Gillette 7 o'clock yellows - fake??? UK ebay

[Jools]

Hello guys,
Sorry if this has been covered before but I can't find anything on here. (or Google).
I bought a sample pack of blades a couple of years ago. Recently I got round to using the gillette 7oclock yellows in various different Gillette Tech's I own. I loved them and the became my go to blade.
I should perhaps explain I have a full short beard and only use a DE razor for my upper cheeks and neck to edge my beard, so it's not unusual for me to get a couple of weeks worth of shaves (7ish) out of a single blade, as I'm not covering a large area and not shaving where the stubble is at its most course..
I eventually ran out of the 5 blades in the sample pack and I liked them so much I decided to buy 100 blades, with shaving habits as above, they should last me years (or so I thought)...
I live in the UK so I looked on ebay for them from UK sellers. I found them for £9 per hundred including postage so I thought it was a good deal. (there seem to be lots of sellers in the UK selling them for a similar price to this). The seller had sold lots of them, and had no negative feedback relating to Razer blades, so I went ahead with my purchase.
They arrived in 2 days in a folded carton that opened up into a retail hang up display board (the individual packs of 5 slide off to the right hand side).
All the packaging looks legit, as does the Russian St Petersberg address etc.
The blades are printed (slightly smudged/offset print but not unlike my others, they are wrapped in plain slightly transparent wax paper and the glue marks are in the same place as my other blades.
HOWEVER so far I have used 2 of these blades and had similar results from both of them.

Shave 1, very sharp but feels rough, caused mild irritation on neck area,

Shave 2, feels dull in terms of sharpness, but much smoother. Slight tugs on hairs, and leaves some hair uncut, meaning I needed significantly more passes. (bearing in mind I'm only edging a beard)

Shave 3 , almost blunt, tugs instead of cutting had to apply pressure and lots of passes, didn't really get the job done at all!

So from using the five 7oclock yellows in my sample pack and getting 7 decent shaves (beard edging) before noticing any significant difference in the blade, to using 2 blades from the new pack and getting 1 rough shave and one useless shave there is something very wrong.
Could these be fake?
Has anyone ever seen or heard of Gillette 7oclock yellows being counterfeit ?
I'm really at a loss right now.
Im on vacation at the moment, luckily I had a pack of Wilkinson Sword blades in my travel bag, so I've ditched the 2 gillette blades I brought with me and switched to the wilkys until I get home.
Thanks in advance for any help
Jools

 

[Dovo1695]

I would bet you just got a couple bad blades. You hear about it from time to time. It's hard to imagine there would be enough profit in selling counterfeit DE blades to justify the trouble. I guess you never know these days though. Try a blade from a different tuck and hope for the best!

 

[riverstyxxx]

No, they aren't very good. The green 'super stainless' are a lot better. Never had luck with their indian counterparts, except for the 'gillette 365' which I use all the time.

 

[Dan-O]

No, they aren't very good. The green 'super stainless' are a lot better. Never had luck with their indian counterparts, except for the 'gillette 365' which I use all the time.

I totally disagree. I think the yellows are the best blade in that price range. I’d even be willing to pay double what they can be had for.

 

[Jools]

I would bet you just got a couple bad blades. You hear about it from time to time. It's hard to imagine there would be enough profit in selling counterfeit DE blades to justify the trouble. I guess you never know these days though. Try a blade from a different tuck and hope for the best!

But they do counterfeit DE blades. That's the problem these days.
Gillette Rubies
Feather
Iridiums
All been counterfeited, to name a just a few! It's well documented on other forums (if you Google it you'll also see articles explaining the huge profits involved) from such a low cost item too!
I suppose the high volumes sold to the Eastern world makes it highly lucrative. Apparently the Chinese can turn the blades out for half a cent each and wholesale for 15 cents. That's a colossal profit margin.
Ive not read anything about the Gillette 7oclock yellow blades though, but you never know. Also its funny how ebay UK suddenly has 100s of people selling these blades (and if you look at there other items for sale, they are all cheap Chinese 'dollar store' / pound shop items....

 

[Dovo1695]

But they do counterfeit DE blades. That's the problem these days.
Gillette Rubies
Feather
Iridiums
All been counterfeited, to name a just a few! It's well documented on other forums (if you Google it you'll also see articles explaining the huge profits involved) from such a low cost item too!
I suppose the high volumes sold to the Eastern world makes it highly lucrative. Apparently the Chinese can turn the blades out for half a cent each and wholesale for 15 cents. That's a colossal profit margin.
Ive not read anything about the Gillette 7oclock yellow blades though, but you never know. Also its funny how ebay UK suddenly has 100s of people selling these blades (and if you look at there other items for sale, they are all cheap Chinese 'dollar store' / pound shop items....

