I bought one a couple of weeks ago. Then, last weekend, I happened to be up near hell (the mall) and figured I'd stop and get a second in case I managed to knock my first one into the toilet or something. Stopped in and the only thing left was their demo model. I said that I was surprised I got one considering how popular they are on the forums. The lady said that about an hour before I came in, someone had called on the phone and bought the remaining stock. She mis-counted and only sold him 28 brushes which was why the demo (the 29th brush) was still around for me. She said their computer allows them to see the customer's purchase history and he had bought over 50 brushes from other stores that day before he bought the 28 from here. Crazy flippers!
Nice huh. Buy up the remaining stock and most likely sell them at a higher price. Why must some people be so selfish.
The essence of capitalism: turning commodities in demand into additional capital by buying low; selling high.
I'll be honest - I actually don't see an issue with that. If someone told me I could buy 100 units of product X and resell them in a month for a 25% profit I'd do it. A L'Occitane shaving brush isn't a life essential. It's not water, gas and bread - it's a luxury item.
Bingo! No one is forcing anyone to buy these brushes (other than the 'force' of forum mania), so with demand and limited inventory = higher price per item.
I think the person you were quoting was probably thinking the same thing I was about this: Creating items and selling them at a profit, or providing the service or retail distribution, is a valid reason to sell something for more than you paid for it. Ethically, that's a very different thing that deliberately buying up all of something at retail for the purpose of denying others the ability to obtain it until you extort extra money out of them. While it's certainly legal, and certainly in the best spirit of capitalism, it definitely makes you a jerk. One of the big tipoffs that this is what the guy was doing is the fact that he was buying ALL the stock at ALL the stores he was calling. Had the guy actually been considerate, he would have bought some smaller fraction of the stock, perhaps half, so that people local to the store would be able to get their own brushes. And that's different again from someone finding a great deal on something or something very difficult to find, buying a bunch of it, and then coming to the forum and reselling it at no profit to the rest of the community. That's being a helpful and kind community member.
One of the things that tends to hold this in check is the concept of substitution. Example, this person may buy all these brushes to make a profit, but if people switch to a substitute item, then the mass buyer will be in a negative position and have to sell at break even or loss. I have seen examples where it works and where it does not, in small scale items such as this, or large scale items such as companies that have to do a "fire sale" to restore cash flow. Risk and reward go to the buyer who buys too much, little or just right and at the right time. Risk and reward also goes to the seller who gains too much, little or just right and at the right time. If you have ever bought something that was on a drastic sale because of demand change and rejoice in your good fortune know that another person took a bath. That is the flip side and it happens all the time, but no one on the receiving end of a great deal complains about it. Just a little balance for the arguemnt. Someone on this forum (who has done his homework) knows approximately how much it cost to manufacture one of these L'Occitane Plisson brushes, where the knot is made, and how much the mark up is even at a $30 sales price. That might blow everyone's arguement and outrage about the mass buyer out of the water. That person will keep the information to himself and let everyone else try to find the answers.
Best way to get back at this 'thoughtless' mass brush buyer? Don't buy one. Plenty of other fine choices out there and don't be swayed by herd mentality.
Kevin, that is exactly right! Substitutes and great ones are available and some inexpensive with a high value to cost ratio. That is why we have Traditional Shaving. Traditional Shaving is a substitute from the mass market corporate product sellers who churn out hundreds of thousands of items yearly to the masses at extremely high profit margins. So you are just making one more substitute, and more than likely you will find a brush that is better than the Plisson for the majority of users. If you cannot find a L'Occitane Plisson at the price you want, look for the great substitutes and this forum has plenty of information available to help you find one.
I get that, Mark, and for $30, the Plisson is a good deal. But lets not think for a moment its the ONLY viable option out there. Forum hype is a killer to the bank account so unless one is able to find a Plisson for the good price ($30), I'd search elsewhere for a brush.
No. It doesn't "definitely makes you a jerk" at all and I'm really sorry but I don't see the relevance in 'don't buy it all to be considerate'. This guy saw an opportunity to make some money through buying and reselling a luxury item that is going out of business. Good for him! I have no idea if this person is a member of any forum and/or a community member anywhere so not sure how that is relevant. Hypothetical scenario: I walk into L'Occitane tomorrow and they have five brushes in stock at this branch and they have discounted them to be $10 each. Know what I'd do? I'd buy all five. Keep two and sell the other three on eBay once they were truly gone from stores. The market would sort out the price and I would hopefully make a profit. A nice one I hope. If they sell for $75/brush sweet. Not for a second would I think "let's just buy two...maybe someone else also wants one". This is a luxury item. Had it been milk or bread and we were experiencing circumstances in a society where these were items that were hard to get hold of I would had left some. A brush? Gimme all you have. If that makes me a jerk then fine. At least I'd be a jerk with brushes and money and I'd sleep well at night
Take a look at this. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/the-haul-january-2015.42303/page-18#post-783559
I got one from my local store yesterday. They had several left, unless hoarder guy made his way over there too. While I was there I picked up a puck of the Cade soap. After hearing the Bacon Lord raving about it, I felt like I had to try it. The cream is pretty good too.
Wanna buy a brush my friend? For you special deal. Sixty dollars my friend. You can't get this brush anywhere. Very special.
