7 Days of Utopia (Chrome Razor Back in Stock)

Here was todays shave!

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Planned Shave 5-6-2014 ...

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I know this thread is about the razor, but that brush is beautiful!!!

 

Thanks! Here is more about it ...

http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/imperial-grip-a-prototype.35330/

 

Here is the planned shave for 5-7-2014 ...

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That is anexcellent review. Many thanks for that!

 

Razorock did the same thing when they ran out of The Mission razor, should we boycott it also?

 

I don't know the background on the RR razor, nor RR as a seller, so I can't comment.

However lets swap the scenario out a bit. Would you recommend to your friends to buy a car from a dealer who:
1: falsely advertises availability and stock?
2: changes their advertised price of the vehicle by more than 5000%?
3: has a consistent history of negative reviews regarding bait & switch and mis-representing products?

Would you buy a car from a dealer who did this? Does RR "the seller" fit all that criteria? Then no I'm not saying to boycott RR's "store".

And to be clear I'm not saying anything about the product here - if you can get the product you like through other means, where you feel the seller is more reputable and honest - then get your product from them.

Not really wanting to use RR as the example since they don't represent the type of dealer in question AFAIK, but you started with it, so I'll run with it... RR products are available through numerous sources including their own eBay store, if any one of those sources were not reputable, in my opinion, I'd choose another source, that would include buying direct from them.

No offense to manufacturers who direct sell along with reseller distro - some have great products but are crummy salespeople - mostly because they just aren't appropriately equipped or trained to sell direct, but try and fail or flounder at doing this. Others do it quite well. I'll still buy your product either way, but if you have a history of bad direct sales - I'll try to get your product through other sources when possible.

I just don't think it's fair to reward a direct seller with what is probably a better commission via direct sale than via resale when their sales process is bad and broken.

 

Car... Let's say nail clippers that were ten dollars and then went up to keep it on the same level. Through some of the posts I have see people comment on that the price was raised to keep the listing and will be lowered back down once restocked. If this is the case I could care less as if someone is willing to pay the increase then let them.

Razorock did the same thing with the mission razor and brought it back down when stock came in. They also had listed the last of an extremely rare soap listed for thousands of dollars of which the owner said if it actually sold the money would go to charity. None of these practices bother me in the least as razorock/Italian barber is a solid company and they work hard to bring great items to everyone. If I'm meant to have a ten dollar razor then I am if not no big deal to me.

Though I wouldn't blast a company about their selling practices either regarding a ten dollar razor unless I knew all the facts instead of assuming the details. But meh to each his own.

 

I think it was shown in the original Monster thread here (and on B&B, I think) that there is no scandal. Utopia ran out of stock and raised their prices to $99.99 until they get more in. They aren't actually trying to sell this razor at that price point, they are putting it at a price point that nobody will buy it at instead of removing and then redoing their Amazon and Ebay product pages.

 

Sounds about right, I have seen many companies do this when stock runs out quicker than they projected.

 

I hate to derail this thread further so it will be my last comment on this topic.

If I were a nobody off the street that had a wad of cash burning a hole in their pocket and were shopping for some type of product, and the price variance for the type of product were quite large (razors do legitimately price between $10 - $300+), found great reviews of the product - and I just so happened across the guy selling a product on the day he was selling his $10 product for $100, and then paid $100, while everyone in the know could get it for $10 by just waiting another day or so. If the business took and kept the extra $90 and still sold the product... Is that just buyers remorse or is that a crappy vendor? There's a reason why this practice is against eBay policy - it's called fraud regardless of the price tag. If they are too lazy to re-list (it's really not that hard or time consuming if organized) there's no reason to violate their terms. Shame on eBay for not policing their own policies, but the only way I feel I can aid in the reducing global fraud is to not advocate these sorts of practices - however harmless they may seem.

IMO, RR/IB have been very clear about their practices, not much can be said about others - they've been pretty quiet and elusive. If RR/IB too violate the terms of eBay - they put their own sales pipeline at risk if eBay decides to start enforcing, and are just contributors to the global fraud epidemic.

You can all make your own choices how and where you do business - you are free to disagree with me. I'm only sharing my perspective - which is biased from working with the top researchers in AI for detecting fraudulent financial activities (which is effective less than 4% which is actually considered 'good' in the industry - keep in mind <1% equates to 100's of millions $).

Maybe if a good chunk of sellers started whining to eBay about their BIN and store front features, and the lack of those features started to hurt eBays bottom line - maybe the sellers would get the proper features so they don't have to violate terms making the experience better and safer for all.

Enough said. Fin.

Back to the Long Handled Utopia DE review please....

 

Dude, nobody's selling $9.99 razors for $99.99.

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled product updates.

 

Even if the head is so-so as a shaver, the price can't be beat as a giveaway for a newb shaver. That's the reason I'd like one.

 

Yes we will do just that. Discussions like these, even though it got a little heated, can be beneficial because we will see a lot more new manufacturers, distributors and sellers in the future. Forums can and should be the first line of communication of both good and bad products, good and bad practices and those in between good and bad. The point is we can and should be able to disagree with each other without being disagreeable.

 

Planned shave for 8 May 2014 ...

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Love the photos, and your brushes have me wanting to upgrade my entire den!

How are the shaves going with the Utopia head? Still feeling good I presume....

 

I rotated in a more aggressive Cadet OC back on post #34 and then even a more aggressive Gillette OLD OC on post #42 so I stopped using the Utopia Head since before post #34 photo.

 

Lol. See, I've been too busy staring at the brushes