Wow! I didn't know that! I stand corrected. I guess that cures me from buying blades from ebay. I guess I'll stick to trusted sources from here on out.

It's kind of unbelievable they can make a profit counterfeiting a 15 cent blade. It makes you wonder how much Gillette is making selling cartridge razors heads for $3.00 each!

 

[Jools]

Yes, if you work out the figures it's a really big WOW....
If they sell 10 million+ blades each year just to the far east counties alone, those 15 cents add up!
The problem being they sell to wholesalers too, so the 'Trusted Vendors' can, and have been caught out too when buying their stock. This is what happened with the Feather blades. There's an article about it on Reddit if I remember correctly one of the main suppliers of Feather blades were unknowingly carrying counterfeit stock, and only alerted to the fact by the amount of customer complaints they were receiving. They were made in China then shipped to the Philippines then wholesaled worldwide. The price was in-line with the legit product too, making it look less suspicious to the resellers. Then batches were sold off to local wholesalers who in turn sold them to the sellers we see selling on ebay at prices 'too good to be true' .
I remember the article stating that the factory in China already making legit cheap budget blades is already set up and running, so the only further cost to them is changing the printed text on the blade and printing the cardboard tucks. Then they can increase there turnover from 0.5 cents per blade to 15 cents per blade. That's an increased turnover of 1,500% (just from changing the printed text) ... So these low cost items are really big business and well worth the efforts of the counterfeiters.

 

[Dovo1695]

It's one to make counterfeit Rolex watches and Gucci bags, but when you start counterfeiting Feathers, you've crossed the line. That should be a capital offense in my view.

 

[Jools]

Your right lol..
Thinking about it though, if they can counterfeit a Rolex watch with hundreds of minute parts of the automatic movement, and get the exact weight and finish right. So much so that the top knock offs can fool the Rolex agents, then counterfeiting a one peice standard razor blade would be a walk in the park for them... I mean the print on the legit blades isn't crisp and clear is it? Plus we would thoroughly inspect and scrutinise a watch costing thousands of dollars, but we'd not bat an eyelid at a blade costing a few cents..... Making it even easier for them to get away with the scam ..

 

[rbilly]

It happens, i bought some gillette wilkinsons sword blades a few weeks ago from IB, loved the blades, they gave great shaves, lasted 4 to 6 shaves. I ended up ordering a bulk order and the blades that came are terrible, they are thinner then the blades i got from IB, so much that tightening them in my razor can snap them in half, i have never had this issue with this razor before, but the packaging and print on the blade are spot on. I still had some of the original blades I ordered and compared the two on the same shave and they shave completly different, the possibly knock off one is un usable, compared to the one i got from IB which shaves great. I know people think something that cheap would not be faked but it has happened and in my mind it has happened with the blades i have. The guy i bought the bad ones from was selling them dirt cheap, like 500 for less than 20 usd.

 

[GearNoir]

The guy i bought the bad ones from was selling them dirt cheap, like 500 for less than 20 usd.

That wasn’t an immediate red flag?

It stuff like this as why I avoid the ‘bay for the most part. Terrible!

 

[rbilly]

That wasn’t an immediate red flag?

It stuff like this as why I avoid the ‘bay for the most part. Terrible!

Oh it was, i knew there was a risk, i only bought 9 bucks worth, but cheap blades work well for me so it was a risk i was willing to take. But these arent really thick enough to work, i cant imagine the blade edge lasting through the first pass, and they didnt.

 

[les24preludes]

Any more news on Gillette Yellows? For instance where to buy guaranteed original ones? I have a single pack and they shave very well - I presume they're original. Came with a razor.

 

[pdieten]

Any more news on Gillette Yellows? For instance where to buy guaranteed original ones? I have a single pack and they shave very well - I presume they're original. Came with a razor.

Don't know your location but I should expect that Connaught Shaving will have legit blades to ship anywhere in the EU, US, or Canada, even if they're not the absolute cheapest. Same with Razor Blades Club.

 

[les24preludes]

I'm in the UK. Indeed, Connaught Shaving should be legit, at least I would hope so. Makes me wonder about the other blades I have - Astra SP and Personna Reds.... Both off eBay....

 

[Your Majesty]

in Singapore there are fake Astra SS and Gillette super nacet blades.

someone did a comparison test awhile back.