I gave buyers a few tips on what to look for when they are buying a straight razor, and now I'd like to share a little with the sellers. This is not so much for the guys who know straight razors, but rather for those who occasionally have a few to offer. I am genuinely going to help you understand what straight razor collectors and users are looking for when they decide to bid.

Let me give you a list of the DON'TS first. Believe me, if you adhere to this set of guidelines, you will gain credibility with the community that buys them in the hordes. So... do you want to fool them...  ONCE... or would you maybe want a repeat customer. They talk to each other all the time y'know.

You do not have to be an expert to give the information needed for a potential bidder to make the correct bid. That's worth repeating. You do not have to be an expert to give the information needed for a potential bidder to make the correct bid. Ok, here are the first set of tips.

DONT'S

• Quit using the word MINT. That word may mean "good" for some other antique, but for razors it means "like brand new". Not almost brand new... but BRAND NEW.
• Quit telling bidders that the razor is sharp. A tire is round... OK?
• Quit showing pictures of a box that no one cares about. Too many of you describe the box better than the razor. And if all you are selling is the box, you have hundreds of buyers laughing at you.
• Don't give bidders fuzzy pictures that were taken 5 feet away. If you have more than 300 feedbacks, you should be taking good pictures by now. So when you have that kind of feedback and there is a fuzzy picture, the razor buff thinks there is a reason behind it. Is there?
• Quit saying that the razor will make a great addition to their collection. I have to admit I've done that one myself. It's dumb and it's usually added because you ran out of words to describe the razor.
•   Quit saying the razor is in good condition for its age. What age is that? You probably don't know, so you just got caught trying to "bamboozle". It doesn't matter what the age is... it's either in good shape or it's not.
• Quit saying that the razor could be easily cleaned up but you will leave that to the buyer. First of all, you probably don't know what it takes to clean it up unless you have my restoration CD. :-)    Second, if you did know how, you are telling the bidders that you are just to lazy to do it. Nobody expects you to clean it up, so just leave it at that.
• Durham Duplex razors are NOT rare. Saying that they are will not get you any bids. The collectors who have them are pretty savy and both the guys don't need any more of them.
• Quit telling bidders the the scales are carved ivory if there is a design in them. They are celluloid. You will probably never come across carved ivory scales in your lifetime.
• If you think something is ivory and it has indentations or pores in it... they are most likely cow bone. Some celluloid scales are the spittin' image of ivory. Elephant ivory has fine intersecting lines in the cross section. That would be either end of the scales. They are kinda like the growth rings of a tree, only with intersecting triangles throughout.
• Those razors that have decorative metal caps on either or both ends of the scales are not ivory. Those too, are celluloid.
• Don't call your razor RARE unless you know what you are talking about. Collectors will know if it's rare, so if you are incorrect, you lose credibility and potential sales because you are no longer believable. 
• Do not report rust as being patina
• Finally, for the don't's. Don't try to tell anyone that the following razor was made this way. Made this way either because the missing chunk is too symetrical to be a chip ( a lady actually said that about one of these types ) or because it is used purposely this way to shave around mustaches. Either of those suggestions earn you the "brain donor" of the year award.

Now for the DO's. This is going to be a shorter list because it's a whole lot easier to tell the truth than it is to make stuff up. These easy, straight forward statements will get you more traffic and more money in the long run.

DO's

• First thing to do is to tell the bidder how wide the blade is. Preferably in eighths of an inch.
• Tell them if there is ANY damage to the blade. That includes chips, cracks, or pitting. (take a toothpick and lightly run it across the cutting edge to see if it "snags" anywhere.)
• If there is a sixteenth of an inch wide flat spot along the edge of the spine, indicate that the razor has evident hone wear. If the flat spot is parallel the entire length of the blade, you can call it "even hone wear". If there is no flat spot, there is no hone wear.
• Look closely for cracks in the scales (handles), especially around the pivot pin (where the blade swings out) and report them if they are there.
• When the blade is closed, does the very end of it come within 1/4 of an inch of the spacer between the scales? If the gap is greater than 1/4 of an inch, report is as a possible shortened blade.
• Take the best pictures that you can. Concentrate on the area around the pivot pin.
• When the razor is closed, tell the bidder if the blade touches either side of the scales as it goes between them.
• Tell the bidder if the blade is snug or loose between the scales at the pivot pin. 
• The only length measurement that bidders are interested in would be the cutting edge.
• There is surface rust and there is pitting. Learn the difference between the two when you try to describe it.

Here is an example of an auction description.

This is a Torrey straight razor with a 6/8 inch wide blade. There is very little evidence of hone wear. There is only one very small nick in the cutting edge, but it is free of any cracks. The blade has a 2  3/4 inch cutting  edge and seems to be the original full length. Additionally, the blade is lightly spotted with surface rust but it is not pitted. The scales have no cracks, they are not warped,  but they do have someone's initials lightly scratched on one side. The blade fits snugly between the scales.

See... that wasn't all that hard, now was it?