have been expected. But TEN TIMES the original amount? It's theirs to price as they wish but that jump insulted at least one of the guys (me) who was willing to wait for a reasonably up-priced restock.

 

It is heavier and more balanced than many of the smaller and even mid sized Cadet handles.

 

Thanks to both of of you gentleman for the help. I am going to send my triangle slot tech head out for replating as soon as I have my hands on the Utopia handle.

I hope to create a "gentle giant" for those days when I want a mild shave. Will post up pics when the project is completed.....

 

The shady part of this is the FACT the seller just raised the price for something he knows he has NO STOCK to actually sell. This seller also uses several monikers to sell different things - why would you do this when reputation is so important on eBay and similar marketplace sites. These aren't just bad marketing strategies, they are bad business practices, period.

I've had this happen to me several times recently - not just on eBay, but Amazon as well. This is a shady business practice... Just to keep a URL? There's a dozen or so ways to maintain a stable URL for something, for $5 a month (or less) anyone could do this with most blogging platforms.

Now I can't comment on the way this seller conducts actual business - if they ship quick, handle returns/refunds well, communicate effectively, and represent their wares well - they may be a fine business to buy from.

But please don't be advocating this business because of their poor and unethical marketing practices - or brandishing other forum members because they too feel this is a deceptive practice this business uses.