I recently switched from Gillette’s Mach 3 Power Turbo to their new Fusion Power line. Yes it’s the disposable razor with 5 blades and a battery. I recommend it, but it’s fairly pricey. At the local Rite Aid and it was $28 for an 8 pack of blades. And that’s buying in bulk. If you only want 4 blades, it’s worse.
At $3.50 a blade, it’s not a very economical way to shave. So I turned to Ebay. There are numerous sellers with bulk blades for sale. You can get a good deal on a lot as small as 16 or as many as 500. I decided that I’d go for the 40+ blades, which I got for about $1.66 a blade. I figure I’ve got my shaving solution for probably the next 2-3 years.
The best part (according to my fiancee) is that they won’t take up too much space. It’s not like the time I bought 48 rolls of paper towels…
Wow, I had not even thought of looking on eBay for personal health products. Though it does make sense, they sell everything else on there. I will have to keep this in mind when I am low on my shampoo, which is stupidly priced at over $10 a bottle.
When the thought came into my head, it was definitely an epiphany. I’m kind of curious how the seller got them at such a cheap price to sell them, but maybe they have some real wholesale price where they can break them up to smaller lots and make a profit.
I’ve been trying to think of other great ways to save money with Ebay and common expenses. If anyone can come up with some, let me know.
I used to get my Mach 3 blades on ebay all the time, it was a great savings over even the cheapest of stores. Then sometime around last October I lost my Mach 3 handle :( So for Christmas my wife gave me the Braun 360 Complete (well, last year’s version of it anyway) electric razor. I’ve always hated electric, nothing gets closer than a good old fashioned shave.
BUT, I was amazed. This thing was fantastic and gave me a shave as good as my trusty Mach 3, but in half the time and no mess in the sink. And it cleans itself, all you need to buy are replacement cleaning refill which is inexpensive and lasts quite a while. Although the initial cost was fairly expensive, I think it pays for itself over the course of a year.
But I digress, yes ebay is a fantastic source for some health and beauty items you need to constantly replenish.
Lazy Man,
Another thing you can do on EBay to save money is to buy gift cards and buy coupons.
If you’re going to be shopping a big national brand store, a lot of times you can buy, say a $100 gift card, for $80 to $90.
You can also buy coupons.
I tried (in vain) to convince my wife to do this with baby formula. There are a lot of $5 coupons floating around from mothers who don’t use a particular brand, and the coupons get sold for $2 or $3. When you are buying a lot of cans of formula it can add up.
I have a good Norelco electric razor, that I use from time to time. I find that when I use it, I can stretch the use of my disposable to about a month. In that case my purchase will last 4-5 years.
I tried to buy an Amazon gift card and got burned on Ebay. The guy had 45+ positive ratings, but didn’t deliver to any of the 5-10 people that bought the Amazon gift cards. Ebay ended up reimbursing us for most of the fraud. Since then, I haven’t gone back to that.
I have bought coupons in the past. It worked out well.
You might want to look into an old or new double edge razor. The razor might run you $20-$60, but the blades are cheap.
I bought a 1964 DE Gillette adjustable for $28 on eBay, and bought a 100 blade “sample” of Platinum Coated Double Edge Razor Blades from encure.com for $25.
I shave almost every day and change my blade every Monday. That’s almost a two year supply of blades for $25. I also ended up investing in a badger hair shaving brush and some shave soap & cream. The low cost of the blades will offset these expenses in a few months.
It took about a week to get used to the razor. Even if I rush, it easily shaves better than the Gillette Mach 3 turbo I replaced. If I take my time, I can get an amazingly good shave that’s much better than anything I got from the Mach 3.
A good resource is shaveblog.com. It focuses on superior quality, but I was just happy to find a way to get away from the mach 3 blades without sacrificing shave quality.
I have a badger hair shaving brush, but I use just regular shave cream that you find in the store.
I’d look into that razor, but for now I’m pretty happy with my solution for the next 3-4 years.
By the time that you use up all those blades they will have upgraded 5 or 6 times to 7 and 8 blade systems for a closer improved shave. I’ll just stick with using my disposable Bic razors.
Those disposable Bic razors cut up my face something terrible. I’m sure with experience, I could probably get bout 80% what I can with the new stuff, but I’m willing to pay for the better experience.
I think I’m calling it good at 5 blades for now. I’m sure there will be something better in 3 years, but I think would have to be some great new polymer and not more blades. At that point, I might be tempted, but I’ll also be down to my last 4-5 blades with the current system. I purposely didn’t buy so many that I’m locked in. I tried to buy just enough to get me to that next cycle. At that point, I can make the decision to adopt the new way or continue with my Gillete Fusion Power.
I guess the next thing to look into is batteries..
Awesome!
I cringe everytime I grab a pack of blades at the store. I got a Schick Quattro and the latest offering from Gillette in the mail just in time to avoid having to buy new blades. After these two freebies are gone I will check out ebay!
Yup I agree. I didn’t buy blades rightaway from ebay though. I got them from online sites like encure.com Most of them have blades comparison feature where you can buy packs of 3 different blades to compare quality first and also some other money saving deals on that site and the likes as well.
hmm….
From my experience of last one year:
Always shave after shower, because skin is becomes soft and ‘ANY’ razor runs smooth (I have a very basic razor (yes similar to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Merkur_heavy_duty_safety_razor.jpg , but in plastic ). I don’t even feel the need to use any cream or gel since it makes no difference.
Why stick un-necessary chemicals (gel, after-shave etc.) on your face, it might damage skin in the long run.
Above all, save environment from these chemicals and save some money too.
Trust me, all these corporations churn out the gizmo products which create some much pollutatnts in the manufacturing process.